Janet Ingber
There tends to be a heavy focus on consumer-facing technology in regards to accessibility. It is important to be sure for the largest number of people to be able to access a product as possible, but it is also vitally important that back-end technologies and internal software is accessible as well. The accessibility of back-end products can have a profound effect on someone's ability to perform their job if they are blind or have low vision. Google Groups is no different; the public facing interface is known to be quite accessible, but how does the back-end fair? To answer this question, we took a look at the controls available to Google Group moderators to determine their accessibility as well as highlight where their access choices could be emulated by others seeking to make similar interfaces accessible.
For this piece, we will be reviewing moderator controls on both Mac and Windows. The Safari, Chrome, and Edge browsers were used for testing, and all use Google’s Chromium rendering engine. For this reason, many of the features of Google Groups work similarly on Mac and Windows.
Common Features
Before we explore the accessibility of Google Group moderation, it is important to understand the structure of the interface. The My Groups table has the list of all your Google groups. The first row of the table is clearly labeled with controls for sorting and subscription. Subsequent rows contain the name of the list, including a link to view the group. Next is a brief description of the list. This is followed by the joined date and subscription options. At the end of each group’s name is a More button. When activated, there are choices including Add Members and Leave Group.
Once a group’s link is selected, a new page loads. It can be explored with basic navigation techniques.
The first item is Conversations. This is where you can select a conversation and perform actions, including Report Abuse and Block.
The next two options are Approved and Pending. These relate to messages posted to the group. Next is the People option. This contains basic information about group members and also contains information about members posting status. The Members option gives the same basic information as the People option. It also has buttons to add members and export the member list. The Pending option is for potential members. Banned members is self explanatory. The final three options are About, My Membership Settings, and Group. About has information about the group. My Membership Settings are your settings for the group. The Group Settings has specific settings for the group.
Once in any of the lists, you will find a table containing the content you have focused. For example, if the Members option is selected, a table will be below the controls. Table headings are the member’s name, whether they are an external member, their email address, and their role. The role can be member, moderator, or owner. You can change their status from within this table. Next is their joined date and whether their posts are allowed or need to be moderated. This status can also be changed from this table.
Moderating with Safari and VoiceOver
When using Safari, I experienced focus order issues when moderating Google Groups with VoiceOver. I would navigate about the screen and end up in a location far from where I intended. Sometimes I was out of the Google Groups interface and in the area containing links to other Google apps and services. In addition, I could not always navigate to the search form.
Some controls could have clearer labels. As an example, the Pending control for messages did not say the number of messages needing to be approved which would be useful information to include.
The fastest method for accessing needed areas of the page was to perform a find on key text, meaning efficient aids to navigation are not present. If a user must find text to quickly access parts of the page efficiently, this means that the app or website does not use enough proper navigation options, such as headings or ARIA Landmarks.
Chrome
When using Chrome and VoiceOver, accessing member controls was more efficient than when using Safari. After a given group link is activated, VoiceOver focus is placed in a position so that navigating through the page to group controls is more efficient. In Chrome, the controls are numbered 1-9. The final control, Group Settings, is not numbered. You can also access the controls using headings navigation. Controls that provide lists of information, such as the members list, Chrome renders these in a table similar to Safari. Though focus order issues did not occur when using this browser, it was still necessary to find strings of text to efficiently access certain controls.
Windows with Edge and Jaws
Google Groups is rendered similarly when using Windows and the Edge browser. During testing, JAWS was found to be the most efficient screen reader to use with the interface, though NVDA is also functional. Due to screen reader options, finding strings of text are not as necessary to efficiently navigate the interface. In addition, focus order issues were not experienced when using Edge and JAWS.
A special thank you to Maria Kristic for her help with Windows. JAWS is her primary screen reader. She uses both Edge and Chrome. She indicated that Edge and Chrome provide a similar experience when working with Google Groups on Windows.
Access Tips
If you are managing Google Groups, be sure that you are signed into the email domain assigned for the groups. If you sign in with your personal email address you will not have access to the controls used by a moderator. In addition, you need to be familiar with your screen reader’s navigation controls such as locating tables and performing searches.
Google Groups has a feature called Scope Search Selector. It consists of a combo and an edit box. The feature is context sensitive. For example, if you are in a particular group, your results will reflect that group. Google also now has a Navigational Drawer. This feature can help you move to specific locations.
Google Groups makes frequent use of tables. Having the tables option in my VoiceOver rotor was helpful. I bookmarked the Home page. Using these techniques made it easier to get where I needed to go. Sometimes I would end up at the top of the web page. Instead of going item by item, I would just navigate with VoiceOver to get to the My Groups table.
Conclusion
Google Groups is fully accessible in that all controls are labeled and function properly when using a screen reader. When using VoiceOver on Mac with Safari, some focus order issues might be experienced. In addition, outside of navigating to main group controls, the use of find is necessary to efficiently navigate the interface. Overall, moderating Google Groups is accessible, but does not have any specific access features of note and navigation options could be improved.
