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Re: [EXTERNAL]Figures and Captions and Alt-text oh my...

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From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: May 8, 2018 8:39AM

I think this brings up an important point.

When you are creating accessibility tests, it is important to understand your goal. Are you trying to test against a standard? Are you testing the user experience? Or are you wanting to test something else?

If you are testing against a standard, you want to make sure the tools and process you use actually tells you if something meets the standard. If you are focused on user experience, then you likely want tests that involve actual users using whatever AT they prefer to use.

A developer just installing a screen reader and listening to find out if it sounds right to the developer typically doesn't achieve either of those goals. If anything, the goal in that situation ends up being to ensure the site sounds good to that developer--which ends up likely creating a site that neither meets a standard or provides a good user experience for those people who do rely on a screen reader. Well, I suppose those things might happen, but they would be accidental outcomes rather than intentional outcomes of the testing.