Darius KazemiJun 20, 2023

I have been using a $100 temporary Android phone while waiting for my fancy phone to get replaced under warranty and the experience with the stock OS is just so so bad. Like barely usable most of the time. Even the GPS and wifi don't work well.

Most people worldwide use cheap Android phones on old versions of the OS and this was a good reminder that just because my mobile app/site works well on my fancy phone, it might work hardly at all for most people.

Show threadmhoye

@darius I think about the NHS digital design standards all the time, where the standard is functionally "your target audience is a fifteen-year-old for whom english is a second language. They're using a 6 year old android phone that's been handed down twice, and they are sitting in a hospital emergency waiting room trying to look up information in the middle of the most terrifying night they have ever had. Your site must work for that person, at that moment."

https://digital.nhs.uk/about-nhs-digital/standards-for-web-products#using-valid-html

Standards for web products - NHS Digital

All web products supplied to or used by NHS Digital must meet minimum standards of security, accessibility, and functionality.

NHS Digital
Jun 20, 2023 at 5:13pmWeb
Show threadmhoyeJun 20, 2023

@darius "If you do use Javascript to improve the user experience for users without accessibility needs, users must be able to perform exactly the same tasks with Javascript turned off."

I wish I could find the reference, where that team talked about testing the NHS site on early PS Vitas and janky old handhelds with some contraption approximating a web browser built in because sometimes that's all people had, and the site had to work for them.

Show threadTheriacJun 22, 2023
@mhoye @darius
Indirectly they're getting something right.
Not having JS on by default makes pages less attractive to the kinds of people that slip bitcoin miners onto high traffic pages
Show threadbagpieJun 22, 2023
@mhoye @darius I read somewhere that the same was a criteria for the gov.uk site, that it had to be useable by a young person whose first language wasn’t English while in a waiting room with nothing other than an old portable gaming device.
Show threadyoasifJun 20, 2023
@mhoye @darius This is really good!
Show threadHein RagasJun 21, 2023
@mhoye @darius That is such a powerful user story that really drives home the value of making your information products accessible to all.
Show threadmhoyeJun 21, 2023
@heinragas @darius I think the most interesting part of those requirements is that if someone wants to use JS, the burden of proof is on the developer to show that a piece of functionality can’t be built in HTML5, not on anyone else to show that it can.
Show threadDr Kim FoaleJun 21, 2023
@mhoye @darius litearlly no nhs service i have ever used even barely meets this standard so i dont know how to intepret it tho lol
Show threadJames HarveyJun 22, 2023
@kim @mhoye @darius their pages on medical conditions/emergencies (especially serious ones, like heart attacks) are a great example of simple language
Show threadHasan AliJun 21, 2023

@mhoye @darius I really like this framing! This is the kind of user I have in mind when thinking about UX after listening to @slightlyoff

I’ve found pushing for everyone to both share and prioritize this frame of mind to be quite challenging

Show thread💡𝚂𝗆𝖺𝗋𝗍𝗆𝖺𝗇 𝙰𝗉𝗉𝗌📱Jun 21, 2023
@mhoye @darius
Yeah I don't have the stats handy (but have looked them up before), but something like only 50-66% of people are on the 2-3 most recent Android versions - everyone else older than that (and I know this because of various apps deciding to not support those older versions - you've just cut off more than a third of your users).
Show threadle dekJun 22, 2023
@thomasorus
Show threadThomasorusJun 22, 2023
@dek yup, c’est ma ref d’excellence, j’y pense et m’y réfère souvent aussi. :)
Show threadmiraculous enbybugJun 22, 2023
@mhoye @darius I can’t find the text you quoted on the page you linked, is that normal?
Show threadDarius KazemiJun 22, 2023
@melunaka the quote is prepended with "functionally" so the understanding is it is a paraphrase rather than a direct quote
Show threadhikari (etc) 🌟Jun 22, 2023
@mhoye @darius do you have a link to the bit where they outline that concept? the linked page is quite good but doesn't seem to have anything that lines up with what you said
Show threadtaylor Jun 22, 2023

@mhoye @darius @linusgroh i appreciate how they managed to export the NHS 75 badge in HDR so it's brighter than everything else on the page

CORRECTION: ios 17 bug

Show threadRaphaelJun 27, 2023
@mhoye @darius Hear, hear! If only that mindset was more common in tech circles...
Show threadJuliefaithmcmurrayartJun 29, 2023
@mhoye @darius I agree. And not everyone has a phone.