This document summarizes a presentation on creating the best user experience through accessibility and usability. It discusses that designing for all users is impossible, so understanding user needs is important. It defines the functional, emotional, sensorial and social aspects of a user's experience. It also discusses usability, minimizing human costs, and the benefits of good user experience like increased efficiency. The document provides tips for starting the design process like identifying user groups, creating personas, conducting task analysis, and testing assumptions through interviews, observations and card sorting. It emphasizes including people with disabilities in research and understanding standards and assistive technologies to create accessible, usable designs.

1. WPF September 20, 2011 Creating the Best Experience: Accessibility & UsabilityPresented by Carol Smith

2. Designing for Everyone is Impossible

3. Who will use your product?What do they need to do?

4. Understand User’s Experience

5. User’s Experience Interaction with a product, service, or company Functional Emotional Sensorial Social

6. Functional Able to complete task Find information Submit form Contact someone Purchase item

7. Sensorial Visual Layout Colors Images Auditory Video Music Ads

8. Emotional Bring their life with them Interface Conveys ideas and emotions Sets the tone

9. Social Interactions with other people Social networking Help features Chat

10. Where They Overlap... ➘ Experience X Functional Emotional Sensorial Social

11. Usabilityis an important characteristicof what makes a good User Experience

12. Minimize Human Cost Tiredness Discomfort Embarrassment Frustration Effort

13. Benefits of Good User Experience Increased Usefulness Increased Efficiency ($$$) Improved Productivity

14. Benefits (continued) Fewer Errors Reduced Training Time Improved Acceptance Happy Users!

15. Where do I start?

16. Who are your users?

17. Same Job Title, May Differ in…

18. Which Student? Rick Connie http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrjkbh/via http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en http://www.flickr.com/photos/caharley72/ (Christopher Alison Photography) via http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

19. Small,Iterative Steps

20. Interview the Experts Customer Service Marketing (Web statistics) Training Sales/Business development

21. Who Are the Users? How many are there? Common complaints? Most important/frequent tasks? Show stoppers? Understand: Assumptions and stereotypes Differences between users

22. About Them Environment Experience Level, Knowledge Technology Define Primary & Secondary Users

23. Make User Groups Loosely defined at first Determine what differentiates them

24. Share What You Learn

25. Personas Help guide decisions about: Navigation Features Design Archetype, based on research

27. He was never interested in teaching, but wants to improve the educational system. When he saw a job opening at an educational company he felt it would be a great opportunity to do just that.

29. Gap Analysis

30. Are We Confident?

32. Confirm Assumptions Representative users who DO the tasks. Visionaries, leaders, perhaps.

33. Observations

34. Interviews

35. 34 Card Sorting http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosenfeldmedia/ via http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

36. Observations

37. Go to the user 36

38. Why Observe? Great way to understand your user’s situation “Cheat sheets” and other artifacts Real processes Number and type of interruptions Who are they?

39. http://www.flickr.com/photos/heygabe/ via http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/ Actual Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/heygabe/47206241/

40. Interviews

41. Interview to Discover/Confirm… Build on what you’ve learned: Tasks Attitudes and Opinions Problems Goals Experience level and knowledge Technology 40

42. Use Scripts Memory tool for facilitator Don’t have to follow Promote consistency Questions Order of questions

43. Questions Quality of questions correlates to quality of answers: Open-ended Unbiased Don’t lead or make assumptions Use participant’s words

44. Silence is GoldenUser’s Time to Think! 43

45. Card Sorting

46. Card Sorting Maximize probability of users finding content Explore how people are likely to group items Identify content likely to be: Difficult to categorize Difficult to find Misunderstood Gaffney, Gerry. (2000) What is Card Sorting? Usability Techniques Series, Information & Design. http://www.infodesign.com.au/usabilityresources/design/cardsorting.asp Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/richtpt via http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

47. Benefits of Card Sorting Easy and inexpensive Use to determine: Order of information Relationships between info Labels for navigation Verify correct audience Gaffney, Gerry. (2000) What is Card Sorting? Usability Techniques Series, Information & Design. Image: http://www.infodesign.com.au/usabilityresources/design/cardsorting.asp

48. Online Tools Moderated Un-moderated Optimal Sort, Optimal Workshop - http://www.optimalworkshop.com/ Demo: https://livedemo.optimalworkshop.com/optimalsort/supermarketdemo

49. Usability Testing

50. Do I need a lab? Computer / Concept Participant Facilitator Observer Timer Logger Rubin, Jeffrey. Handbook of Usability Testing. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 1994.

51. Software* Simple Un-Moderated Moderated Complex *Incomplete list with subjective ratings

52. "The biggest waste of all is building something no one wants" - @ericries #LeanStartupMI via @MelBugai

53. Break Time!

54. Accessibility

55. Overview of Terminology Disability any condition that impedes the completion of daily tasks using traditional methods (Wikipedia) “People with Disabilities” Not “disabled” or “handicapped”

56. What is Accessibility? Accessibility is designing products so that people can use them regardless of disability or environment.

57. Everyone can… Perceive Understand Navigate Interact Create & Contribute effectively

58. Disabilities vary by… Time of Onset Course of the disability Degree of Severity Single or Multiple Disabilities

59. Disabilities Vary Visual Blindness forgot glasses Auditory Physical Speech Cognitive Neurological Language Literacy

60. Environmental Factors Imposed limiting conditions include: Manufacturing system – loud warehouse Wireless device – on public transportation Slow internet connection

61. Accessible and Usable by Everyone Universally Accessible Packaging Curb Cuts Curb Cut Image http://4sbccfaculty.org/lecture/2000s/lectures/Jan_Shapiro.html

62. Usability & Accessibility Increase people who can effectively use a product situations in which the product can be used usability of a product user satisfaction Estimated 650 million disabled people worldwide (Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disability - September 2011

63. Benefits to Organizations Demonstrate corporate responsibility Cost savings and return on investment Reduced possibility of legal issues Target Jet Blue

64. Getting Started Institutionalize Accessibility with Usability Plan for inclusion in all levels Support developers and discuss accessibility with your team Standards, guidelines and laws Inspection technology

65. Research Include people with disabilities People working under limiting conditions

66. Standards Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) Section 508 in USA

67. Evaluating for Accessibility Make code good and valid Clear, understandable, content Organized information

68. Become Familiar with Functional and situational limitations Standards, guidelines and laws Inspection technology Assistive Technologies

69. Accessible, Usable and Beautiful Accessible and visually stimulating

70. Wrap Up

71. Do UX Early & Often Put it on the Wall as information radiators Test findings Artifacts Competitor info Update information

72. Recommended Readings

73. References Cato, John. User-Centered Web Design. Addison Wesley Longman; 2001. Hackos, JoAnn T., PhD and Redish, Janice C. User and Task Analysis for Interface Design. Wiley; 1998. Henry, Shawn Lawton. Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design. Henry, S.L. and Grossnickle, M. Accessibility in the User-Centered Design Process. Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Inc; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; 2004. http://uiaccess.com/accessucd/personas.html Kuniavsky, Mike. Observing the User Experience: a Practitioner's Guide to User Research. Morgan Kaufmann, 2003. Mandel, Theo. The Elements of User Interface Design. Wiley; 1997. Nielsen, Jakob and Robert L. Mack. Usability Inspection Methods. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1994. Powell, Thomas A. The Complete Reference: Web Design. Osborne/McGraw-Hill; 2000. Rubin, Jeffrey & Dana Chisnell. Handbook of Usability Testing. Schaffer, Eric. Institutionalization of Usability: A Step by Step Guide. Human Factors International, 2004. Slatin, John M. and Sharron Rush Maximum Accessibility: Making Your Web Site More Usable for Everyone. Addison-Wesley Pub Co., 2002. W3C, Web Accessibility Initiative - http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility

74. References (cont)

75. Contact Carol J. Smith @carologic carol@mw-research.com http://www.mw-research.com