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Re: Proposal for an online, crowdsourced accessibility testing platform

for

From: D Hubbard
Date: Aug 25, 2010 4:03AM

Chris,

I don't know if anything like this exists but I think it's a good idea and
does it really matter that much if there's more than one site for the same
purpose? Keep us posted, I'll be interested.

The thing too is some of us have more than one screen reader, and the
feedback, I would think would be quite interesting and informative.

-Diane
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Hoffman" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 10:44 PM
Subject: [WebAIM] Proposal for an online,crowdsourced accessibility testing
platform


> Hello everyone,
>
> I've been reading this list for several years now, and it's been hard
> not to notice that many, if not most, of the questions posed are of
> the form, "Is writing HTML like such-and-such accessible?" or "What is
> the most accessible way to put X on my web page?"
>
> It has also become apparent, time and again, that although there are
> many ways to increase the accessibility of content online, such as
> adhering to WCAG guidelines or using online accessibility checkers
> like WAVE or Cynthia Says, the only way to _really_ ensure that
> content is accessible is to test it with actual people with actual
> disabilities who are using actual assistive technology. That is, a web
> page that passes all of the automated accessibility checks and adheres
> to accessibility standards is not accessible unless it can be used by
> real people.
>
> To that end, I have had the following idea rolling around in my head
> for quite a while: Why not create a site that presents pairs of
> alternative HTML snippets and asks users out in the universe whether
> each one is more of less accessible? Visitors could (anonymously)
> record their choices ("A is slightly more accessible than B"), as well
> as any specific notes and the assistive technology they were using,
> and the resulting data could be made available to web designers and
> developers.
>
> My first question is, does anything like this (namely, open A/B
> testing for accessibility) already exist?
> The second is, regardless of the answer to the first question, whether
> there is anyone on this list who would be interested in collaborating
> on such a project?
>
> I'm taking it as a given that there are lots of questions that would
> need to be answered to make this actually work, but for now am taking
> the initial step of getting it out of my head and into the open.
>
> Thanks & regards,
>
> Chris
>