To make the webchat more accessible and to ensure it aligned with our brand guidelines, our supply partner implemented a bespoke widget that users could access before they spoke to someone via the webchat.
Working together to design the new webchat
Our designs used gov.uk design system patterns such as:
- type scales, headings, link styles
- buttons, select, radios and fieldset
- error messages
We use many of these styles and components on the Get Into Teaching site already and had confidence in their accessibility.
Working closely with the webchat providers, we were able to ensure that the styles and components were implemented correctly.
Testing the new webchat
Testing the webchat was the most important part of the process. We tested our designs with contact centre agents so that we could understand how messages would display to users.
We tested on multiple devices and with assistive technology such as screen readers. We also tested multiple scenarios. We know that most of our users use mobile devices and may be in busy, time-poor environments, so we tested situations such as long time-outs or accidentally refreshing the screen. We found this to be one of the best ways to find some of the more unusual errors that might easily get missed.
Our testing threw up multiple issues such as error message content, refreshing and scrolling errors on different devices and screen reader errors which we were able to rectify.