CBBC Accessible Newsreader reinforces value of UCD

By understanding the problems and barriers user groups face, the BBC has built a truly accessible and user-friendly website.

The recently launched CBBC Accessible Newsreader is a major step forward in providing age group specific content that’s relevant and most of all accessible for users with physical or cognitive impairments.

This user group, whether children or adults, is often ignored when building websites. While users are usually highly familiar with assistive technology, which allows them to use the internet in their daily lives, the content provided online is often incompatible and does not give sufficient information for the assistive technology to make content usable.

In this context, the need for accessibility and usability testing, as Cimex carried out on the CBBC iplayer website, becomes apparent.

By understanding which problems and barriers different user groups face on a website, especially when using assistive technology such as switch devices, it’s possible to build accessible and user-friendly websites.

Read more about our usability and accessibility expert reviews.

Published: 08 Jun 2009

Tags: Customer insight, Design & enhancement