Extended UX testing and comprehensibility evaluation (Easy-to-Read)

WCAG conformance tells you whether a page can be used. Testing with people tells you whether it actually will be. We test with seniors, children and people with disabilities, record both the screen and the gaze, and evaluate the comprehensibility of texts using the Easy-to-Read methodology.

Why test with people

The WCAG success criteria capture technical barriers. They do not capture that an older adult cannot find a button because they expect it to have a different name, that a child does not understand an icon, or that a person with an intellectual disability gives up on a form at the third sentence. These things can only be discovered by observing real people doing real tasks.

We are the only company using an eye tracker for accessibility studies. We include people with physical and hearing impairments along with various degrees of visual impairment. We have more than 20 years of experience with UX testing for senior citizens.

What we do

  • User testing with specific groups. Seniors, children, people with visual, hearing, physical or intellectual disabilities, as well as mainstream users as a comparison group. We put together the groups and tasks according to your goals and your service.
  • Screen recording and eye tracking. We record where participants look, where they pause and what they overlook; with screen reader users we record the course of their navigation and the speech output.
  • Comprehensibility evaluation and the Easy-to-Read methodology. We assess texts, forms and instructions against the European standards for making information easy to read and understand, and verify them with people with intellectual disabilities. Where appropriate, we prepare an Easy-to-Read version.
  • Evaluation and testing of information architecture for accessibility. Comprehensibility starts with structure: an older adult has to find the service under the name they expect, a person with an intellectual disability must not get lost in a multi-level menu, and a screen reader user navigates by headings and landmarks. We assess the navigation, the labels, the heading hierarchy and the way content is divided into pages, and verify them with participants through card sorting and tree testing. A sitemap, a wireframe or a Figma prototype is enough, so you can fix the structure before it is set in code.
  • Prototype testing. The cheapest mistake is the one you find before development. We also test paper and clickable prototypes from Figma, Axure, Miro, Penpot or Adobe XD. In Figma we can assess correct semantics and accessibility for blind users, provided the prototype includes the HTML/CSS code (Dev Mode).

How we work

  1. Together we define the goals, key tasks and participant groups; we recruit participants from our own network of partner organisations and individuals.
  2. We test in our lab, at your premises or remotely, always with informed consent and with regard to the needs of the participants.
  3. We analyse the recordings, rank the findings by impact and link them to specific recommendations for design, content and code.
  4. After the changes are made, we verify that the problems have really been resolved.

What you get

  • A report with findings, clips from the recordings and gaze maps, understandable both to management and to the team that will do the fixing.
  • A list of recommendations ranked by impact on users and by the effort needed to fix them.
  • For comprehensibility evaluations, revised texts or their Easy-to-Read version.

Related services: Accessibility evaluation and Training.