Human face of accessibilityby Elianna James

More than using JAWS

Who am I? and what am I doing?

• I own a consultancy: ‘I Break Websites LLC’. I’m an advocate for end users

• Curious enough to be a cat – but I’m not• Persistent enough to be a pit bull – but I’m not• Come into my world … People who use

assistive technology as a bridge to access websites

• See it through their eyes, ears, hands

HR job recruitment site

• The software is a popular online HR site• Does it work with various Assistive

Technologies?• Can the candidates get the job done ?– 1) Find a likely open job– 2) Apply for the job– 3) Understand what they are doing

Their task

• Go to a job site• Find and apply for a job• Still have their wits about them at the end of

the task

Meet our candidates

• Three different people• Three different skill sets related to work• Three different problems getting to the site – Can they do it?– How hard will this be?– With some feedback can we make the experience

better?

Joseph Haynes, keyboard only userJoseph had an accident giving him severe spine damage. He can’t use a mouse any more but is a long time excellent accountant. photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sjixxxy/6345359269/in/set-72157603643560400 K. Praslowicz

Angie DeMatteo, JAWS userAngie has a genetic condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa. Over a period of many years she has lost much of her vision. She is a skilled data entry specialist with a talent for mentoring others.Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ldanka/3285681308/in/set-72157613160399798 Lorant Dankahazi

Rudy Alphonse, ZoomText userRudy has worked as an audio visual technician for years. He is the master in his field. As his diabetes caused his sight to diminish he has resorted to ZoomText in Reader mode to keep working. Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mahmood/4928005439/ Mahmood Al-Yousif

Our plan

• Let them loose on the site with instructions to “find a job”

• Eagerly they set forth with only a little help from us

• Track problems they have• Turn those issues into “bugs” and get them on

the product roadmap

Joseph used the keyboard

– Tab to go forward– Shift + Tab to go backwards– Up and down arrows

https://www.flickr.com/photos/63089963@N02/15357646087/ Lea Latumahina

Joseph’s opinion

• What is Joseph’s general experience with keyboard only use?

• “I really hate it when there are a ton of links I can see, but I can’t get to the one I want easily. I have to Tab over and over to get there.”

• “Something else that makes me crazy is going through a form thinking it’s all filled out right. Then there’s an issue and I have to try to get back to fix it!”

If you use a mouse you just place it wherever you want

Joseph has to move through the page Tab by Tab. He tabbed 13 times (yellow highlight) to press the ‘Search for Jobs’ button

Search page

Job Application – many pages

Joseph tabs from page to page, filling out the form, moving through dropdown boxes using the arrow keys and making sure he gives the potential employer all the best details about himself.

After a while it’s time for lunch!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/63089963@N02/15357646087/ Tom Hilton

How did Joseph fare?

• “I knew what I wanted. An Accountant job. That made it easier.”

• “I did a search and several came up. I would NOT want to browse on this site. It would take too long.”

• “Once I found a likely job it did take a long time to fill out the application. I had to save it off as a draft and come back later.”

Angie Uses JAWS

• JAWS is a screen reader that interprets and voices what shows up on the computer screen

• Here is a demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiKWTTtGq7U

How did Angie fare?

• “At first I was ok, because the choices weren’t overwhelming. There was a simple enough search form.”

• “When I pressed the Search button the results came up silently. That was a big problem! How do I know if there were results if JAWS doesn’t tell me??”

If JAWS doesn’t speak, Angie can’t hear

• Angie needs JAWS to speak so she understands what is on the screen

• Angie needed help with the site at various points because the screen did other “silent refreshes”. No visual user would this is an issue, but for Angie it is critical.

• There were also times the focus moved suddenly somewhere else, like to the top of the screen. “Whoops! Where am I??”

Other problems Angie had

• Trying to navigate by using the “links list”. This is a tool that is built into JAWS.

• By bringing it up, the JAWS user can learn quickly what links are on a page and moving to them by pressing ENTER.

• Here is what a links list looks like ….. with some examples of how it may not be so useful after all

Edit – edit – edit. Edit what??

More about a links list

Links that are good for a screen reader user are as unique as possible They are as pithy as possible but still give infoDiscouraging if the links list says ‘Edit’, ‘Edit’, ‘Edit’ over and over‘Job Cart’, ‘Saved Searches’, ‘Account’ all give a person a better idea of where they are going and help them decide if they want to go there

Rudy uses ZoomText

• ZoomText is a screen magnifier• Rudy uses a version that includes a reader so

that, when his eyes are really tired, the program also reads the text

• Notice how large the screentext is. User can only see a bit of the screen at a time.

How did Rudy fare?

• “I use a 400x magnification and also use a high contrast version, yellow text on black background. I found, with this combo, some things on the screen just disappeared.”

• “When I made a mistake filling out a form the error was silent and I had to slide all over the screen to figure out what the problem was.”

More about Rudy

• When any User hits an error it is helpful if the error shows up on the screen near where the user’s attention was last.

• Rudy is persistent. He successfully navigated the site and applied for an audio visual technician

Summing up

• All three Users were able to accomplish their task – find a job opportunity and apply.

• All three Users couldn’t have done it without their Assistive Technology

• The JAWS user needed some extra help• Things could have been much easier if the

company and developers knew about these Users and designed the site with them in mind

More than the usual disclaimers

• Joseph, Angie and Rudy aren’t “real” people. They are personas made up to make a point

• The photos are real people whose pictures came from Creative Commons. Attribution for photos on the slides. Thanks to the great photographers for giving physicality to my imagination!!

• Any other concerns, comments or feedback: elianna james eliannaj@yahoo.com or 720-425-1001

• http://ibreakwebsites.com