LogBlo, my thoughts on User Experience, Psychology, Technology, Innovations and everything in between...
# Tuesday, November 04, 2008

image Few posts ago I wrote on another Google experiment - Keyboard Shortcuts. This new experiment is a bit different.

Google accessible view, I presume, was created for disabled people who can't see well (This is why its called accessible view...). I am very glad to see that "Accessibility" is embraced for Google .

 

imageWhat the Accessible View gives the user, is a very simple and intuitive navigation alternative, that allows him to browse the search results. You can navigate between results by using the keywords "J", "K" (very similar to the keyboard shortcuts experiment)In addition "N", "P", & the up/down arrows (Very good improvement for the keyboard short cut experiment) allow you to do almost the same.

The added value here is that the results are highlighted. But it is not just a highlight of the results, but a sort of  magnifying-glass view of the result. The magnified area floats in different layer above the actual results page. This solution is great for people who have difficulties seeing, as they can magnify the text even further by using the "=" key or the "-" key, and in addition if the user has a screen reader (commonly used by blind people) - the result that is currently highlighted, will be read to him, and only that (nothing else in the screen will be read to him, as this might distract them).

Few insights:

  • imageI will not recommend using it for people who have no difficulty in reading, as the floating layer of the highlighted result, is floating above other results as well, and because you can't see the next results or the previous one, it is very hard to have good orientation when navigating between the results.
  • J,K,Up and Down keys have the same functionality, they allow you to navigate between the results (but not to jump to the next index page). Using "N" & "P" do the same, but also when you are standing on the last result of the page, pressing the key "N" will send you to the next index results page (and the other way around with "P"). what I find confusing is why do we need different functionality for these buttons. Either create buttons that will allow you to jump between index pages, or just use the same functionality as the "N"&"P" keys, for all buttons. This way it will have a better logic to me in terms of user experience.
  • Too many buttons that act the same, well I realize its an experiment, but why can't you decide?

Keep them coming Google, you're doing good to the user experience and accessibility.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008 3:42:09 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    - Trackback
Accessibility | Google | User Experience
Dan Rimon
Dan Rimon

Owner of a working brain.
UX Architect.
Problem Solver?
Problem Creator!
Entrepreneur.

Contact Me
 
AddThis Feed Button
 
Bookmark and Share
 
Featured Ads
About the author/Disclaimer

Disclaimer
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

© Copyright 2010
Dan Rimon
Sign In
All Content © 2010, Dan Rimon
DasBlog theme 'Business' created by Christoph De Baene (delarou)