WAI Homepage Provides Strategies and Resources for Web Accessibility

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WAI: Strategies, guidelines, resources to make the Web
accessible to people
with disabilities
Web Accessibility
Initiative (WAI)
Highlights
WCAG 2.1 Working Draft
for review
A new Working Draft of Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines
2.1 has been published. This is
the last Working Draft before
the Working Group stops adding
new requirements to WCAG 2.1.
A draft is planned for September
that will comprise the final set
of new success criteria. In
November a draft will be
published that incorporates
those changes from the

September draft, and is
intended to be the final version
beginning implementation
testing.Please submit any
comments related to potential
new success criteria as soon as
possible, before 13 September
2017. (2017‐August‐16)
Updated: Web
Accessibility Laws and
Policies Listing
The Web Accessibility Laws and
Policies list has been updated
and now includes an overview
Web Accessibility
Initiative (WAI)
Home
Getting Started
Designing for
Inclusion
Guidelines &

Techniques
Planning &
Implementing
Evaluating
Accessibility
Tutorials and
Presentations
Getting Involved
with WAI
presentation
byShawn
At W3C TPAC in
California, USA in
November 2017:
several Groups

will meet face‐to‐
face
[WAI Presentations]
[Past WAI Events]
"The power of the
Web is in its
universality. Access
by everyone
regardless of
disability is an
essential aspect."
— Tim Berners‐Lee,
W3C Director and
inventor of the
World Wide Web
table with filters and sortable
columns. Additional information
is available in the Web
Accessibility Laws and Policies
Listing Updated e‐mail. (2017‐
June‐07)
Digital Publishing
Accessibility API

Mappings 1.0 is a
Candidate
Recommendation
Digital Publishing Accessibility API Mappings (DPub‐AAM)
1.0
has been published as a Candidate Recommendation and is
now undergoing implementation finalization and testing.
DPub‐AAM describes how roles in the Digital Publishing WAI‐
ARIA Module 1.0 should be exposed to accessibility APIs.
Implementation of this specification makes it possible for
assistive technologies to provide enhanced navigation among
landmarks unique to digitally‐published documents, and to
identify document‐specific features which should be
presented to the user, such as crossing a page boundary.
These mappings will also be used in part for verifying
implementation success of Digital Publishing WAI‐ARIA
Module 1.0 which is already a Candidate Recommendation.
The draft implementation report shows the progress of
testing. Please send implementation information or
comments by 7 July 2017. (2017‐June‐06)

Personalization Semantics 1.0 First Public
Working Draft
Personalization Semantics 1.0 has been published as a First
Public Working Draft. Personalization involves tailoring
aspects of the user experience to meet the needs and
prefences of the user. The introduction of standardized
semantics allows web applications to customize the exposure
of that content to one that is familiar to individuals based on
their needs and preferences. This specification was initially
developed in a task force to provide technology features
needed to meet needs of users with cognitive or learning
disabilities, but is intended to support a wide variety of
personalization use cases. Please comment by filing GitHub
issues in the personalization semantics repository or, if this is
not feasible, by email to public‐[email protected], by 30 June
2017. Read about the Accessible Rich Internet Applications
Working Group and the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).

(2017‐June‐06)
Updated: Tutorials on Web Accessibility
Web Accessibility Tutorials on Menus, Page Structure, Forms,
Images, Tables, and Carousels have been updated. These
tutorials show you how to create web content that is
accessible to people with disabilities and that improves the
user experience for all users. They include general guidance,
and specific examples for HTML5 and WAI‐ARIA.
(2017‐Apr‐18)
WCAG 2.1 Working Draft ‐ April 2017
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Working
Draft is updated. This draft includes only the success criteria
that have been formally accepted by the Working Group, and
not the "proposed" success criteria that were in the previous
draft. The Working Group has not addressed all comments
yet; they are in queue for upcoming work. We plan to publish
updated drafts monthly, to encourage timely review of the
success criteria that the Working Group has approved. More
information is in the WCAG 2.1 April 2017 announcement and

WCAG 2.1 status. Please comment by 9 May 2017. (2017‐
Apr‐19)
Accessibility Conformance Testing (ACT) Rules
Format 1.0 First Public Working Draft
Accessibility Conformance Testing (ACT) Rules Format 1.0
has been published as a First Public Working Draft. It
specifies a common format for accessibility test rules, and
how to write test procedures for quality assurance. It
facilitates harmonization of automated, semi‐automated,
and manual accessibility testing approaches, and helps
organizations to better document and share their testing
methods. Please comment by 5 May 2017. More information
is in the blog post WCAG Accessibility Conformance Testing
(ACT); Read about the Accessibility Guidelines Working
Group and the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
(2017‐Apr‐06)
Updated: Easy Checks ‐ A First Review of Web

Updated: Easy Checks ‐ A First Review of Web
Accessibility
WAI's Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG) has
updated Easy Checks ‐ A First Review of Web Accessibility.
This resource helps you start to assess the accessibility of a
web page. With these simple steps, you can get an idea
whether or not accessibility is addressed in even the most
basic way. These checks cover just a few accessibility issues
and are designed to be quick and easy, rather than
definitive. This update includes a new check on Moving,
Flashing, or Blinking Content and instructions for the Web
Developer Toolbar for multiple browsers. (2016‐Dec‐16)
Updated Resources: Planning and Managing
Web Accessibility
WAI's Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG) has
updated these three resources:
Web Accessibility First Aid: Approaches for Interim
Repairs is intended to help with the situation: "I need to
make my website accessible and I don't even know
where to start!" It provides guidance on addressing

short‐term accessibility fixes.
Developing Organizational Policies on Web Accessibility
helps you develop a simple or comprehensive web
accessibility policy for an organization.
Planning and Managing Web Accessibility helps you
integrate accessibility throughout the web production
process. It applies to individual projects and at the
organizational level.
(2016‐Dec‐15)
Video Pages Updated: Perspectives on Web
Accessibility — Essential for Some, Useful for
All
Web Accessibility Perspectives explores the impact of
accessibility for people with disabilities and the benefits for
everyone. This resource introduces 10 web accessibility
topics with short videos, brief descriptions, and links to learn

more. The videos relate the benefits of accessibility to
everyone in different situations, and encourage viewers to
learn more about web accessibility.
For links to playlists, request for specific feedback, and more
information, see the Updated Video Pages e‐mail. (2016‐09‐
20)
User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 and
UAAG 2.0 Reference published as Working
Group Notes
The User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group
(UAWG) has published User Agent Accessibility Guidelines
(UAAG 2.0) and UAAG 2.0 Reference as W3C Working Group
Notes. UAAG 2.0 defines how browsers, media players, and
other “user agents” should support accessibility for people
with disabilities and work with assistive technologies.
Although W3C does not currently have plans to advance
UAAG 2.0 to Recommendation, the need and opportunity to
improve accessibility in user agents still exists. We hope that
this work will be continued in future combined Guidelines
group. UAAG 2.0 provides specific accessibility guidance for
user agent developers who want to build a better user
experience for all users. See the UAAG Published as Notes e‐
mail for additional info. (2015‐Dec‐15)
Media Accessibility User Requirements Working
Group Note
Media Accessibility User Requirements has been published as
a Working Group Note. For information on this publication,
see the MAUR Note announcement e‐mail and MAUR Note
blog post. (2015‐Dec‐03)
Tips for Getting Started with Web Accessibility
Tips for Getting Started with Web Accessibility are designed
to meet the needs of web developers, designers, writers, and

others who want practical starting points for implementing
web accessibility and WCAG 2.0 in their work. Three Tips
pages are available now:
Tips on Designing for Web Accessibility ‐ Tips for user
interface and visual design
Tips on Writing for Web Accessibility ‐ Tips for writing
and presenting content
Tips on Developing for Web Accessibility ‐ Tips for
markup and coding
We welcome your input on improving these pages. Near the
bottom of each page are links to GitHub and e‐mail for
comments. (2015‐Oct‐01)
ATAG 2.0 is a W3C Recommendation
The Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) 2.0 was
published today as a completed web standard. ATAG
provides guidelines for designing web content authoring tools
that are both more accessible to authors with disabilities

(Part A) and designed to enable, support, and promote the
production of more accessible web content by all authors
(Part B). Selecting authoring tools that conform to ATAG 2.0
can facilitate the process of creating accessible Web
content, and can also remove barriers to content creation by
people with disabilities. Implementing ATAG 2.0 has been
published as a Working Group Note to provide additional
explanation, examples and resources for the ATAG 2.0
success criteria. (2015‐Sept‐24)
WCAG‐EM Report Tool: Accessibility Evaluation
Report Generator...
Web Accessibility Tutorials on Forms, Images,
Tables...
WCAG‐EM Provides Methodology for Evaluating Web
Accessibility...
Easy Checks ‐ A First Review of Web Accessibility...
WAI‐ARIA 1.0 is a W3C Recommendation...
Mobile Accessibility Task Force: Seeking

Participation...
Cognitive Accessibility Task Force: Seeking
Participation...
WCAG2ICT Note: Guidance on Applying WCAG 2.0 to
Non‐Web ICT...
WCAG 2.0 is ISO/IEC 40500...
WCAG 2.0 is ISO/IEC 40500...
Mobile Accessibility: Resources Updated...
Developing Web Accessibility Presentations and
Training: Resource Material...
Share the news: How to Make Your Presentations
Accessible to All...
BAD to Good: Demo shows web accessibility barriers
fixed...
Working Together for Better Accessibility...
Additional highlights are in the Highlights Archive.

WAI home page Highlights are edited by Shawn Henry, WAI's
Education and Outreach Working Group, and other WAI Team
and
Working Groups.
Sponsors and Funders
WAI is supported in part by the following organizations.
Thank you!
Adobe Systems
Deque Systems
ETS
HP Enterprise
HP Inc.
IBM Corporation
US Department of Health and Human Services, National
Institute for Disability, Independent Living and
Rehabilitation Research, contract HHSP23301500054
(WAI‐Core 2015 Project)
US Access Board (WCAG TA Project)

WAI welcomes additional sponsors and contributors.
[WAI Site Map] [Help with WAI Website] [Search] [Contacting
WAI]
Feedback welcome to wai‐eo‐[email protected] (a publicly
archived list) or [email protected] (a WAI
staff‐only list).
Copyright © 2017 W3C
®
(MIT, ERCIM, Keio, Beihang) Usage policies apply.
2017/9/6 Beyond Usability: Designing Web Sites for
Persuasion, Emotion, and Trust :: UXmatters
https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2009/01/beyond-
usability-designing-web-sites-for-persuasion-emotion-and-
trust.php 1/10
Design

(/Topics/)
Strategy
(/Topics/)
January 26, 2009
By Eric Schaffer
(https://www.uxmatters.com/authors/archives/2009/01/eric_scha
ffer.php)
The next wave in Web site design is persuasive design,
designing for persuasion, emotion, and
trust. While usability is still a fundamental requirement for
effective Web site design, it is no longer
enough to design sites that are simply easy to navigate and
understand so users can complete
transactions. As business mandates for Web site design have
grown more strategic, complex, and
demanding of accountability, good usability has become the
price of competitive entry. So, while
usability is important, it is no longer the key differentiator it
once was.
The future of great Web design is about creating customer
engagement and commitment in a
way that clearly impacts business results and measurable goals.
Whether a Web site is e-
commerce, informational, or transactional, it must motivate
people to make decisions online that
lead to conversion of one sort or another.
The interactive online environment offers far more
opportunities to influence customers’
decision-making than traditional advertising or marketing

channels do. By leveraging the science
of persuasion in new and insightful ways and designing
specifically to optimize the elements of
persuasion, emotion, and trust, we can systematically influence
customers’ online behavior.
Our approach to persuasive design at HFI—called PET
design™, which stands for Persuasion, Emotion and
Trust—has its basis in a deep understanding of customers’
subtle emotional triggers and employs a rigorous set
of new, research-based methods and techniques. This article
presents a strategic overview of HFI’s take on
persuasive design, or PET design.
Persuasive Design
Beyond Usability: Designing Web Sites for Persuasion,
Emotion, and Trust
7 Comments
(https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2009/01/beyond-
usability-designing-web-sites-for-
persuasion-emotion-and-trust.php#comments)
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20 Sharesǒ
The next wave in Web site design is persuasive design,
designing for persuasion,
emotion, and trust. While usability is still a fundamental
requirement for effective Web site
design, it is no longer enough.
“
”

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party&utm_source=uxmatters&utm_medium=display-
ad&utm_campaign=better-ux-
sj&reg=us)
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CONTINUE READING…
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trust.php 2/10
To be clear, persuasive design is not entirely new. It builds on
the work of many researchers and innovators over
many years. Systematic and scientific methods of persuasion
have been in use since 1920, when Dr. John Watson
applied conditioning methods to sales of Pond’s Cold Cream
and other products. Continuing that innovative
tradition, HFI’s approach, methodology, and insights are
advancing the dialogue about and practice of persuasive
design and demonstrating that online persuasion’s time has
come.
User engagement rather than classic usability is what sets
effective Web design apart today. While great
usability is a baseline requirement, there is far more involved in
engaging customers on a Web site than simply

making sure they can find specific content and perform
particular transactions. Today’s mandate is to move
beyond traditional usability. Instead of designing only for what
visitors can do on a site, superior Web design is
now responsible for determining what customers will do—
whether it’s to
With its foundation in usability best practices and psychology,
PET design is the result of HFI’s extensive
research, pilot programs, and client engagements with Fortune
500 companies. It is based on a new model that
employs a holistic view of user experience design in which
persuasion objectives lead to business success.
The Critical Persuasion Objective
Most e-commerce sites used to be the equivalent of bricks-and-
mortar stores with barbed wire fences. Customers
could barely find their way in, no less find what they were
looking for or complete a transaction and check out
with ease. Now that usability practices have become widely
adopted and the barbed wire is gone, it’s necessary
to go beyond just providing an open door. We need to create an
online shopping experience that is persuasive.
The online shopping experience must be motivational for
customers, not just easy and satisfying. A rating of
high satisfaction does not ensure a conversion. We need to
create an experience that motivates action.
Once a customer has entered a Web site, we must create a sense
of trust, or there will be no transaction.
Users assess a site’s credibility in a moment, then also make a
longer-term evaluation of its trustworthiness. Two
different sets of markers in a site’s design provide the basis for
these two evaluations:

Only once we’ve established trust can we apply specific
research-based methods of persuasion to drive a
customer to make a transaction, or convert—that is, to achieve
the persuasion objective that is the focus of PET
design. For example, a usability engineer can make it easy to
purchase insurance online. But ease of use is not
the main driver of why people buy a policy—rather they buy a
policy because a site has persuaded them to buy it.
This could be accomplished by appealing to someone’s sense of
security, safety, and responsibility. What might
happen to their family if they don’t buy insurance? Through
persuasion methods, we might make a policy seem
inexpensive or make someone feel obligated to buy a policy.
Persuasive Design and Research
User engagement rather than classic usability is what sets
effective Web design apart today.“ ”
buy a product or service»
ask their doctor about a new drug»
decide to vote for an issue or a candidate»
donate to a particular cause or philanthropy»
Once a customer has entered a Web site, we must create a sense
of trust, or there will be no transaction.“ ”
Superficial markers like layout and graphics provide the basis
for fast, thin-slicing evaluations.»
The quality of information, credentials, and references are the
focus of more involved evaluations.»

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trust.php 3/10
For companies and designers, persuasive design changes
virtually everything about planning a Web site.
Standard usability research and testing are often no longer
adequate. Persuasive design is fundamentally more
qualitative, deep, and subtle than usability.
Consider this scenario: Meet Sam, who’s a usability test
participant for a site that sells spa products. Even
though Sam is not a target user, researchers could still evaluate
whether Sam can find particular spa products on
the site and purchase them easily.
However, persuasive design also requires examining how
participants feel about buying a product, whether
they would buy, and whether a site motivates them to buy. So
Sam—a 50-something-year-old male with two 20-
year-old sons, no daughters, and no interest in spa products
whatsoever—is just about useless for a PET design
evaluation of a spa Web site.
Who the test participants are, what questions the test facilitator

asks them, and how she frames the questions
—all matter a great deal more in a PET design evaluation. The
research and testing are more exacting, because
we’re looking at human preference and decision-making. So we
need to go further in our research. We probe the
depths of customers’ drives, uncover their deep beliefs and
feelings, and understand the blocks and fears that
keep them from taking particular actions.
Emotion, Decision-making, and Optimizing Engagement
The thinking processes that guide our commercial choices are
complex and emotional, not logical and linear.
Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Blink: The Power of Thinking
Without Thinking, deals with the primary role that snap
judgments play in consumer decisions. Gladwell cautioned
marketers to be careful about using what people say
while sitting around a table responding to what-if scenarios.
While Gladwell’s point is a good one, at HFI we’ve shown it is
possible to design for persuasion by modeling
what the deep parts of the human brain are doing—going further
than simple what-if scenarios. We’ve also found
it’s possible to do so in a methodical and scientific manner that
is informed by research and validation rather than
guesswork. Understanding this framework is one of the keys to
persuading someone to make a decision. We
must model the implications of a user’s old brain—the
amygdale, hippocampus, and basil ganglia. Charting a

user’s completely unconscious cognitive processing can be as
critical as looking at beliefs and feelings. This is
how PET design results in desired actions and, therefore, meets
business objectives.
Case Study: State Lottery Web Site Redesign and Results
Let’s look at an example. HFI was recently engaged to redesign
the California state lottery Web site. Most people
didn’t know the state’s lottery was created to generate extra
funds to support public education. While the lottery
Web site reminds people to play responsibly, its goal is to
encourage them to participate in more games, more
often—thereby generating more income for education. The site
is also an important means of communicating this
meaningful contribution to people—particularly to lottery
skeptics.
While the site suffered from usability problems, more
importantly, it failed to capitalize on opportunities to
engage site visitors and convey the key brand values of
optimism, hope, trust, and fun. HFI’s PET design research
found that people play lotto because of the anticipation,
excitement, and adrenaline rush it creates. Rationally,
Persuasive design is fundamentally more qualitative, deep, and
subtle than usability.“ ”
The thinking processes that guide our commercial choices are

complex and emotional, not logical and
linear.“
”
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trust.php 4/10
they don’t expect to hit the jackpot. People admitted they
probably had better odds of being struck by lightning.
But they’re still happy to buy a $1 ticket for the chance to
dream about what they’d do if they won—it’s an
emotional adventure.
Yet the Web site did little—from an emotional design
standpoint—to leverage those feelings and create a
stronger connection and engagement with lottery games. It was
fundamentally an information site that made
playing the lottery less fun. For instance, it simply reported
winning numbers instead of replicating the emotional
experience of watching the announcement of winning numbers
on television.
So, HFI applied a host of classical usability techniques, plus our
new PET design methodology. Once we’d
discovered and defined the key user motivations, drivers,
blocks, and barriers, we created innovative design
elements to fulfill the aspirations of site visitors, including

These new elements engage visitors in ways that remove
barriers and blocks and encourage deeper
interaction. During the redesign, HFI’s experts were careful to
ensure users could complete key tasks that are
critical to the lottery’s business goals, while still making them
more fun and enjoyable. Through the PET design
process, HFI developed a new site prototype that
When Usability Conflicts with Persuasion
Once usability studies helped us understand how people actually
use Web sites, marketers and designers started
learning to think differently—and more clearly—about how they
wanted people to use Web sites.
Persuasive design pushes designers to clearly define a Web
site’s purpose—and its persuasion objectives. For
e-commerce sites, the objectives are to inspire their customers’
trust, engage them, and persuade them to buy
their products or services. For government sites, the persuasion
objectives would likely be to convince citizens
that the government is responsible, effective, and investing their
money wisely. For non-profit organizations, the
objectives would be to engage customers and get them to
support their causes with donations and through
word-of-mouth and political support. Only after identifying
such persuasion objectives and articulating them
precisely can we choose the appropriate techniques from our
toolkit of persuasion technologies. For example,
with PET design, HFI applies very specific techniques that are
based on the principles of social pressure, scarcity,
or contrast.
In some ways, persuasive design can actually be easier to
implement than classic usability. Persuasion-

oriented goals and design elements are often minimal in scope
when compared to classic usability goals like
making every error message on an enterprise site intelligible.
Yet the strategies behind persuasive design are not
dynamic winning number results that simulate the TV
experience»
winners near you»
lucky store locations»
lucky number generator games»
maps showing where the education money goes»
surveys that ask What would you do if you won?»
nearly doubled task completion rates—from 47% to 93%»
91% of users preferred to the old visual design»
generated a more positive response to all nine of the brand
attributes we tested—such as reliable, friendly,
and trustworthy
»
reinforced the lottery’s mission of supporting education, which
is important in allaying people’s doubts about
where their money goes when they play
»
Persuasive design pushes designers to clearly define a Web
site’s purpose—and its persuasion

objectives.“ ”
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trust.php 5/10
trivial. The design methodologies are also different from those
of usability—in fact, they sometimes conflict with
each other.
Let’s look at an example. Making people feel engaged and
committed is intrinsic to persuasive design. To
achieve this, it may be important to make them feel effective
when using a user interface. Though the cardinal
rule of usability is to make it simple, it’s possible to make a
design too simple, thereby causing users to lose the
feeling of effectiveness and engagement that stems from a more
involved, complex interaction. So, if you want
users to experience a sense of discovery or achievement,
consider intentionally building in some interesting
sources of challenge for them to overcome along the path.
There is another important concept working against strict
simplicity in design:
e-tailers want customers to encounter as many products as
possible, just as retailers would in a bricks-and-mortar
space. Yet their objective to cross-sell and up-sell can conflict
with usability best practices.

Think of a shopping mall. If you’ve come to the mall to buy a
widget, you’ll invariably find the widget store is on
the farthest end of the mall from where you started, forcing you
to pass many other stores along the way. If the
store that carries your widget is a large one, the pattern repeats
anew—you pass through perfume, ties, jewelry,
and watches before you finally reach the widget department.
Was getting from your car to the item you came to
buy an efficient process? From a strict usability perspective, no.
You may even have gotten lost along the way.
But is it poorly designed? Quite the contrary. While making
your way through the mall, you probably discovered
many things you didn’t think you wanted, but may end up
purchasing.
So, retail spaces are designed not to optimize efficiency, but to
optimize persuasion opportunities. The same
principle applies in the online environment. While preserving
usability, so users don’t feel frustration or other
negative emotions, it’s still possible to create a more interesting
and entertaining user experience that maximizes
persuasion opportunities.
The Science of Trust
Another critical component of persuasive design is establishing
trust between the customer and the e-tailer from
the start. Only on a platform of trust can we persuade customers
to take the actions we intend on a site. But it’s
not enough to simply want to be trusted. An organization must
systematically foster user trust. HFI has deeply
researched how to establish trust in the online environment and
determined what variables are most significant in
doing so. Because we’ve gained a systematic understanding of
how to establish trust rather than leaving the
result to chance, we’ve been able to develop a range of very

specific trust-building techniques.
One example is the seemingly prosaic FAQ. A considerable
body of research supports the idea that FAQs are
very effective in establishing trust. A FAQ on a Web site
indicates the organization behind the site is not a fly-by-
night operation, but a solid enterprise that is diligent enough to
care about documenting such things.
Another trust technique is matching existing knowledge—that
is, presenting a piece of information users know
is true to strengthen the credibility of your subsequent claims.
We know from research that people feel more trust
in Web sites that provide information they already know to be
true—for example, a recommendation on a Web
site focusing on health to take aspirin for heart longevity. It
might seem odd to include content that covers what
users already know, but seeing the known content makes users
more confident in new information on the same
site.
Another method of establishing trust is arguing against self-
interest. HFI consults with one of the world’s
largest computer manufacturers. On their Web site, they
frequently recommend options, which can be helpful, but
we became concerned when we discovered that all of the
recommendations were for the most expensive
An organization must systematically foster user trust.“ ”
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trust.php 6/10
options. To engender trust, it would be better to sometimes
recommend the cheapest option. Once customers
experience a company’s telling them You don’t really need to
buy that from us, their trust rockets, likely resulting
in many more sales.
PET Design Versus Traditional Marketing
HFI’s approach to persuasive design—PET design—goes
beyond what traditional advertising or marketing
agencies do. Persuasion is the name of the game for them, too,
but the tried-and-true techniques of priming,
framing, and conditioning—which get people to feel that a
product is familiar, good, and attractive—are usually
applied in older, static media in which messaging flows only
one way.
PET design takes root in the dynamic and interactive
environment of the Web 2.0 universe. It lets us go far
beyond traditional marketing approaches to use persuasion tools
and techniques such as influence methods that
make a product or service appear particularly appealing. It
covers the triggers that can be fired off to make
people commit and take action. Ultimately, the goal might even
be to create fanatics for your company or brand.
While there will always be a role for classical usability
specialists, persuasive design requires the development
of a new skill set. Though persuasive design is based on the
user-centric perspectives usability experts already
have, the scientific methods for achieving persuasive design are

new. Usability specialists and designers can add
greatly to the value they offer their companies by expanding
their toolkits with persuasive design skills. Through
this article, I hope I’ve encouraged you to explore the
possibilities persuasive design presents.
Additional Resources
In UX Design (https://www.uxmatters.com/topics/design/ux-
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Eric Schaffer
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Eric Schaffer founded
HFI in 1988 and, over the last quarter century, has become
known as the visionary who
identified usability as the driving force in the Third Wave of the
Information Age—following
hardware, then software as the previous key differentiators. Eric
recognized that the most
profound impact on corporate computing would be the result of
a positive online user
experience—the ability for a user to get a job done efficiently,
easily, and without frustration.
His book Institutionalization of Usability: A Step-by-Step
Guide provides a roadmap companies can follow to
Though persuasive design is based on the user-centric
perspectives usability experts already have, the

scientific methods for achieving persuasive design are new.“ ”
My new blog, Usability Is No Longer Enough
(http://connect.humanfactors.com/profiles/blog/list?
user=10awf3z13tlbz),
(http://connect.humanfactors.com/profiles/blog/list?user=10awf
3z13tlbz) is dedicated
specifically to the topic of persuasive design. I invite you to
share your ideas there.
»
For a more detailed explanation of specific PET design
techniques, please see HFI’s white paper, “Designing
for Conversion
(http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/whitepapers.asp#PET
scan),”
(http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/whitepapers.asp#PET
scan) by Mona Patel.
»
z
Founder and CEO at Human Factors International (HFI), Inc.
Fairfield, Iowa, USA
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make usability a systematic, routine practice throughout an
organization. Eric co-developed HFI’s Schaffer-
Weinschenk Method, the only ISO-certifiable process for user-
centered design, which builds on principles from
human-computer interaction, ergonomics, psychology, computer
science, and marketing. He has completed
projects for more than 100 Fortune 500 clients, providing user
experience design consulting and training.
Recently, Eric has been traveling the world teaching HFI’s
newest course, “How to Design for Persuasion,
Emotion, and Trust.” He is a member of the Human Factors and
Ergonomics Society and a Certified Professional
Ergonomist. Eric earned his PhD in “Applied Psychology
specializing in Human Performance”—aka usability—from
Stevens Institute of Technology. Read More
ffer.php)
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2015, Part 1:
Overview and Day 1
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1.php)
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Mobile-First eCommerce: What Customers Expect and Value in
Mobile Shopping
Experiences
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(https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2016/01/the-purpose-
of-site-maps-and-
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of the Year
(https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2016/01/how-focusing-
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experience-helped-govuk-win-design-of-the-year.php)
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(https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2017/08/interview-
richard-dalton-head-
of-design-at-capital-one.php)
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(https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2017/08/user-
experience-and-agile.php)

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Doing Research with People Who Are Not Users: Consultation
(https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2017/08/doing-
research-with-people-
who-are-not-users-consultation.php)
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Visceral Response to Dishonesty in Experience Design
(https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2017/08/visceral-
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2017/9/6 Site Map Usability
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/site-map-usability/ 1/5
Nielsen Norman Group
Evidence-Based User Experience Research, Training, and
Consulting
by JAKOB NIELSEN on September 2, 2008
Topics: Information Architecture Navigation
Summary: New user testing of site maps shows that they are
still
useful as a secondary navigation aide, and that they're much
easier
to use than they were during our research 7 years ago.
One of the oldest hypertext usability principles is to offer a
visual
representation of the information space in order to help users
understand
where they can go. Site maps can provide such a visualization,
offering a
useful supplement to the primary navigation features on a
website or intranet.
A site map's main benefit is to give users an overview of the
site's areas in
a single glance . It does this by dedicating an entire page to a
visualization of
the information architecture (IA). If designed well, this
overview can include

several levels of hierarchy, and yet not be so big that users lose
their grasp of
the map as a whole.
We define a site map as a special page intended to act as a
website guide .
The site maps we studied took a variety of forms, including
alphabetical site
indexes, dynamic diagrams, and two-dimensional lists. The term
"site map"
here thus encompasses a wide array of features, appearances,
and names,
including "guide," "overview," "index," and "directory."
Two Research Studies
To find out how people use site maps, we conducted two rounds
of usability
research, testing a range of site map designs with users as they
performed
representative tasks.
Site Map Usability
A total of 30 users participated in our site map testing, with 15

in each of the
two research rounds.
We tested the following 20 websites, which included a mix of e-
commerce and
marketing-oriented sites, high-tech companies, B2B sites,
content sites, non-
profit organizations, and government agencies.
Sites Tested In Study 1 Sites Tested In Study 2
CDNOW (e-commerce)
Documentum (high-tech product)
Interwoven (high-tech product)
Mercedes Benz USA (marketing site
for cars)
Museum of Modern Art (non-profit)
New Jersey Transit (local
transportation)
Novell (B2B)
Salon (online magazine)
Siemens Medical
Solution

s (B2B)
United States Treasury Department
(government)
Administration on Aging (government)
BMW USA (marketing site for cars)
Citysearch Boston (visitor info)
Harvard Pilgrim (health insurance)
iRobot Corporation (high-tech/e-
commerce)
The Knot (wedding information/e-
commerce)
Marriott (hotels, with online booking)
Scholastic (children's books)
Texas Roadhouse (restaurant chain)

TiVo (high-tech product)
In both studies, we first took users to a site's homepage and
gave them a task
without any special mention of the site map. This part of the
research
assessed the extent to which users naturally turn to site maps.
Later in each
study, we specifically asked users to go to the site map if they
hadn't already
gone there on their own.
Study 1 was conducted 7 years ago . Comparing the two studies
thus allows
us to assess long-term trends in site map usability.
Site Maps are Used Rarely
People rarely use site maps. In Study 2, only 7% of users turned
to the site

map when asked to learn about a site's structure. This is down
from 27% of
users in Study 1.
The good news is that users can actually find the site map in
those few cases
where they want to. In Study 2, 67% of the users successfully
found the site
map when we asked them to "Find a page that lists every part of
the website."
Keep It Simple
The two main usability guidelines for site maps are:
Call it "Site Map" and use this label to consistently link to the
site map throughout the
site.
Use a static design . Don't offer users interactive site map
widgets. The site map
should give users a quick visualization without requiring further
interaction (except
scrolling, if necessary).
These guidelines are unchanged from the report's first edition.

Dynamic or
interactive site maps caused horrible failures 7 years ago, and
they still
caused trouble in Study 2. The site map's goal is to give users a
single
overview of the information space. If users have to work to
reveal different
parts of the map, they lose that benefit.
A site map is, after all, a map ; it should not be a navigational
challenge of its
own.
As we've found repeatedly, users hate non-standard user
interfaces that force
them to learn a special way of doing things for the sake of a
single website.
Site maps should be simple, compact layouts of links, and they
should show
everything in a single view.
The one small complexity we recommend is to use a multi-
column layout .
In Study 2, users easily succeeded with 61% of tasks involving
multi-column

site maps compared to 47% of tasks with single-column site
maps.
Multi-column site maps worked better because users needed less
scrolling to
get an overview of the site's structure. People were more likely
to become lost
within long, scrolling site maps. They typically scrolled up and
down the map
multiple times, often accidentally or purposefully skipping
content. In fact,
users often started with one quick scan of high-level categories,
then scrolled
back up and did a more detailed search, sometimes repeating

this process
multiple times with more and more focus each time. In contrast,
multi-column
site maps made it easier for users to quickly glance at all
categories and
subcategories, and thereby get a lay of the land before digging
deeper.
Why Have a Site Map?
Seven years ago, 48% of the 50 websites we surveyed had site
maps. Today,
71% of the 150 websites we surveyed had site maps and 59% of
the 56
intranets analyzed in our report on Intranet Information
Architecture had site
maps. Also, most site maps have become somewhat more usable
during the
time between our two research rounds.

Despite the prevalence of good site maps these days, users don't
use them
very much. So why bother making a site map for your website?
Because it
can help users understand your site and what it offers.
I still recommend site maps because they're the only feature that
gives
users a true overview of everything on a site. One could argue
that a site's
navigation serves the same purpose. For example, some
navigation offers
mega drop-down menus that let users see the options available
in each site
section. But even with these menus, users can see only one
section of
content at a time.
A site map lets users see all available content areas on one

page, and gives
them instant access to those site pages. Site maps can also help
users find
information on a cluttered site, providing a clean, simple view
of the user
interface and the available content. Site maps are not a cure-all,
however. No
site map can fix problems inherent in a site's structure, such as
poor
navigational organization, poorly named sections, or poorly
coordinated
subsites.

If site maps required a major investment to design, they
wouldn't offer
sufficient ROI to be worth doing. But because all of our
guidelines call for site
map simplicity, making a good one doesn't require a lot of
work, and it will
help some of your users. More importantly, it will help users at
a critical time
: When they are lost and might abandon your site if they don't
get that last
piece of assistance to find their way around.
Site maps are a secondary navigation feature — a humble role
that they
share with breadcrumbs. Indeed, the arguments in favor of site
maps are the
same as the arguments for breadcrumbs :
They don't hurt people who don't use them.

They do help a few people.
They incur very little cost .
Copyright © 1998-2017 Nielsen Norman Group, All Rights
Reserved.
Test your skills with assessing the persuasiveness of two
different websites offering the same service to consumers. This
exercise will require you to use the chapter readings and other
materials from this session in a practical example.
Open the Website Comparison attachment for the directions.
Complete the sheet, save it, then upload it here for your
instructor to grade.
Rubric
Document 2: Website Comparison
Document 2: Website Comparison
Criteria
Ratings
Pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeAssessment of
Objectives
Proficient - Above average assessment of persuasiveness

objectives.
10.0 pts
Competent - Average assessment of persuasiveness objectives.
5.0 pts
Novice - Does not assess the persuasiveness objectives at all.
0.0 pts
10.0 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeCompare and
Contrast
Proficient - Above average comparison and contrast of two
airlines.
10.0 pts
Competent - Average comparison and contrast of two airlines.
5.0 pts
Novice - Does not compare or contrast the two airlines at all.
0.0 pts
10.0 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeObservations
Proficient - Complete, above average observations of website
details.
10.0 pts
Competent - Average observation of website details.
5.0 pts

Novice - Little or no observations of the two airlines.
0.0 pts
10.0 pts
Total Points: 30.0

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