Can you Answer the Question Before Last?
Imagine this
Let's delve into an intriguing scenario where questions and answers take an amusing detour. Imagine being asked a series of questions, but the catch is that the answers you must provide are actually intended for the previous question. For instance:
Q: What day is it today?
Q: What is your name?
A: Friday
Q: Give me the name of a fruit
A: Clive
Q: Name a famous artist
A: Orange
Q: Who is the singer in U2?
A: Van Gogh
Guess what?
Believe it or not, this entertaining twist happened with my team during a recent accessibility audit!
This whimsical experience became a reality for our trio of blind testers – Mede, Krista, and Lleona – as they navigated through a seemingly straightforward series of questions. Forms have always presented challenges for them, but this specific one initially appeared visually flawless. Each field was seemingly correctly labelled – "Title" for the title field, "First Name" for the first name field, and so on. Everything looked perfectly aligned during the live accessibility testing.
However, despite the initial appearance of correctness, our blind testers faced challenges while filling out the form. Upon closer inspection of the code, I discovered that the labels were not correctly associated with the form fields. Instead, they were separate and appeared in the next line of code. This caused their screen readers to read out the labels after the corresponding field, leading our testers to assume that the subsequent field was the one being referred to.
Do you remember the 2 Ronnies?
This peculiar situation brought to mind a famous sketch that you may recall – the classic 2 Ronnies Mastermind parody sketch. In this sketch, the two Ronnies playfully navigate through questions and answers, with one comfortably seated, answering the question before last. The entire experience served as a poignant reminder that appearances can indeed be deceiving – just because something looks correct doesn't guarantee its functionality!
Caption: The 2 Ronnies in their renowned Mastermind parody sketch, "Answering the Question Before Last." One Ronnie poses the questions, while the other is comfortably seated in the famous black leather chair.
This whimsical journey highlights the importance of thorough testing, especially with digital accessibility in mind. It reinforces the notion that what seems correct on the surface may have underlying issues, emphasizing the need for meticulous evaluation in web design, development and accessibility testing.
Would you like to find out more?
Talk to us about an accessibility audit
Clive Loseby
Access by Design / Access by Audit
WCAG 2.2 Compliant, Accessible Websites, Beautifully Designed
Outstanding Disabled Accessibility Testing with each Website Accessibility Audit