Re: Comments on report tool

Another comment from Marti was

> It seems to
>be a very good idea but it also would seem to require a fair amount of
>testing and research on the part of the person sending it

This makes me worried that some users, especially beginner users, would get
turned off by going through what to them is a complex list.  Especially if
the problems they are encountering doesn't appear on the list.  They could
think "I don't understand what's going on... this form isn't for me".

For example, something I see posted to email lists is. 

"I filled in a form and there wasn't any way to submit it".

A simple complaint, but they have to go thru the whole list and finally put
it in "other", if they get that far

Or more generally, the page could just be so confusing that they have no
idea what's wrong with it. They might not realize, for example, that it's
"A complex table unreadable when linearized." So they are already confused,
and then they have to go thru the list.  

Their valid complain might be "this page is just so confusing with speech
that I can't make head or tail of it".

A beginner seeing our list might be shy about submitting this. Like the
people who don't post to wai-ig, but instead just reply privately to the
poster because they don't thing they are "experts".  The list of problems
makes it look like a tool for the "experts".


Here's a suggestion: re-order what we ask:

- Start off with the accessibilty ratings.  

- Then have a box labeled

  "The most serious problems for me on this page were:"

- Then give the list of checkboxes, preceded by something like

  (The following part is optional)
  And here are some specific things I noticed:


I think this will make the tool more friendly to people who don't think of
themselves as experts.  An note that all it is, essentially, is re-ordering
what's already there.


Len

p.s.
In cases I've seen so far the reason the user can't find a submit button is
that it's an ordinary button linked via onMouseClick to Javascript that
invokes the submit method.

-------
Leonard R. Kasday, Ph.D.
Universal Design Engineer, Institute on Disabilities/UAP, and
Adjunct Professor, Electrical Engineering
Temple University

Ritter Hall Annex, Room 423, Philadelphia, PA 19122
kasday@acm.org        
(215) 204-2247 (voice)
(800) 750-7428 (TTY)

Received on Tuesday, 24 August 1999 12:36:35 UTC