Web Usability Blog

Making your website accessible means making sure it can be used by as many people as possible. Here are 7 reasons you should consider the accessibility of your website... 

Usability testing, in simple terms, is the process of testing how easy or difficult a website is to use with a representative group of users. It comes in two main forms: 

10th November 2022 was World Usability Day – a day established to promote the values of universal usability and every user's obligation to ask for better experiences from digital services. This year’s theme, ‘Our Health’, considered the “systems that provide healthcare in all its many forms and digital health related solutions”.  

Research facilitation the ‘Web Usability way’ is grounded in adopting a user led approach. From our experience, the best facilitators are able to explore issues as they arise, probe on why testers do things and their reactions to the site, all while remaining neutral. 

Gaining input from users is an essential part of developing an effective digital service. There are lots of methods available to you to do this but how do you know which is the right one to use?  

You have just completed our application form to be a tester and are excited to hear about upcoming research opportunities. You are probably wondering what will happen next? 

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is considered the benchmark for good digital accessibility. With an objective list of testable success criteria in place, you would assume that it would be easy to review a website against these guidelines and improve the accessibility of the digital world. However, the subjectivity of how these guidelines are interpreted can cause challenges.  

Regardless of the industry a business operates in, the online user journey will most likely look significantly different today than it did at the start of March 2020. The user has relied perhaps more notably than ever on the digital experience. Equally the digital experience has adapted alongside the pandemic in response to remote working and increased time online in our own homes. This has prompted more sectors to be user-led and accessible; 2022 will hopefully be a year for expanding this further. So, what are the trends for 2022 to look out for and to adapt into your New Year digital goals? 

In the ongoing pursuit for an inclusive online environment, the native accessibility features inbuilt into smartphones are a step in the right direction.  

The two major operating systems: Android and iOS, are constantly updating and expanding their features in response to the call for equal online access for all. 

One of our clients recently came to us with a recruitment brief for a diverse and inclusive research project. This included testing with disabled users and individuals who consider themselves digitally excluded. Broadly defined, the digitally excluded are those in society who have unequal access to or lack the skills needed to use digital devices.