Web Usability Blog

The UK is a wonderfully diverse and multicultural place. As much as 8% of the UK population, some 5.3 million people, report their first language is not English.

2021 a busy year for the team at W3C. Not only is the latest iteration of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), v2.2, being released, they have also published the first working draft of the shiny, new WCAG 3.0. Here we explore the new guidelines and share our thoughts on this exciting new development.

Within the UX world, more and more technologies are emerging that measure users’ physiology to gain a deeper understanding of their thoughts and emotions. These include measuring heart rates, sweat gland activity and even brainwaves. One example is facial recognition software. By people in the know it is described as the ‘systematic analysis of facial expressions’. To everyone else it means using a computer to understand someone’s emotions by reading their expressions.

The information architecture of your website is its underlying foundations. It is the structuring, organisation and labelling of website content to enable users, who arrive at the home page, to meet their goals and complete tasks as quickly and easily as possible.

There are many different ways to approach usability testing these days… lab-based testing, online surveys, field research and self-videoing testing to name just a few. While all have their place in the UX world, you need to consider carefully which methodology you choose. Pick incorrectly and you are likely to end up with low-quality insights and wasted time and money.

2021 is an exciting year and not just because we will hopefully see the back of Covid!

My Granny was given an iPhone for Christmas. At 92 she is probably a few years older than Apple’s average user, so I wanted to see how she was getting on...

The online world can be an unfriendly place for users with disabilities. While access technology has come on leaps and bounds, with a range of options available to users with visual or motor impairments, many websites still do not make it easy for users of assistive technologies.

Agile and UX are not natural bedfellows. Agile is fast-paced, focused on micro-processes and developer-driven. UX, on the other hand can be more time consuming, considers the big picture (i.e. what are users’ goals and can they achieve them) and is externally driven by users.

We are bringing this this one up from the archives as it is still as relevant as ever...

2020 has been an amazing year for accessibility, with great progress made by many organisations towards a more inclusive online environment.

But there is still a way to go, and we need everyone on board for this journey!

What is involved in an accessibility audit?

Conducting an accessibility audit is usually viewed as a techy activity and is best done by a coding pro. While a knowledge of HTML is important, this is only part of the skill set required.