OpenScouter Glossary

Concise, source-grounded definitions of the terms we use across behavioural research, accessibility, and B2B UX. Written so a human reader, an LLM, or a journalist can quote the same canonical line.

Usability Testing

Usability testing is evaluating a product by watching real people attempt real tasks with it, to find where the design is hard to use, ideally before it ships.

Unmoderated Usability Testing

Unmoderated usability testing has participants complete set tasks on their own, without a live facilitator, so studies scale faster and cost less than moderated sessions.

Task Success Rate

Task success rate is the percentage of participants who complete a defined task, the most basic and widely used measure of usability.

Think-Aloud Protocol

The think-aloud protocol asks participants to say what they are thinking as they use a product, exposing expectations and confusion that behaviour alone does not reveal.

Behavioural User Research

Behavioural user research observes what people actually do during a session, rather than what they say they did afterwards.

Cognitive Accessibility

Cognitive accessibility is the practice of designing interfaces that work for people with differences in memory, attention, processing speed and executive function, including the neurodivergent population.

Curb-Cut Effect

The curb-cut effect describes how designs created for people with disabilities end up benefiting everyone, named after the urban-design history of kerb ramps.

Neurodivergent User

A neurodivergent user is a person whose cognitive function differs meaningfully from neurotypical norms, including ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, and Tourette syndrome.

How Many People Are Neurodivergent

Approximately 1 in 5 people in the UK is neurodivergent, including ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia and Tourette syndrome. Global prevalence is broadly similar.

Are A/B Tests Reliable for Accessibility

A/B tests are reliable for confirming hypotheses that already work, but unreliable for discovering whether an interface is accessible, because most A/B variants do not isolate the accessibility variable.

WCAG 2.2

WCAG 2.2 is the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2, published as a W3C Recommendation in 2023, adding nine new success criteria over WCAG 2.1.

European Accessibility Act

EU Directive 2019/882, the European Accessibility Act, requires in-scope digital services placed on the EU market to meet functional accessibility requirements from 28 June 2025.

Consumer Duty Outcome 3

Outcome 3 of the FCA Consumer Duty requires firms to evidence that consumer communications enable retail customers to make effective, timely and properly informed decisions.

Vulnerable Customer (FCA Definition)

Under FCA Finalised Guidance FG21/1, a vulnerable customer is someone who, due to their personal circumstances, is especially susceptible to harm when a firm is not acting with appropriate levels of care.

Moderated Usability Testing

Moderated usability testing has a facilitator guiding the session live, asking follow-up questions and probing surprising moments as they happen.

Usability Testing for Agencies

Usability testing for agencies is running UX research on behalf of clients, often white-labelled, so the agency delivers evidence-backed design decisions under its own brand.

White-Label User Research

White-label user research lets an agency run studies and deliver reports under its own brand, with the underlying platform staying invisible to the client.

Tree Testing

Tree testing checks whether people can find things in a site or app's structure by asking them to locate items in a stripped-back menu, with no visual design.

Card Sorting

Card sorting asks participants to group and label items the way they expect, helping teams design an information architecture that matches users' mental models.

First-Click Testing

First-click testing measures where people click first to start a task, because the first click strongly predicts whether they will complete it successfully.