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Standards body for road, rail and transport · 2026

From UX audit to a dictionary for technical regulations

Heuristic audit of three web readers for technical guidelines, then the UI/UX specification for a dictionary add-on built by an external vendor – through to go-live.

Audit findings

  1. highDefined terms are explained only in a separate annex – readers leave the text to look them up.
  2. highToolbar uses unlabelled icons; functions are not found and have no accessible names.
  3. mediumMetadata in light grey fails contrast (2.6:1, needs 4.5:1).
  4. lowThe three readers name the same action differently.

Context

An organisation publishes the technical guidelines for road and rail and sells access through web readers. Defined terms are the backbone of these documents, but readers had to look them up elsewhere.

Challenge

The readers differed in how they worked, definitions were not available where people read, and the new dictionary had to be specified precisely enough for an external development partner to build it without guesswork.

Approach

  1. Heuristic audit of all three readers with the same grid, plus a benchmark against other specialist publishers.
  2. Discovery and blueprint with prioritised measures and a release plan.
  3. Binding UI/UX specification for the dictionary: states, flows, keyboard and focus behaviour, accessible names.
  4. Review of the vendor's test build against the specification and support until go-live.

Outcome

  • A prioritised roadmap for the readers that the organisation could commission step by step.
  • A specification the vendor implemented as the binding reference.
  • Dictionary Release 1 live in October 2026.

My role

UX lead for audit, blueprint and UI/UX specification; review of the test build and support until go-live