Entries Tagged as “usability”
Mango Blog Comment Form Replacement
Mango Blog uses the same default code for it's comment form as wordpress. Although I have seen worse offenders, the current form does pose a few accessibility chalenges that I would prefer to fix. So this evening I set out to rework the comment form and try to make it more accessible and customizable. This is an early prtotype of a new form that I hope would become the new standard for mango blogs comment forms. Let me explain the challenges that I have identified with the current format, and why I have chosen the form design that I did. If anyone has suggestions for improvement please let me know.
→ Respond NowTags: Accessibility · Code · ColdFusion · Mango Blog · usability
Are Javascript libraries helping or hurting visitors?
I love the fancy whiz-bang features of javascript libraries as much as everyone else. I do however hate it when effects are used improperly. Remember when flash hit the web scene back in the mid 90’s or so? I seem to recall that just about every website had it’s logo spinning in 3D throughout some fancy, but useless skip intro splash page. Sadly I am now seeing javascript libraries being used in similar capacities.
Perhaps we need to stop for a moment to ask ourselves a few questions before implementing any particular effect or widget: Is this "thing" I am about to add to my site going to help my visitors or hurt them? Does it add value to the end user? Will it hurt them if it's not there? Will it confuse them if it is there?
In my own guerilla usability testing, (and in my personal experience) I have been to sites that have used some effect or widget simply because its neat and because it was available. Oftentimes with negative results. People will exclaim, "What the heck are these people doing" referring to the sites developers. "Thats just dumb" As a result, the effect or widget they added to enhance the experience actually weakened the experience.
Unfortunately, I think we are going full circle and repeating the same mistakes we made with technologies like flash and the skip intro how many years ago.You would think that we would have learned something from this and improved overall. When used correctly, all of these tools can add significantly to a users experience. However we need to make sure we do usability testing before rolling them out for real. As the saying goes: Just because we can, doesn't mean we should.
→ Respond NowTags: usability
Applications to help you create more accessible designs
Back in May, I wrote an article on tips for improving your web design. One small piece of that article discussed converting your design to greyscale so that you can get an idea of your color contrast ratio. Though I believe this is important to do, it is a bit time consuming when your in a design grove, and speed is of importance. Sometimes I just want a quick preview to see where I was going or how I was doing thus far in my process.
I remember seeing an online contrast analyzer and decided to look it up to see what it was about. My search turned up quite a few helpful tools that I just had to share with the rest of you. Before I get to the tools, let me take a minute to explain why we would want tools for testing contrast ratios in our designs.
→ Respond NowTags: Accessibility · CSS · Design · Freebies · Software · usability
Accessibility Abuse
Now that I have been spending a fair amount of time behind a screen reader, I have noticed a few things we as developers can do to make our sites better for all visitors. Some of the ideas that I am about to share are not meant to be a guideline but rather a topic for discussion. I hope that I can meet with other people on this soon and get more feedback but I wanted to post at least an intro here on my site for some initial feedback.
What I have noticed recently, with all the talk and hype about accessibility and usability, developers are going a bit overboard with trying to make our sites accessible. I include myself in this category as I first noticed the problem while surfing my own site. Not a good thing for someone that honestly wants to make the web a better place for everyone.
I think sometimes we developers get so caught up in the rules that we don't always stop to consider the use and whether it is appropriate or not. Knowing when to break the rules is what makes a good artist great so why can't the same philosophy apply to web design?
Get to the point
There are html attributes that are available to allow developers to add meaning to particular piece of markup. Take for example the alt attribute. It is meant to provide an alternate text version for an image. Often times what I see happen is that a huge amount of text get's placed into the alt tag and it becomes way to verbose to be useful. Also, not every image requires alt text. Images like spacer gif's or presentational only graphics don't need an alt text. Simply having an empty space in the alt attribute is enough to make a screen reader skip right over it, and it still validates. If the graphic needs a detailed description, use the appropriate longdesc attribute. Don't abuse the alt attribute and keep your text short.
I personally don't use this, but the tabindex is another tag that is often misunderstood. I have seen it discussed on other sites as a good practice, but I am not so sure that it is. I have never needed it on my own sites. The default tab order has always been correct. The problem occurs when you place a tab index on a page below the main content. The tabindex over rides any other tab order that you have on a page. I see this most often on web blogs when the comment form has a tabindex set on the form items. When a user hit's the tab key, they are whisked away to the comments area instead of tabbing through the navigation links or the content of a page. It gets really wonkey when the tab order goes back to the top of a page again. Yikes! My advice: Forget tabindex unless you absolutely must use it.
The last tag that think gets abused is the title attribute. Many of the javascript libraries make use of the title attribute as a hook for something else. Scripts like lightbox that use the title attribute for the description are often abused as entire paragraphs are sometimes placed into the title attribute. Perhaps the developers of these libraries can figure out a way to use the longdesc attribute instead. Another offender for the title attribute is repeating words already used as the link text. The title should tell the user something else about the destination assuming the link text does not already do so.
For the most part I believe developers mean well and want to make their sites more accessible, but sometimes knowing when to break the rules will go along ways towards making a site more accessible for everyone.
→ Respond NowTags: Accessibility · usability
Form Mark-Up: Are Lists Appropriate?
Recently Mike Robinson of www.akamike.net posted a response to another article on noupe.com asking for opinions on using list with forms. I'm not trying to single anyone person out. Mike is not alone in his thoughts, and I am simply using his post Form Mark-Up: Are Lists Appropriate? as a "for example" on the kinds of articles that I am reading more frequently on various blogs. I'm not trying to pick on Mike but rather raise awareness to an increasing problem that I see.
One of the trends that I see more frequently, is to place all your content in a list. Ordered Lists, Unordered Lists, and Definition Lists. It doesn't seem to matter anymore. This "all inclusive tag" is being packaged and sold as semantic markup. Frankly I feel it's just bad marketing. Yes it does validate. So does a table. Validating is not a true measure of semantics. A list of any kind is meant for one thing. Listing content. It's not semantic to use a list for layout. This is still bending the rules for layout purposes. In fact I would say it's worse in some cases, and less semantic than using a table. I'm not saying "use tables" I am merely saying it's not any better. Lets take a look at the two practices and compare them to plain old HTML. I have laid out three forms below with the same elements. One is in an ordered list, the other uses a table, and the last one is plain old html.
See how these three choices stack up against one another.
→ Respond NowTags: Accessibility · CSS · usability
