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Accessibility for the Uninitiated

Presented by:

September 2008

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Who we are Leading user experience consultancy Offices in Edinburgh & London Our services

Usability testing Eye tracking Testing with disabled users Expert evaluations Accessibility reviews Focus groups Usability and accessibility training

Clients: DTI, Economist.com, Houses of Parliament, Emirates Airline, RBS, ACAS & many more

My background System Testing Web development Accessibility Consultant

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Who are the uninitiated?For the past year we have been working

with a major UK company. Providing training on usability and accessibility Intranet site administrators Generally no awareness of usability or

accessibility

Intranet page designs varied wildlyNo standard adopted Limited accessibility functionality in the

CMS used.

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Background Major UK Utility Supplier 2,500+ Site administrators Little or no usability or accessibility training Very few with experience in website

construction Limited interest in site administration

Not their main role Want to add/edit information then return to

main job. All users of existing intranet

All find the intranet a frustrating experience from a usability perspective.

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Main challenges Content Management weaknesses Little interest in usability and even less in

accessibility: After lunch session. “The Graveyard Shift”. No clear understanding of what accessibility is.

Unable to grasp how disabled people use web Blind people probably the easiest to imagine. Had no experience of disabled people using assistive

technology in their departments. HR would not provide us with details of how many

disabled users employed. Little understanding of (or legal responsibility for)

compliance. Technical limitations – e.g. cannot install assistive

software on locked down computers.

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Content Management System Content management system has limitations:-

Produces invalid markup Inline <FONT> tags and fixed sizes Incorrectly nested headings (start at <h3>) Use of table based layouts Use of JavaScript based concertina menus

Damage limitation exercise Identify which available structural elements not being

used correctly Link naming – eliminate ‘click here’ Nested tables Correctly nesting what headings are available

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Content Management Systems (in general)

Notorious for producing inaccessible markup.

As a result, can be impossible to implement accessible page content.

Training site administrators is ineffective if we do not train the developers who build and maintain the CMS.

In-house CMS tools often less accessible than off the shelf:- Large number of developers Inconsistency in design, functionality

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Disabilities It is critical that users understand not only

the disabilities affected but also:- The differences in users needs The different way that users navigate

Keyboard only Alternative input devices

Less obvious effects of particular disabilities Memory issues Navigation restraints Inaccessible accessibility

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Raising interest Images of assistive technologyDemonstrations of assistive technology

JAWS screen reader in 40 minute mode Screen magnification Page customisations Browser controls

Video footage of disabled users using the web.

More straightforward:- Get participants to try and browse their pages

without a mouse. Anecdotes from disabled testing.

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Raising interest (2) Hands on analysis of their own pages

Pointing out accessibility issues Explaining how these issues affect disabled users Mini-audit

Use tools such as Colour Contrast Analyser to show how site would look to colour blind users.

Provide video clips without sound and afterwards ask participants to provide details of what took place in the video. Difficult without dialogue or transcript.

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ImpactDemonstration of a disabled user

accessing the intranet generally has most impact Most participants will not have witnessed

disabled user accessing the web. Many companies won’t disclose details of

disabled staff.

JAWS in 40 minute mode Use screen reader to access pages. Responses are generally quite dramatic.

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SummaryAwareness of accessibility issues was low

amongst content contributors.Required to tailor the course to cover only

what the could do using the CMS.Acceptance that intranet sites won’t

become fully accessible overnight. Interactive demonstrations of assistive

software very popular although not always technically practical.

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Thank YouUser Vision55 North Castle StreetEdinburghEH2 3QA

Tel: 0131 225 0859 Email: markpalmer@uservision.co.uk Web: www.uservision.co.uk