The Perils of Using Assistive Technology for Testing

Transcription

1 The Perils of Using Assistive Technology for Testing 2018

2 Who am I? Elizabeth Simister Product Accessibility Manager Bringing now 14 years of experience in assisting educational and government institutions in understanding what it means to be accessible. 2

3 Disclaimer This presentation is informational only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Please consult with Anu Baron or Dean Newton in Blackboard s Legal Department if you have specific questions relating to the topics covered in this presentation. 3

4 Agenda Goal of this session Bugs, User Experience, & Accessibility Different types of disabilities Assistive technologies Perils of testing with assistive technologies Other testing methods Perils of other testing methods Conclusion 4

5 Goal Understand that no matter how a product is tested, you will never find ALL of the potential issues. 5

6 Assistive Technologies Screen readers Screen magnifiers Speech-to-text Literacy software Alternative devices More 6

7 Bugs, User Experience, and Accessibility part 1 Bugs: technical problem that causes hardware and applications to not work App crashes on Submit every time for ever person 7

8 Bugs, User Experience, and Accessibility part 2 User experience: everyone trying to use the hardware or software has a similar experience What is the purpose of this object and how is it used? 8

9 Bugs, User Experience, and Accessibility part 3 Accessibility: explicit to people with disabilities and the user experiences can vary I can t use a Braille refresh device with my ipad to complete the shipping form in this application 9

10 Bugs, User Experience, and Accessibility part 4 Remember, all accessibility issues are user experience issues and bugs, but not all user experience issues and bugs are accessibility issues. +/or 10

11 Types of Disabilities Vision Hearing Motor/Mobility Color perception Seizure Cognitive Multiple 11

12 Perils of testing with assistive technologies Lack of experience by the tester using the assistive technology Lack of understanding how different people use the same assistive technology Diversity of assistive technologies Diversity of web browsers and versions of web browsers Diversity of mobile devices Different computer operating systems Variety of hardware, closed products, etc. 12

13 Peril 1 - Lack of experience by the tester using the assistive technology Tell me the difference between PC Cursor and Virtual Cursor in JAWS What does a mouse click do? What is one of the main keys on the Mac I need to use when using VoiceOver Name a gesture, other than swipe, that can be used with TalkBack Does VoiceOver need to be enabled to use a Bluetooth keyboard with an ios device? What happens if I use ALT+F10 in a PC software application? Others? 13

14 Peril 2 - Lack of understanding how different people use the same assistive technology v John lost his eyesight serving in Afghanistan and is now learning how to use a screen reader. His coach has not yet explained how to customize the settings in his AT so he is mostly tabbing and using the arrow keys for navigation. He has his speech rate set at 50 as he is still getting used to listening for cues to find controls like buttons and links. Jaime was diagnosed when she was 6 as severely dyslexic. She uses the same screen reader as John to help her read her homework assignments but often uses the mouse to navigate and interact with things like buttons. Her speech rate is set to 70. Joe has been blind his entire life and is a whiz using a screen reader. He has every imaginable personalization set. He uses the keyboard shortcuts, like H, to quickly navigate content. Most people cannot even hear what his reader is saying, it is so fast. 14

15 Peril 3 - Diversity of assistive technologies Screen Readers JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, ChromeVox, Narrator, TalkBack, etc. Screen Magnifiers ZoomText, Zoom, MAGic, Magnifier, etc. Literacy Software Read & Write, Kurzwiel, WYNN, Clicker 7, etc. Speech-to-Text Dragon Naturally Speaking, Braina, NextGen, Dictation, etc. Alternative Devices QWERTY keyboard, switch, headset, joystick, braille display, etc. More 15

16 Peril 4 -Diversity of web browsers and versions of web browsers Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, Edge More 16

17 Peril 5 - Diversity of mobile devices ios ipad, iphone, and yes ipod 5, 5S, 6, 6s, 7, 8, 10, etc. Android Tablets and Phones Samsung, LG, Google, Nokia, HTC, Sony, Amazon, Moto, Nexus, etc. Windows Phones Wearables FitBit Apple Watch 17

18 Peril 6: Different computer operating systems Mac OS ios Windows Android Linux More 18

19 Peril 7: Variety of hardware, closed products, etc. Kiosks Registers Phones Printers Mobile devices More 19

20 Other Testing Methods Automated testing tools Color contrast checking Code review Keyboard testing Visual Verification More 20

21 Perils of Other Testing Methods Automated testing tools vary on the types of violations returned Less experienced human testers may not catch all code errors Color contrast tools are not as effective if HEX values cannot be used Less experienced human testers may not try all possible keyboard commands Results, such as what defines good alternative image text, can vary depending from person to person More 21

22 Conclusion Understand that no matter how a product is tested, you will never find all of the potential issues. Using multiple techniques and not just assistive technologies will go a long way to achieving that goal. 22

23 Resources ios Simulator with the Accessibility Inspector Android Accessibility Scanner JAWS keystrokes Apple keystrokes and gestures Mac keystrokes Microsoft s Inspect Tools axe by Deque automated testing tool WebAim s automated testing tool WAVE WebAim s color contrast checker The Paciello Group Colour Contast Analyzer 23

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