What are the limitations of the internet? User tests on hema.nl
These terms may already be familiar to you: the WCAG, the Digital Government Act, or the European Accessibility Act. These are the "main players" when it comes to digital accessibility. The guidelines give you guidance on how to ensure digital accessibility in your online services. And the legislation is one of the reasons for you as an organisation to start (or have to start) working on digital accessibility. But who are you digitally accessible to? And what does digital (in)accessibility look like? I would like to show you this using three user tests on hema.nl.
In short
In 2022, it was time to complete my studies in Communication & Multimedia Design at Avans Hogeschool in Den Bosch. Via Bart, I ended up at Cardan at the time and started working to create more awareness about digital accessibility. The figures were shared with me: 25% of the Dutch population has a functional disability. This percentage can be divided into different "groups":
But who are these individuals? And what do they experience on the internet? I wanted to discover the faces behind these figures and what they experience on the Internet. Through user testing, together with Karin, Huub and Marjo, I discovered what digital (in)accessibility is beyond all numbers and rules. Together we tested one of the largest webshops in the Netherlands: hema.nl. Why hema.nl? Because HEMA is a shop for everyone. They also just have really nice products, right? In any case, I myself am a big fan of their way of communicating on the various online channels they manage. (If you spot someone wearing a tompouce cycling shirt in Brabant: it's me!).
Who are Karin, Huub and Marjo?
Karin, Huub and Marjo are proud residents of the Tilburg region. Each of them has their own daily activities. Karin, for instance, is a real musical fan. Did you know that through the Earcatch app, musicals, televisions and films are a lot more accessible for people who are partially sighted or blind? Karin and Huub are active members of Accessible Tilburg and the Eye Association. Accessible Tilburg is building towards an inclusive society by using experience experts in various ways. And Marjo? Who enjoys the trips she makes in the camper van together with her family. All three have their "own" visual impairment. Karin has tunnel vision, Huub is visually impaired due to Parkinson's disease, and Marjo went completely blind in a car accident.
De usertests
Through this video, I would like to give you insights into what someone experiences when a website is not accessible. The aim is also certainly not to put this webshop in a bad light. In this video, several problems arise when Karin, Huub and Marjo "only" try to order a red towel on hema.nl.
You have to be patient a lot when you are blind anyway
Marjo, completely blind
Low colour contrast
Both Karin and Huub experience problems with low colour contrast. The combination of yellow and white has so little contrast that they cannot read the buttons properly. Wondering if your colour contrast is high enough? You can check that via the Colour Contrast Analyzer. According to WCAG 2.2, text smaller than 18pt (24px) should have a colour contrast of at least 4.5:1, and text from 18pt (24px) or 14pt (18.7px) bold should have a colour contrast of at least 3.0:1. Or ask someone with a visual impairment. This button from hema.co.uk would be more accessible by using black text instead of white, for example.
Keyboard navigation
People who are completely blind often use pre-reading software. This reads out the entire web page. This is what you also see and hear with Marjo in this video. In the user test, Marjo got lost while navigating on hema.nl. How can this be solved? By using headings correctly, for example. You can read more about making your website, app or online document accessible for people with a visual impairment in this article.
In nu?
Of course, this webshop was not developed "inaccessible" on purpose. However, soon (read June 2025) the European Accessibility Act will be upon us. This legislation lays down specific requirements for various goods and services: so also for hema.co.uk. Digital accessibility is a niche in the IT world and still fairly new for many commercial organisations. Other factors are, is that there is too little in-house knowledge about digital accessibility. Then it becomes difficult to ensure this properly within your online services. How do we solve this? You could start with the following 5 steps:
Start with awareness! For who are you digitally accessible and why should I want to be digitally accessible? When this is clear within your team, you have a good starting point to get started on digital accessibility.
Invest in knowledge! By developing more knowledge about digital accessibility, you are investing in the long term and this will help develop better digitally accessible products in the future. That will prevent repair (and costs)!
Make a gap analysis. Where are you now? And where do you ultimately want to go? Through a gap analysis, you will paint a clear picture of how accessible your online service is. You can do this, for example, by having a WCAG audit carried out.
Start working! Once it is clear to what extent your product is digitally accessible, you can get to work with all the findings.
Do you need help? Feel free to contact me. I'll be happy to help you along the way!
Hopefully, through sharing this video, I have been able to give you more insights into what barriers can arise on the internet. Of course, this does not cover all people in the Netherlands with disabilities. This is only a small part of all types of barriers that can arise on the internet. Together, we can make the internet more digitally accessible for Karin, Huub and Marjo.
