Blind MoneySavers/those with Disabilities

MSE_Martin

I want to make the site more accessible to the visually impaired, those with disabilities which make using the site more difficult, and those using web-reader software.

Useability Audit
To start there's a company doing a 'useability audit' of just this, and i hope once we get the report back from the new developer comes on board we will be implementating changes.

Buddy System
As a seperate idea, both now and once the useability study has been implemented, I thought a buddy system would be useful.  Not just for the site but for MoneySaving generally.  

From what i am aware (and please feedback any info on this - i don't claim to know much) using a reader is good for reading articles, but scanning and surfing is more difficult and chat forum info especially tough.

The aim would be for users of the site to volunteer to buddy up with someone who could help with MoneySaving surfing for them, where users of the site would give a little bit of their time to do a bit of surfing the site and the chat room.

Obviously we need to make sure no personal info is passed over, so it is secure and there are probably other issues, this is only a thought.  I would welcome feedback, both on whether this would actually help anyone and/or is needed plus whether anyone would be willing to volunteer.

Please forgive any incorrect terminlogy or assumptions.  If it isn't useful or needed, then great, if it is, I'll do my best to set it up.   Any other suggestions would be welcomed.

16011996

I would be up for anything that makes the site as accessible as possible. my best friend is visually impared, and she has to blow the size of the page up to read the posts, but i quite often email her with any i think she'll find interesting. i don't mind giving a bit of time to help out, spend plenty of time on here anyway. sorry no ideas, but will have a think and come back if i think of anything.

Sooler

May I point you, if you aren't aware of them, in the direction of Independent Testers http://www.independent-testers.org/, you may find their services of interest.

"Independent Testers is a free service run entirely on a voluntary basis, this includes the management and the testers. We offer web site developers the opportunity to have their web site page or site tested for a wide range of tests."


Cost £0

flub_2

Take a look at this

http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp

Bobby is a well respected site on the issue of disability. You just put in the url, choose the standard to work against and bish, bash, bosh. But beware it is very unforgiving!!! For a laugh, put the RNIB site through....not so holier than thou now....

Cost= zero!!

https://www.drc.org.uk--Disability Rights Commission site is good as well--FOC.

Also look at https://www.bl4e.co.uk, free too...lots of info on legislation...

Hope this helps.

Flub

KG

Good on you Martin. With the new EU legislation coming in legal action can be taken against non-accessibile websites, but you'd be surprised how many people are ignoring this. Both the usability audit and the buddy system sound really good.

I am by no means an accessibility and usability expert myself, but as a content editor on a government-funded website accessibility is high on the agenda and there are key things built into the way we work to ensure that we're making the best possible site. We have accessibility and usability experts on board, but I am always interested in increasing my knowledge in this every changing area myself. So I will watch this thread with interest.

I am afraid I don't have any specific information on chat forums, but here are a couple of things that might help to people just starting out on this front:

1) Take a look at this 'Is your website accessible to all' article (http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/connected/connected11/specialfeature/accessibility.asp). It is by no means comprehensive and is aimed at teachers, but the info at the bottom of the page explains some of the points to consider in non-techy terms. (The points cover alt tags, meaningful links, appropriate titles, provision of contact information, and accessibility statements).

2) There are many screen readers on the market and they can differ in the way they deal with information. The best way of understanding the way your site may be presented to a visually impaitred user is to look at it through a screen reader though. I am sure there are free screen readers available to download, but am not in aposition to recommend one. Maybe someone else can?

3) Look at your site through a PDA and mobile phone. All too often when people think about usability they are talking about the experience of a user when they are sitting down in front of a bog-standard desk-top, when in fact more and more pople are using alternative means to view the web these days. When you look at things through a PDA or mobile you understand immediately that some of our really basic understanding of a web page doesn't work. For example, geographical references such as 'at the top of the page' or 'the link below' can get really messed up. It's best to avoid these entirely, not only for people using screen readers who may read the page in a different order, but also for users of other equipment.

4) You can use things like Bobby (http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp) or preferably W3C (http://www.w3.org/) to validate your pages to a certain standard, but remember that it won't pick up on things like whether your alt tags are meaningful, and whether you have included geographic references in your pages. (BTW - one of the easiest ways to validate your page is to open it in the Opera browser (free to download) and press ctrl+alt+v. This will open a seperate window with information on how that particular page conforms to the W3C standards. You can do this on any page of any website, not just your own).

5) My understanding of usability is that it's about getting the balance of user choice correct. You want to make sure the user can choose to interact with the website in their preferred manner, but not present them with so many choices it's overwhelming. It goes all the way down to niggly little things like should links (either internally or to external sites) ever open up another broswer window automatically? Because if it does that is the computer making the choice, not the user...

There is other stuff to, but my head is pretty garbled this morning, and to be honest I am supposed to be working... So, excuse the rambling nature of the above.

Finally though, at a recent conference two usability 'experts' were recommended. The first was Jakob Neilsen who rus the Use It website (http://www.useit.com/). He gets a bit of a slagging sometimes, but I find his 'alert box' emails useful. His accessibility advice makes sense and the regular, short emails give me a good overview of the current issues in usability. These are useful briefings for people who need to be aware of accessibility, but who aren't paid to be experts.

The other guy I have never heard of, but he was recommmeded by a well respected professional. Gerry McGovern's website (http://www.gerrymcgovern.com) covers some really pertinent issues for usabiltiy such as 'making your website easy to navigate', though as I say, I haven't had a chance to take a good look at what else is there yet.

Hope this helps.

KG

KG

In the course of my work today I have come across 'top ten tips' on the Visionary Design' website:

http://visdesign.nlbuk.org/mod.php?mod=userpage&menu=10&page_id=3

The Visionary design awards celebrate web design which is accessible for visually impaired users.

KG

Former_MSE_Webmaster

This is great stuff peeps, many thanks.

We've already started a review with someone who does this professionally (he's volunteered his services for free ) but I'll also take advantage of all this extra information too.

Keep the feedback coming.

Webby

Mean_Scot

Hi Martin,

Have you checked out a charity I work for called AbilityNet? This is a charity which helps people with all kinds of disabilities to use computers. See https://www.abilitynet.org.uk and have a look at their factsheets and also click on the My Computer My Way link. They offer web accessibility services, including user testing , so that people with a range of disabilities can try out your website to let you know what works and what doesn't. They do charge for audits and tests but DO give FREE advice and are quite happy to have a chat.

Even if not any use for yourself, your members might be interested to know they have lots of FREE info on how to adjust computers with the info in Windows to enlarge text, change colours etc. It doesn't always involve spending loads of money. There are lots of free and cheap ways to make computers more accessible and there are a range of factsheets and skillsheets which can be downloaded free from the website. The freephone number is 0800 269 545 or you can e-mail for advice on enquiries@abilitynet.org.uk

Hope this is of use!