The goal of this homework is to learn about basics of website accessibility and how to assess. In part 1, you: Learn how to use automated tools (and their limitations); Learn how to address the limitations of automated tools using accessibility tools; In part 2, you: Learn how to write up an assessment and prioritize what problems to fix; Practice identifying paths to fixing problems. You will also have the opportunity to practice UI image description.
This homework may contribute to your competency grade on
NOTE if you want to be re-assessed on your first person account competency (or any other competency). this is an opportunity o resubmit it. However, you will need to follow the instructions for re-assessment in the canvas outcomes to receive credit for this.
Students in the past have reported that this assignment took them a median of 7 hours. A challenge that multiple students faced is summarizing the WCAG guidelines in their own words. Please be sure to do so, or to quote and reference WCAG guidelines according to our course policy on academic conduct. Some things that students have told us about this assignment:
Here is a sample set of UARs from a prior student who kindly shared them with us for you to look at, and here is a sample set of UARs that we provide for you to look at.
Your goal is to generate a range of Usability Aspect Reports documenting accessibility concerns (and perhaps successes) with a website or app. You will use W3C guidelines for the site or app you are assessing.
The most relevant are probably WCAG 2.1 and How WCAG 2.0 Applies to Mobile (even websites may be used in mobile settings). If you are working on a mobile app, you should also review this PDF (specifically page 9): Epidemiology as a Framework for Large-Scale Mobile Application Accessibility Assessment.
Optional readings:
You will be assigned to one of eight websites that were submitted by external organizations for review. Please see Canvas for your specific assignment group. Note that this is not a group project, we are asking you to individually work on your assigned website this week. You will join forces next week with others in your section assigned to the same website, to write a report.
You will need to select what aspect of this site to test, you should have at least 3 different well defined tasks that you test. For example, you might select tasks such contacting support, and finding information about accessibility. Be sure to select tasks that are relevant to the website and any requests the submitter made.
An accessibility audit involves a combination of automated testing and testing with accessibility tools. Here is an example video describing how to do an audit:
For each of these steps, you will record data about what you find so that you can complete the write up at the end.
You should run the website and/or app through an accessibility checker. The WebAim accessibility checker, WAVE, is a great choice for many sites. However, if the site requires that you log in, you may need an alternative. A great choice is the Axe Chrome plugin.
To install the Accessibility Scanner on android, search for it in the Play Store and install it on your device or emulator. The installation process will be the same for a physical phone or the emulator equipped with the Play Store. Follow the instructions on the Getting started with Google Accessibility Scanner page to get the scanner working on your device. Another option is to install the Android Accessibility Suite which contains both the Accessibility Scanner and TalkBack if it has not been installed before.
There is currently no IOS support for testing an application you do not have the source code for.
You should generate 2-4 UARs from this phase of the project. If there are multiple similar problems (such as missing ALT text for multiple images), summarize them all in a single UAR.
First you will need to decide which two accessibility technologies you will use. Pick two accessibility technologies. The technologies you choose should provide different information from each other. For example, tabbing through the website will not provide different information than a screen reader, since a screen reader should not be used with a mouse. Most people select a screen reader, and magnification or voice input. If you already use one of these technologies on a regular basis, please check in with the course staff about best choices.
Here are some example resources that may help you in gaining comfort with these accessibility technologies
Note: UW has given us accessible (human captioned) versions of several of these videos, you can find the link on Canvas for those videos.
Once you have picked your technologies, collect data on accessibility problems using the two accessibility technologies. You should find at least one new problem with each AT, that you did not already find with the automated tool. If you cannot find any problems, reach out to the staff for approval and we will help you identify a success category you can write up in a UAR that demonstrates how well that AT is supported.
Record each group of similar issues you find using this Usability Aspect Report Template. Make sure that your UARs are accessible. Be sure to include problems that you found with an automated tool and things that you could only find using manual testing with a your accessibility technologies.