Test your website as much as possible with people with intellectual disabilities, to be sure it works well for them. Here are some tips on how to carry out a test.

• Decide on the sections of your site that you want to test.
• Decide which users you need to test your site (find out more about different degrees of intellectual disability in the ‘people with intellectual disability’ section of this site).
• Define tasks for users to carry out.
• Decide if there is anything qualitative you want to test (whether users like the site, find it attractive, would be likely to use it).
• Identify what you would need to know about users before the test starts (age, experience of the web, nature of intellectual, learning, sensory and physical impairments).
• Draw up an observation template to help you take notes during the test.
• Test the test!

preparing for testinguser testing

When testing, aim to:

• Have a natural discussion.
• Go through questions in any order, to help the discussion be natural.
• Re-word and repeat the questions if necessary.
• Go off on a tangent if the discussion leads that way.
• Ask enough questions to build a good picture.
• Talk a lot less than your tester does.
• Listen, prompt, clarify. Take notes later if doing it while you talk interrupts the flow.

discussing the testgoing through the questions

Before testing, carry out an interview to find out about the tester and gain insight into:

• Level of technical awareness.
• Attitudes towards the Web.
• Experience of Web use.
• Any assistive technology normally used (find out more about assistive technologies in the ‘information about accessibility‘ section.

interviewing your testerobserving technical awareness