Accessibility Evaluation
Overview
Role: UX Experience Practitioner
Company: Polymetaal.nl is an e-commerce printmaking supplier that ships worldwide.
Time Frame: 3 weeks
Method: three-pronged evaluation using SortSite Trials, manual inspection, and experience walk-through
Access the Accessibility Slidedeck or read the full report below
Accessibility Evaluation Proposal
Introduction
The goal of this accessibility evaluation is to ensure the Polymetaal website can be utilized with ease by all customers. The proposed three-pronged evaluation will identify any accessibility issues that may be present within the Polymetaal e-commerce website and will supply recommendations for rectifying issues.
Value Added
Ensuring an accessible website would build user confidence by creating a stable, robust, and secure web experience. This would lead to better customer engagement across the Polymetaal site which could increase sales. If the Polymetaal site is not brought up to accessibility standards, users could migrate to other distributors.
The Polymetaal user experience practitioner proposes testing the following workflows: Browsing the main page, searching for or navigating to an item you’re interested in, and then learning about the item on the product page.
Testing Method
The user experience practitioner proposes using a three-pronged accessibility evaluation to ensure covering all advantages and drawbacks of each testing method. The website will undergo a SortSite Trial that will examine the website for accessibility faults. This testing method is thorough and pragmatic, however, it needs qualitative judgments about ALT tag content, the layout, and the organization of page elements that could inform page readers. Following the trial, the user experience practitioner will manually inspect areas of the code that the tool cannot evaluate. Although this method is more difficult to reach from a programmatic perspective, it allows an understanding of ALT tags, layout, and page organization. Finally, there will be an experience walk-through conducted which will simulate what people with disabilities will experience when interacting with the Polymetaal e-commerce website. When conducted by the user experience practitioner, this method will lack the full experience of people with disabilities and will miss some issues.
Anticipated Results
Once all information is compiled, the user experience practitioner will supply recommendations to ensure that users have the most accessible experience to the Polymetaal e-commerce experience. The indication is that Polymetaal will make the recommended changes to the website which will lead to a better user experience overall and convert to more ease of sales.
Accessibility Plan
Introduction
The purpose of this report is to convey the need for an accessibility plan for the Polymetaal commerce site. The report will effectively outline the impact accessibility measures can have on the overall functionality of the Polymetaal site and will supply justification and actionable recommendations.
A full accessibility Evaluation has been completed using a three-pronged approach in order to identify issues present within the e-commerce website. Polymetaal underwent a SortSite Trial using the WCAG guidelines, a manual inspection, and an experience walk-through using a simulation of users with disabilities.
Focus
Polymetaal should shift its focus to accessibility to ensure all users of the site have full unencumbered access to the products offered by Polymetaal. Understanding accessibility needs is important due to 19% of the U.S. population reporting they have a disability. During a site redesign, placing accessibility needs at the front of the design process would save Polymetaal money as it’s ten times cheaper to add these considerations during the first iteration processes of design. Accessibility is usually unseen to those who don’t require it, however, it’s a large detraction for those who need it, therefore the appeal to a wider audience of users could only increase the profits of the Polymetaal website.
Immediate Needs
Currently, with a full accessibility evaluation, Polymetaal shows issues with text contrast, text size, menu organization, and alt text implementation. These changes allow users with low to no vision, and keyboard-only users to access the items throughout the site efficiently. With the existing site, the need for a reactive accessibility approach would be possible, yet costly. If stakeholders would like a total redesign, taking a proactive approach to accessibility would be easier to implement.
Accessibility Management Plan
Accessibility Consultants recommend working in a gradual system of Exploratory and Confirmatory discoveries with the Polymetaal team in alignment with the following framework:
Kickoff Event: The consultant will conduct a series of accessibility events in order to further build awareness and empathy and garner support from all involved teams. From here, a Polymetaal team of accessibility advocates will emerge and continue phases in tandem with the consultants.
Phase 1 - Initiation: Defining Polymetaal’s needs, goals, and scope of the project. We will also identify key stakeholders.
Phase 2 - Planning: Next high-level objectives, priorities, and success criteria will be identified. A budget will be determined, responsibilities assigned, and an accessibility policy outlined.
Phase 3 - Implementation: Teams will further skills across the organization, integrate goals into product plans, assign tasks, evaluate iteratively to prioritize issues, and track and communicate all progress.
Phase 3 - Maintenance: Collect, monitor, and incorporate user feedback into product plans, and continue evaluating and testing iteratively. Engage with stakeholders regarding updates, advice, successes. Track standards, legislation, and adapt projects to new accessibility-related technologies as they arise.
Success Criteria
The Accessibility Consultants define success in several ways. Consultants would ensure confidence in the Polymetaal team regarding building and maintaining the accessibility standards within the e-commerce site. Once these standards are outlined, users at various levels will be able to traverse the Polymetaal site for multiple items and place an order successfully using low-vision to no-vision options and keyboard online operation across the entire website.
Initiation - Need / Goals / Scope / Stakeholders- learning as well as communicating, to raise awareness, looking for champions
The accessibility manager will conduct a series of accessibility events in order to further build awareness and empathy in an attempt to garner across teams and garner support from all involved teams.
Help develop the business case
Raise awareness
Gather support
Planning: - Requirements / Priorities / Measures / Logistics / Responsibilities
Next high-level objectives, priorities, and success criteria will be identified. A budget determined, responsibilities assigned, and an accessibility policy outlined.
Identify high-level objectives and success criteria
Determine budget and resources
Assign responsibilities
Create an “accessibility policy”
Informed by knowledge and understanding of the needs of your target audience: policy should help ensure everyone in your organization understands the importance of accessibilty
Guidelines should be clear and simply written, prioritized, testable
Standardize the way your organization approaches accessibility.
Identify priorities eg “first we do product x, then we move on to product y & z”
Establish monitoring framework to track against objectives
Engage with stakeholders
Implementation - Execution / Verification / Validation / Optimization: Teams will further skills across organization, integrate goals into product plans, assign tasks, evaluate iteratively in order to prioritize issues, track and communicate all progress.
Build skills and expertise across the organization
Integrate accessibility goals into product plans
Assign tasks and support delivery
Evaluate and test early and regularly
Prioritize issues
Track and communicate progress
Maintenance: Continuous Improvement / Maturity / Succession / Roadmap Collect, monitor, and incorporate user feedback into product plans, continue evaluating and testing iteratively. Engage with stakeholders regarding updates, advice, successes. Track standards, legislation, and adapt project to new accessibility-related technologies as they arise.
Monitor user feedback, incorporate user feedback into product plans
Continue accessibility evaluation and testing
Continue to engage with stakeholders - advise, share successes, etc.
Track standards and legislation
Track, adopt, adapt to new accessibility-related technologies
Accessibility Plan Communication
Take Aways
Overall, this was a great exercise in the importance of accessibility in web products. Polymetaal following the recommendations in the accessibility evaluation could help with its sales and retaining existing customers while converting new customers.
The Accessibility Guidelines in the WCAG are very complicated to navigate for the first time. I would have liked more time to immerse myself in the WCAG and more of a guide to work through this project.
After graduating, Stacey Swinehart Ganderson developed a text called WCAG for Designers: Accessibility Reference Manual. This text is now on my book list as a necessary tool.
Building out the project
By adding appropriate alt text, removing antiquated layout tables, and ensuring that navigation order is logical, page maneuverability would be easier for those with accessibility concerns.
Within the page's text, increase text size and contrast between foreground text and background color, and remove any redundant links throughout the page. When these recommendations are applied, the Polymetaal site would be accessible to more users.