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Re: accessibility without testing?

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From: Karl Groves
Date: Mar 13, 2008 3:50PM

I would say that yes, the root of what we're after here is whether a product
can be used by disabled users, so the "true" measure of accessibility is
found by having the product tested by disabled users.

At the same time, there is a LOT that can be discovered through other means.
Automated testing can be used to go through a lot of code very quickly to
find items which frankly don't need humans to find.
Manual review of the code can be used to validate items uncovered during the
automated testing and find items the automated testing wasn't able to find.
User testing would be used as a means to uncover anything not found through
the other methods and to validate the results of the other two methods.

It is important to keep in mind that JAWS is not the only assistive
technology used by disabled users. Further, different versions of JAWS may
deal with things differently. Last, the experience level of the person
testing comes into play. "User testing" with JAWS by a sighted newbie is
next to worthless, IMO.


Karl Groves
AIM/YIM: karlcore
Skype: eight.pistons
www.WebAccessStrategies.com


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