Accessibility

Assignment 1: Accessibility

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CIS 524 –Computer Interaction and Design

Assignment 1: Accessibility

Introduction

Building a user interface that meets the needs of a diverse population can be incredibly difficult. Universal usability is met when affordable, useful and usable technology accommodates the vast majority of the global participation: this entails addressing challenges of technology variety, user diversity, and gaps in user knowledge . Designing an interface is no different. The complete design needs to be universally usable by as many people as possible in as many diverse populations as possible. There are best practices as well as federal legislation that apply to this process which we will be discussing in the research.

Best Practices for Developing a Universally Usable Interface

When it comes to designing or developing universally usable interfaces, there are many best practices that have been followed throughout the time that interfaces have been around, and when it comes to websites there are clearly defined. The appearance and usability of certain interface elements and functionality are crucial to the success any websites in today’s market . Some of these practices are:

For the purpose of this research, we will be assessing five (5) of these practices that make an interface universally usable interface.

• Appearance of search box
• Location of shopping cart and log-in register functions
• Placement of opt-in form
• Clearly marked collapsible/expandable content
• AJAX Loading Indicator
• Use of JavaScript & Iframes
• Use of Flash
• Advertising
• Easily Identifiable Links

Appearance and Location of Search Box

Users nowadays the first thing they do when they log in to a site is look for the search bar option. Take for example Google, even though it is obvious that there will be a search box since it is a search engine, but it is right in the middle of the page, jumping right at the user when they decide to log in to it. Other examples are web databases; the location of the search bar needs to be obvious since it is obvious that users might find it cumbersome to navigate through all the content. The search box should be easy to see and large enough to stand out amongst other elements on the page. Unless the audience is unique, the box should be placed in the customary position on the upper right side because this is where visitors have become accustomed to finding it .

Clearly Marked Collapsible/Expandable Content

The CollapsiblePanel is a very flexible extender that allows you to easily add collapsible sections to your web page.Collapsible are useful when you want to hide and show a large amount of content. In simple words, they make the content look simpler and you can hide the complexity of the interface, but they need to be clearly marked, so the user is aware of the presence of it in the interface. Collapsible content should be indicated with symbol such as a plus/minus or an arrow, etc. .

Advertising

The number one reason for someone adding ads to a website or an interface design is revenue. You can make money out of heavy traffic through your interface, hence getting a monetary value out of it. With that said, the amount of it needs to be addressed. Over advertising can kill your design and make it look like you are just in it for the money. Over advertising can disrupt the visual appeal to your design, and it can become distracting.

Location of Shopping Cart and Log-in Register Functions

Visitors tend to look to the top-right corner of the page when searching for ‘shopping cart’ or ‘register now’ links. Unless you have a reason to place it somewhere else, this element should be kept in this familiar location so as not to slow down or disrupt the user experience .

Easily Identifiable Links

A user should be able to note the difference between regular texts and links. Links should be clearly visible and they should be made by using different color . Also, the links should have a different color to differentiate between and active link and a visited link. In the past, the convention has been to have underlines bluish color for links in the site, and a purple color for any visited site. The underlining of both active and visited links is also a best practice widely used.

Section 508 Effects on Development and Users

The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was amended by the US Congress in 1998; it requires federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities.Under Section 508, agencies must give disabled employees and members of the public access to information that is comparable to the access available to others. In other words, any person interacting with technology that has a disability must have a similar or seamless experience when interacting with it. Obviously, this plays a huge factor on the designer as well as the developer of the interface, since it must be included in the final product. As with anything, when the law states standards and guidelines on how things must be, it is easier for the developer to follow a set of rules already establish and design with them in mind. Some of these standards apply to a wide range of areas including but not limited to software applications and operating systems, web-based intranet and internet information and applications, telecommunications products, videos or multimedia products, self-contained and closed products, and desktop and portable computers. The user is also affected by section 508, because they need to be aware of the accessibility provisions of the design, in the case of a disabled person, but also, it needs not to be distracting for regular or frequent users that do not need to use these provisions.

Available Tools for Verifying Universal Design Guidelines

Even though there are many tools available that claim to check and validate an interface and wheatear is complies with standards or not, no tool can do a complete checkup all guidelines included in section 508. Therefore, the safest way to go to make sure that all compliance is met is to combine the different tools and evaluate the interface using all of them. Some of these tools are:

Practicality of Building Multiple Interface Option

• AATT (Automated Accessibility Testing Tool): Browser-based accessibility testing tools and plugins require manually testing each page, one at a time. Tools that can check a website can only scan pages that do not require login credentials, and that are not behind a firewall. Instead of developing, testing, and using a separate accessibility test suite, you can now integrate accessibility testing into your existing automation test suite using AATT.
• Web Accessibility Checker: The easiest way to perform accessibility checks on any ASP.NET web application. Fully customizable and support all the major international accessibility standards. It features browser link to test the running website, tests the actual DOM, integrates with the Visual Studio error list, supported accessibility standards WCAG Level A and WCAG Level AA, Section 508, and other best practices.
• HTML_CodeSniffer: a client-side script that checks HTML source code and detects violations of a defined coding standard. It comes with standards that enforce the three conformance levels of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, and the web-related components of the U.S. “Section 508” legislation.

In most of the cases websites have single interface which provides the services to diverse populations. For example in case of different language when user selects another language, interface remains same and only the content of text changes as per the requested language. Icons and images almost remain the same along with interface layout. In case where there is a need for new element in the interface, or to remove an element to serve any specific user base, that is when the need for multiple interface development comes. On this particular scenario a completely different interface layout or different actions are required and these multiple interfaces are created by developer. For example, retail websites can have a multiple interface option.

Conclusion

All of the user interface elements and functions discussed are crucial to website usability and play important roles in the user’s perception of the interface. Many small enhancements can make a big difference in perceived speed and can keep users from getting frustrated or uncomfortable. The interface elements must be simple and streamlined, and follow conventions where possible.

References

GitHub, Inc. (n.d.). Automated Accessibility Testing Tool (AATT). 2016. Retrieved from https://github.com/paypal/AATT

Novick, D., & Scholtz, J. C. (2002). Universal Usability. Interacting with Computers, 14(4), 269-270.

Tortola, C. (2010, January 11). Best Practices for Popular User Interface Elements. Retrieved from NeptuneWeb: http://www.neptuneweb.com/blog/10-best-practices-for-popular-user-interface-elements.html

WebdesignerDepot. (2009, November 5). Best Practices for 6 Common User Interface Elements. Retrieved from WebdesignerDepot: http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/11/best-practices-for-6-common-user-interface-elements/