# Presentation: 619177

## WAI – ing the User Standard

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**WAI – ing the User Standard**

## The W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)

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**The W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)**

- Purpose
- Committed to lead the Web to its full potential
- Promote a high degree of usability for people with disabilities
- IPO
- Director: Judy Brewer
- Technical Activity
- Activity focus involves guidelines, tools, technology, outreach, R&D

## WAI Working Groups

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**WAI Working Groups**

- Protocols and Formats
- Reviews all W3C technologies for accessibility
- “Guidelines” groups
- Web Content  (WCAG)
- Authoring Tools
- User Agent
- Evaluation and Repair Tools
- Special note re: Len Kasaday

## Other WAI Working Groups

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**Other WAI Working Groups**

- WAI Interest Group
- General Web accessibility discussion
- Education and Outreach
- Develop awareness and supporting materials

## The Key Issues

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**The Key Issues**

- Content
- Clarity of standards, guidelines
- Client/Browser inadequacies
- Limited publishing tool and application tool support
- Assistive technologies still behind emerging technology curve

## 2-Step Web Site Accessibility Strategy

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**2-Step Web Site Accessibility Strategy**

- Perform an inspection of your site for HTML 4.01/XHTML 1.0, and accessibility compliance
- Iterative user testing
- Recommended best practice is perform a staged roll out
- “Sand box” the site
- Enhance home page, critical path pages, and high traffic pages
- Adjust new pages
- Improve medium-traffic pages
- Start thinking about server-based, database driven (XML/XSLT), accessible template enhanced site development

## The Real Issue: Usability 

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**The Real Issue: Usability **

- Why is everything so hard to use?
- Current methods and practices do not include or involve PWD’s
- Usability makes accessibility work
- They _**DO**_ work hand ‘n hand

## Patricia Seybold – The Customer

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**Patricia Seybold – The Customer**

- Synthesis of Best Practices
- Focus on your most profitable set of end customers
- Look to see how much information you have about these people and how it’s organized
- Pick their brains. Visit them. Learn how they do their jobs, what they care about and value
- Find out what makes it hard for customers to do business with you, eliminate those barriers, redesign your processes

## Donald Norman – The User

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**Donald Norman – The User**

- Product development emphasis is on the technology rather than the user
- To improve, companies need a development philosophy that targets the human user.
- Companies need human-centered development

## Users are the #1 Component

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**Users are the #1 Component**

- Users ARE your BEST clients
- If you’re having problems finding user subjects, consider remote evaluation usability methods
- Test user accessibility by testing web site for 4 key usability areas:
- Usefulness
- Effectiveness
- Learnability
- Likeability

## The Importance of User Inclusiveness

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**The Importance of User Inclusiveness**

- Participatory Design vs. “Beta Testing”
- Interactive usability with users captures potential accessibility weaknesses
- Problem statement
- How do you conduct usability/HCD studies with “special needs” users?

## Effective Usability Testing Methods

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**Effective Usability Testing Methods**

- Contextual Inquiry (one-to-one)
- Remote Evaluation (one-to-many)
- Critical Incident Reporting
- Unattended Usability
- Network Subjective Usability

## Advantages of Remote Evaluation

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**Advantages of Remote Evaluation**

- Able to conduct evaluations with representative users (disabled)
- Internet/Web provide infrastructure for international and larger user base
- Cost effective - travel, assistive technology
- Expeditious accessibility usability reports back to industry

## Additional Advantages to Conducting Remote Evaluations

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**Additional Advantages to Conducting Remote Evaluations**

- Interviewer cannot influence subject
- Subjects have same “experience”
- Singular subject focus (subject to computer)
- Third party evaluations possible

## Keys to Achieving “User Centered Accessibility”

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**Keys to Achieving “User Centered Accessibility”**

- Trust
- Quality
- Ingenuity
- Empathy
- Collaboration
- Education

## Conclusion

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**Conclusion**

- W3C/WAI Program office is the central resource for Web Accessibility today
- Emerging IT lacks accessibility focus - we must build awareness
- Accessibility requires usability methodology
- Usability requires user inclusiveness/integration
- Remote evaluation usability provides the framework for disabilities inclusion.

## Resources

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**Resources**

- W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative: _[http://www.w3.org/WAI](http://www.w3.org/WAI)_
- WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM): _[http://www.wgbh.org/ncam](http://www.wgbh.org/ncam)_
- Trace Research: _[http://www.trace.wisc.edu/](http://www.trace.wisc.edu/)_
- Jim Thatcher’s Home Page: _[http://www.](http://www.jimthatcher.com/)__[jimthatcher](http://www.jimthatcher.com/)__[.com](http://www.jimthatcher.com/)_
- WebAIM: http://www.webaim.com
- WebABLE: http://www.webable.com/