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Re: accessibility without testing?

for

From: Keith Parks
Date: Mar 14, 2008 9:20AM

On Mar 13, 2008, at 4:26 PM, John Foliot - Stanford Online
Accessibility Program wrote:

> [snip...]
>
> I realize that for most developers this level of testing is quite
> extensive,
> and probably beyond reach more often than not. [snip...]
>
> So to summarize, and return to the question initially posed: to truly
> determine accessibility *does* require human testing, but by humans
> who
> access web content using the various AT tools out there, not by web
> developers buying a piece of software and attempting to replicate
> foreign
> experiences.

So given all the difficulties and variables in human testing you
point out, doesn't it realistically come down to designing to
standards (checked with automated and manual inspection), combined
with proper document information structure (html mark-up)?

If you do those things, it would seem like you'd be, say, 99%
covered. And to uncover that last 1% of something that may not be
accessible in a site, you'd have to do multiple human tests, with
users having various kinds of disabilities and skill/experience
levels, on every page of a site. And in *my* real world at least, the
level of real disabled user testing I might be able to arrange
doesn't seem worth it on a regular basis. (Though I definitely agree
that it's a powerful lesson to sit with a real disabled user as they
experience the Web with a screen reader, or try and navigate a
complex page without a mouse, etc.)

In other words, if you have a long enough list of checkpoints, there
shouldn't be a need for human testing, since nothing short of full,
systematic human testing is going to uncover problems that can't be
uncovered some other way.

******************************
Keith Parks
Graphic Designer/Web Designer
Student Affairs Communications Services
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA 92182-7444
(619) 594-1046
mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED>
http://www.sa.sdsu.edu/communications

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