Accessibility Special: On the Usability & Accessibility Campaign Trail

In the run up to the British general election last week, User Vision reviewed six political party websites (going three better in their review than Cimex, reported last week in: UK Political Parties fail Accessibility Test, claims Agency. User Vision asked how do they measure up in terms of usability and accessibility? Do these parties seize the opportunity of exploiting this flexible channel to reach out to their voters? They answered: 'Well.. yes and no.'

This review looked at the website of six British political parties (Conservative, Green, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, and SNP) and assessed them against recognised usability and accessibility standards. The internet is increasingly a resource used to research detailed issues such as political and social policies. Clearly as government in general tries to build bridges to the citizens, an effective web channel is critical.

The way a site is organised, written, and presented can make or break the overall 'user experience'. The clarity with which a party can convey its views to a large degree will determine if site visitors feel frustrated and alienated by a party's site or whether they engage with the site, potentially actively campaigning, recommending others and voting for the party.

We focused on 3 typical tasks that people will want to achieve when visiting a political party's website, these are:

1. To find out about the party's policies
2. View news on election progress
3. Find out how to contribute to or join the party

Each website also gets a rating out of five based on these attributes:

- Content
- Structure
- Navigation
- Search
- Overall design & presentation
- Accessibility

There was no one party that was an example of how to communicate well online. The difference between the lowest scoring (Plaid Cymru) and the highest (SNP) scoring sites is wide in this review, showing that some of the parties have grasped better than others how to effectively communicate online.

Sites such as the SNP and Labour showed awareness of their online audience by tailoring their content to suit reading on screen. It was short, punchy and easy to scan. We were surprised that some of the sites, especially Plaid Cymru, seemed to neglect tailoring their content and instead seemed to settle with dumping print publications online. These sites were very content heavy and difficult to browse.

The SNP and the Conservative party websites had clear and consistent navigation with good labels. This helps users learn the site and speeds up finding information. Site designers should never underestimate how pivotal this is to a good user experience. The Labour party site falls down badly in this, with its numerous silos and non-transparent structure.

The standard of design was generally good (with the exception of Plaid Cyrmu). However, the Conservatives took the biscuit in terms of the branding impact and strong campaign message.

We were surprised that the standard of accessibility was not higher, as the parties should be showing good practice in social inclusiveness. The Labour party showed the clearest commitment to accessibility with lots of positive features, followed by the Conservatives.

Future political party site developers would benefit from cherry picking some lessons of best practice from the sites reviewed. These include:
* The CSS layout and accessibility of the Labour site.
* The straightforward and transparent donation and join forms of the Liberal Democrats.
* The branding impact and strong campaign message of the Conservatives.
* The consistency in layout and clarity of content of the SNP.

Have a look at the full report "On the usability & accessibility campaign trail" by following the link below (http://www.uservision.co.uk/usability_articles/UV_UK_Political_Party_Reviews.pdf)

Chris Rourke
User Vision

Associated Link: See the summary and download the full report

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