Creating truly accessible forms, SDinGov 2024

Creating truly accessible forms
SDinGOV Virtual 2024
Caroline Jarrett
LinkedIn
Bukola Jolugbo (Kiki)
LinkedIn
Fiona MacNeill
LinkedIn

Caroline Jarrett @cjforms (CC) BY SA-4.0
2
Ladies that UX Brighton ran a
great in-person event
We’d like to thank everyone involved in
preparing and running that event,
the inspiration for this shorter workshop.
Blog post about the in-person event
Original workshop resources on Notion
(Creative Commons licensed).
Find our more about Ladies that UX Brighton

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We are Caroline, Kiki, and Fiona
Caroline Jarrett
LinkedIn
Bukola Jolugbo (Kiki)
LinkedIn
Fiona MacNeill
LinkedIn

4
Find the slides online
https://bit.ly/SDGforms

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Agenda
Introductions
Challenge 1: Use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Challenge 2: Use the GOV.UK design system
Challenge 3: Think about how we use phones
Challenge 4: Make a question protocol
Challenge 5: Think about types of disability
Challenge 6: Make a prototype
Wrap up

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Is this a form?
GOV.UK/random
Mr M Thewlis v Iceland Foods Ltd:
1805452/2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

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Is this a form?

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Is this a form?

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We know a form when we see it
Looks like a form and
works like a form
Asks questions and
expects answers
Allows someone
to achieve a goal

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A good form needs a lot of accessibility
Interaction design Content design Service design

Takeaway A good form is easy to:
• read and use
• understand and answer
• get it done and move on

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Today’s focus is one specific question
Scenario
You have been asked to develop a digital version of a paper-based
form. One of the form fields is ‘phone number’ - today we’ll focus on
this field in our design backlog.
We’ll think about
“What’s the best way to ask for a phone number?”
What could possibly go wrong?

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This is a workshop with some discussion in chat
Let’s practice saying hi to each other in the chat
1 minute

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We’ll mostly work in breakout rooms
Let’s practice getting into our breakout rooms, just to say hi
2 minutes

15
Review:
Did we all make it there and back?

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Agenda
✔ Introductions
Challenge 1: Use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Wrap up

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Challenge 1:
Use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Let’s try to get some help from WCAG for
“the best way to ask for a phone number”
Have a look at
Forms Tutorial | Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) | W3C
Compare notes
5 minutes

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Review:
Did the Web Accessibility Content Guidelines help us
with the best way to ask for a phone number?

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This tutorial is mostly about
interaction design, with a
bit of content design
Forms Tutorial | Web Accessibility
Initiative (WAI) | W3C

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There is a bit of service
design there

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Agenda
✔ Introductions
✔ Challenge 1: Use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Wrap up

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Challenge 2:
Use the GOV.UK design system
We’re looking for the best way to ask for a phone number
Try
GOV.UK Design System (design-system.service.gov.uk)
Compare notes
5 minutes

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Review:
Did GOV.UK Design system help us with
the best way to ask for a phone number?

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This pattern is
specifically about
telephone numbers
Telephone numbers – GOV.UK Design
System (design-
system.service.gov.uk)

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We have to design “give
users a choice about how
they can be contacted”

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Agenda
✔ Introductions
✔ Challenge 2: Use the GOV.UK design system
Wrap up

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What do we have to design?
We have to design:
“give users a choice about how they can be contacted”
Is this the only way that organisations use the phone numbers
that they collect?

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Challenge 3:
Think about how we use phones
• Have a look at your phone
• Is it a landline or mobile?
• Is there only one or do you have several?
• Consider calls received and messages
• What did you get and why?
• How did you react?
• Think about someone, maybe in your family, who has a
different experience to you. Any extra thoughts?

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Review:
Is “your phone” a landline or mobile?
Any thoughts about messages and calls you received?
Any thoughts about different answers for someone else?

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Agenda
✔ Introductions
✔ Challenge 3: Think about how we use phones
Wrap up

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A question protocol is a
list of all the questions
The question protocol:
how to make sure
every form field is
necessary - Effortmark

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Surprise!
Question protocols are in
the GOV.UK Service Manual
Structuring forms -
Service Manual -
GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

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Here they are
Structuring forms -
Service Manual -
GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

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A question protocol keeps track of each question
Only add a question if you know:
• that you need the information to deliver the service
• why you need the information
• what you’ll do with it
• which users need to give you the information
• how you’ll check the information is accurate
• how to keep the information up to date and secure
Structuring forms - Service Manual - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

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An example of an entry in my question protocol
Column in the question protocol Example for a newsletter sign-up form
Answer we need to get (data) Name
Why is it needed? To be able to address the user
To identify the individual user
How will it be used? Hi, Caroline!
Level of importance (must have, nice to have) Nice to have
What happens if you get the wrong answer or no
answer to this question?
May have a strange interaction with the user
(optional: include choice of interaction design) Open box (text area)
Split fields (three boxes)

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Challenge 4:
Make question protocol entry
There’s a question protocol with two entries:
https://bit.ly/SDGqp - there is a tab for your group
Try creating an entry for our challenge: a phone number
10 minutes

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Review:
How was the question protocol?

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Agenda
✔ Introductions
✔ Challenge 4: Make a question protocol
Wrap up

39
Challenge 5:
Think about types of disability
Inclusive101Guidebook.pdf (microsoft.design)

40
Agenda
✔ Introductions
✔ Challenge 5: Think about types of disability
Wrap up

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Challenge 6:
Make a prototype
Design a truly accessible question
Your question must:
• Obtain a phone number
• Allow for some sort of choice
15 minutes

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Review:
Show and tell on the prototypes

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Agenda
✔ Introductions
✔ Challenge 5: Think about types of disability
✔ Challenge 6: Make a prototype
Wrap up

44
It’s worth putting extra effort into ‘easy’ questions
Question Mean abandon rate
Name 6%
Email 6%
Password 11%
Phone 6%
Postcode 5%
Address 5%
https://www.zuko.io/blog/which-form-fields-cause-the-biggest-ux-problems

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Users want to know why you want to know
“Users hate giving you their phone number - It’s a sad truth but
users are very suspicious of you asking for their number. They
fear being spammed by sales calls so would rather drop out of
the process than hand it over …
If you really must ask then explain why you need it. A simple line
saying that you need their number in case there are any issues
with delivery will do wonders for the completion rate on your
phone field.”

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Forgiving interaction design really matters, too
“Format confusion - More than any field, phone numbers have a
cornucopia of ways you can potentially enter the information. Do
you add a ‘+’? The country code? How about spaces or dashes?
<HEAD EXPLODES EMOJI>”

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Please help dyscalculics
1. If you already have a phone number for us, don’t ask again
2. Let us copy the phone number into the form
3. Allow for typical characters such as plus, dash, and space
4. Be very specific in the error message
5. Give us extra time
Fill in the information you have (accessiblenumbers.com)
Improve Validation Errors with Adaptive Messages (98% Don’t) – Articles – Baymard Institute

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A good form needs a lot of accessibility
Interaction design Content design Service design

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Caroline Jarrett
socials @cjforms
caroline.jarrett@effortmark.co.uk
www.effortmark.co.uk

Creating truly accessible forms, SDinGov 2024

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