Re: WAI website feedback - Sorin Stefan

Hello Sorin,

Thank you for your e-mail. We have several updates in queue for the Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools pages. We will include your suggestions in the list of changes to consider. Note that given current workload and priorities, it will be at least several weeks before we get to working on these pages.

Regards,
~Shawn


-----
Shawn Lawton Henry
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
e-mail: shawn@w3.org
phone: +1.617.395.7664
about: http://www.w3.org/People/Shawn/



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	WAI website feedback - Sorin Stefan
Resent-Date: 	Tue, 14 Sep 2010 17:41:35 +0000
Resent-From: 	wai-site-comments@w3.org
Date: 	Tue, 14 Sep 2010 13:40:58 -0400
From: 	Sorin Stefan <shorys@gmail.com>
To: 	wai-site-comments@w3.org



Hello,
My name is Sorin Stefan and I work closely with Mr. Ian Jacobs (Head of Communications W3C) and Dominique Hazaël-Massieux in creating a better user experience for our community on the w3.org <http://w3.org> website and further.

I'm writing you because I couldn't ignore the fact the you have big usability/design/IA problems on the current Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools page.

Here's a couple of problems that I would like to address with suggested solutions too:

The need:
As a web developer, in order to address the accessibility issues of my project I need tools in order to be able to spot problems and solve them. Your tools page needs to gain my credibility that are up-to-date and indeed useful.

The problem:
Most tools are out-dated (some since 10 years ago) and there is no other element that would convince me make use of that page.

The solution:
Put the most used, updated and reviewed tools upfront in order for the people to see them quickly so they can take a quick decision.
In order to gain more trust you need to show that there's a real organization behind the site, also highlight the expertise in your organization and in the content and services you provide.
Back up each tool with information that verifies the accuracy of the product.
Update the site's content often, give users the opportunity to review and comment on these tools.
=============

The need:
Your target audience is focused on finding the right tool to meet their immediate need. That tool might be a Screen Reader simulator, Contrast or Color checker etc. They need a fast way of recognizing that and also that they can browse or search if they didn't succeeded.

The problem:
All tools are listed in a huge list, in an alphabetical order (we should not assume that our users know the name of their tool and go exactly to the corresponding letter) . "Sort evaluations tools by:" doesn't work, it goes to a 404! And the criteria of sorting is not relevant neither because sorting by name and vendor implies knowing the name of the tool which most don't.
If I would like to see if a tool is the right for me I need to read the specifications below and most of them are useless except maybe the description.

The solution:
I would not remove the details of each tool, would just make use of the Progressive Disclosure technique and show my users only what they need to know first and if they need more they can choose to do so.
A user research is needed to establish criteria and patterns on what are they looking for, why  and how are they going to use the information on your site. This way a better solution for search/browse can be implemented and actually the entire Information Architecture would gain from this.

I can go on, with the critique and soltions too, but it's probably better just to make a suggestion first to align the website to the new W3C template and give a little more thought to it in order to help the community and make them aware that there's a real organization behind this.

Let me know, I'm here to help.
All the best,

-- 
Sorin Stefan
UX designer
www.myintuition.ca <http://www.myintuition.ca>

Received on Wednesday, 15 September 2010 13:37:07 UTC