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Re: Accessibility user testing

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From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: Jul 19, 2016 7:47AM

This is one reason why the usability test should focus on tasks and not just single components.

Ultimately, everyone who uses an interface is trying to complete some kind of task or achieve some kind of goal. Some components of the interface might be accessible and others might be inaccessible. But what matters to the user is whether or not they can complete the task.

So, in the example, the search box evidently was an accessibility disaster while other parts of the site were fine. However, if the search box prevents users from completing any other task, then the amazing accessibility of the rest of the interface does not matter--at least not until the search box is fixed.

So, you probably want to talk about the results of a usability test in relation to how those accessibility barriers impacted user tasks--rather than talk about each accessibility problem as though it were a separate self-contained thing.