Accessibility

Conducting an accessibility audit is an essential part of evaluating the accessibility of your site.

• Why and when
• Accessibility audits
• Outputs
• Fees
• Disabled user testing
• Outputs
• Fees

Download this product sheet in PDF format

Why and when

Improving the accessibility for disabled users increases ease of use for all users and:

• Increases your audience. Accessible sites can be used by more people – people with disabilities, older people, people with low literacy, people who are not fluent in the language of the site, people with low bandwidth connections to the Internet, people with older technologies, and new and infrequent web users
• Helps you comply with your obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act (part III) and the Disability Equality Duty
• Improves the visibility and reputation of your site to search engines such as Google
• Improves the performance of your site on newer technologies such as mobile phone browsers

Ideally, there should be expert accessibility input at the templating stage of a new website, followed by usability testing with both disabled and non disabled testers.

With an existing site, we recommend:

• Firstly, conducting usability testing on your site with non disabled users in order to identify (and then fix) ‘obvious’ usability issues that interfere with the effectiveness of the site for all users (see our product sheet on Usability testing)
• Then, undertaking an expert accessibility audit of your site to reveal any technical issues that are likely to prevent or hinder disabled users in accessing the site.
• And finally, undertaking user testing with users with a range of impairments (partial or no sight, motor issues, dyslexia, etc.) in order to reveal issues that interfere with an excellent user experience for these types of users

Conducting both an accessibility audit and disabled user testing is essential to achieve a comprehensive accessibility evaluation of your website, as recommended by the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative. Ideally, these should also be undertaken periodically to ensure that your site continues to be compliant with the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative.

Accessibility Audits

Our approach
We approach accessibility from a standpoint of practicality of implementation. The solutions recommended are assessed in terms of priority and effort of implementation. We have designed our audit to give you worked solutions to any problems found, and a context within which to apply them.

A representative selection of pages from your site is identified and is then subjected to a series of tests:
Each page is first checked for compliance with the 65 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAGv2.0, as laid down by the W3C). The testing does not rely on automated checking – each page is evaluated ‘by hand’, as the W3C recommends. Further best practice checks are conducted as appropriate to the client. These might include:

• Best practice guidelines for accessible PDF documents
• Best practice guidelines for accessible Macromedia Flash content
• Best practice guidelines for multi-language (e.g. where information is presented in English, Bengali, Urdu for UK audiences) or bilingual sites
• UK Government Guidance for public sector websites
• Assistance with PAS78 requirements
• Practical and aesthetic performance tests across a range of browsers (e.g. Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla) and assistive technologies (e.g. JAWS, HomePage Reader, Lynx)
• A formal readability test is conducted on the site with results given according to the Flesch Reading Ease scale. Clients may also request a Plain English Review, a service from the Plain English Campaign, and apply for an Internet Crystal Mark.

Outputs

A report is produced that sets out:

• A summary of the key issues, with graphs showing the progress made to each of the three levels of accessibility: A, AA and AAA
• A prioritised list of issues to be addressed that indicate the severity of the issue and an estimate of the resource required to address this
• For each page reviewed, a detailed description of the accessibility issue, why it isn’t compliant with the WCAG1.0 checkpoints, illustrated with screenshots where appropriate, with recommendations of how the issue should be addressed and examples of revised coding where appropriate. (NB where issues are generic to a number of pages the issues and their solutions will be identified once and a reference made on each page where this occurs).
• The Browser testing report would include a set of screen grabs, details of the cross browser issues and recommendations about how these should be addressed

We also recommend a half day meeting, where we would present the outputs of the audit and discuss how best the changes can be implemented in light of the constraints faced by the client. This helps develop practical solutions to the accessibility issues identified so the client can more easily implement the required changes.

Additional Service – Template build

As an additional service, once the evaluations are complete, our designers will take an existing page from the site and rebuild it from the ground up, incorporating all recommendations from the report documents, and commenting the code extensively:

• A template visually reproducing the existing page.
• Fully separating style from content

Tested across a range of browsers, including:

• Internet Explorer 6
• Internet Explorer 7
• Internet Explorer 8
• Internet Explorer 9
• Chrome (latest Version)
• Firefox (latest version)
• Opera (latest version)
• Safari for Mac (latest version)
• JAWS screen reader (various versions)
• Window Eyes screen reader (various versions)
• Any others as specified by the client e.g. Mobile phone browsers

Fees

Accessibility audit pricing is based on our day rates and is dependent on the number of page types to be assessed. A typical project of between 10 and 25 pages would cost £3,000-5,000 plus VAT.

Client examples

Client	Project	Date
Haringey Council	Accessibility audit main site	November 2010
Forestry Commission	Accesibility audit main site	April 2008
STFC	Je-S accessibility audit	October 2007
Eduserve	Accessibility Training	October 2007
London South Bank University	Main site accessibility audit	July 2007
Wiltshire County Council	Accessibility audit main site	February 2007

Disabled user testing

Our approach

We put users at the centre of our research process, combined with a process to produce agreed and actionable results. The approach we adopt to disabled user testing brings together rigorous user-focused usability research combined with a process to produce agreed and actionable results.

Our product sheet on usability testing details our overall approach to usability testing. When user testing for accessibility issues, we would discuss in detail with the client the objectives of the testing, and agree the number and types of testers required. We are experienced at recruiting testers from a wide range of backgrounds and occupations, and with a range of experience: we have recruited a wide range of testers with visual, motor or cognitive impairment.

During the testing we will use appropriate assistive technology e.g. screen reader software such as Jaws, magnification software such as Super Nova, assistive input devices (e.g. keyboard, mouse).

We undertake both unobserved and observed testing. Following observed research, a discussion session is held after the research to discuss outcomes and identify the priority issues to be fixed. This session means that the development team takes ownership of the research results, and develops a collective view of the priority issues to be rectified. This approach means the team will, within a single day, develop a shared view and have a detailed knowledge, and ownership, of the issues raised. The team will agree the implications of these issues, the required actions and the priorities.

Outputs

WUP undertakes a qualitative analysis of the data in line with the WUP Usability Framework. The data sources comprise the ‘real time’ issues captured by observers during the testing sessions and the verbatim tester transcriptions, which are captured and analyzed following the user research. Usability issues are sorted according to our Usability Framework, and used to support and augment the conclusions and actions agreed during the facilitated discussion session.

The outputs of the research are:

• A final report covering:
• Background and objectives for the specific usability testing session
• Key findings from the usability testing session covering the key usability issues
• Verbatim transcripts of testers’ comments to support the issues identified
• Summary of facilitated discussion/presentation discussions
• A list of recommendations and a prioritized action plan as agreed at the facilitated discussion/presentation that would detail timescales and responsibilities (if agreed)
• DVDs of the test sessions showing the screen being viewed, tester head shot and the audio of the session

Fees

Most of our usability testing work is tailored to individual client’s requirements and we quote an inclusive price for each piece of work. However, the following gives an illustration of typical costs:

• Unobserved user testing £450 per tester
• Observed user testing and facilitated debrief £5,450 (NB this fully inclusive price covers all WUP’s fees, tester recruitment and payment, observation studios, equipment hire, reports, DVDs and travel expenses etc.)

Client examples

Client	Project	Date
Guildford Borough Council	Disabled user testing (3 testers including blind users using screen readers, partially sighted users using screen magnification software, and users unable to use a mouse)	October 2007
Curriculum & Qualifications Authority	Disabled user testing (8 testers including blind users, using screen readers, partially sighted users using screen magnification software, users unable to use a mouse and dyslexic users)	September 2007

Terms and conditions

• VAT will be added to all charges at the currently prevailing rate. Payment will be within 30 days on the presentation of our invoice.
• Additional work not identified above would be charged at WUP’s standard rates (£1,000/day for directors, £800 for consultants,£350/day for support staff). Additional expenses not shown above would be charged at cost
• Cancellation of booked sessions will incur cancellation fees as follows: cancellation within 4 weeks of the session, 50% of the fee payable; cancellation within 2 weeks of the session, 100% of fee is payable
• The rates quoted assume tester remuneration of £40 plus travel expenses up to a maximum of £10. If tester remuneration needs to be greater than this for any reason (e.g. securing individuals with high time value or on short lead times) then any costs above the basic charge will be invoiced at cost.
• It is assumed that the client will invite the observers to research sessions

Contact us for more information on how WUP can help make your web site more effective

Return to top