Even the best websites can be difficult for disabled people says Socitm report

The findings are set out in a report presented at the recent Socitm Insight/Headstar conference Building a Perfect Website that took place in London on July 11.

The user testing was organised by the Usability Exchange, with a group of seven disabled testers of mixed gender, age, and experience, including people with blindness, partial sight, dyslexia, profound deafness, cerebral palsy, and lack of dexterity in the hands. The group carried out the tests with their own computer equipment including screen readers (for blind users) and screen magnifiers (for the visually impaired).

Testers were asked to complete the same two tasks on each of the websites named as ‘top twenty' sites in the 2006 edition of Better connected, Socitm Insight's annual survey of all local authority websites. Task one was to use the council website to find the council's switchboard phone number, and task two was to report an abandoned car through the website.

Council websites were given a 1-star rating if all disabled testers were able to complete task one, a simple task for a council website. A 2-star rating was given if all disabled testers were able to complete both Task 1 and Task 2, a complex transaction-based task. A 3-star rating was awarded if all disabled testers were able to complete both Task 1 and Task 2 with no tester reporting any accessibility or usability problems in the process.

The results showed that 19 out of the 20 local authorities (95%) achieved a 1-star rating or better. Seven out of the 20 (35%) achieved a 2-star rating, but none achieved a 3-star rating, meaning that for every local authority tested, accessibility or usability problems were reported by at least one user. The best received three reported problems and the worst nineteen such problems, with the average 9.5 problems.

Among the problems reported with task one were difficulty in locating the phone number when it was in a non-standard area of the home page, and use of ‘click here' links which are not useful to users of screen readers. Difficulties with task two included problems with the accessibility of some web forms to screen reader users and difficulties in finding the abandoned vehicle form when it was placed under general categories like ‘fault reporting' or ‘streetcare'.

According to Stefan Haselwimmer, MD of the Usability Exchange, the results of the testing highlight the importance of carrying out disabled user testing when evaluating website accessibility – something that is recommended by accessibility guidance such as the British Standards Institution's PAS 78. ‘Such testing can also highlight many of the usability issues that affect non-disabled users' he says.

Martin Greenwood, programme manager for Socitm Insight and author of the annual Better connected report comments: ‘An effective local authority website should make it as easy as possible for users, regardless of ability or disability, to find the information or services they are looking for. Better connected already assesses accessibility and usability of websites using automated tools and expert review, and other research we have done shows that on the whole, local authorities are doing better on these issues than other parts of the public and private sectors. However, what this report demonstrates clearly is the additional value of user testing by disabled users.'

The Usability Exchange was launched in 2006 and provides a simple, fast and cost-effective platform for conducting website usability testing with disabled people. Website developers can log on to the Usability Exchange and create usability tests that measure how accessible and usable a website is to disabled people. Developers find out what disabled users think of their website and can communicate directly with testers to resolve particular accessibility or usability problems.

Related links to this article:
Society of Information Technology Management
Usability Exchange

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