kiosk accessibility
The key
to kiosk
accessibility
Kioware interviewed Sharon Rosenblatt from
Accessibility Partners to learn more about kiosk
application accessibility
By Laura Boniello Miller, Business Development & Marketing, Kioware – www.kioware.com
Kiosk usability isn’t a one-size-fits-all
prescription. Kiosk users may be tall,
short, mature, youthful, computer savvy,
or complete technical luddites. They
may be a wheelchair user, be vision
impaired, or have dexterity issues. While
it’s important to address usability for the
masses, it’s also imperative to include a
variety of user profiles in your usability
testing. Kiosks must be accessible for as
many users as possible, not just those
that fit a predetermined mould.
Sharon Rosenblatt, Director of
Communications for Accessibility
Partners, is an accessibility professional
and strong disability advocate. We
interviewed her to learn more about
where developers struggle most when
38 KIOSK solutions
it comes to website and application
accessibility and how that may differ
from kiosk application accessibility.
1 What's the biggest mistake when
it comes to website accessibility?
Many developers feel they have to
‘boil an ocean’. They get overwhelmed
by the process and decide to scrap it.
Even small tweaks to a website, like
adding alternative text for images or
tweaking colour contrast can make a
page infinitely more accessible. Do small
steps at a time and don’t be afraid to
reach out for help. There’s a lot of fear
of legal action but being transparent
about your process can go a long way
toward building customer loyalty.
2 What’s the most common mistake
you see in kiosk accessibility?
Some designers try to reinvent the
wheel. Screen reading technology (text
to speech output) exists on most tablets
already, yet there’s a big push to design
new programs that aren’t compatible with
built-in assistive technologies. Don’t try to
create your own screen reader or disable
existing features like Zoom or auto-
captions, and let people use what works
for them.
3 What recommendations do you
have for accessibility testing?
Always include people with disabilities
in your planning, design, development,
testing, and quality control phase. Use
assistive technology to the best of your
ability, or even simply test your product
in a manner that you don’t typically
employ: unplug your mouse and try to
navigate via the keyboard. Turn off your
display and use a free screen reader
like VoiceOver if you’re using a Mac or
Narrator if you’re on Windows.
Be patient. Some people get mired
in degrees of compliance and feel that
if they can’t be 100% accessible, there’s
no point in trying. While it certainly can
be difficult to revamp an existing page,
make small changes and implement
accessible design for any future
deployments. This makes the process
more manageable and less expensive
down the road.