Western Sydney University has a range of Assistive Technologies (AT) available to staff to support them in undertaking testing on platforms and technologies they wish to use. Testing with AT plays an important role in understanding how users of these technologies will experience our services. It does not replace the importance and value of actual AT users providing usability feedback, however. Where possible seek feedback from your audience too.
Dragon
What is it?
Dictation and voice control software with a browser add-on to enable use on the web.
What is it used for?
Most commonly used for typing via voice (dictation). This program can be essential for people who have trouble with spelling, like dyslexia, and for people with physical pain that comes from typing too much. Dragon is also used for voice control of the computer, including browsing the web and engaging with documents for staff and students with physical limitations that make using a mouse/keyboard difficult. Supported on Mac up until High Sierra then Mac users move to Apple’s Voice Control tool.
Application to user testing
Checking that text fields will accept dictated content (either natively or via the Dragon box) and web content is easily navigable via voice by showing and following links.
How do I get access to the software and training?
- Access/install Dragon (Windows).
- Complete our Dragon training videos (a series of 7 videos that total about half an hour’s viewing).
Read&Write
What is it?
A toolbar with multiple functions including text-to-speech, writing and research support. It also has a browser add-on to enable full functionality on the web.
What is it used for?
Most commonly used by sighted users to reduce cognitive strain of reading and to assist with focus, retention and efficient management of research content. Read&Write can be used across different document types and web content. It will read text out loud and highlight words to help you follow-on, or convert it into an audio file for later listening. It can ‘scan’ documents and apply Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to convert inaccessible images into accessible text. Also available are Spelling and grammar tools to support writing, and highlighter and research tools which collect selections into a Word document for more efficient research collation and management.
Application to user testing
Checking that your content can be accessed via text-to-speech technologies. Seeing the ‘reading order’ of content for those relying on it so you know if any changes need to be made to make it more understandable. Can also be used to convert inaccessible (scanned) content into text that can be correctly styled and provided as an accessible alternative if needed.
How do I get access to the software and training?
- Access/install Read&Write.
- Explore the Read&Write training – there are a series of videos that explain each tool separately. You would look at the following videos from the playlist as tools for testing accessibility.
- Speech (to check content is able to be read in Word documents and web pages).
- PDF Reader (to check content is able to be read in PDF documents).
Magnification
What is it?
An in-built/native accessibility tool that is available in each operating system.
What is it used for?
Low-vision users will use a magnification tool, like this, to increase the size of the screen so they can see the buttons, read the text etc.
Application to user testing
It is recommended to set magnification to 250% and check whether important content relationships are still comprehendible for users. For example, a form label and answer field should be close enough together that a user can easily associate the two and know they are filling in the correct field for the question they’re answering. If there is too much distance between related content it can make it difficult for magnification users to understand and complete tasks.
How do I get access to the software and training?
NVDA
What is it?
A screen reader. This tool is probably not something you’ll want to use unless you're well practiced as it’s a big learning curve, but if anyone is keen to try, it’s freely available.
What is it used for?
Low-vision or non-sighted people use this to hear what is shown on the computer so they can navigate the computer and engage with content. Users tend to rely heavily on keyboard navigation including the tab/enter keys and shortcuts for browsing web content by landmark, heading, list, links etc.
Application to user testing
Checking experience for users who are fully reliant on keyboard navigation and listening to how the content code is expressed i.e. form labels in HTML so users can understand form fields. NVDA can also expose hidden content that is specifically designed to guide screen reader users (e.g. to complete this question use the tab key to navigate through answer options and the spacebar to select an option), or may be hidden and not meant to be accessed by anyone.
It is important to note that sighted users checking content with screenreaders does not equate to User Acceptance Testing for blind or low vision users. Sighted users will have a visual understanding of the content that will influence their understanding and navigation, they are also not native users of the software and will experience and use the software differently to someone fully reliant on it. If you would like to know how a screen reader user experiences your content, it is always best to ask a screenreader user for their input.
How do I get access to the software and training?
- Link to access/install NVDA.
- We don’t have training readily available for this product.
