It's unlawful for a service provider to discriminate against a disabled person by refusing to provide any service which it provides to members of the public.
A website is regarded as a service and the RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind) and DRC (Disability Rights Commission) have been quick to apply pressure on to organisations to push this law into practice. Indeed, the DRC has now published a report on its formal investigation into 1000 websites
.
So, how do disabled people access the Internet?"
For now, there are few touch-screen devices available. One that has received a fair amount of publicity is the LG Prada, which is not yet available from a U.S. cellular carrier. LG declined to participate in these tests."
Usability/Information Architecture:
"Usability/IA is similar to global navigation, but it more specifically refers to how easy and fun the interface is. This category also includes such issues as how clearly icons are labeled and how easy it is to find applications and specific files. Once again, the iPhone received perfect marks."
USABILITY STUDY WITH USERS WITH DISABILITIES
To derive the usability guidelines in this report, we conducted a series of usability
tests of several different websites. In total, 104 people participated in the
evaluations, including 84 users with disabilities and 20 users without disabilities who
served as a control group.
We conducted a qualitative study with 44 users, including 31 in the United States
and 13 in Japan. Of these users, 35 had visual impairments and 9 had motor skill
impairments. Because the Web’s use of audio is currently limited, we did not include
users with auditory impairments. In the qualitative study, we observed participants
using ten U.S. sites and six Japanese sites. The various targets included corporate,
high-tech, government, e-commerce, and nonprofit sites.
We also conducted a quantitative study in the U.S. to measure the magnitude of
usability problems for users with disabilities compared to non-disabled users. The
quantitative study had 60 participants, including 20 users with low vision, 20 users
with no vision, and a control group of 20 sighted users.
This article/report will show me the understandings of how the disabled function on web sites/using input devices. This finding will help me design a better site for the audience with disabilities. They even have in the report, "As a result of our usability tests, we have developed 75 design guidelines for making
websites and intranets easier to use for people with disabilities.".
I found this article to be really interesting. It's good to understand and know the user, otherwise people/groups mostly base the website around their likings or the design and functionality in it's self. It's amazing how the story below about Leslie and her grandmother's inheritance and dealing with Citibank's website took care of her and showed her where to go without becoming lost and confused.
""Know Your Users" is the mantra of any good designer. Yet, what should you actually know about your users?
Over the years, we've studied the usability of hundreds of product and web site designs. We've seen designs that were incredibly effective for users and designs that fell tremendously short. One emerging pattern in our ongoing research is that design teams that know a lot about their users are more likely to produce user experiences that are usable, effective, and pleasing.
In a recent usability test, we had the chance to observe a user, Leslie, visit Citibank's web site. Leslie had done business with the bank for years, through her existing checking, savings, and credit card accounts. It was the first bank account her parents set her up with and she'd been a loyal Citibank customer ever since.
Leslie had recently come into a large sum of money, due to the unfortunate death of her ailing grandmother. Her grandmother was an important role model to Leslie. Leslie really wanted to take her inheritance and invest it for the future, just like her grandmother had done. However, she didn't know how to begin.
Because of Leslie's loyalty to Citibank, who had always taken care of her money, she decided to turn to their web site for advice on investing. On the Citibank.com home page (figure 1), she was first tempted to go to the "Investing and Markets" link at the very top-center, but then the "Learn about a financial topic" pulldown caught her eye."
Found on Engadget:
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Recent Comments
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E Kibby said:
[this is good]OHHHHHH! I had to bookma rk that one. I am going to try the reader for the blind to see... read more
on How disabled users access the internet: -
Marci said:
It is a good idea to test simular products. ME read more
on Usability Test: iPhone [Not my issue but interesting] -
ACallander said:
Thank you =). That's my beautiful daughter Attalyn Sophia. Hmm project you say? What is it? read more
on L_2e51d87d82d491f6756f4cc1c82ab4c2 -
Jesus H Garcia said:
kute kid in the pix. Looks like i can use you in my project as well. LOL.. read more
on L_2e51d87d82d491f6756f4cc1c82ab4c2
on Usability Test: iPhone [Not my issue but interesting]