Access 2.0 interview – Mark Prouse

• By Paul Crichton
• 25 May 07, 02:50 PM

In the latest in our series of interviews, I spoke to Mark Prouse about his experiences and thoughts about the internet today. Mark is the Hi-Tech Support Officer for the RNIB. He is visually impaired, and uses a screen reader to access the web. As you can probably guess, he is an expert in working with computers.

Question: What kind of websites do you tend to visit?

Mark: I love my gadgets, so I’m always browsing and shopping for things like memory cards, or external hard drives, those kinds of things.

I like to use YouTube and websites like that for music videos. But I find them difficult to search, compared to, say, using Google, because the descriptions of video aren’t so good and it isn’t always easy to find what you are looking for. I get frustrated that there is loads of interesting stuff there, but it isn’t always easy to get to.

I also like to download music from 7digital.com. It is easy to download individual tracks, but harder to download an entire CD.

Question: What do you like about the web?

Mark: I think the web is great. There are probably dozens of things I do on a daily basis like paying bills or checking train times. I’m sure everyone is the same, but it makes my life ten times easier.

Question: What kind of problems do you encounter on the web?

Mark: I get annoyed with content in Flash. Recently, I was trying to book a room for a holiday, and a lot of important information is contained in ‘virtual walkarounds.’ Whilst most people can see what is provided, I’ve got no idea whether the hotel has an inside or outside pool, what the size of the room is or what the furnishings are like.

I also get annoyed with long registration forms that use a CAPTCHA at the very end to prevent spam, which I can’t read with my screen reader. I sometimes find that you can telephone a number or email someone instead, but nothing much happens as they are poorly supported. I’m finding CAPTCHA’s everywhere now – I even had one in an email recently that stopped me from replying!

Question: Are you excited about how the web is developing?

Mark: I already use services like the BBC’s ‘Listen Again’. Frankly, I want the iPlayer to be accessible and I want it now. I’ve got an invitation to test it when the trial begins and I’m really looking forward to it.

I found it really interesting talking to Mark. It is clear that the internet is an important part of his life, both for fun and for work. And even though he is an expert user, it is clear that there are some classic accessibility issues that make aspects of life online harder for him. It isn't just about developers ignoring abstract guidelines - doing so has a real world impact on the usability of their websites.

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