How people with visual impairment use the Internet and modern technology. Yandex research
Today, November 13, is International Day of the Blind . It is dedicated to the birthday of teacher Valentin Gayui , who in 1784 opened with his own funds the world's first school for blind children. This is not a holiday, but a memorable date, designed to remind society of the existence of a number of people with visual impairments. In the modern world, most of people's lives have moved on-line, which has opened up new opportunities for people with disabilities, but also posed new challenges.
In order to work with computer devices and use the Internet, people with visual impairments use assistive technologies, which are actually their white cane in the digital space. However, the work of such users with computer equipment has its own specifics compared to ordinary sighted people. In particular, among them the most popular are slightly different devices, operating systems and browsers, rather than in the market as a whole. This means that when thinking about the availability of their services for the blind, these features should be taken into account.
The problem is that there is often simply nowhere to get information about the technical preferences of the blind and visually impaired. There are relevant studies of the English-speaking audience, but on Runet such information is not available. Therefore, we decided to conduct a study of the technical preferences of Runet users with visual impairments, the most important results of which we want to share with everyone.
For example, people with visual impairments are far from willingly abandoning a personal computer in favor of mobile devices, among them there are a lot of Internet Explorer fans, and a rather large number of them have not forgotten what Symbian is, but at the same time, the proportion of iOS users among them higher than the whole Runet, so everything is not as simple as it seemed to someone.
This study will help to find out the most common devices among users with visual impairments, operating systems, browsers, as well as assistive technologies that provide the ability to work with computer equipment. This information will be useful to technicians directly involved in adapting the interfaces and testing their availability to identify preferred user configurations. In addition, the data obtained will also be useful to product managers in order to most effectively prioritize the process of working on accessibility.
It is important to note that in the course of the study, on a number of aspects, significant differences were revealed between the specifics of English-speaking and Russian-speaking audiences, therefore this should be especially taken into account when accompanying projects oriented to the Runet market.
Between May 15 and June 15, 2015, Yandex conducted a survey of people with visual impairments, designed to determine the interests and preferences of this category of users. During the month, 549 completed questionnaires were received. Considering that, according to various estimates, the total number of Russian-speaking computer users with severe visual impairment (on the verge of total blindness) varies from 14 to 32 thousand people, there is reason to believe that the survey covers from 1.7% to 3.9% of the target audience, which seems sufficient to extrapolate the results of the study to the entire mass of such users.
The survey was already the second, but in 2015, the research methodology underwent major changes, so for most items a direct comparison of the results is impossible. In this regard, such a comparison was carried out only in relation to some points for which such an operation was recognized as correct.
Warnings and notes:
Compared to the 2014 study, there is a noticeable increase in the share of users of touchscreen smartphones (from 56% to 66.5%), as well as a decrease in the share of users of push-button mobile phones (from 33% to 25%). At the same time, the share of personal computer users stably remains at the level of 97% and does not show any downward trend.
In the Other category, users indicated set-top boxes, players, and various specialized devices, such as Braille organizers.
The sum of shares that goes beyond 100% shows that some part of the audience uses several operating systems for personal computers at once. Moreover, Linux-based systems are more common than OS X, which is a characteristic feature of the Russian-speaking market, since in similar studies of the English-speaking market, the share of Linux is significantly lower and loses to OS X.
Some respondents mistakenly recorded mobile operating systems in the “Other” category, therefore, in reality, any alternative platforms are practically not used.
Note: in this question only one answer was allowed.
The prevalence of the Firefox browser is also a characteristic feature of the Russian-speaking market, since similar studies of the English-speaking audience show the leadership of Internet Explorer. A possible explanation for this feature may be the slower update rate of the Windows system for Russian-speaking users, which forces the use of third-party browsers, since the built-in Internet Explorer is outdated and no longer supported by modern sites. Unfortunately, past research has shown that users themselves, as a rule, find it difficult to answer which version of the software they have installed, so testing this hypothesis is difficult.
The high performance of Firefox as an additional browser is most likely due to the existence of Webvisum, a specialized plug-in that provides a free automatic recognition function CAPTCHA, which is extremely popular among blind users. As a result, even if Firefox is not used as the main browser, they resort to it to work with CAPTCHA, since in most cases the test is graphic, and therefore inaccessible to blind people.
A significant increase in the shares of Google Chrome and Yandex.Browser as additional browsers, compared with their shares as the main ones, can be explained by the less perfect support for these browsers from screen readers. Apparently, users are interested in these browsers, but are not yet ready to use them as the main ones.
The sum of shares that goes beyond 100% shows that some part of the audience uses several mobile operating systems at once. Most likely, most of them complement an outdated Symbian device with a modern Android or iOS device, using Symbian as a regular phone, and a modern smartphone for other multimedia tasks. The popularity of such a use case can be determined by the continued commitment of many blind people to push-button devices to perform simple everyday tasks.
It should be noted that in the distribution of shares across mobile operating systems, there is a fundamental discrepancy with similar studies of the English-speaking market, in which iOS occupies more than two thirds, and Android only about one fifth. Apparently, the high popularity of Android among Russian-speaking users with visual impairments, primarily due to economic factors.
6. What assistive technologies do you use during your work?
The sum of shares beyond 100% shows that some users combine various assistive technologies. At the same time, the proportion of users working with means of increasing the screen and modifying the picture is probably much higher, however, these people often do not associate themselves with the community of people with disabilities, so only a small part fell under the targeted research.
Braille displays are extremely expensive devices, besides, according to existing estimates, only about 10-15% of blind people have the ability to read braille-dot braille, so the proportion of tactile displays in 9.8% is actually quite large. Given the increase in the number of late-blind people working with computers who rarely study Braille, even a drop in this indicator can be expected in the future.
Note: in this question only one answer was allowed.
Considering that the above-mentioned screen-access programs are specific to specific operating systems, it can be concluded that users with visual impairments primarily work in the Windows environment, and OS X and Linux are used as the main platform significantly less (less even relative to their shares in the table 2). Moreover, we can state that OS X, despite a smaller share in Table 2, is used more often as the main platform than Linux.
In a previous study, users were asked only one question, within which they could specify all the screen-access programs that they use (without dividing them into main and additional). Then the survey showed that 82.7% of users use NVDA, and only 77.9% use JAWS. In the framework of the new methodology of 2015, it was possible to identify that JAWS is still more often used as the main screen access program, but NVDA is really familiar to a larger number of users, since summing up the respondents from Tables 7 and 8 gives the same general advantage in favor of the free program NVDA.
In general, the ratio of the shares of screen-access programs that are specific to specific platforms is quite consistent with the distribution of shares by mobile operating systems from Table 5. Moreover, despite the fairly large number of screen-based programs for Android, the absolute leader in the name of TalkBack stands out. At the same time, it is noticeable that Symbian users are quite actively using two screen access programs at once.
As already noted, the Braille display is an extremely expensive device, and its price depends on the length of the line. The fact that the most common are medium-sized displays indirectly indicates that the price is not the main factor when choosing such a device. It can be assumed that the majority of users of Braille displays are people to whom these devices were provided according to state programs, in which medium-sized displays are purchased. This may mean that mainly blind people use displays in specially equipped workplaces, rather than at home.
A huge bias towards the built-in functions for increasing the screen, apparently, is caused by rather low user requests for the functionality of such tools. This may mean that a significant part of the advanced functionality that is provided by commercial third-party software is not in demand among the mass audience of visually impaired users.
Based on the results obtained, the following practically significant conclusions can be drawn for developers, testers and project managers:
All this does not mean that less common operating systems and browsers should not be taken into account when ensuring accessibility. This only allows you to more efficiently prioritize when adapting your products, but ideally accessibility should be ensured for all possible user configurations.
A similar study of the English-language assistive technology market for users with visual impairments has been conducted by the American company WebAIM since the end of 2008. Those interested in this issue can familiarize themselves with all Screen Reader User Survey at the following links:
In order to work with computer devices and use the Internet, people with visual impairments use assistive technologies, which are actually their white cane in the digital space. However, the work of such users with computer equipment has its own specifics compared to ordinary sighted people. In particular, among them the most popular are slightly different devices, operating systems and browsers, rather than in the market as a whole. This means that when thinking about the availability of their services for the blind, these features should be taken into account.
The problem is that there is often simply nowhere to get information about the technical preferences of the blind and visually impaired. There are relevant studies of the English-speaking audience, but on Runet such information is not available. Therefore, we decided to conduct a study of the technical preferences of Runet users with visual impairments, the most important results of which we want to share with everyone.
For example, people with visual impairments are far from willingly abandoning a personal computer in favor of mobile devices, among them there are a lot of Internet Explorer fans, and a rather large number of them have not forgotten what Symbian is, but at the same time, the proportion of iOS users among them higher than the whole Runet, so everything is not as simple as it seemed to someone.
This study will help to find out the most common devices among users with visual impairments, operating systems, browsers, as well as assistive technologies that provide the ability to work with computer equipment. This information will be useful to technicians directly involved in adapting the interfaces and testing their availability to identify preferred user configurations. In addition, the data obtained will also be useful to product managers in order to most effectively prioritize the process of working on accessibility.
It is important to note that in the course of the study, on a number of aspects, significant differences were revealed between the specifics of English-speaking and Russian-speaking audiences, therefore this should be especially taken into account when accompanying projects oriented to the Runet market.
Preliminary information
Between May 15 and June 15, 2015, Yandex conducted a survey of people with visual impairments, designed to determine the interests and preferences of this category of users. During the month, 549 completed questionnaires were received. Considering that, according to various estimates, the total number of Russian-speaking computer users with severe visual impairment (on the verge of total blindness) varies from 14 to 32 thousand people, there is reason to believe that the survey covers from 1.7% to 3.9% of the target audience, which seems sufficient to extrapolate the results of the study to the entire mass of such users.
The survey was already the second, but in 2015, the research methodology underwent major changes, so for most items a direct comparison of the results is impossible. In this regard, such a comparison was carried out only in relation to some points for which such an operation was recognized as correct.
Warnings and notes:
- Most of the questions on the questionnaire allowed the possibility of indicating several possible answers, so the percentages in such points in total do not equal 100%. In addition, in questions that suggested only one answer, the amount of shares may deviate slightly from 100% due to rounding.
- The sum of all those who answered some questions may not coincide with the total number of respondents, since some questions were asked only with certain answers to the previous ones.
- The study cannot represent all users with visual impairments, although during the survey a number of measures were taken to take into account the various structural features of the audience and eliminate abuse.
Common technology
1. Which of the following devices do you use?
| Answer | Share | Respondents |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop computer / laptop | 97% | 531 |
| Smartphone with touchscreen | 66.5% | 365 |
| Mobile phone | 25% | 138 |
| The tablet | 19.7% | 108 |
| Other | 7.5% | 41 |
Compared to the 2014 study, there is a noticeable increase in the share of users of touchscreen smartphones (from 56% to 66.5%), as well as a decrease in the share of users of push-button mobile phones (from 33% to 25%). At the same time, the share of personal computer users stably remains at the level of 97% and does not show any downward trend.
In the Other category, users indicated set-top boxes, players, and various specialized devices, such as Braille organizers.
2. What operating system is installed on your computer / laptop?
| Answer | Share | Respondents |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | 97.3% | 473 |
| One of the Linux distributions | 6.8% | 33 |
| Mac OS | 5.6% | 27 |
| Other | 3.5% | 17 |
The sum of shares that goes beyond 100% shows that some part of the audience uses several operating systems for personal computers at once. Moreover, Linux-based systems are more common than OS X, which is a characteristic feature of the Russian-speaking market, since in similar studies of the English-speaking market, the share of Linux is significantly lower and loses to OS X.
Some respondents mistakenly recorded mobile operating systems in the “Other” category, therefore, in reality, any alternative platforms are practically not used.
3. Which browser do you use as the main one and use it most often on a computer / laptop?
| Answer | Share | Respondents |
|---|---|---|
| Mozilla firefox | 51.4% | 256 |
| Internet explorer | 33.3% | 166 |
| Safari | 5.4% | 27 |
| Google chrome | 4.4% | 22 |
| Yandex browser | 2.2% | eleven |
| Other | 3.2% | 16 |
Note: in this question only one answer was allowed.
The prevalence of the Firefox browser is also a characteristic feature of the Russian-speaking market, since similar studies of the English-speaking audience show the leadership of Internet Explorer. A possible explanation for this feature may be the slower update rate of the Windows system for Russian-speaking users, which forces the use of third-party browsers, since the built-in Internet Explorer is outdated and no longer supported by modern sites. Unfortunately, past research has shown that users themselves, as a rule, find it difficult to answer which version of the software they have installed, so testing this hypothesis is difficult.
4. What browser do you use as auxiliary (additional)?
| Answer | Share | Respondents |
|---|---|---|
| Mozilla firefox | 41.6% | 214 |
| Internet explorer | 31.7% | 163 |
| Google chrome | 24.9% | 128 |
| Yandex browser | 14% | 72 |
| I do not use an additional browser | 10.5% | 54 |
| Safari | 6% | 31 |
| Other | 3.7% | 19 |
The high performance of Firefox as an additional browser is most likely due to the existence of Webvisum, a specialized plug-in that provides a free automatic recognition function CAPTCHA, which is extremely popular among blind users. As a result, even if Firefox is not used as the main browser, they resort to it to work with CAPTCHA, since in most cases the test is graphic, and therefore inaccessible to blind people.
A significant increase in the shares of Google Chrome and Yandex.Browser as additional browsers, compared with their shares as the main ones, can be explained by the less perfect support for these browsers from screen readers. Apparently, users are interested in these browsers, but are not yet ready to use them as the main ones.
5. What operating system is installed on your tablet / phone?
| Answer | Share | Respondents |
|---|---|---|
| Android | 77.9% | 289 |
| iOS | 32.9% | 122 |
| Symbian | 20.8% | 77 |
| Other | 0.8% | 4 |
The sum of shares that goes beyond 100% shows that some part of the audience uses several mobile operating systems at once. Most likely, most of them complement an outdated Symbian device with a modern Android or iOS device, using Symbian as a regular phone, and a modern smartphone for other multimedia tasks. The popularity of such a use case can be determined by the continued commitment of many blind people to push-button devices to perform simple everyday tasks.
It should be noted that in the distribution of shares across mobile operating systems, there is a fundamental discrepancy with similar studies of the English-speaking market, in which iOS occupies more than two thirds, and Android only about one fifth. Apparently, the high popularity of Android among Russian-speaking users with visual impairments, primarily due to economic factors.
Assistive Technology
6. What assistive technologies do you use during your work?
| Answer | Share | Respondents |
|---|---|---|
| Screen access program with speech synthesizer | 94.1% | 518 |
| Screen enlargement and image correction program | 10.9% | 59 |
| Screen Access Program with Braille Display | 9.8% | 54 |
| Another | 2% | eleven |
The sum of shares beyond 100% shows that some users combine various assistive technologies. At the same time, the proportion of users working with means of increasing the screen and modifying the picture is probably much higher, however, these people often do not associate themselves with the community of people with disabilities, so only a small part fell under the targeted research.
Braille displays are extremely expensive devices, besides, according to existing estimates, only about 10-15% of blind people have the ability to read braille-dot braille, so the proportion of tactile displays in 9.8% is actually quite large. Given the increase in the number of late-blind people working with computers who rarely study Braille, even a drop in this indicator can be expected in the future.
7. What screen-access program do you use as the main one (working with it most of the time) on a computer / laptop?
| Answer | Share | Respondents |
|---|---|---|
| JAWS for Windows | 52.5% | 251 |
| NVDA | 37.6% | 179 |
| VoiceOver for Mac Os | 4.6% | 22 |
| Orca | 1.1% | 5 |
| COBRA | 0.8% | 4 |
| Narrator (Narrator) | 0.6% | 3 |
| Other | 2.1% | 10 |
Note: in this question only one answer was allowed.
Considering that the above-mentioned screen-access programs are specific to specific operating systems, it can be concluded that users with visual impairments primarily work in the Windows environment, and OS X and Linux are used as the main platform significantly less (less even relative to their shares in the table 2). Moreover, we can state that OS X, despite a smaller share in Table 2, is used more often as the main platform than Linux.
8. What other screen-access programs do you use as additional programs on your computer / laptop?
| Answer | Share | Respondents |
|---|---|---|
| NVDA | 59.2% | 278 |
| JAWS for Windows | 32.4% | 152 |
| I do not use additional screen access programs | 14.7% | 69 |
| VoiceOver for Mac Os | 4.4% | 21 |
| Narrator (Narrator) | 4.2% | 20 |
| Orca | 3.8% | 18 |
| Window-eyes | 2.1% | 10 |
| COBRA | 0.9% | 4 |
| Another | 1.7% | 8 |
In a previous study, users were asked only one question, within which they could specify all the screen-access programs that they use (without dividing them into main and additional). Then the survey showed that 82.7% of users use NVDA, and only 77.9% use JAWS. In the framework of the new methodology of 2015, it was possible to identify that JAWS is still more often used as the main screen access program, but NVDA is really familiar to a larger number of users, since summing up the respondents from Tables 7 and 8 gives the same general advantage in favor of the free program NVDA.
9. What screen access programs do you use on your tablet / phone?
| Answer | Share | Respondents |
|---|---|---|
| Talkback | 70.8% | 272 |
| VoiceOver for iOS | 31.7% | 122 |
| Mobile Speak for Symbian | 27.34% | 105 |
| Talks | eleven% | 43 |
| Mobile Accessibility for Android | 6% | 24 |
| Another | 2.9% | eleven |
In general, the ratio of the shares of screen-access programs that are specific to specific platforms is quite consistent with the distribution of shares by mobile operating systems from Table 5. Moreover, despite the fairly large number of screen-based programs for Android, the absolute leader in the name of TalkBack stands out. At the same time, it is noticeable that Symbian users are quite actively using two screen access programs at once.
10. Braille displays with how long are you using?
| Answer | Share | Respondents |
|---|---|---|
| 24, 32, 40 | 76.6% | 36 |
| 12, 14, 18, 20 | 27.6% | thirteen |
| 64, 80 | 4.2% | 2 |
As already noted, the Braille display is an extremely expensive device, and its price depends on the length of the line. The fact that the most common are medium-sized displays indirectly indicates that the price is not the main factor when choosing such a device. It can be assumed that the majority of users of Braille displays are people to whom these devices were provided according to state programs, in which medium-sized displays are purchased. This may mean that mainly blind people use displays in specially equipped workplaces, rather than at home.
11. What screen enlargement and image correction programs do you use?
| Answer | Share | Respondents |
|---|---|---|
| OS function built into the operating system | 86.2% | 49 |
| Zoomtext | 12% | 7 |
| Magic | 7% | 4 |
| Another | 5.3% | 3 |
A huge bias towards the built-in functions for increasing the screen, apparently, is caused by rather low user requests for the functionality of such tools. This may mean that a significant part of the advanced functionality that is provided by commercial third-party software is not in demand among the mass audience of visually impaired users.
Final conclusions
Based on the results obtained, the following practically significant conclusions can be drawn for developers, testers and project managers:
- Основной приоритет в обеспечении доступности приложений следует отдавать Windows и Android. Именно эти платформы имеют наибольшую концентрацию русскоязычных пользователей с нарушениями зрения. Тем не менее, доля iOS также достаточно значима, поэтому задерживать соответствующие работы в этом направлении всё-таки не стоит.
- Подавляющее большинство аудитории незрячих пользователей работает на ПК с программами экранного доступа JAWS и NVDA, а также браузерами Firefox и Internet Explorer, что обуславливает существование четырёх основных пользовательских конфигураций, на которых и следует сосредоточиться при тестировании accessibility. Остальные пользовательские конфигурации имеет смысл включать в процесс тестирования уже на финальных этапах, а наименее распространённые оставлять на откуп обратной связи.
- На мобильных операционных системах есть по одной доминирующей программе экранного доступа: TalkBack на Android и VoiceOver на iOS. То есть при тестировании имеет смысл сосредотачиваться именно на этих вспомогательных технологиях. Тем не менее, в обозримом будущем можно ожидать рост популярности недавно появившейся программы ShinePlus для Android (русифицирована лишь 1 октября 2015), однако в условиях отсутствия продвинутой экспертизы по accessibility распыляться в этом направлении пока не имеет смысла.
- При тестировании доступности интерфейсов для слабовидящих, следует в первую очередь использовать встроенные инструменты модификации экрана, так как это является наиболее распространённой технологией.
All this does not mean that less common operating systems and browsers should not be taken into account when ensuring accessibility. This only allows you to more efficiently prioritize when adapting your products, but ideally accessibility should be ensured for all possible user configurations.
English market research
A similar study of the English-language assistive technology market for users with visual impairments has been conducted by the American company WebAIM since the end of 2008. Those interested in this issue can familiarize themselves with all Screen Reader User Survey at the following links: