Subject: Re: UWired Usability Committee - July 30 Meeting Minutes


UWired Usability Committee Meeting
  July 30, 1999 at the Academic Computing Center

Attending: Doug Brock, Dan Comden, Rick Ells, Scott Macklin, 
  Kathryn Sharpe

Accessibility - Dan Comden
  o Jakob Nielsen article "Disabled Accessibility: The Pragmatic Approach"
       http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990613.html
    - Offers useful suggestions for creating sites that work
      well for everyone, including the handicapped
    - Advocates single design sites (one design fits all)
    - Points to new W3C accessibility sites:
        Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
          http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/
        Checklist of Checkpoints for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
          http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/full-checklist 
    - Designer should look closely at what is of value to audience. 
      Much of the value is in the information, which is mostly text - why 
      make it more complicated?
    - Accessibility and usability overlap. The same considerations that
      make a site accessible will make it more navigible and coherent to 
      the non-handicapped
  o Microsoft is working hard on accessibility, but not in a very
    coordinated manner across their product line
    - MS adding captions to streaming video
    - Multi-language support added to streaming video
    - Working with WGBH (wgbh.org) National Center for Accessible Media  
      (http://www.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/ncam/)
    - MS continues to work at accessibility issues.  MS is developing 
      active accessibility tools built into software, making it easier 
      for accessibility software to hook into MS products
    - MS attempts to foster creativity by creating competition between
      groups, without strong overriding structure, which results in 
      inconsistency across products
  o Improving Accessibility
    - Security considerations are forcing people to use certain versions
      of Web browsers. Given that we have to use certain browsers, what
      can we do to improve accessibility?
    - People with disabilities tend to use older, slower software,
      because they do not have as much money
    - Although Lynx is the basis of some accessibility software, 
      it is not supported for administrative applications, 
      or other secure computing situations
  o Other Accessibility Thoughts
    - UW is much more forward-looking than many other places, despite
      small population of disabled
    - Working on a new brochure that may be distributed in cooperation
      with C&C
    - Always open to looking at sites to comment on accessibility, can 
      also have disabled evaluate site
    - If people are using any of the vast majority of development tools
      (HomeSite, Frontpage, Dreamweaver), their sites will probably 
      have accessibility problems because the designers of these
      products are not considering accessibility. 
    - Bobby (cast.org/bobby), the automatic accessibility checking
      Web site, will be coming out with a new version
    - Many UW sites are developed by TC students and graduates,
      but TC courses do not say much about 
      accessibility. Perhaps committee could work with 
      Judy to raise accessibility awareness in TC.
    - Catalyst web site has accessibility links
    - We should add accessibility links to UWired usability page 

Usability Services
  o Could the committee offer some kind of service to the campus?
    - Develop our own lists of good and bad practices?
    - Site within Catalyst?
    - Site evaluation service? 
    - Meet with designers?
    - Sponsor events where site developers meet and share?
  o Helping others with their usability questions is a good way to 
    find subjects for usability tests - we will evaluate your site in 
    return for you user testing ours
  o Some ideas for lists:
    - Factors that makes an educational site effective
    - Why do people come to Web sites - finding out what they want,
       giving them what they came for
    - Ten needs-assessment questions
    - Ten good practices
    - Ten guidelines on observing real users using your product
    - Ten good examples of educational Web sites
  o Could WebEd sponsor a series of lunches in which people
    who have developed quality sites can talk about their 
    experiences?
  o What is the relationship between usability studies and site
    design and development?
    - Usability is not design, but it can guide and contribute to 
       making good design decisions.

Miscellaneous
  o UWired now has a prototype of a new site for Geography. 
    (http://depts.washington.edu/geog/). Committee members are 
    invited to look at it and send any comments to Scott.
  o Web site development is an iterative process. What aspects of
    site design should take this fact into consideration? 
    In other words, how do you design a site so that it can flex, morph,
    and grow?

Action Items:
1. Rick will talk to Judy about accessibility in TC program
2. Rick will ask Judy about the heuristics developed
   during the Twente conference. If available, he will make them 
   available to the committee or invite Judy to do so. 
3. Rick will add accessibility info to the usability page
   (http://staff.washington.edu/rells/usability/)
4. Scott will contact WebEd about sponsoring presentations on good 
   sites on campus - perhaps a lunch talk series
5. All committee members should look for heuristic lists that might
   be relevant to UW sites. Find good ones, think about how they could
   be adapted to our needs. A good place to start is Usable Web's 
   Design Guidelines page (http://usableweb.com/items/guidelines.html)


 |- Rick Ells - 543-2875 - rells@cac.washington.edu - Rm 301 4545 Bldg -|
 |-                http://staff.washington.edu/rells/                  -|