At first glance, meeting GDS standards for accessibility can look a tall order. Don't worry. With our expertise, we'll guide you all the way from the discovery phase to your service assessment.
It is a key rule that Government services should be accessible to all, regardless of ability. Services are going online, and in some cases without an offline equivalent (such as universal credit). Making services accessible to all citizens is becoming ever more important.
The GDS Service manual covers digital accessibility. We have tailored our services to provide the support you need to achieve your goals and fulfil GDS accessibility standards whilst delivering value for money to the taxpayer.
A half-day workshop to introduce the project team to accessibility concepts. This is a session intended for project managers, usability researchers and developers. It assumes no previous knowledge of accessibility. The workshop covers:
We can use our expertise to research the requirements of people who have accessibility needs. We can assess prototype designs for potential issues.
Once designs meet a more formal stage, we can assess them for accessibility. We can work with your user research team to assess those designs with people who have accessibility needs.
Manual auditing is the only way to accurately and completely assess WCAG technical compliance. GDS assessed several automated tools, and found that even the best tool found only 41% of the known accessibility errors. To provide the best value for the taxpayer, we manually test the main template pages and any unique content. This will capture all the main structural accessibility issues.
A manual WCAG audit can be carried out on coded html pages or native apps.
If required, we can support WCAG testing with automated testing of the pages not audited manually. This will capture problems present on individual pages.
We will assess template pages or user-journeys to find out how well they work on a variety of devices and assistive technologies.
An up to date list of devices and assistive technologies is available on the GDS service manual website.
Testing with experts can achieve technical compliance.
Only testing with people without a technical background can tell you about the usability of your digital product in the wild.
User-testing to validate a technical WCAG audit before going live is highly recommended and we can help you. We work with members of the public who are not professional testers and who meet your user profiles, to provide the best "real word" insight and feedback.
We can continue to support your service once it goes live by assessing new content and features with a blend of manual and automated testing.
For a period of 30 calendar days after launch, we'll provide a free aftercare service. This will investigate any reported accessibility issues and monitor social media for any relevant feedback.
Take a look at our full list of accessibility and digital inclusion services. If you still can't see what you need, get in touch. We're small, we're flexible, and always up for a challenge.
A list of actions that we can all take to make our digital content easier to use and understand for people with dyslexia.
Published on the WhatUsersDo website.
Read Five ways to make usable websites for people with dyslexia
Government and supporting agencies do a tremendous job regarding digital accessibility. However, older adults have their own digital accessibility needs and these are not all covered by current accessibility guidelines.
Published on the Digital Leaders website.
UK county councils are trialling smart speakers and some people with dementia swear by them. Can smart speakers extend independent living?
Published on the Digital Leaders website.