Total Results: 53
Results per page:
source UDM
  • Provide a step-by-step flow that user can solve answering to questions
  • Reduce as much as possible the number of steps to activate or use the service (possibly around 3/5 steps including payment)
  • Include visual aids to provide a direct estimation of the order/trip price
  • Provide a completion bar to show the % or number of steps remaining to place an order, to help people not familiar with apps reducing anxiety and uncertainty.

 

Recommendation code: 66
source UIL

Situational impairments or changing conditions shall be considered when choosing colour themes and backgrounds of user interfaces. Solutions could be identified for other contextual conditions affecting perception, for all kinds of users and on different sensory channels (e.g. road navigation maps offering light-sensitive backgrounds, which change dynamically when sensors detect low-light conditions such as car galleries).

Assume users will rarely use the application in the ideal situation, on the contrary imagine all the potential deviations of use since they will show-up sooner or later. As an example, a non-exhaustive list of potential variations in the context of use emerged from the UIL exercise in the Antwerp pilot, related with street crossing (INDIMO UIL manual, Table 17).

 

Recommendation code: 62
source UIL

Support the creation of a coordinated task force at EU level dedicated to inclusion and accessibility. The task force could be hosted on the existing ETM Forum where mobility and goods delivery service providers and local authorities can find both offline and online resources to increase accessibility and inclusivity of all mobility services (such as the web-based INDIMO Toolkit).

The task force can provide repositories where to learn how to develop targeted step-by-step processes and download checklists to solve accessibility issues. The same platform can be the access point to dedicated trainings, to other existing communities of vulnerable-to-exclusion users or their representatives. Thanks to networking features included in the platform all stakeholders should find opportunities for cooperation with digital service providers and software developers.

The task force can support the inclusion of Universal Design as an overarching topic in the next EU transport strategy and prepare an EU Directive on the application of UD in the planning, design and operation of digital mobility services.

The platform should be open for access to individuals who are available to be contacted (and contracted) for user-testing, other entities or bodies who can offer accessibility and inclusivity consultancy services and public or private institutions working on inclusion from different perspectives.

These actions can increase the visibility of Universal Design and its related tools and raise awareness of best practice examples through advocacy organizations, the European Transport and Mobility Forum and EU events.

Recommendation code: 45
source UIL

Foster a bottom-up, co-creation approach in the planning and design of new services through guidelines and trainings. You will need people who will participate in design iteration through co-creation workshops and interviews. The INDIMO Co-creation Community and the INDIMO Communities of Practice are intended to ensure cooperation across developers and design experts and all the potential customers left out by traditional user-testing, namely the people who experience barriers in using digital mobility applications. Due to these barriers, they are hardly reached by traditional engagement campaigns so a targeted strategy should be put in place. If you typically use a recruiting firm to get usability testing participants, ask if they have any experience with recruiting people with disabilities. Also, reach out to local disability advocacy groups as they may have a pool of willing participants that want to help out and get their voices heard.

Here a few organisational suggestions:

  • Involve users and (vulnerable to exclusion) non-users in the prototyping phase. This will help them understand how the service works, what the advantages are and how they can use it to their advantage. Participants involved in development of the services will use it more often and nudge their peers to use digital transport solutions as well. Additionally user organisations can be included, they will inform their members and nudge them towards using the digital transport service.
  • Directly contact and involve organisations and associations run by or dedicated to people with vulnerabilities
    Build trust offering rewards and/or refunds to people willing to participate and ask them how to better organise test-sessions to meet their specific needs. As a long-term strategy for your company or design firm, consider contracting a diverse group of people that can be part of your design team, increasing access to employment and your own reputation.
  • Organise inclusive meetings
    Both online and real life meetings and workshops present barriers to inclusion. Regulations are meant to comply with a minimum standard, but if you really want your participants to enjoy the activities you organise and provide honest feedback, you should share and verify your plans with them and collect their suggestions prior to the meeting. Empathize with other people’s needs and you’ll be rewarded by the experience.
  • Define a clear and simple process to follow for you and your collaborators, using existing INDIMO templates or building your customised set of accessibility guidelines. Instruct your team members to follow the same guidelines and track results in the more efficient and systematic way as possible.

 

Recommendation code: 46
source UIL

There is an important distinction between mainstream user agents and assistive technologies. User agents provide some features to assist individuals, including people with and without disabilities. Assistive devices target narrowly defined populations of users with specific disabilities. Ensure that your application allows integration with the highest number of the available assistive technologies:

  • Screen magnifiers
  • Screen readers (e.g. TalkBack, VoiceOver)
  • Text-to-speech software (TTS)
  • Speech recognition software
  • Alternative keyboards
  • Alternative pointing devices
  • Gaze-control commands
  • Voice commands
  • Custom controllers

To ensure contents are accessible with assistive devices, the WAI-ARIA working group which is part of the W3C Consortium, created the Accessible Rich Internet Applications Suite. The ARIA suite defines a way to make Web content and Web applications more accessible to people with disabilities. It especially helps with dynamic content and advanced user interface controls developed with HTML, JavaScript, and related technologies. Without WAI-ARIA certain functionality used in websites are not available to users with impairments, especially people who rely on screen readers and people who cannot use a mouse.

Recommendation code: 51
source UIL

The W3C Mobile Web Initiative publishes periodical technical reports specifying best practices and recommendations for delivering accessible content to mobile devices. The principal objective is to improve the user experience of the Web when accessed from such devices. These recommendations are in part derived from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines [WCAG].

Recommendation code: 52
source UIL

Test your design, keep it simple and iterate. Keep in mind that mobile is less forgiving than desktop, thus provide fully responsive design which is appropriate to small screens. Applications are used while doing other things, so be sure every process can be saved if an interruption occurs, and completed afterwards. Leave all non-essential information in secondary screens and structure navigation based on usage-driven data and observations. Sort contents based on priority of use, not alphabetical. There are plenty of usability templates and tools online, both free and with subscription fees.

Recommendation code: 53
source UIL
  • Do desktop research first and familiarize yourself with icons used by competitors and with icons commonly used on the platforms that you target, as those will be most recognizable to your users. Use the UIL exercise template and adapt it to your needs when organising a test-session with the impaired people.
  • Evaluate consistency of icons with standards and competitors
  • Find the right balance between using remarkable icons and ensuring comprehensibility, doing some research in advance about icons used in other applications offering similar services and referring to existing standards.

 

Recommendation code: 54
source UIL

The preliminary project of a new application can be presented as a minimal prototype to small groups of people. Through journey maps and personas important insights can already be collected and there is a large amount of methods to engage people at risk of exclusion, from the least to the most structured, of which usability testing is only one branch.

Recommendation code: 55
source UIL

Due to mobile devices’ reduced pocket size, there is an indefinite number and diversity of contexts of use if compared to digital contents visited through desktop screens. Contextual inquiries can help collect information on how applications are used by vulnerable-to-exclusion people, observing them using their own devices in a natural setting and allowing to spot weak points of the application. We suggest that a working demo is tested with the test-user’s personal device, in her/his living context and in multiple environments in which she/he would use the application. The results will spot weak points of the application which can be more easily revised in the early stages of development.

Recommendation code: 56