The Gamification of Accessibility Greg Kraus University IT Accessibility Coordinator NC State...

The Gamification of Accessibility

Greg KrausUniversity IT Accessibility Coordinator

NC State University

http://go.ncsu.edu/csun2014

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

Gamification

• Gamification [n]: the use of game design elements in non-game contexts

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

Accessibility is Not a Game

• It’s a human right• It’s should just be part of their job• People might get addicted to the game

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We’re Not Talking About Wheelchairs with Lasers

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I Never Set Out To Make A Game

• Guiding Principles– It takes practice to become an accessible Web

developer– I am competing in a marketplace for people's

attention

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

Aristotle

• “If you want to become a major league baseball player, you cannot simply wake up one day and declare your self a baseball player, capable of hitting a curve ball. You must become habituated in the ways of being a baseball player through a lifetime of practice.”

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

How to Learn To Be a Major League Baseball Player

1. Start easy2. Gradually build skill over time3. Learn to see patterns and know how to react4. Reactions become intuitive and natural5. Practice

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

Competing in a Marketplace of Demands

• Prioritizations– “Keeping the lights on”• Production services to run and maintain

– Security and Compliance• This impacts everyone, not just a “small number of

users”

• As important as you think you are, you’re not seen that way by your campus/organization

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

Gaming Principles

• A good game…– Lets everyone play, regardless of skill level– Lets you improve skills over time– Gives you instant feedback

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

Make a Game Everyone Can Play

10

11

32

1

4

6

9

57

8

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

Accessibility is Not Fun

• But…– Solving a problem is fun– Seeing how you have improved and grown is fun– Admit it … winning is fun

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

This is What WCAG 2 Looks Like

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This is What They Want

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Make a Game Everyone Can Play

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Mario Didn’t Save the Princess in World 1-1

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Prioritization

• 4 = fatal error, user cannot interact at all with the element

• 3 = significant error, user can only partially recover or it causes a significant hardship

• 2 = significant error, but user can usually mostly, if not fully recover

• 1 = minor annoyance• 0 = usually can ignore

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

Level 4

• Missing alternative text• Unlabeled form element• No keyboard event for an equivalent mouse

event

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Level 3

• A form control has more than one label• Page auto refreshes• No skip to main content link

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Level 2

• Spacer image does not have an alt attribute• Pages have unique titles and don’t say

“Untitled Document”

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Level 1

• Invalid code• Heading levels are skipped• No titles for frames

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Level 0

• No alternative content for iframes

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Demonstrate System

• http://accessibility.oit.ncsu.edu/accessibility-scan/

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

When Do People Use The System?

• Available 24/7 year round• Contests– NC State Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Website Challenge (April-May)– NC State World Usability Day Website Challenge

(October-November)

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

The Sales Pitch

“You have 28,000 accessibility errors across 8000 pages. Your site ranks 371 out of 385. You are in the bottom 10% of all categories. Can you fix these in the next 2 weeks? Oh, and you’ve had these problems for the past 2 years.”

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

The Results

• Corrected 27,500 errors• 40 out of 385• Top 5% in all categories

“I’m co-opting your employees for my own agenda”

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

Weighted Errors Corrected

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

450,000

500,000

642

190,311

88,029

19,6413,111 0

431,227

138,294

318,742

3,361 805 402

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

Weighted Errors Corrected With Contests

Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

450,000

500,000

642

190,311

88,029

19,6413,111 0

431,227

138,294

318,742

3,361 805 40216,82950,488

98,537

317,659

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

What We’ve Done So Far

• 428 Sites• 115,771 Pages• 1,194,565 Weighted Accessibility Errors

Corrected

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

Number of Sites

Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb300

320

340

360

380

400

420

440

316

329

382394 398 400 401

408 412421 422 426 428

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

Being a Good Gamemaster

• You can always make your game better– More frequent scanning– Historical rankings– Graphical and contextual view (WAVE)

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

Tools and Resources Developed

• Web Accessibility Handbook– go.ncsu.edu/accessibility-handbook

• Readability Bookmarklet– go.ncsu.edu/readability

• Color Contrast Analyzer for Chrome– go.ncsu.edu/color-contrast-chrome

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

Key Elements That Make This Work

• Anonymity, to a degree• Doing part of the work for them– Setting up the scanner?– Doing the scan for them?

• Giving guidance on what is important• Giving immediate feedback on how to fix it

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

The Limits of Gaming

• Automated scans only get you so far– Cannot test for everything

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Automated Tests are Only So Good

alt="N.C. Sen. Daniel Blue Jr. (left) and N.C. Speaker of the House Thom Tillis were among those paying tribute to former N.C. Speaker of the House Harold Brubaker (center)."

The ALT text of this image mentions a color, which isn't useful for blind users.

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

Future Developments

• Receive bonus points for performing manual checks

• Get points for both– Testing if the onscreen focus is always visible– Fixing the onscreen focus problem if it exists

• Artificial intelligence techniques– Determine if you have an appropriate number of

headings

@gdkraus go.ncsu.edu/csun-2014

Questions?