Meet Alex. Alex is a Digital Accessibility Consultant specialising in assistive technology for blind and visually impaired people. He’s also a member of our network of usability test participants at Accessible by Design.
Alex recently took part in one of our usability studies, completing a series of common tasks to help identify accessibility issues with website design, code and content when using a screen reader.
We asked Alex to tell us a bit about himself, the software he uses, and what makes a website easy to use and understand.
Tell us a little bit about yourself
My name is Alex, a thirty something guy from the UK.
I love traveling with my other half, from the sandy beaches of Cornwall to the dingy streets of London.
I work as an Assistive Technology trainer for a children’s charity as well as owning several businesses in the hospitality, rental, and marketing sectors.
I recently started working with a company in Hong Kong to build a device which will enable blind children’s learning.
In my free time I love reading, playing Pokemon, a bit of Dungeon & Dragons, and tinkering with smart home technology.
Born with Glaucoma, I have been visually impaired throughout my life. Over the years, as my vision deteriorated, I learned to adapt with blindness through the use of technology, which is my main inspiration for my work.
From something as small as adding audio description to my personal proposal video, to creating a learning device for the next generation of blind children; I wish to make a difference.
Do you use any assistive technologies when using computers?
I use NVDA after years of using SuperNova. As my vision deteriorated, I no longer needed such advanced magnification software.
I sometimes fall back to Windows magnification if something like a website is inaccessible.
What makes a good website?
I use NVDA primarily to browse the web, as it has navigation shortcuts which allows me to jump to parts of the site, such as the H key for headings, E for editable boxes on forms; it makes the experience not only accessible, but also fluid.
This is only possible if web designers added these tags, my biggest bugbear is a website without headings. When there are no headings I have to repeatedly use my Down arrow key, to scroll through the entire page.
Are there any websites that are particularly frustrating to use?
As a screen reader user, one of the most annoying things is images without descriptions, (alt-text).
It’s not so bad if the image is purely decorative and complements the page it’s on. However, when it’s an important element, such as a ‘Book Now’ button, or a picture on an art/photography site, if unlabeled, it makes it difficult for screen reader users.
Alternative text should be concise yet detailed and fully objective; beauty in the eye of beholder and all that jazz.
Fortunately it’s getting rare that headings and alternative text will be missed. A lot of popular web builders and platforms include options to include these as part of their editors. This is sadly not for accessibility purposes, but I will take it even if it was intended more for search engine optimisation.
Is there one thing that every website could do that would make them easier to use?
Unfortunately there is not a single fix-all when it comes to accessibility.
There are different types of disabilities, and each disability is a spectrum; and then there are personal preferences. If you can consider, and follow accessibility practices when creating your site, your website will be far more accessible than others.
If you have already built your site, listen to your users and visitors. If I were to send you an email outlining access issues that I’ve experienced on your website, do not ignore me, or say you will look into it but then don’t.
You can find out more about Alex and the work he does via his website: https://alexman.me/
Get in touch
If you are looking to conduct inclusive usability testing on your organisation’s website, or you are interested in taking part in inclusive website usability studies please get in touch by emailing us on [email protected].