RE: Process/Procedure for Accessibility Testing of Software

Kynn --

I would highly recommend that you purchase a couple of usability books -- go
to Jakob Nielsen's site for references (http://www.useit.com). His book on
Web Usability provides an outline for conducting tests. Jared Spool's
company, UI Engineering here in Mass is a great resource.

The best overall usability site is http://usableweb.com/ created by Keith
Instone. Lots of papers and reference material here. Keep in mind that both
Lila Laux and Shawn Henry are members of this list. Both are proffessional
usability engineers. I believe that Kitch Barnacle at Trace has a strong
background in usability engineering. Jutta Treviranus and folks up at ATRC
also have a strong background in usability testing. WebABLE, Inc. provides
usability testing and inspections as part of it's core service offerings.

What you're not going to find is an measurable quantity of
usability/accessibility reference material. Unfortunately, there are very
few people involved in this area. It is my personal profession, as I believe
it is for Lila and Shawn. So specific resources tend to be thin.

However, the usability processes and methodologies created to perform
quality usability testing can be employed with/for people with disabilities.
The key is accommodatation. I have found this to be the greatest challenge
for mainstream usability companies.

Hope this helps.

- Mike

> -----Original Message-----
> From: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org]On
> Behalf Of Kynn Bartlett
> Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2001 5:55 AM
> To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
> Subject: Process/Procedure for Accessibility Testing of Software
>
>
> Hi folks -- anyone got any pointers to references/material on how
> to test specific pieces of software to see if they are
> "accessible" (for common definitions of the word)?  I need to gather
> some things to show my QA/testing folks that they can understand.
>
> --Kynn
> --
> Kynn Bartlett <kynn@reef.com>
> Technical Developer Liaison
> Reef North America
> Tel +1 949-567-7006
> _________________________________________
> ACCESSIBILITY IS DYNAMIC. TAKE CONTROL.
> _________________________________________
> http://www.reef.com
>

Received on Wednesday, 7 March 2001 07:53:35 UTC