The New Horizons of Web Accessibility with MyQ X
People with disabilities form an important part of the labour market, and their needs should be taken into consideration both in the physical and digital world. MyQ decided to do its part, and after thorough adjustments, opened MyQ X’s web UI to as many users as possible thus taking its user-oriented approach one step further. Following the strict Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG) and ticking off numerous items from their optimization checklist, MyQ obtained certification that confirms the AA-level of accessibility for MyQ X’s web UI. With features such as optimization for-text-to speech tools, keyboard control, or voice navigation, MyQ brings convenient and efficient prinitng to any user.
At MyQ, it's always been a part of our core to design products that're usable to everyone. So we found in the market that we have people with some disabilities, with visual impairments and some challenges to using and interacting with the web and in our application as such.
The whole idea of this is making the software personalized for the users. We're making this software more accessible to anyone. We managed to achieve a WCAG 2.1 AA accreditation, as well as the BITV accreditation. This actually makes our software one of the very few managed print providers or managed print software out there that actually choose this type of accreditation. It also allows us to now being able to put a product out there that can actually help users with disabilities.
But then we find out that we can actually carry on, let's see how the software is used by the people that have some obstacles at their normal office working environment. So we decided to find out someone who could help us with that, who has such an experience. We got the opportunity to meet an incredible guy, Petr Haluška.
He's involved in lots of projects. He organized car races, he's working on a simulator for cars, helicopters and so on, for people that can't see. Behind the MyQ concept stands people, it doesn't appear on its own. And I appreciate those who helped create it, because to invent something that isn't takes progress, patience, imagination, and the ability to transform the idea that you have into reality, something that works as they proposed or at least approximately.
We'd like to allow any employee working in the office using the printing device to be able to perform any action without asking anyone to help them without excluding them from some part of a workflow or processes. For us it's also a great achievement that we can now make sure that users that're maybe blind or got some visual impairment, something like that, can use our product and feel confident in using it.
So overall it's been a great experience and we also look forward to continuing on this path and make sure our future products and our future releases also comply with these standards. So that we can make sure our users have an excellent experience when using the MyQ product.