Accessibility and Usability

User Centred Design

We have actively involved users in the design and testing of this website. Through this process we have gained real insight into how visually impaired people, their family and friends use websites and this has been gathered to help design an accessible and usable website for everyone.

Could you get involved in Service User participation groups?

Usability testing

Usability testing involves measuring the ease with which users can complete common tasks on your website

At the beginning of the usability testing our service users were shown our website, asked some general questions about it and allowed to freely roam around it, always talking about what they're doing and why they're doing it. Following this, they were asked to carry out specific tasks and their ability to complete these tasks was monitored. We then carried out a brief interview with each user.

Accessibility testing

In addition to developing the new website in CSS (cascading style sheets) and meeting recommended accessibility guidelines, we also carried out accessibility testing with service users from a range of groups:

•Blind people (screen reader users)
•Partially sighted people (screen reader and magnifier users)
•Dyslexic people
•Elderly people

During the testing the participants were instructed to think aloud at all times to tell us any problems they were having with the site using their preferred assistive technologies. Their feedback was then incorporated into the development of the site and then it was tested again until it was fully accessibile to our users.

If you have any comments about the accessibility of the website or on how we can improve it, please Contact Us .