For a few months ago, I have been working on Web Accessibility, together with the Uruguayan Special Network.
Although I have been working on this topic for years, in these months I have been able to take a closer look at the topic and its daily problems.
We are currently carrying out the website of the network and this has meant that in addition to working with the tools available to check its accessibility, we are conducting tests with people who have some degree of disability and who are the site's target audience.
Days ago we were meeting with the president of the network, Mr. Humberto Demarco, who suffers from blindness and uses the JAWS screen reader to surf the web, like most blind users.
A screen reader is a program that converts all the information of the programs executed in the computer in audio format. In other words, one listens to everything that appears on the monitor screen.
We were analyzing various sites, seeing the problems they have when it comes to wanting some type of information and seeing what they really use and in what way, to be able to navigate a website without problems.
While laws are being made in many countries to make state sites accessible, most private companies have no idea if their website is accessible to everyone.
Many make the mistake that being accessible is only for people with physical disabilities. But not being accessible can be:
• a site fully developed with the latest version of Flash, when most users do not have it installed on their computers, therefore they cannot see it correctly.
• have a page that takes many seconds to fully unfold.
• that the main page says that the site is designed for certain types of monitors or with a certain memory.
• make it look good in Explorer but not with Firefox, Crome, Opera or Safari.
• have low contrast between text and background color, or complex backgrounds that make it difficult to read.
• Anyway, these are some of the many items that can make your site not accessible to all users.
Days ago, I received information from the World Health Organization, which states that there are 600 million people worldwide who have some type of intellectual, physical or sensory disability.
On the other hand, in the majority of Latin American countries, the population with a disability is around 10% of its population.
I think that it is a very important fact to keep in mind when defining the guidelines for the development of websites, beyond the fact that at some point in the near future, it will be a legal matter.
This article will be the first in a series in which I am going to deal with the different accessibility problems according to certain disabilities.
Here I am going to make a review based on a study by WebAIM, on the preferences and the use of screen readers.
• Most respondents are regular users of screen readers.
• Among the most frequent disabilities are blindness and low vision.
• Only 8% declared to be a beginner, the rest are considered advanced or expert.
• The most used program is JAWS with 74%, followed by Windows Eyes with 23% and NVDA with 8%.
• The most used browsers are Explorer 7, Firefox, Explorer 6 and Safari.
• As I said before, the reader reads the entire screen, so if they arrive at a site for the first time, most prefer to read the main page in full. In the event that the page has shortcut keys to the contents, there is a tendency to use them.
• The same with direct links to the main content or the menu.
• There is a clear tendency to browse headings, in the same way that psychics navigate titles or subtitles.
• There is also a tendency to use the site search engines, but these should be easy to find and use.
• If there is a text-only version, there is a tendency to use it.
• What bothers most is not finding alternative text in the images presented by the site.
• On the other hand, it should be noted that the text must refer to the image and not put anything or repeat a title for example.
• In the case of logos with a link to the home page, it is preferred that it be marked as “company logo with a link to the home page”.
• Depending on the user experience, "more information" or "see more" links, which are repeated throughout the page, may be difficult.
• The same happens with PDF files, depending on experience, it may be difficult or easy to access the content.
• When they come across a flash site, it is difficult or very difficult to find content to know what it is about.
There are also interesting user comments, such as:
"On music sites I can't hear my screen reader"
"I like to visit places to shop, but the item descriptions don't give enough detail to be sure of what I'm going to get."
"Facebook is becoming annoying, it is not very pleasant to use"
"Sites that load their content on the go are difficult (eg, newspapers), as the reader stops reading where I am going and jumps to the top of the page"
In conclusion, you must analyze your website with a tool that indicates the degree of accessibility it has, in order to take the forecasts of the case. Some user of your target audience may be having some kind of problem accessing the content of your site, therefore, they may be losing money.
On the other hand, having a site accessible to the majority of the public will generate credibility and an image of what you think of all users.
If you need more information, contact me.
