5 ms·

Well to be honest I can test my code in IE9 to see if it works. But I have no idea how a disabled person is experiencing my website, I do put all the "alt" attr

Well to be honest I can test my code in IE9 to see if it works. But I have no idea how a disabled person is experiencing my website, I do put all the "alt" attributes etc...but it's hard to imagine it.

TazeTSchnitzel 12y ago
Download the Visual Impairment Simulator? Try Microsoft Narrator (or VoiceOver, if you're on OS X) with your eyes closed? Both are easy and free.
- mwcampbell 12y ago
  If you want to test with a free Windows screen reader, you're much better off testing with NVDA (http://www.nvaccess.org/ http://www.nvaccess.org/) than Narrator.
bitJericho 12y ago
I like to remove all formatting and see how things look. If it still makes sense and is laid out well, you're doing ok.
- TazeTSchnitzel 12y ago
  Similarly, testing in Lynx is a good idea.
smackfu 12y ago
Yes, that's a real issue. I've had to add JAWS Screen Reader support to an app, and even after you shell out for the thousand dollar license, it's very difficult for a casual user to use it in the same way that an actual blind user does. Ideally you test with an actual impaired user, but they have real jobs and don't want to spend all their time testing your apps.
- DanBC 12y ago
  There's a gap in the market for usability testing. This would mean that things are not just validated against specs but checked in real world use. There are probably many groups already doing this stuff. Perhaps they just need better organisation or SEO?
Semiapies 12y ago
Besides others mentioned, Sim Daltonism is a good OS X app for testing how an app or page's color choices will look with various forms of color blindness. Color Oracle is a cross-platform app for the same purpose, though I haven't used it much, yet: http://colororacle.org http://colororacle.org It seems rather good in my limited testing. Colour Contrast Analyzer is a Windows/Mac app for testing whether text/background contrast is sufficient. This is a matter of both color and brightness - a color combination that looks fine for a normally-sighted user may he completely unreadable for others for a variety of reason. (Part of why everyone's suggesting designers avoid the gray-on-gray or light-gray-on-white design hipster crap.)

TazeTSchnitzel 12y ago

Download the Visual Impairment Simulator? Try Microsoft Narrator (or VoiceOver, if you're on OS X) with your eyes closed? Both are easy and free.

mwcampbell 12y ago
If you want to test with a free Windows screen reader, you're much better off testing with NVDA (http://www.nvaccess.org/ http://www.nvaccess.org/) than Narrator.

bitJericho 12y ago

I like to remove all formatting and see how things look. If it still makes sense and is laid out well, you're doing ok.

TazeTSchnitzel 12y ago
Similarly, testing in Lynx is a good idea.

smackfu 12y ago

Yes, that's a real issue. I've had to add JAWS Screen Reader support to an app, and even after you shell out for the thousand dollar license, it's very difficult for a casual user to use it in the same way that an actual blind user does. Ideally you test with an actual impaired user, but they have real jobs and don't want to spend all their time testing your apps.

DanBC 12y ago
There's a gap in the market for usability testing. This would mean that things are not just validated against specs but checked in real world use. There are probably many groups already doing this stuff. Perhaps they just need better organisation or SEO?

Semiapies 12y ago

Besides others mentioned, Sim Daltonism is a good OS X app for testing how an app or page's color choices will look with various forms of color blindness. Color Oracle is a cross-platform app for the same purpose, though I haven't used it much, yet: http://colororacle.org http://colororacle.org It seems rather good in my limited testing. Colour Contrast Analyzer is a Windows/Mac app for testing whether text/background contrast is sufficient. This is a matter of both color and brightness - a color combination that looks fine for a normally-sighted user may he completely unreadable for others for a variety of reason. (Part of why everyone's suggesting designers avoid the gray-on-gray or light-gray-on-white design hipster crap.)