Narrative: Participant B

[Test carried out 2005.03.08 17:37]

22. Open a new window or tab. Go to [the site URL]. What would you normally do next?

I will wait for the – usually Jaws will start talking, right? the first thing I do is press the Ctrl [key] to shut it [up]. That’s what it requires – a shut-up key. [Then Ctrl-PgUp to go to top of page.] Because sometimes it doesn’t start at the beginning, right?

26. To log into a site, what would you normally do?

First I will just read the Web site. [Does so until “list end” is spoken.]

27. Go ahead and log into the site.

There’s no log— It doesn’t give me a login, unless it goes under.... Usually, when we select a product, there’s an option that comes up, right? [Tabs through nearly every link on the page] It doesn’t give a form field.

[What would you normally do when you have a reason to believe there’s a login but can’t find it? He’d select a product and then it would bring up a login page] Otherwise the other option is not doing it online. [Jaws 4.51 cannot list the form fields on the page, as with the F5 key, though later Jaws versions can]

[We tell him the sign-in link is visible at top. He says he would actually have given up two or three minutes ago]

32. Now let’s go in and update your account information. We’re going to change the E-mail address the system has on file for you. Locate a method to do that.

[Tabs again through nearly all links on the page]

[Pulls up list of links and presses U; nothing beginning with that letter is found]

[We tell him the link is visible at page bottom]

[Tries A for Account after we suggest it; no link with that letter]

[Pulls up Jaws “Find in Window” command. “Search string NOT found” comes up for “update.”]

[Does a Find for “sign”; also not found.]

“Not very accessible.”

37. Now we’re going to shop for products using several different methods. From where you are now, what would you do to locate a product?

“Like if I know the name of the product? Like if I know the name of the product, I will go into Links List, Ins-F7, and do the first letter.” [by typing, e.g., A for Adobe, M for McAfee]

40. How would you usually locate a specific product that is a kind of a general product?

If I don’t know the site and I’m trying to look at “mouse”? I will usually go to Google and then search for "mouse surface" within quotations for it. If I don’t know the specific site, that’s what I will do.

41. Use whatever method you like to locate the mouse pads that the site sells.

[Tabs through links]

[Spelled the word “Veritas,” which it pronounces “Verítas”]

[Goes past top navbar of Desktop etc. Categories and onto company logos that are also links]

[Goes right to the top again]

If I am looking for something specific, I am very patient with these sites. [Jaws mispronounces toll-free number in title element as numerals separated by “dot”]

[Goes through many other links on a page, some of which are read as headings; we’re actually on the Computer Associates subpage]

[Uses the Back button.]

[Tries list of links and M; none relevant come up]

[Finds a Belkin Media Reader for iPod]

It doesn’t give us— It doesn’t give like other accessories or the products. It doesn’t give a link as such.

[Would you have given up at this point?] If I am looking for that product that I desperately need, no.

Lets see under Storage what it brings [mostly drives and backup systems].

Do you know what the word “Veritas” means? [It’s just a trade name.] “Veritas” is “truth,” but this site is lying!

When I go to a different page and so on, it says “signup,” but I don’t know where to find the signup.

[Tries “Wireless” and “Mobility.”]

And there is not a search function there. There might be one, but it is not reading the function as such. If there is a search function, then I will try that as well.

[Tries Special Offers]

[Tries IBM Hardware link.] It’s a longshot.

[Goes through link list with letter M; no mice come up]

[Does a find for “mouse”; none found]

No. I will give up at this point.

49. The site has tabs for hardware and software. Can you find them?

[Asks for clarification; no, we’re just looking for Hardware and Software tabs generally]

[Does List of Links and presses H; no Hardware comes up]

[Does a find for “software”; Jaws reads an unrelated sentence including the word “software” even as it claims the text was not found.]

I can’t find it specifically for software. Brand names, yes, I can.

52. Which option would you use to locate a keyboard?

Go under All Products, and if there’s a search function, then I can try “keyboard” or do K for – let’s try that. [Tries list of links with K]

[Misses “browse all products by IBM” link, then finds it and selects it, thus completing task 55.]

[Does list of links; then finds a “visited link, keyboards”]

57. Locate an IBM French keyboard with a price under $150 and add it to your cart.

[Raises eyebrows]

[Finds the “Sorted by” combo box, but goes past it]

[Then goes into that combo box, but mistypes]

[Goes back a page]

[The use of “www.” in the page title causes many lengthy repetitions]

[Goes into Forms Mode into the combo box, then turns forms mode off]

[Tries to type “French” into the “Sorted by” combo box, as though it were a search field]

[A French keyboard is visible as the second item on the screen]

[Gets lost on left-hand navbar]

[Enters 150 into price field to “Refine” and “french” into the other field, then moves elsewhere]

[Ticks a checkbox in the Compare column]

[Tabs through many links; the Compare link repeats the product name]

[He’s on the item that’s a French keyboard, but tabs right on past that text.]

[Misses a second French keyboard]

[Goes back to top of table]

I’m just trying to select a keyboard and go in and see.

[Shift-tabs back through many links]

[In a product listing, tab order prevents him from listening to text that includes the word “French”]

[Checks a box in Compare column next to a keyboard]

[Successfully adds that to his cart, but it’s an English keyboard]

[Tries to delete the product by hearing that link and selecting it, but he’s actually in a textarea]

[Chuckles]

It doesn’t give the— It gives another option for— [Still would not have given up by this point, at over 10 minutes’ effort]

[Finds advanced search]

[Announces “Enter your keywords”; enters “french keyboard”]

[Finds two results that are keyboard overlays, and that is all]

[Jaws pronounces “$16.59 CDN” as “dollar 16 Canadian dollars and 59 cents” and “mfg” as “M-F-G”]

It’s “overlays,” right, not “keyboard” itself?

[Goes back to advanced search]

[Goes over checkboxes for Hardware, Software, and Books and leaves them checked]

[Re-types “french keyboard” and “150” in “Priced from” field, producing a query of “Priced from 0 to 150”]

[The results are the same two keyboard overlays]

60. What would you normally do when attempting to check out your purchases from a Web site?

Like, after selecting the products? Usually there would be a link that said “checkout.” One of the sites, you have to key in all of the information, and one of the other sites gives us the option that they can call and then they can give the credit-card information over the phone.... I usually prefer them calling. I would put in the information so they can give us a call.

61. How do you usually enter your credit-card information?

If there’s no other option, then I put my card number in. Usually, most of the Web sites it’s hit-and-miss sort of thing. You do it and it will say correct or not, and you come back and do it.

62. We’re done shopping for the day. Locate the checkout function.

[Does list of links in the same results page as before]

[Does another list of links and misses “View your cart” link]

Do we select any of this or do we delete the things?

[Does a find of “check”; also not found]

[At this point, he had added an English keyboard and a French keyboard overlay to his cart]

[Reads the advice that product totals must be updated and finds the Update button, which he selects]

[List of Links shows four unrelated links]

[Finds Checkout button and presses it]

Then it brings you to the username.

76. What would you generally do when you wanted to compare two items on a Web site?

There’s an option there; it says “compare.” But usually what I will do is first read about the first thing and then read about the other thing, like one after the other. It doesn’t work well with Jaws if you are trying to read about both things, because I think usually the information appears on one half of the screen... and other half there is information about other product, right? So I usually read one by one and remember the key facts of what I am looking for.

83. We’re done for the day. From where you are now, how would you log out of the system?

[Tabs through all the links on the page]

Usually what I do is go into Links and do L or S to find “login” or “logout” or “signin” or “signout.”

[The only link beginning with “L” is unrelated]

[Reads the screen we are on, which, in fact, is the sign-in screen]

Maybe we have to go to the next screen to get that option.


87. Do you have any comments on the activities we just went through?

It’s fruitless, right? Most of the things I couldn’t find. If they say that you are supposed to sign in first, as a screen-reader user, it doesn’t allow me. There’s no option for me to sign in; it doesn’t give me the option.

Also the layout. To find things, like for example, unless it gives a specific brand name or anything like that, finding a product is not easy unless you are inventive working [through] searches.

It’s really not screen-reader-friendly. The layout is not screen-reader-friendly at all.

[Would this level of difficulty be typical of E-commerce sites?]

I usually do only a couple of sites I go to... that is much, much better than this one. I can do most of the things there.

[Ends: 18:40. Duration: 1:03]