This time my impulse is going in a completely different direction. Until now, I have always examined my subject from a content point of view, but now I have found that the methodological point of view should not be lost either, nd the closer I get to my master’s thesis, the more important it becomes. Coincidentally, I discovered the tool ProtoPie during a course at that time. ProtoPie is a tool to create high fidelity prototypes and bring them to life. It is characterized by a user interface that is quick to learn and the decisive advantage for me is that little or no code is needed. With this tool you can provide your prototype with all the desired interactions and thus create an actual user flow. You can also display the app on your mobile phone and operate it as if it were already programmed. For me, ProtoPie is a real blessing and I will definitely use it in the course of my master’s thesis. I think that the tool will help me greatly with user testing, i.e. also the presentation of the final result and I am already looking forward to trying it around more. It was good for me to have an impulse in the methodological direction, in order to have a better feeling of how I want to implement my topic.
Category: Interaction Design
Blog #4 – Analysing a Masterthesis
Web Accessibility
Incorporating User Requirements into a Guide for Usable Web Accessibility by Teresa Steinebach, University of Twente.
Level of Design
In der Masterarbeit “Web Accessibility Incorporating User Requirements into a Guide for Usable Web Accessibility” liegt kein ausgeprägtes Level of Design vor. Die Arbeit konzentriert sich hauptsächlich auf technische Aspekte, nachdem die Arbeit im Fach IT Management and Enterprise Architecture geschrieben wurde. Daher spielt das Design keine zentrale Rolle. Das Titelblatt der Masterarbeit ist ein wenig mit Elementen geschmückt.
Degree of innovation
Die Forschungsarbeit weist einen durchschnittlichen Innovationsgrad auf. Sie beleuchtet eine bestehende Lücke in der Umsetzung von Web Accessibility trotz langjähriger Forschung. Die vorgeschlagene Lösung, ein Leitfaden für Organisationen, stellt einen neuen Beitrag zur Schließung dieser Lücke dar. Insgesamt trägt die Arbeit zur Theorie und Praxis bei, indem sie als Einführung und Referenz für Entwickler*innen dient.
Independence
Über Independence bin ich mir nicht sicher, da der Text hauptsächlich die Verbesserungen und Anpassungen an der Barrierefreiheit und Benutzerfreundlichkeit einer Website behandelt und durch Research und User Testings methodisch unterstrichen wird.
Outline and structure
Die klare Gliederung und Struktur des Textes ermöglichen eine verständliche Erfassung der Hauptpunkte. Die logische Reihenfolge erleichtert das Nachvollziehen der Überlegungen und die flüssigen Übergänge zwischen den Kapiteln ergeben einen zusammenhängenden Textfluss. Insgesamt gibt es eine konsistente Struktur mit gleichen Formatierungen und präsentiert die Gliederung auf einem niveauvollen Standard.
Degree of communication
Stichprobenweise habe ich ein paar Absätze durchgelesen und finde, dass selbst wenn man mittendrin die Masterarbeit beginnt zu lesen, gut nachvollziehen kann, worum es sich handelt. Die Ausdrucksweise ist prägnant und klar formuliert.
Scope of the work
Die Arbeit weist einen angemessenen Umfang auf, welcher die Konzepte zum Thema klar zum Ausdruck bringt. Der theoretische- sowie praktische Umfang ist ausgeglichen und die Methodik gut gewählt, analysiert und interpretiert.
Orthography and accuracy
Beim Lesen wurden keine offensichtlichen Rechtschreib- oder Grammatikfehler gefunden. Formulierungen sind klar und präzise.
Literature
Das Literaturverzeichnis ist umfangreich und besteht aus einer Liste von wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten zum Thema digitale Barrierefreiheit und Webzugänglichkeit. Ein großer Teil davon machen Sammelbände, Artikel und Fachliteratur aus.
Impulse #4_Master’s Thesis Evaluation_”Curious Cuisine: Bringing culinary creativity home” by Júlia Nacsa
For this semester’s Master’s Seminar course, we were asked to find a master’s thesis from our own research area submitted to a foreign or Austrian university/university of applied sciences. I chose to evaluate “Curious Cuisine: Bringing culinary creativity home” by Júlia Nacsa at Umeå University’s Faculty of Science and Technology, Institute of Design.
Nacsa’s work takes a close look at the cooking and eating habits in the home – how these rituals could be modified to enrich the joy and explorative tendencies of the hobby home cook. Following in-depth research on past, current, and potential future practices, Nacsa proposes a highly tactile intervention.
In my own thesis journey, I am currently at a crossroads. I am sharply deviating from what I researched last semester (AI in UX Design), and diving into social design, potentially focusing on continued education, or another topic that combines my personal interests with a sociological approach to research and innovation. “Curious Cuisine: Bringing culinary creativity home” has the feeling of a highly emotional, intimate work. Food and eating culture is something we all share, making it at once communal and deeply personal. I found myself touched by that complexity, and intrigued at the methods used to dive into these spaces that are typically difficult to access.
Nacsa’s research questions are as follows:
New Rituals: How might new food technologies fit in with our old traditions? What are the new cultural practices that might emerge?
New Aesthetics: How might our multi-sensory experiences and food acceptance change? How might we make everyday meals more exciting, and nutritious choices more enticing?
New Skills: How might we adapt our skills to new culinary techniques? What forms of embodied knowledge do we need to integrate into the ‘cooking’ process?
Level of design
This thesis is presented in clean, careful order. Nacsa uses beautiful imagery to support her points, while keeping the focus on the text.
Degree of innovation
This thesis is, in my opinion, highly original. The author digs into a subject that most people would consider too ingrained to accept innovation.
Independence
Nacsa credits a team of advisors and examiners at the start of the thesis for their guidance and support. It is clear, however, that Nacsa completed this work with a high degree of motivation and drive. I was particularly inspired by her field work – In the research portion of the thesis, Nacsa conducted 10 interviews, and details trips she made to visit, experience, and speak with experts in the food industry.
Outline and structure
Nacsa’s chapter titles are as follows:
Introduction; Foundational Research; Primary Research; Ideation; Concept Development; Final Result; Discussion; Reflection; Acknowledgements; References; Appendix
Degree of communication
This thesis was beautifully communicated. Nacsa’s writing is clear and concise, the thesis has excellent and logical structure, and I also found myself caring deeply about the work, feeling invested and touched by the results, particularly the discussions around the social value of food and eating together.
Scope of the work
This thesis explores the topic of food culture through personal reflection, research, interviews, field work, workshops, and prototyping.
Orthography and accuracy
As previously mentioned, this thesis is very well-written and clearly communicated. The research and end results are rather more subjective than objective, and thus a statement on accuracy wouldn’t be the most helpful metric. However, the author utilizes quotes and data to back up her research questions and claims.
Literature
At the conclusion of the work, Nacsa lists works cited. These include a great many texts on culinary innovation, which makes sense as this thesis dives into speculative design in the field of food culture.
Nacsa, Júlia. “Curious Cuisine: Bringing Culinary Creativity Home,” 2016.
An analysis of a master’s thesis submitted to an Austrian university of applied sciences on the topic of unequal access to healthcare in rural areas.
The master’s thesis under review is called “Digital Inclusion: Examining the Impacts of Digital Health Technologies on Inequality,” and it focuses on meeting the particular demands of Ghana’s vulnerable populations. In order to be eligible for the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Digital Communication Leadership (DCLead), Richard Mawutor Dzikunu wrote it. Completed on July 30, 2021, the thesis was turned in to the Department of Communication Studies, with Professors Van Audenhove and Josef Trappel serving as primary and secondary supervisors, respectively.
Based on the facts in the thesis and our current understanding of the topic, we have examined the thesis “Digital Inclusion: Examining the Impacts of Digital Health Technologies on Inequality.” It is crucial to remember that this assessment is open to interpretation and might not cover every facet of the argument. Based on their individual skills and interpretations of the text, different readers or experts may have different viewpoints or insights. As such, this assessment ought to be seen as one of several possible readings of the piece.
The evaluation of the thesis is based on the following provided criteria: Level of design, Degree of innovation, Independence, Outline and structure, Degree of communication, Scope of the work, Orthography and accuracy and the Literature.
Literature
An extensive review of the literature is included in the thesis, reflecting a deep engagement with existing research. This extensive literature foundation indicates a solid academic grounding and understanding of the field. Cf. P8-35
Level of Design
Even though we might request a better layout and formatting, we agree that the thesis is well-structured and professionally designed, as indicated by its clear segmentation into different chapters and sections, each addressing specific aspects of the research topic. Cf.P7
Scope of the Work
The thesis covers a broad scope, examining various facets of digital health technologies and their implications on social inequalities in Ghana. This comprehensive approach demonstrates the depth and breadth of the research conducted. Cf. P5-7
Independence
The author’s independence is evident in the formulation of the research questions, the selection of the theoretical framework, and the detailed methodology. The work reflects a significant degree of independent research and critical thinking.
Outline and Structure
The thesis has a coherent outline and structure, systematically covering literature review, theoretical framework, methodology, results, and conclusions. This structure facilitates a logical flow and comprehensive understanding of the research. Cf. P2-3
Degree of Communication
The thesis successfully communicates its findings and analyses and make meaningful recommandations (cf. P45-66). It makes the complicated subject approachable and intelligible for the reader by using simple language and an organized structure.
Orthography and Accuracy
While specific details on orthography and accuracy are not directly observed from the provided research word, the overall presentation and structure suggest careful attention to detail and a commitment to academic standards.
Degree of Innovation
The thesis addresses a novel and significant issue – the impact of digital health technologies on inequality in Ghana. From our perspective, this topic is highly relevant and innovative, especially in the context of digital inclusion and the specific needs of vulnerable groups.
Task III: Blog entry. Master thesis evaluation
For the third task in the Proseminar Master’s Thesis course, we got a task to find and evaluate a master thesis from another/foreign university. For this assignment I chose “Design of the User Interface and User Experience of an Application for Hiring Transportation Services in Real Time” by Omar Santiago Quinapallo Vallejo. I chose this thesis because I am thinking about working with app design for my thesis and it is important to see how other people have already done it.
I really liked that the author started the thesis by explaining the motivation for the work and idea, which is that in Ecuador transportation services are still mainly done by calling or personal contact, which makes it more complicated and time-consuming. The author had clear problem and goals stated.
Level of design
The design was minimalist and clean but some elements were not aligned or highlighted. The author showed a high-fidelity prototype but I couldn’t see the process behind creating it. But what I think is important to note is that the author did user interviews beforehand and was creating a prototype based on what people said they would need/want.
Degree of innovation
The work was concentrated on the human-centered design principles and the thesis proposes solutions to improve transportation services in real-time.
Independence
The thesis shows a high level of independence and the author’s research and design thinking. The author had a lot of statistics, conducted user interviews and user tests, which showed that everything they did had a purpose and used the knowledge for creating the product.
Outline and structure
The thesis is well-organised and has a structured framework. It has a logical flow, and clearly organised chapters.
Degree of communication
The author could clearly communicate complex concepts, ideas. Additionally diagrams, illustrations, and other visuals help with understanding what author meant or wanted to address.
Scope of the work
The thesis demonstrates a big scope of work as it shows the process from the very beginning (defining the problem) to the end result. The author was doing a lot of research, interviews, tests, evaluations to make sure that the end result would fit with what people said they needed.
Orthography and accuracy
The author paid attention to accuracy, grammar, spelling and punctuation. The author’s writing style is easy to follow and understand. They also could address and explain complex design concepts related to user interface in a way that is easy to understand as well.
Literature
The master thesis didn’t have a wide range of literature, which I think is a disadvantage of it. The literature and references used are relevant to the field but it was just a few of them listed.
Impuls #3
Für meinen dritten Impuls habe ich mir eine Podcastepisode auf Spotify von Syntax angehört. Syntax wird von zwei englischsprachigen Webdesignern/Webentwicklern moderiert und bietet in über 500 Folgen haufenweise Information rund um die Themen Website. Die Folge „Accessibility“ war besonders interessant, da es eine Vielzahl von Themen, die für die Schaffung inklusiver digitaler Erlebnisse entscheidend sind, behandelt. Die Moderatoren diskutieren das Konzept der Webzugänglichkeit und unterteilen Behinderungen in temporäre, situationsbedingte und dauerhafte, wobei sie die Notwendigkeit betonen, alle Benutzer zu berücksichtigen. Die Diskussion geht auf Codierungspraktiken ein, wobei die Bedeutung von HTML5-Strukturelementen und die Wichtigkeit der Verwendung geeigneter Eingabetypen wie Zahl und Text für mich am bedeutsamsten gewesen sind.
Die Moderatoren heben die korrekte Verwendung von Links und Schaltflächen hervor und weisen auf ARIA-Rollen hin, um Elemente zu definieren, wenn semantisches HTML nicht ausreicht, insbesondere bei Pop-ups und nicht standardmäßigen Steuerelementen. Die Episode führt ARIA ein und erläutert seine Rollen, Zustände und Eigenschaften, bietet wertvolle Anleitungen zur ausschließlichen Navigation mit der Tastatur, Tabindex und zur Implementierung von “Zum Inhalt springen”-Links. Insgesamt dient die Episode als umfassender Leitfaden für Webentwickler, bietet praktische Einblicke in die Schaffung universell zugänglicher und benutzerfreundlicher Online-Inhalte und empfiehlt verschiedene Tools, die bei der Umsetzung helfen können. Für mich ein wichtiger Insight, damit ich beim Redesign die technischen „Einschränkungen“ mitberücksichtige.
Impulse #5 – Museu de les Ciències (Príncipe Felipe) – Part 2
This blogpost is the second part of my visit at the Museu de les Ciències (Príncipe Felipe). If you did not read the first part, you can follow this link:
Exhibition: Marte
The next exhibition had the topic “Mars” and was in terms of structure and environment very similar to the Terra Extraordinária exhibition. Again, a dark environment with walls colored in black, giving the exhibits a glowing effect. Unfortunately, not all installations were working as intended – a beamer projecting a quiz where one couldn’t read the text and a projection on to a book that was out of service because of technical issues.
While one projection on to a book didn’t work, there was a second one I wanted to try. The exhibit quickly got my interested as I remembered several projects working with interactive projections on to books. However, the overall impression could be described as a mixture of feelings. In my opinion, instead of the book, the beamer construction cached the eyes of visitors first, as it was not only the biggest object but also the one with the most complex shape. Instead of focusing on the book which should be the center, I began thinking of what the shape of the construction reminds me of.
Next to the projection there was a screen which I think let the visitor choose different books being projected. Unfortunately, the installation was occupied for a very long time so I could not try it out. However, I inspected the physical book being projected on. I found a very familiar hand tracking device in front of the books. As I had seen past projects that looked similar, I tried to turn a page with a gesture – unfortunately nothing happened.
Furthermore, the projection itself was not mapped very accurate, leafing a blank spot on the bottom.
What I liked in this context was, that a lot of physical books were placed around this exhibit letting the visitor connect to. In my opinion this linked the digital projection with real historical books. On the one hand the projection became more meaningful as the visitor could reference to the historical books and on the other hand the historical books being protected behind glass become more alive.
A second exhibit I would like to mention requires no interaction as it only serves to display information. However, it caught my eyes because of its construction. Compared to all the other exhibits in this exhibition, this is the only one being placed at a height of around 50cm ensuring a better accessibility.
Bosque de Cromosomas and Exposición Temporal
Finally, there were two additional smaller exhibitions about different scientific fields in natural science – ranging from chromosomes to human cells. By following the path indicated with numbers, visitors could discover scientific mechanisms.
Taking a closer look at the interfaces one could see that the following exhibition could stay for a longer period. Buttons, mouse, frames and actuators – everything was built with a clear focus on durability. The following photos demonstrate how this long-term exhibition was constructed.
As I was coming from the other exhibitions this one gave me a slightly brutal impression. However, based on the experience I made during the last year I can understand that exhibitions need to be built with durability in mind. In my opinion it can often be hard to find the right balance between visually appealing, sophisticated and durable exhibits that need a minimum amount of maintenance. However, I think a physical button can always be designed more attractive than a simple green knob.
Science Communication
Another important aspect for me was to analyze how the scientific content was being communicated. While complex topics need to be broken down without losing their scientific accuracy, user Interfaces should be as intuitive as possible.
In the “Pixer” exhibitions this was very well made as nearly all interfaces have been designed in the same layout. Button and slider had clear feedback, giving the user a lot of variations to explore without getting lost.
The “Terra Extraordinária” exhibition had a broad spectrum on user interfaces ranging from physical representations protected by glass boxes to tangible user interfaces. One exhibit that I really liked was the microscope showed in the “Terra Extraordinária” exhibition. On the one hand there was a very clear connection to the scientific process and on the other hand the big plate with knobs let people explore the different microscope slides in a pleasant and playful way. However, in terms of accessibility there could be some improvement – for example being able to access the exhibit with a wheelchair.
The “Marte” exhibition was structured like the “Terra Extraordinária” exhibition. One could see historical books but also more complex projections on to physical representations of books. Unfortunately, the experience was not as intuitive as in the previous exhibition – either an interface didn’t work as intended, or I could not connect the exhibit with a scientific context well.
Conclusion
After my visit at the museum, I came to the conclusion that highly sophisticated technical interfaces can in the first moment produce big “wow effects” but when in lack of a good concept become great obstacles. During my stay at the museum, I sometimes felt relieved when interacting with very simple interfaces as the focus shifted away from the interface and back to the actual topic the exhibit dealt with.
Impulse #4 – Museu de les Ciències (Príncipe Felipe) – Part 1
The Museu de les Ciències is a scientific hands-on museum and located in Valencia (Spain). At the time of my visit there have been several exhibitions ranging from topics like chromosomes to the exploration of mars. The following post will be about my experience at the museum.
My focus was to analyze the user experience of the exhibits in the exhibitions. Not only did I document my own experience with photos, but also observe how other visitors interact with exhibits.
Exhibition: Pixar
In this exhibition I experienced a lot of consistency when it comes to the design of the user interfaces. Most of them where not only constructed in the same way but also had strong similarity in the layout of the panels. They shared the same button-, slider- and text layout. The color was used to distinguish between the different subtopics as well as the language.
In the following photo you can see an interface that in my opinion broke this consistency as there is, compared to the other interfaces, no clear labeling. While the icon clearly indicated the user action, there was no panel connecting the user action to theoretical background like the other exhibits did.
A user interface I interacted with and observed several users interacting with was about stop motion animations.
Based on my observation, I don’t think that there was a clear and understandable user journey. By observing four different visitors only one managed to interact with the exhibit as intended.
Possible reasons:
- Different way of interaction
Compared to most other exhibits in this exhibition this one required the user to actively participate. A camera filmed the lamp on the black canvas on the right side and took snapshots as the user pushed a button on the interface on the left side. By moving the lamp and taking multiple snapshots the user could create a stop motion clip. So, the main problem was that most of the visitors don’t recognize the camera. Since the buttons were located on the left side, the user standing in front of the interface didn’t recognize that there was a camera as it didn’t capture the person at this position. Furthermore, since the buttons were located on the left side, at least two persons were needed to take a snapshot.
- No clear explanation and misleading symbols
There was no visual explanation of the camera pointing to the lamp indicating that visitors can take photos of themselves. Most of the visitors didn’t understand that they can move the lamp. A few tried to move the lamp but didn’t succeed since it had to much friction. In my opinion the symbols indicating start and finish was also misleading, as the orange hand can be interpreted as “do not touch”. There is also a monitor on the top indicating the movement, unfortunately I only discovered it on the photo as it was placed too high and out of sight when interacting with the interface.
Exhibition: Terra Extraordinária
This exhibition was about the different scientific processes in our ecosystem. It was more diverse as there was no consistency in terms of user interfaces and only a few exhibits could be controlled via user inputs. While a lot of exhibits showed physical representations combined with text and graphs explaining the scientific background, a few let the user interact with gestures or touch.
Here you can see a table showing physical representations as well as scientific background. While the table itself was build in the shape of a circle to provide good accessibility, the boxes protecting the physical objects didn’t match in shape and size. While one box was shaped like a cube another one looked like a cylinder.
The two pictures above show exhibits visitors could interact with. While in one exhibit visitors could rotate the plate and see different microscope slides through the lens of a real digital microscope, in the other exhibit they could build their own geosphere by moving sand and producing rain with gestures.
While both exhibits encouraged visitors to interact with their hands, they included because of the construction different age groups.
While the exhibits offered different degrees of interactivity, I did not get the feeling of being disconnected. In my opinion, the reason for this is the use of similar colors and shapes. However, as you can see on the pictures above the shapes did not always match.
Also different forms of projections (on 3-dimensional and flat surfaces) were part of this exhibition.
Here you can see another installation that projected the earths surface onto a 3-dimensional sphere. Unfortunately, one can’t recognize the 3-dimensional sphere as the room was very dark and the projection itself not in high resolution.
In comparison following picture shows a projection in high resolution on to a wall with a physical representation next to it. Even though the projection was in a brighter environment, the visibility was very good and the text readable. In my opinion, educational installations placed in dark environments can make tired and unfocused. Additionally, high contrasts can be exhausting for the eyes. The projection showed in the following picture on the other hand was very good optimized for the environment.
Photo Credits: Edwin Lang
Blog #3
Digitale Barrierefreiheit: Entwicklung
Die Entwicklung trägt mit 80% am meisten zur Gewährleistung von digitaler Barrierefreiheit bei. Der HTML Code muss sauber aufbereitet sein, und alle Tags müssen sinnvoll verwendet werden.
Eine gängige und schnelle Methode zur Erstellung von HTML-Code ist die Verwendung von Div-Containern. Allerdings ist ein Code, der ausschließlich aus “divs” besteht, für E-Reader nicht informativ und kann nicht eindeutig identifiziert werden. Um die Barrierefreiheit zu gewährleisten, muss der Code so strukturiert sein, dass er von Hilfstechnologien interpretiert werden kann. Dies erfordert den sinnvollen Einsatz geeigneter HTML-Tags, um eine korrekte Lesbarkeit durch assistierende Software zu ermöglichen.
Das Gerüst eines Codes kann mit einem Haus und seinen Innenräumen verglichen werden:
Beispiel <div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>
Betritt man das Haus, und man steht vor weiteren Türen, die nicht beschriftet sind, weiß der E-Reader nicht wo er zuerst hineinsehen soll, was sich darin befindet (ob es möglicherweise sogar irrelevant ist?) ob er den Raum betreten möchte und wie lange er sich in einem Raum aufhalten möchte. So muss er jede Tür öffnen, und nachsehen.
Beispiel: <section><div><h1><h2><p></p></h2><h1></div><article><img><h1><h2><p></p></article></section>
Sind die Räume allerdings beschriftet und haben sogar eine Kurzbeschreibung an der Wand hängen: “Hier geht’s zum Menü, darin befindet sich eine Sitemap mit diesen Links, ein Bild in Form eines Logos und zwei Icons, die auf die Social-Media Plattformen Facebook und Linked In verweisen.“ damit weiß der E-Reader und somit auch die Person, dass man auf diesem Weg zum Menü kommt. In einem anderen Raum befindet sich zum Beispiel ein Web-Shop oder andere Bereiche einer Website.
Keine Automatischen Slideshows einbauen,
welche nicht bedienbar sind! User*innen sollen selbst weiterklicken können, da sehbeeinträchtigte Menschen durchaus mehr Zeit brauchen können, um Bilder zu erkennen und E-Reader sonst nicht mitlesen können.
Mehrere Optionen für User*innen bereithalten
Zudem soll es auch mindestens zwei Auswahlmöglichkeiten geben, was die Ausgabe der Bedienhilfen betrifft. Mehr Sinne geben nicht nur mehr Information, sondern inkludieren mehr Menschen. Wenn ein Video beispielsweise nur vorgelesen werden kann, aber es keine Untertitel oder schriftliche Beschreibung zu dem Video gibt, werden Gehörbeeinträchtigte automatisch ausgeschlossen.
Eingabemasken
Füllt man bei Eingabemasken ein Feld falsch aus, reicht es nicht, wenn dies mit einem roten Rahmen gekennzeichnet ist. Zusätzlich sollte ein Text unter der Eingabemaske erscheinen, der beschreibt, wieso das Feld falsch ausgefüllt wurde. Zudem ist es wichtig, dass es nicht am Ende des Formulars beim „Abschicken“ geprüft wird, sondern sobald die Eingabe von den Vorgaben abweicht.
Der Tastaturfocus
Die Tabulatortaste und die Pfeiltasten dienen als unterstützende Bedienhilfe, um durch die Website und Links zu navigieren. Es ist wichtig, dass der aktuell ausgewählte Tab klar und deutlich hervorgehoben wird, und dies geschieht durch den Tastaturfokus.
Es sei darauf hingewiesen, dass die Handhabung des Tastaturfokus bei Pop-ups, wie beispielsweise Cookie-Bannern am Anfang der Seite, herausfordernd sein kann. In solchen Fällen kommt es nicht selten vor, dass Benutzer*innen, sobald sich das Pop-up öffnet, sich zwar im Pop-up-Menü mithilfe der Tabulatortaste orientieren können, jedoch Schwierigkeiten haben, wieder aus dem Pop-up herauszukommen. Dies erfordert eine spezielle Programmierung, um eine reibungslose Navigation für alle Benutzer*innen zu gewährleisten.
Skiplinks / Sprungmarken
Es ist empfohlen, Skiplinks (sogenannte Sprungmarken) einzubauen, um User*innen eine schnellere Navigation anzubieten, ohne dass sie sich, wenn sie in den Footer wollen, durch die gesamte Website mit der Tabulatortaste klicken müssen.
Diese Skiplinks können im Code mittels Anker ( <a href=“https://examp.le“ id=“anker“>Das ist ein Anker</a> ) gesetzt werden, damit sich Menschen mit taktiler Behinderung nicht durch das unendliche Menü klicken müssen, bevor sie zum eigentlichen Content gelangen.
In der Website https://www.hilfsgemeinschaft.at/ beim Drücken der Tabulatortaste öffnet sich ein solcher Skiplink. Die Hilfsgemeinschaft stellt hier ein best Practise dar.
Veranschaulicht: Drücke taste 0, um im Hauptinhalt zu bleiben. Drücke Taste 1, um ins Hauptmenü zu gelangen. Drücke taste 3, um ins Suchfeld zu gelangen. Drücke Taste 4 für Kontakt daten… usw.
Best Pratices
Worst Practice/ Bad Practice
Here we go again 3.0
Over the summer I kind of struggled with my topic. I was questioning myself if I really want to do this, if it is the right topic, if it is even relevant and so on. So I needed to sit down and try to collect and sort everything in my head that I can get a clear picture what I want to do, what I want to examine and how I am going to do this.
Therefore I started to create a Miro board where I put every brain dump in there and try to create a mind map with all the important information and steps. The miro board helped me quite a lot to visualize and frame my potential master thesis. Even though it seems to be a huge project for me, I am motivated to take on this challenge and realize it. The board itself is not really pretty and it still an ongoing process but here we are.
This is a screenshot of my Miro board:
What I also did the last weeks was to contact Petra Duhm from the WKO. In my previous blog entries I mentioned the application Berufe-VR. She is the leader of the project and she also gave me some information and we will have a chat probably in December. Another interesting project I found online was the Job Explorer from the company XRCONSOLE in Graz. I am in contact with their CEO and we also going to have a quick interview about their project next year. https://xrconsole.net/xrc-job-explorer/.
In one of my impulses I went to the BeSt Berufsmesse and checked out how companies present themselves to teenagers and what media they use to deliver information to catch the attention. A few of them used VR Applications as well and the kids seem to enjoy the experience. Further information can be read in my impulse blog post 😉