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If you live in a major city, chances are, your buses, trains, and trams are accessible to people with physical disabilities and special needs. Your elevators and sidewalks, too. What about your website?

According to Forbes Magazine, people with disabilities represent the largest minority group there is — a $1 trillion market worldwide.

To provide a comparative perspective, consider that the total market for cloud services in 2011 is only $91 billion according to Gartner. The overall market for consumer packaged goods (CPG) in the US, according to McKinsey, is only twice Forbes’ estimate, at $2 trillion; that’s every CPG in the entire country — mouthwash, paper towels, Tide, everything.

People with disabilities use the Web in ways I call "smarter than the average bear." There are myriad assistive technologies out there that help solve this challenge.

Before we look at usability testing for web accessibility, let’s first discuss how user testing is normally done so that you can have a better view of how user testing for accessibility is unique.

Usability Testing 101

If you have no experience in usability testing, I’ll give you a crash course now.

In a usability test, the researchers watch as a user interacts with a product or website in order to find areas that aren’t user friendly.

What you’re trying to understand in a basic usability test is this: Given a task, how many participants can efficiently and successfully complete them?

For example, if a university wants to learn whether potential students can easily submit a request for a brochure on graduate programs, they might start by conducting usability tests to learn, quantitatively, how many potential students will be able to complete the task efficiently and successfully. Qualitatively, you can study the results for things you can do to optimize the potential student’s experience of finding a way on the website to accomplish this task.

Types of Usability Testing

There are several different types of usability testing.

Remote User Testing

Remote user testing is a form of usability testing where the tester moderates the test via phone, webcam, or an online tool, rather than being on-site with the user.

This is often done with the users scattered across the country (or the world), and budget constraints dictate that the tester find alternatives to conducting in-person tests.

Moderated or Unmoderated User Testing

Moderated user testing refers to research studies where there’s a live moderator spelling out the tasks the visitors needs to complete. In a face-to-face, moderated test scenario, the tester is typically monitored by a webcam or by live observers.

Unmoderated user testing usually gives the user a simple prompt, leaving it up to them to figure out how to do what is prompted.

Online User Testing

Online user testing describes the use of a web-based tool (as compared to test participants sitting in a room that’s set up just for the test).

Example of a Usability Test

Say you’re a usability tester. You might see a screen like the one below. This interface is specific to Loop11, my own user testing SaaS company.

In this case, the usability testers were given three distinct tasks to complete:

• Freely surf Apple’s site for information
• Buy an iPad case
• Get information about iPad’s battery life

Say you’re conducting this usability test. Here’s the data you’re ultimately looking for:

You can read more about this experiment here.

The Unique Challenges of User Testing for Web Accessibility

Now that you know the basics on how user testing works, you’ll have a better appreciation of the unique set of barriers people with physical disabilities face when they are browsing the Web — a set of difficulties most of us probably haven’t thought much about.

Examples of Disabilities That Can Affect a Website’s Accessibility

Below are some disabilities that can affect a person from experiencing the Web the way most people do.

• Motor disabilities: Like what an amputee might experience when he or she can’t use a traditional mouse, keyboard or touchscreen to interact with a web page.
• Visual impairments: This includes varying degrees and onset of the visual impairment, such as color blindness, low vision, and complete vision blindness.
• Cognitive impairments: E.g., traumatic brain injury, brain disease, and so forth.
• Hearing impairments: This includes varying degrees and onset of the impairment, such as complete deafness from birth or lower hearing capabilities developed as we age.

Example of an Assistive Technology

For children and adults with autism, one familiar tool is TalkingTILES. It’s a touch-based application — what’s called an "Augmentative & Alternative Communication" (AAC) app — that runs on any major platform and any computer.

The idea is to empower people with speech or language disorders to communicate with the world around them, and with computers, using symbols and visual words.

Basic Suggestions for Minimum Website Accessibility

When it comes to user testing, there are a few simple steps we can take to ensure that our site is, at the minimum, able to hook up with assistive technologies. This, in turn, removes common issues from our websites and allows us to focus our tests on things that we would normally have a difficult time discovering without user testing.

Use Descriptive Label Elements for Input Elements in Web Forms

If a visitor is using a screen-reading assistive technology that interprets what’s being displayed on the computer screen (designed for visually impaired people), your web forms will be hard, if not impossible, for the person to interact with.

Below is an example of an <input> element with a good, descriptive <label>:

<label for="username">Name:</label>
    <input id="username" type="text" name="textfield" />
    

Notice that the for attribute is important because it "links" the <label> element to the appropriate <input> element.

Test Site Navigation for Keyboard-Only Scenarios

Every component of your site must be navigable using only the keyboard. Some site visitors won’t have access to a mouse or touchpad, so your site should be accessible via keyboard-only navigation if needed.

A rudimentary test: Use the Tab key to see if you can get to all hyperlinks and interactive elements such as links in drop-down menus, <input> elements, buttons, and so forth.

Also, check to see if the currently active interactable element is highlighted and visible. Below is the Google search page showing how good Tab key navigation works.

The active/focused element is styled using CSS so that it is presented with a blue border.

When you press the Tab key, it goes to the next HTML element. The blue border is removed from the previously active element and is transferred in the currently active HTML element.

The styling and expected behavior is consistent.

Useful Alt Attributes for Images

Images on your website that are critical to understanding the content being presented must have a useful alt attribute value to assist people that can’t see images.

Of course, there’s always more you can do as a site owner and the above tips are only a few basic steps you can take to make your website more accessible for people.

Example of User Testing for Web Accessibility

When we talk about accessibility user testing, we refer to a set of usability studies focused on users who rely on assistive technologies to access web content.

The objective is usually to determine whether everyone, regardless of physical or cognitive impairments, can use a website.

For a recent project, Knowbility, a non-profit dedicated to increasing technology accessibility, ran an accessibility assessment using our software.

A screenshot of the Knowbility website home page.

Participants

They recruited participants with special needs for accessing websites so that the researchers can determine what barriers the participants might face in browsing a particular university’s website.

The participants consisted of:

• People with visual impairments (spanning from low vision to legal blindness)
• People with a cognitive disability (such as a traumatic brain injury)
• People with a motor disability (e.g., an amputee)

Some participants used assistive technologies like screen readers, screen magnifiers, and adaptive technology for motor impairments.

Findings

Overall, the site tested could benefit from several improvements, though 6 of the 9 participants concluded the site was easy to use. Not a single participant thought it was difficult to keep track of their current location in the website. They all found navigation, on the whole, logical and well presented.

The three main accessibility problems encountered had to do with keyboard use and screen-reader-accessibility.

1. Dropdown menus weren’t accessible via keyboard, making them inaccessible for visually and motor-impaired participants.
2. Keyboard focus issues were discovered: some interactive elements lit up as intended, while others didn’t.
3. A lack of headings (e.g., <h1>, <h2>, and <h3>) made navigation tedious and time-consuming for those with audio screen readers. Instead of being able to skip sections of content that weren’t relevant, the participants’ only choice was to listen through entire pages of content until they heard the relevant item come up on the screen reader.

These findings are often difficult to find without actual user testing. Because it’s one thing to know how to create accessible websites, but it’s another thing to actually witness how people with different abilities use a website.

Test Your Own Site Now for Accessibility

• Can you navigate your site with a keyboard alone?
• Does your site use headings that are broken up easily enough for a screen reader to scan effectively?
• Are interactive elements adaptable to all audiences?
• Are your links sufficiently distinguished for colorblind visitors?

There certainly are a lot of considerations in the world of accessibility testing, though this shouldn’t deter web designers and user experience professionals from ensuring websites are built with universal design in mind.

Learn More About Web Accessibility User Testing

In 2012, I ran a joint webinar with the good people at Knowbility. You can view the webinar on YouTube and it’s embedded here below.

To learn more about broader questions usability testers face, you can also check out my 7-series video called:  Online Usability Testing 101. It’s free, but you’ll need to enter your email address.

Some other resources and articles on the Web to read:

• Articles on WebAIM (webaim.org)
• W3C Web Accessibility Initiative’s Introduction to Web Accessibility (w3.org)
• How People with Disabilities Use the Web: Overview (w3.org)
• 10 Simple Web Accessibility Tips You Can Do Today (sixrevisions.com)

Related Content

• Progressive Enhancement 101: Overview and Best Practices
• Factors That Affect Usability
• 10 Tools for Evaluating Web Design Accessibility
• Related categories: Usability and Web Development

About the Author

Toby Biddle is a website usability expert and CEO of Loop11, a tool for unmoderated online usability testing.

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Every now and then, on some blog or design group, someone brings up the question of designers unionizing or having some sort of certification in the hopes of assuring the public that we are professionals and adept at our craft. Can it be done, and if so, how?

The huge response to Monday’s April Fools’ prank on the introduction of certification in the U.S. shows that a lot of people are passionate on the subject.

For many years I volunteered to head various committees and sit on the board of directors for several design and illustration organizations and they have all made the question of unionizing a priority. The Graphic Artists Guild, for one, actually had meetings and outreach to established unions to see if they would either create a sub-chapter, so to speak, for creatives or at least support a small union of artistic types.

Several big unions did show some interest. The consideration of more union dues and, I suppose, the klout that designers, photographers and illustrators could wield was an attractive power base to unions who often rely on other unions for support in hard negotiations and strikes. Unfortunately, it just never went anywhere.

The question of certifications, including apprentice stages, journeyman and master titles, died out back when the black death an everyday concern and people didn’t look oddly at those who said “forsooth.” Both the Graphic Artists Guild and AIGA were both interested in certification possibilities. If creatives carried the assurance of an official certification, clients would receive only top notch service, pay rates could be controlled and there would be rules for those who sought to enter the field and grow through the certified levels until they were masters at our craft — living treasures, as the Japanese refer to their honored craftspeople.

How it would work

Eugène Delacroix – Liberty Leading The People (1830) Musée du Louvre, Paris

So, you graduate from art school and apply to the Artists Union. You start paying dues and are given an “apprentice” label so you can go out and find a staff position and study under a “master” design firm owner or corporation. If you choose to freelance, there is a minimum fee you have to charge clients. There are rules and regulations galore, backed up by the power of the union and the relationship with other unions who deal with shipping, trucking, electrical workers, etc.

For the practice of certification, you would apply and present your portfolio and a group of people would either accept you for certification as a professional level creative or turn you down and then you are not allowed to practice your craft as you struggle to pay back your student loans for four years of art school.

Clients would have to pay a set rate, pay on time and show respect to you as a unionized/certified professional. Also, companies like Adobe would have to offer their software at a lower rate because the union may not agree the cost is fair. Unionization would also strengthen copyright protection. No longer could a client say, “I found this on the internet, use it for my web site!”

Moose and Rocco would certainly help that client find his checkbook… and quickly!

Why it won’t work

Antoine Jean Gros – Napoleon on the Battlefield of Eylau (1807) Musée du Louvre, Paris

First of all, no beginner can afford union dues on top of everything else one has to pay in life without having an income start immediately (although some unions defer joining for 90 days after starting work). Another consideration is how would union membership be enforced? The old fashioned way of breaking heads and concrete loafers? Strikes held against any business who hired non-union personnel? Laws passed by a legislature?

Let’s say Robert and Roberta both graduate from the same class in art school. Both decide they want to freelance.

Robert joins the union and now has to tell clients that although he’s just starting out, he gets a minimum of $$$$ per hour and the client must sign a union contract. How do you think that will go down? Robert doesn’t make enough to eat, pay rent and pay his union dues.

Roberta decides she’s not going to join the union. She does a $50 logo for Luigi’s Pizzaria at the corner of her block but Robert finds out and turns her in, to the union. Roberta is accidentally hit with a piano while she takes a bath and her hands and arms are broken. Meanwhile, Luigi finds a stromboli in his pizza oven that is stuffed with mozzarella, peppers, onions and his daughter’s kitten’s head. Then Luigi slips on some olive oil and crashes through his front window, across the sidewalk and into oncoming traffic. Oops!

Would non-union creatives really face this kind of stopping block to practicing their craft? Would little businesses like Luigi’s face high rates they can’t afford but have to pay or their tomato sauce doesn’t get delivered, their electric outlets spurt out sparks and fire and customers are afraid to cross a picket line?

Would art schools abide by the idea of union control and certification? Most art schools have a realistic placement rate of 20% of graduates working in or closely with the field (they claim the percentage is higher but think about how many of your alumni peers are working as designers and such and not as art store clerks and photocopy technicians at the local Quickcopy). Would they deal with 80% of graduates filing law suits and demanding their tuition back? Would they be more selective of entering freshmen, assuring only the best of the best can study design? Business is business and the rise of for-profit “art schools” such as the Art Institutes, DeVry, Phoenix University and the Academy of Art (online, if you can hold a straight face about online art schools teaching anything about design and art), has proved studying for a career in design is an in-demand business.

A Facebook designers’ group had an interesting thread recently. The question was posted in response to a poorly typeset image of an alleged Glaser quote, “computers are to design as microwaves are to cooking.”

A member asked if anyone else had heard of Milton Glaser saying he hated computers. The responses were ponderous but as Glaser was a former teacher of mine, I had to answer that he did indeed say this but it was not the computer as a tool he hated, but as a crutch to those who lacked talent and ability. It was after all, just a tool, like an Exacto knife is a tool but doesn’t know where to make the needed cuts.

Merely learning software that drags and drops images and type is not design, although it is the reason many people believe they have design ability. Hence, the major weakness of for-profit art schools, online art schools and underachieving students who believe it can be done for them by a machine with lots of functioning buttons may be the reason so many have spoken about bolstering up an industry of shrinking talent with the strength of a union or weeding out post-graduates with a certification process.

Who else gets left out?

Francisco Goya – El tres de mayo de 1808 en Madrid (1814) Museo del Prado, Madrid

As aggravating as those Facebook friends are when they piss and moan about the design industry between daily posts about their five hours of gardening, pictures of the fabulous dinners they cooked for their spouse and the pictures posted from their sixth vacation of the year, they do sometimes create some great design work (yes, some not so great, but let’s not get petty). I believe a friend of mine actually posted a design she did this year so she could still list herself as a graphic designer. Well, she didn’t show the design but she said she did one and I believe her. I’m sure the heavy metal band down the block from her was quite pleased with their new logo or flyer. With a union or certification, is she to be omitted from the ability to call herself a designer or give away free work so she can hold her head high at creative meetings in town? Isn’t the silent contempt and snickering from peers who work as professional designers punishment enough?

Does the noob who you think will just never have “it” get left lying in a muddy ditch by the edge of town, awaiting a mercy bullet in the head or are they given a chance to grow and evolve their design skills in a free market?

Does Billy’s mom or dad, who made a decision to stay home and raise a family instead of pursuing a full-time design career, opting for the occasional school flyer and birthday party announcement get their legs broken while running the kids from ballet lessons to piano recitals to soccer practice?

All of this was part of the discussions about unionizing and certifications but aside from twenty levels of membership, no one could ever really focus on an answer to who is professional and whom is not, nor could any practical lines between areas of practice and dedication be drawn. Yet, it would be discussed every now and then.

Why does this continue to come up?

Pablo Picasso – Guernica (1937) Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid

Why do creatives continue to ask the question of forming a strength in numbers organization. Aren’t the assorted artists’ organizations enough? Obviously they aren’t but imagine business without them!

Is it frustration with hearing the never ending stories of people accepting $50 for doing a logo or the expansion of design contest sites? Is it the social morals that tell us we shouldn’t strangle those we feel make us look less professional and more like a rabid pack of artsy-types that can’t add and usually cry at the drop of a hat?

It’s not just us. I overheard two plumbers talking the other day about how their clients always argue the price, ask for cutting corners, change their minds mid-job and hide once it’s time to pay their final bill. This is the life of any independent business person no matter what they do or what service they provide.

The truth is, we have the power to say, “no!” We can turn down ridiculously low offers. We can protect ourselves by using a contract and properly placed payments upfront and with milestones. We can learn how to deal on a professional level with clients who understand and appreciate what creatives can truly do for their business.

Let those part-timers do the $50 jobs, the metal bands down the block trade a bag of weed for design work while they wonder why there are no history books that include the steampunk era of industrialized England, the design contests serve small businesses and individuals who see only price and not purpose and let those who can’t survive as full-time freelancers fade away as Darwin outlined for the survival of the fittest.

In the end, it comes down to our own abilities and desire to be the best we can, both in design and business. No union or piece of paper or any amount of hand holding will make us stronger. It only serves to help those less dedicated and less talented elevate themselves through strong-armed methods that, in the end, will only stifle us and create a glass ceiling to those who can go far beyond the rules and regulations any organization can provide.

Does your country have any sort of certification or union? Has it helped or hindered you? Do you think a union is the answer for the creative industry? Let us know in the comments.

Featured image © Weegee/International Center of Photography

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The team of Yelena Yesha, Karuna Joshi and Lily Bengfort has been selected for the NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program for April.

The NSF I-Corps is a set of activities and programs that prepare scientists and engineers to extend their focus beyond the laboratory and broadens the impact of select, NSF-funded, basic-research projects. Combining experience and guidance from established entrepreneurs with a targeted curriculum, I-Corps is a public-private partnership program that teaches grantees to identify valuable product opportunities that can emerge from academic research, and offers entrepreneurship training to student participants.