Better Product Navigation on POS for visually impaired

Question

My company has designed and developed websites that need to be AA compliant for visually impaired users. However, we have a new project designing a Point of Sale application for a brick and morter store where the employees are mostly blind. That is very different than being compliant.

This client runs a store that sells supplies e.g. Janitorial products, batteries etc. They have about 10 primary categories and each category has up to to 50 subcategories. And they have hundreds of products beneath them. I can't imagine navigating/drilling down through categories and subcategories with a keyboard and voice prompts. Of course they will have search with type ahead functionality which will help.

Has anyone found a way to make product navigation easier in a situation like this? I have googled my brains out. I've found a simple restaurant example but it doesn't really work for the amount of products and variants we have to content with.

Answer 1

If you're used to creating accessible interfaces, then it's the same as any other website, only with a difference in your favor.

The fact that most of them are blind is a very strange thing, but it plays to your advantage. The basic idea is this: if you create an accessible interface, you may have users who need accessible features. But in this case, you know for a fact that there's no ambiguity, and even better, you've users that you can test and they can tell you what's the best practice for them.

As for the IA of the site and product list, you'll have to rely mainly on voice search and perhaps predictive search as well.

But keep in mind that these kinds of problems are the same for blind people and for sighted people. The only difference is the user interface, but both need to find something, and it's hidden the same for both. Granted, people without visual impairment could see photos of the product that could help them. But as you said, in this case you've blind users who're used to doing this kind of actions and working with these limitations.

In short, this is basically a user research problem. Just ask them and you'll get the perfect answer. After the initial findings, you'll have a clearer view of the whole situation and the strategies you need to develop this interface.

A caveat: nevertheless, make sure you ask your developer if they have limitations for a POS.

Answer 2

I totally agree with you that the user behaviour here is different and although you have made applications which follows AA (and not AAA) compliance, you can't follow the same method here. You need to empathize with the user and find their painpoints, define their hireacrhy of need and approach it differently. Below is a link for inspiration, a sight designed specifically for visually impaired people for shopping and some more links for helping you out: https://shop.rnib.org.uk/ https://www.rnib.org.uk/who-we-are/action-for-blind-people

https://www.audiogames.net/

https://coolblindtech.com/this-talking-menu-will-help-blind-and-visually-impaired-customers/