Notes from informal UI options testing June 15-09

Owned by Alison Benjamin
Last updated: Jun 15, 2009Version comment
3 min read

Date: June 15th 2009
Location: ATRC, University of Toronto
Fluid team member: Alison Benjamin / alison.benjamin at gmail dot com
Environment: JAWS 7, XP, IE 7

Note this was the informal testing protocol I used with a testing participant with very low vision. For more information on the participant see User 6's demographic info @ http://wiki.fluidproject.org/display/fluid/Simple+Text+Inline+Edit+User+Testing+-+Round+3+Results

First, have a quick read over this website to become familiar with it. Because this is only a demonstration page, keep in mind that most of the links on it don't actually do anything.

  • (feedback for sakai?) "I like how 'sign-out', and 'my dashboard' are at the top of the page. It sounds like the important stuff is at the top. But I would put <h> tags around the widget"
  • uses down-arrow key to navigate the page
  • "I like the keyboard a11y"
  • Likes how you can close widgets using the keyboard

This website allows you to customize how it is displayed. I want you to go ahead and find the "Edit Appearance" button.

  • Uses the "tab" key to cycle through all the links of the page.
  • Speaks aloud that she's looking for the "Preferences" link – thinks this is the same as "Edit Appearance", so I clarify. Eventually locates the "Edit Appearance".
  • "Edit appearance" link should be presented early on in the page (e.g. near the dashboard controls, or "Skip to nav" or "Skip to content"), that way the user doesn't have to cycle through all the links looking for one "edit appearance" link
  • User has also has limited mobility and says that pressing the tab button many times is tiring.
  • My thought: Would "customize display" be a better than "edit appearance"?
  • With focus on "Edit Appearance," user presses enter.

Under "Easier to see," go ahead and customize fonts, text sizes, and other options to suit your preference.

  • After the participant presses on "Edit Appearance," I see that the UI Options dialogue has opened and I expect to hear the UI Options dialogue read but it isn't.
  • JAWS wraps to the top of the Sakai page and reads the contents as if there was no UI Options dialogue open.
  • User says "Do you see a window UI Options dialogue in front of the Sakai site?" I say yes. User says: "I've encountered this problem before on other sites... "
  • Eventually, after JAWS has read contents of the page it begins to read the UI Options dialogue.
  • We're not sure where the fault lies – JAWS 7, the browser (IE 7), the code, etc. ???
  • User suggests that instead of having the UI Options dialogue "float" on top of the Sakai page that it be a separate page.
  • Font style combo box: JAWS doesn't read font styles (e.g. "Arial, serif" etc.) Reads "font style colon combo box one of 6" regardless of what font is highlighted.
    • Wasn't able to duplicate this issue using JAWS 10 w/ IE 6,7 & 8. To-do: attempt to replicate this issue with older versions of JAWS.
  • User asks me to read out what fonts are available. I do. User presses "A" key to get to Arial and I give confirmation to her that this is the font that's highlighted.
  • Types in "18" for minimum text size. Not sure what the slider does.
  • Contrast drop down: same issue with font style drop down. User changes setting to "high contrast inverted"
  • "Simplified layout" – wasn't totally sure what that meant. Suggests adding a description here, e.g.: "Simplified layout: page elements will be shown vertically as opposed to in a grid pattern" "Page elements will be shown one below the other".
  • Tabs into the preview window and then out again
  • Background images: "what counts as background images? Graphics? Watermarks?" Doesn't change setting.

Under "Easier to find," go ahead and customize options to suit your preference.

  • User is unable to access this part of UI Options dialogue.

*Save and apply the changes you've made*

  • Tabs through UI Options dialogue but can't get seem to arrive at "Save and Apply" button.
  • At some point around this time JAWS (?) stops working: it can continue to tab/navigate around the page but it just announces "Tab", etc. No semantic information at all.
  • User says this might be a problem with JAWS in forms mode: "In forms mode for awhile when you're filling something out, then the screen reader will decide, I'm not going to describe anymore and will say "tab tab tab" so you're totally lost. That's common, it happens at my banking website. It can happen in any place where you have forms mode."
  • We're both not sure why this is occurring. Eventually user aske me to use the mouse to press "Save and Apply". Changes are applied to the page, but JAWS continues to not work so I reset the page and JAWS kicks in again.