We have created 6 computer science student personas who need to use different ways of accessing online materials and elearning systems to highlight some of the issues encountered. In some ways these personas aim to fit into the NNgroup definition in their article on Personas vs. Jobs-to-Be-Done. Page Laubheimer in 2017 said “Jobs-to-be-done focus on user problems and needs, while well-executed personas include the same information and also add behavioral and attitudinal details.”
We hope our personas are ‘well executed’ and the features mentioned relating to accessibility and usability will help support individual preferences when using the web. However, there may be overlaps and there will be techniques and criteria that you may feel are missing. So it is important to think ofthe content as just being a flavour of what can be offered when creating inclusive content, design and development. Follow the links for more information about individual criteria. Content will also go out of date and need checking, so do contact us if you spot any issues.
Each Persona has a video relevant to particular issues that might be encountered when web services fail to be accessible and cause barriers. Matt Deeprose and the team from the University of Southampton have provided a wonderful explanation about several aspects of web development in a video ‘The impact that high quality mark-up can have on accessibility, performance, and discoverability‘. Matt’s Github example web page of how he has used the code he discusses, also has the video transcript and links to many other resources. A good way to start on the accessibility, usability and inclusion journey.
Umar used to spend all his time on is computer which has been adapted to suit his needs as he really enjoys interacting with friends online playing video games. Now, his family takes up much his time outside university and they often travel between his home country and the UK.
Umar has always worked in universities and was a lecturer before deciding to take up computer science as a second degree. Formally linguistics was his main interest and he taught students English in his home town and often helped out with translations from Arabic. He grew up in a household that encouraged him to compete at school in all activities despite his cerebral palsy that made him appear very uncoordinated, affected his mobility and dexterity.
Umar has always spoken rather hesitantly, but relatively clearly, so lecturing was not a problem, although speech recognition never really worked for him. He also tried eye gaze in order to access his computer, but found it very tiring because keeping his eyes fixed and still on an object was difficult. So Umar largely depends on keyboard short cuts, predictive software, with built in macros using autohotkey, filter keys and a programmable position joystick. Recently he was also able to afford an Xbox Adaptive Controller that made all the difference to the speed at which he could play games once it had been set up to suit his preferences with his mixed access technologies depending on the time of day and feelings of tiredness.
Keyboard access still takes time, but as long as Umar has his specialist expanded keyboard and uses his own computer he can work successfully along with his fellow students. However, where barriers do occur such as being locked out due to timeouts, with for instance online banking or secure applications, his patience can be sorely tested.
Umar needs to take breaks but finds that additional ergonomic aids such as a good chair, two raised monitors linked to his laptop and the spring back keys on his keyboard, help to prevent some of the effects of fatigue. In the past he used his phone with a Bluetooth connection to his keyboard, so that he could type messages, but he has found several companies now offer better links to apps, his joystick and other assistive technology devices such as Tecla. He also finds adapting the phone notifications, so they appear automatically stops him worrying about missing events and larger fonts and app icons have also helped. Bigger buttons mean there is more likelihood the touch screen can be used. Umar has also tried other accessibility options that are available on both the Android and iOS systems.
Strategies to overcome Barriers to Access
Multifactor authentication. Umar has set up a series of three-word passwords with a macro and uses a password manager for initial log-ins but if multifactor authentication is required he prefers to use finger recognition as long as he can keep his hand steady. The problem is that biometrics are rarely used for website access so that is when Umar has to depend on his password manager and the Microsoft authenticator app to access secure sites such as his university login and for remote learning. (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Success Criterion 3.3.7 Accessible Authentication)
Keyboard Access is essential for Umar as he really finds using his joystick with the pointer accuracy required for some tasks difficult. Single tabbing and using link lists and headings with macros all help with navigation but depend of the accessibility of the website. He sometimes prefers to use his Xbox adaptive controller when feeling tired, as it offers switch access that can also be mapped to various access actions. Microsoft offer a list of keyboard shortcuts in apps
Keyboard remapping available in any application helps Umar as much as it helped Faith. The WebAim team provide a very useful table that covers the standard keystrokes, but Umar tends to use his autohotkey personalised keyboard mapping
Make dynamic content accessible this applies to everyone, but for Umar it is essential that all types of dynamic content react to keyboard use not just a mouse hovering over an item or a modal window that appears without activation or error messages that prevent an escape route. IBM offer some potential Coding interactions – Dynamic content. “Success Criterion 3.2.1 On Focus (Level A): When any user interface component receives focus, it does not initiate a change of context.”
Headings for easy access. This is not just about using consistent Heading order but being clear about titles and their meaning to help Faith quickly scan down content especially if there are important instructions. This can help her concentration as well as make it easier to navigate.
Media player access. Once again this is about using the keyboard to control:
play and pause buttons
the volume
screen size and exiting from full-screen and position
“I find small links, such as individual letters in an alphabet list really annoying when having to access a glossary if a search is not provided – too small to touch accurately or use with my joystick and too long for constant keystrokes. Either add white space around them or offer an alternative!”
AbleGamers have produced a really helpful guide for developers about making ‘Accessible Player Experiences (APX)‘ that can be applied for any app development.
Paul really struggled at primary school and never enjoyed writing with endless corrections and not being very dextrous when it came to cursive script. Eventually his difficulties with literacy skills were assessed and he received some extra help, but he never really talked about his dyslexia and was anxious about the mistakes he made, even though he knew his father had had similar difficulties and ran his own very successful IT company. However, Paul soon discovered he was in a very different situation on the sports field and any lack of coordination seemed to disappear with the local youth rugby team giving him a chance to shine. He not only captained the side during his sixth form years, but went on to join the university team in his first year and immediately found friends that allowed him to work around his lack of confidence, when it came to the academic side of things.
Paul not only realised there were others who had similar difficulties with course work and lecture notes. He also requested extra time to complete written tasks and the use of a laptop as neat handwriting and getting ideas down on paper remained a challenge. Choosing a science degree made it easier as it fitted with Paul’s strengths. When it came to problem solving, he found he could visualise the whole thing and often see a solution rather quicker than some other students, who took a linear path. Now Paul openly admits that in his rush to get down his ideas he may make copying and spelling errors and his memory and organisational skills can let him down. However, he has also learnt a range of strategies built up over time, such as downloading reminder, task and password apps onto his mobile phone. He uses computer applications that auto-correct and read text aloud, plus looking out for supportive tools that highlight errors when compiling code and making use of graphical interfaces for system and software design. Paul’s father is an IT systems analyst and computers have always been part of his life.
Once Paul has a concept firmly in his mind, good analytical skills have meant that he can discuss possible algorithms or practical ways to get something to work. He really enjoys projects and working with a group, as this allows him time to bring his abilities to the fore, whilst letting others do the report writing and documentation!
Consistent Navigation (WCAG) and Heading order (Webaim) helps Paul follow the flow of a web site. Clear, well-structured and easy to use menus that are consistent on every page are as much about usability as they are accessibility and the size of the headings with bold text can indicate the importance of content that needs to be read.
Error Identification (WCAG) Any errors that are made should be flagged up with helpful correction notices that do not just depend on colour or cryptic messages. The latter can often occur when a login is required and the user is none the wiser as to what is missing or incorrect. At all times error messages must be able to be read aloud with text to speech and be informative. Mozilla show how an ARIA alert role can be used when a ‘session is due to expire or connection to the server fails’.
Selectable text for speech output – This is not quite the same as screen reading, where navigational elements as well as content are read aloud. Paul likes to choose when he wants to highlight text and have it read out. He can do this easily on his mobile phone with text messages, but finds on some websites and with certain PDFs that text may not be accessible. Google calls this ‘select to speak’. It is important to be wary about making text just available for screen readers. You may present barriers to other users, so make sure visible text can highlighted by keyboard or mouse use when testing for accessibility.
Control over look and feel of a web service This can involve customisation as well as personalisation Paul usually adapts the user interface to suit his needs, as well as being able to select different settings in applications. He sometimes wants to have an overlay to reduce the glare of black on white text and often changes font sizes and styles plus line spacing so these need to be adaptable. He turns off any animated or timed elements and will stop blinking or scrolling text, as he finds this much harder to read. He also does not like moving backgrounds or animated non-text elements that cause distractions. An example of a site that is known for these issues is Lingscars . WCAG Success Criterion 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide (Level A)
Document accessibility is important for everyone and when Paul uses his text to speech apps he expects to be able to have content read aloud at any speed in an order that makes sense, with a voice of his choice. WebAim have an easy to follow set of instructions for making ‘Accessible Documents: Word, PowerPoint, & Acrobat’.
Key points from Paul
“I like to understand what a web site or service is about immediately! If it is cluttered and I have to navigate through several layers to get to content I give up. Keep it simple is a good motto for me because I am impatient and don’t want to read long introductions. Just give me a one liner and a diagram or picture that says it all!”
Faith recently had COVID-19 and this really affected her arthritis. She felt so tired and upset at times. She was very upset that all her work was being affected by feeling as if she had brain fog, as well as having depleted levels of concentration. On top of all the COVID challenges, she developed repetitive strain injuries (RSI) trying to cope with her studies as well as life in general. Despite the fact that Faith’s family were now away from home much of the time, she was struggling but determined to finish her third-year project that involved access to virtual worlds with the development of three-dimensional (3D) Internet environments. This was exciting, interesting but a challenge with a write up, as well as all the coding.
Having been an administrator, she had been bored with the endless spreadsheets and databases and decided to return to her love of mathematics and design rather, than looking at poorly developed user interfaces. She wanted to be more creative and create ideas around virtual worlds that involved outdoor environments and in particular intricate garden designs, as this had become more than just a hobby. However, as her arthritis progressed and now her RSI was really affecting her dexterity, she was concerned that she would not be able to cope with so much mouse work, such as click and hold to grab a screen or multiple clicks to drag and drop items.
Taking breaks had become essential and accessing controls via keyboard shortcuts seemed to help, but the latter was not always possible when creating demonstration applications. Faith found she needed to use her left hand more and keep her right forearm in the handshake position to prevent the RSI pain. Using an upright mouse with a roller ball on the side or a pen stylus solved some issues. She really liked to be able to step through her worlds using single keys to move around and had her Mac set up with several personalised keyboard shortcuts using Control accessibility options with her keyboard. Speech recognition was good for much of Faith’s writing, when she used the dictation settings and Voice Control for the main navigation challenges on the computer. However, remembering all the commands was hard, so Faith resorted to a crib sheet!
Main Strategies to overcome Barriers to Access
Strategies to overcome Barriers to Access
Multifactor Authentication. Faith finds fiddling with two devices really difficult especially when she is then required to copy a code or manage a series of numbers. She much prefers to use biometric forms of verification, such as speech, face or finger recognition; her computer and phone have her preferred finger recognition. At the moment she cannot remember passwords or phrases let alone three random words. Faith has to cope with the Microsoft authenticator app to access university sites and has a password manager system for online access. (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Success Criterion 3.3.7 Accessible Authentication)
Keyboard Access “Speech recognition can be used for dictating text in a form field, as well as navigating to and activating links, buttons, and other controls.” (W3C WAI speech recognition accessibility) The link to making this possible is to ensure that all these controls are keyboard accessible and then the mapping of the commands will work with voice controls. Example of how other criteria linked to WCAG compliance help solve the challenges faced by Faith
Keyboard remapping available in applications in order to personalise keyboard controls and make it easier to access app components. The WebAim team provide a very useful table that covers the standard keystrokes that Faith uses for the browser interactions, with hints that enhance accessibility.
Control and navigation labelling for speech recognition. The way controls are labelled can make all the difference when accessing sites using a keyboard or speech. Faith finds she has to use her spoken command crib sheet more and more to access controls and to navigate around pages if she cannot use her mouse and these commands depend on the labels that have been used by the developer.
Headings for easy access. This is not just about using consistent Heading order but being clear about titles and their meaning to help Faith quickly scan down content especially if there are important instructions. This can help her concentration as well as make it easier to navigate.
Key points from Faith
“The worse thing is that I have to take regular breaks now because my concentration goes and I know if I spend more than half an hour continuously using my mouse I will be in pain for the rest of the day. I really want technology applications that are used for designing and developing apps to be more accessible as well as the apps themselves”
AbleGamers have produced a really helpful guide for developers about making ‘Accessible Player Experiences (APX)‘ that can be applied for any app development.
Hobbies: Running, coding, socialising with friends and family
Background:
Carlos has been blind since birth and does not see light from dark or colour and admits that even when he rubs his eyes, although the feeling may change, there is nothing but an acute sense of things around him. Navigating with a cane and managing independently on the university campus is nothing new to him, as he has travelled extensively. Carlos is bilingual and has no problem switching between his native Spanish and the English language. He is an adept screen reader user and multitasker, picking out voices of those he knows immediately they come within hearing distance, even whilst working on his computer! A love of technology has always meant that he tries out the latest versions of applications on both desktop and mobile devices, making use of Windows with a JAWS screen reader and the latest iOS phone and Apple watch. During his computer science course, he has been known to seek out bugs that cause barriers during lab sessions and is keen to see an increase in the understanding of digital accessibility by explaining issues to his fellow students. He has also helped with several WCAG evaluations of web sites and applications, but often finds the hardest systems to access are those linked to online learning, because they require so many different interactions. Carlos depends on speech synthesis to read out texts at speeds of around 450-500 words per minute (rather than using Braille), he skips through navigational elements, menus, forms and modal windows to actual articles, in the hope of finding an order that will give him a feel for the way a site or service is being delivered. The keyboard or gesture input with short cut actions, heading selections and use of context sensitive links, allow him to memorise the layout of a new website alongside search results when looking for content or files. Carlos often uses his mobile for certain online services, where apps may be less cluttered and easier to navigate.
Main Strategies to overcome Barriers to Access
Multifactor authentication on login has become necessary as part the university’s security system and Carlos has to juggle between an initial password, then the use of mobile authenticator apps, SMS or knowledge-based challenge questions and even biometrics depending on the various services. These are usually accessible to a screen reader, but mistakes when there is lack of helpful feedback, can make the process very frustrating. (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Success Criterion 3.3.7 Accessible Authentication)
Keyboard Access for navigation is essential for Carlos as he does not use a mouse. Hedepends on tab order following the visual flow of a web page when first entering a site. Interactions may include links, buttons, fields for inputting text with forms and modal windows (ARIA: dialog role accessibility). The WebAim team provide a very useful table that covers the standard keystrokes that Carlos uses for the interactions, with hints that enhance accessibility.
The way controls are labelled can mean all the difference when using key strokes to play media, filling in forms and downloading content. Carlos described the need to have easy to reach microphone /audio controls, recording start, pause and stop buttons and to be able to request attention and use of the chat without affecting accessibility of other aspects of a video conference.
Consistent Heading order is also crucial, as Carlos steers his way through headings and subheadings when quickly checking out the content on a page. Short cut keys used by most screen reader apps provide a quick list of the heading, region and list structures e.g. example key strokes for NVDA or a cheat sheet for iOS with gesture and rotor use for headings
Image alt text descriptions are important when an image complements the meaning of content or the function and needs a few explanatory words. Carlos finds it very annoying when an image has no alt attribute and is read as a long file name that means nothing. So it is important to decide whether an image is essential for helping understanding or function or just decorative and can take a null alt (alt=“”) attribute.
Accessible Error or Status Messages are so important to screen reader users, if nothing is heard and only seen visually, it is extremely frustrating and even more so it the pop up prevents further navigation. Carlos has experienced times when he has had to just back out of the service wondering what had happened. For instance, when he submitted a form and did not realise he had made a mistake. At all times error messages must be read aloud and be informative. Mozilla show how an ARIA alert role can be used when a ‘session is due to expire or connection to the server fails’.
Audio Descriptions are something that Carlos often uses when watching TV, as they explain what is happening on screen. This may not always be necessary for videos of lectures or face to face discussions. However, when a caption just reads aloud ‘music’ or ‘silence’ and the video is still running, Carlos described how useful it is to learn about the movements occurring or even the body language and wondered if it would be possible to use YouDescribe with a free account to link to a YouTube video.
Document accessibility remains a challenge for Carlos and becomes exasperated by the number of academic papers that are still hard to access. He prefers Microsoft Word to PDF as the reading order tends to be better, but once again without correct structure and logical use of Headings it can take longer to navigate long texts. WebAim have an easy to follow set of instructions for making ‘Accessible Documents: Word, PowerPoint, & Acrobat’.
Key points from Carlos
“Be consistent and offer a logical structure to all navigational elements, throughout the various parts of the interactive online eLearning experience”
As an aside if you are interested in learning how Carlos copes with programming on his Computer Science course here is a YouTube video from Mega T. Garrett, (13.37mins) describing his techniques for working with the JAWS screen reader and Java “True Blind Q&A* How Does a Blind Person Program (Java: Hello World)”
WebAim Screen Reader User Survey #9 Results “In May – June 2021, WebAIM surveyed preferences of screen reader users. They received 1568 valid responses. This was a follow-up to 8 previous surveys that were conducted between January 2009 and September 2019″. The survey can be used to see which elements of web accessibility are important and how 1568 screen reader users choose to surf the web.
If you are developing using ARIA and have not seen WhatSock’s Apex 4X – there is a download for their template design patterns on Github, distributed under the terms of the Open Source Initiative OSI – MIT License, and may be freely used for any purpose within any web technology.
Hobbies: Yoga, running, actively taking part in lobbying for inclusion
Background:
Amber loves her yoga and running, excelling at school where she enjoyed an inclusive educational setting despite her severe bilateral hearing loss. She is a hearing aid user and depends on lip reading (speech reading) and Sign Language, but speaks relatively clearly. In fact, her communication skills are remarkable, thanks to the early and continuous support she received from her parents, both mathematics professors. Nevertheless, being at university was quite a challenge in the early months. She admitted to feeling isolated, but used her yoga and cross-country running activities to get her through. She explained that the psychological and emotional feelings were almost more challenging than dealing with lectures, tutorials or trying to access support, plus she missed her family and friends in the Deaf community. It was the constant need to explain to people why she had not heard them or put up with their replies “Oh it doesn’t matter, it’s not important” if she queried what had been said – her disability was non-visible The process of disambiguation can be very tiring and as Ian Noon said in his blog
“Processing and constructing meaning out of half-heard words and sentences. Making guesses and figuring out context. And then thinking of something intelligent to say in response to an invariably random question. It’s like doing jigsaws, Suduku and Scrabble all at the same time.”
Amber joined the Student Union and found fellow activists who became friends as well as lobbyists for disability awareness and more inclusive teaching practices.
Those who could use sign language were rare, although help was available from interpreters during lectures and at other times, from note takers. Sometimes, Amber depended on fellow students’ notes, because it was hard to write, as well as concentrate on the lecturer or interpreter. Giving a lecturer her FM transmitter and microphone helped, especially when they turned away to write on a board or there were discussions and noise levels were raised. When lecture capture was in use, Amber always hoped the Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) would provide good quality closed captions and subject specific words would be transcribed correctly. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Amber used text-based Q&As and comments when events happened in real-time with captions or subtitles and transcripts if available. Downloadable summaries and slide notes provided details missed on the video recording. Help and documentation about caption position adjustments, the text size and colour plus other settings for the conferencing system and access to a glossary of important subject related vocabulary has also been invaluable to aid comprehension.
Main Strategies to overcome Barriers to Access
Multifactor authentication Amber has found that the best way for her to overcome the multifactor authentication issues is to use text messages (SMS) with a onetime password (OTP) plus a smart phone app. She has also found that finger biometrics on her phone helps with authentication or using an email system. She has a card reader for her bank but does not use speech recognition or voice calls for any verification, as she is never sure if she is going to get an accurate result or hear everything. (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Success Criterion 3.3.7 Accessible Authentication)
Multimedia content needs captions that are accurate and synchronised with the audio. Video and audio output complement so much of web content and Amber depends on good quality alternatives to make services both usable and accessible. It is not just the content, but also the way players work and the fact that any audio needs to be controlled and not start automatically. WCAG Guideline 1.2 – Time-based Media discusses content challenges and User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG) 2.0 provides technical details for developers such as Guideline 1.1 – Alternative content. The Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) also for developers and designers include the following guides related to those who have hearing impairments:
Signing on videos – Personalising alternative format content. Being able to adjust the position of the window with interpreter signing and/or captions may be important when content is filling the screen in different places as seen in the YouTube lecture on Beginning Robotics provided by University of Reading. Further guidance is available in their blog on Personalisation of viewing.
Structured content is important for everyone and helps Amber when she needs to pick out key topics. So clear headings and sub headings, use of white space and links to summaries, especially if they are related to video and transcript content, so she can see what is relevant to her needs. So regions, headings and lists all help to make a content more understandable.
Audible Error or Alert Messages must be inclusive. Notifications need to be available as very visible alerts as well as being audible and, on a phone or electronic watch, this can also be via vibration.
Document accessibility is important whether it is related to providing summaries and clear language or heading structure and bullet points, the aim is to make documents usable as well as accessible. WebAim have an easy to follow set of instructions for making ‘Accessible Documents: Word, PowerPoint, & Acrobat’.
Key points from Amber
“I am a very visual person and I like to see a detailed process as a diagram or image – step by step. I also really like having PowerPoint slides with all the main points…”
Interviews with Three Deaf Software Engineers in Bay Area (USA) Facebook video
TPGi provided a very helpful set of articles around an interview with Ruth MacMullen, who is an academic librarian and copyright specialist from York in the UK, called “Sounding out the web: accessibility for deaf and hard of hearing people” Part 1 and Part 2
The “PacerSpacer” – Simplicity in Controlling the Pace of Presentation Software (like PowerPoint) “One of the most important things you can do for Deaf/HH audience members when using presentation software such as PowerPoint is to allow sufficient time for them to read the slides before you begin talking. For Deaf/HH individuals, this means allowing time for them to stop watching the interpreter or you, switch their attention to a slide, and then return their attention to either the interpreter or you. With an interpreter, even more time is required since there is a lag time between what you say and the signing of that message.” DeafTec, Rochester Institute of Technology (USA)
