Real-world Techniques for Accessible Design - A Case Study

Real-world Techniques for Accessible Design

A Blink UX Client Case Study

Presented by Joe Welinske, Blink UX, joe@blinkux.com

Blink UX conducted an accessibility review for a new VeriCite web-based product. VeriCite is widely used by educational organizations for assessment of the originality of academic works. The Blink team was engaged to conduct a review of the accessibility of a software product that was already well into development.

As an accessibility specialist at Blink UX, Joe Welinske conducted the review for VeriCite. He’ll be detailing the techniques used, issues encountered, and the path to solutions.

Agenda

6:00 - 6:30 Networking

The outside lobby door on Western Ave. will be locked. A Blink representative will be available from 6:00 to 6:30 to let you in and badge you up the elevator to the meeting floor. The meeting area won't be open until 6:00.

6:30 - 7:45 Presentation and Discussion

The presentation will start promptly at 6:30 with a few brief announcements. Joe's talk is about 45 minutes long. There should be plenty of time for Q&A throughout.

• Presentation Materials in various formats on DropBox

Additional Session Detail

The overall objective was to ensure a robust experience for all users of the software. The review of the system used industry best practices for accessible design with attention to the WCAG 2.0 AA standards. The study identified a wide variety of potential issues which were presented to VeriCite as specific actionable recommendations.

You’ll learn

• How the WAVE tool was used for a broad, initial evalution

• The benefits and challenges of using keyboard-only access for testing

• The benefits and challenges of the NVDA screen reader for testing

• About specific findings and recommendations

• How the information was communicated to VeriCite

Joe Welinske has been involved in the design and development of software for over thirty years. Most of his work is as an independent practitioner. Joe is the program manager for Blink’s annual user experience conference ConveyUX as well as contributing in the areas of accessibility and content strategy. He is a senior lecturer at the U. of Washington for a variety of courses.