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Sandra Earl

Digital Web Magazine - Understanding Disabilities when Designing a Website - 0 views

www.digital-web.com/...ities_when_designing_a_website

accessibility design standards general development FUSION09

shared by Sandra Earl on 12 Oct 10 - Cached
  • In the UK In the US 2m people have a vision impairment3 10m people have a vision impairment4 8.2m people have mild to moderate deafness5, 688,000 people have severe to profound deafness6 28m people have a hearing impairment7 3.4m people have a physical disability8 8m people have a physical disability9 1.5m people have a learning disability10 6.8m people have a learning disability11 6m people have dyslexia12 25m people have dyslexia13
  • Most people who are blind will rely on screen reading software such as
  • JAWS or Windows-Eyes
  • ...41 more annotations...
  • refreshable Braille device which converts the text on the website into Braille.
  • Place form instructions before the form field
  • To improve accessibility and usability for screen reader users, form field requirements must be placed before the form field itself.
  • Provide a ‘skip to main content’ link Screen reader users benefit from a ‘skip to main content’ link as it enables them to jump over lengthy navigation to the main content of the web page, reducing the amount of content they have to listen to.
  • Ensure link text is descriptive Screen reader users using software such as JAWS can listen to the links on a web page through functionality known as a links list. If link text is not descriptive—solely using phrases such as “click here” or “more information”, for example—there is no way for screen reader users to determine where the link will take them.
  • Provide descriptive web page titles The first piece of information a screen reader user will listen to when they open a web page is the <title> assigned to the page. It is important, therefore, to use a title which reflects the content of the web page.
  • Provide descriptive headings It is important to provide descriptive headings
  • Screen reader users often listen to headings out of context from the main content
  • Provide audio descriptions and transcripts of video content Screen reader users depend on audio descriptions to provide additional information about important visual content displayed within a video.
  • Transcripts are written accounts of the video or audio content and can include additional information such as comments and descriptions
  • screen reader users cannot use a mouse
  • People with low vision will tend to use magnification software to make reading a website easier. Depending on the severity of their vision impairment, these users may combine magnification and screen reading software by using software products such as Supernova or ZoomText. For milder vision impairments, users may just increase the default size of text within their browser settings or change the colors to make the content more comfortable to read.
  • Avoid using images of text
  • Ensure text can be resized
  • Place key information in specific locations of the screen
  • ebsite search functionality is often located in the top-right corner of the web page
  • Juicy Studio color contrast analyzer.
  • it is possible to determine whether the colors chosen meet the minimum requirements specified in the WCAG Guidelines.
  • People with a hearing impairment tend not to use assistive software to improve their web browsing experience. Instead, they rely on the website being accessible by providing any audio content in alternative formats, such as captioning or transcripts.
  • By making audio content accessible for users with a hearing impairment, it also makes the content accessible for other users who find themselves in an environment where audio cannot be heard.
  • library with the sound turned down; they may be in a noisy environment where it is difficult to hear the audio; or they may be using a computer without speakers.
  • Provide captions for any video content
  • Provide transcripts of the spoken audio Where content is spoken without video, such as in a podcast, it is important to provide a transcript. It is recommended that the transcript be provided in plain accessible HTML to allow access by the widest possible audience, as opposed to a Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF document.
  • Physical disabilities range in severity from those who are temporarily disabled, for example having a broken arm, to those who are quadriplegic and have no use of any limbs. Depending on the severity of the physical disability, these users may access websites through voice recognition software such as Dragon Naturally Speaking.
  • However, what all users with a physical disability have in common is limited or no ability to use a mouse. This means that content within the website that requires a mouse click or fine motor control cannot be accessed by these users.
  • Ensure all content can be accessed via the keyboard
  • Users with a physical disability will have limited or no ability to use a mouse and as such will navigate websites using the keyboard.
  • Provide a focus state for links
  • Provide visible skip links Skip links are links that become visible when they receive focus, and are helpful for users with a physical disability. Keyboard users must tab through the web page to reach the particular link they are interested in—skip links allow lengthy navigation to be bypassed and reduce the number of key presses required to activate links in the main content.
  • Avoid moving targets Avoid using moving targets such as tickers, as users with a physical disability can find them very difficult to use.
  • Provide large clickable areas
  • provide sufficient whitespace between links
  • People with a cognitive or learning disability may have difficulties with memory, problem solving, perception, and conceptualization. In addition, people with a learning disability may have issues with reading and comprehension such as dyslexia.
  • To enhance the usability of the website for these users it is important that content is written in plain English, page layouts are simple in design, navigation is clear and consistent and there is no moving content to impede comprehension.
  • Provide the same look and feel throughout all pages of the website. Ensure that the navigation and main content are located in the same area of every page. Additionally, consider color coding different sections within the website. Users with cognitive or learning disabilities tend to find it easier to navigate around sections which are color coded.
  • Provide a site map A site map will enable users with a cognitive or learning disability to have a clear idea of the breadth of content contained within the website. The site map also enables users to directly access any page on the website, and helps if the user becomes lost.
  • Use a resizable sans-serif font which is left-aligned To increase readability for users with a cognitive or learning disability, use a sans-serif font which can be resized. Additionally, left-align content—justified text is more difficult to read due to the uneven spacing between words. Italicized and capitalized text should also be kept to a minimum to aid readability.
  • Provide helpful error messages
  • Offer speech output Organizations such as Browse Aloud and Textic enable content from a website to be spoken when highlighting the words on a web page. Offering this functionality is especially helpful for users who find it difficult to read large amounts of text.
  • Provide an Easy Read Version Consider providing an ‘easy read’ version of complex content. This combines plain text with images to aid understanding of the information. For an example of an easy read document see the Department of Health’s Making Lives Better for People with a Learning Disability.
  • Provide different color schemes People with cognitive or learning disabilities may benefit from different color scheme options. It is helpful if an easy read scheme such as a lemon background with dark text, and a hi-viz scheme such as a black background with yellow text, are provided.
Sandra Earl

50+ Readability Resources Related To Cognitive Web Accessibility « Clear Helper - 2 views

clearhelper.wordpress.com/...to-cognitive-web-accessibility

cognitive readability resources reading accessibility

shared by Sandra Earl on 12 Oct 10 - Cached
  • shereekrause on 12 Mar 22
     
    Thanks for sharing these! Great resource!
Sandra Earl

E-Access Blog » Blog Archive » Call For Research Into Elderly Access To Mobil... - 1 views

www.headstar.com/eablive

accessibility phone mobile cell elderly cognitive hardware

shared by Sandra Earl on 12 Oct 10 - Cached
  • “Many of the commonly-used techniques of requirements capture for mobile technologies are inappropriate for use with older people, for a variety of reasons,” it says. “These may be related to problems associated with age, cognitive complexity and motivation. The result is to restrict the potential of mobile technologies to provide support to older people.”
Vernon Fowler

WebAIM: Appropriate use of alternative text - 0 views

webaim.org/...alttext

accessibility standards reading usability alternative text

shared by Vernon Fowler on 13 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • It is read by screen readers in place of images allowing the content and function of the image to be accessible to those with visual or certain cognitive disabilities. It is displayed in place of the image in user agents (browsers) that don't support the display of images or when the user has chosen not to view images. It provides a semantic meaning and description to images which can be read by search engines or be used to later determine the content of the image from page context alone.
  • The first step when determining appropriate alternative text for an image is to decide if the image presents content and if the image has a function. In most cases, an image will only have a function if it is contained within a link.
  • NOT use the phrases "image of ..." or "graphic of ..." to describe the image.
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • NOT be redundant or provide the exact same information as text within the context of the image.
  • (no alt attribute) is never the right choice
  • When possible, avoid using "link to" or "click this image" or similar wording in the alt attribute. Links are identified as links by screen readers and should be visually apparent to sighted users.
  • Decorative images do not present important content, are used for layout or non-informative purposes, and do not appear within a link. In almost all cases, spacer and decorative images should have null alt text (alt="").
  • Option C (alt="") would be most appropriate in this case because the image does not convey relevant or important content.
  • Form image buttons must have an alt attribute that describes the function of the button. Image buttons are often used to provide a more visually appealing or a smaller version of the standard form buttons. The alternative text should describe what the button will do when selected, such as "Search", "Submit", "Register", "Place your order", etc. For instance, <input type="image" alt="Submit Search"> might be appropriate for an image button on a site search form.
  • text must be provided to the user which presents the CONTENT and FUNCTION of the images within your web content
  • In many cases, images may be given an empty or null alt attribute (e.g., alt="").
  • Option B is the best choice - it clearly provides the content that is being presented by the image - that the link is to a PDF file.
  • Because this is fairly standard practice, providing alternative text for the image, such as your company name (alt="Acme Company), will usually suffice.
  • It is important to note here that if the icon itself were the link to the document, the alternative text should provide a full alternative of the content and function of the link/image combination. Something like, "Download the employment application in PDF format".
  • Alternative text should: presents the CONTENT and FUNCTION of the image. be succinct.
  • Alternative text should not: be redundant (be the same as adjacent or body text). use the phrases "image of…" or "graphic of…".
  • Alt text of a functional image (e.g., an image within a link) should describe the function as well as the content.
Sandra Earl

E-Access Blog » Blog Archive » Organisation in the Spotlight - W3C: Global St... - 0 views

www.headstar.com/eablive

accessibility elderly general WCAG 2.0

shared by Sandra Earl on 12 Oct 10 - Cached
  • One major new piece of work undertaken by WAI is the EC-funded WAI-AGE Project (http://www.w3.org/WAI/WAI-AGE/), a look at the implications of an ageing population for web access, given the older people are more likely to have disabilities and may also be less familiar with new technologies. “Demographics worldwide are dramatically changing at the moment,” says Andrew Arch, who works with Abou-Zahra on WAI-AGE. “The proportions of older to younger people are changing as well as the numbers. We’re living longer, and we haven’t got the support behind us. “Lots of things have got to change in governments and organisations - with an ageing workforce, you have to keep learning to stay accessible.”
  • The WAI-AGE project is partly aimed at finding out whether there are any significant new pieces of work needed to ensure web accessibility for an older population, Arch says. “We’ve looked at what research and user observation has gone on over the decade. There is a pretty big overlap between older people and others with disabilities - sight starts to decline, motor dexterity - and individually these overlap. But with older people there is often a lack of recognition that there is a disability there. For example some people might just say they can’t remember so well, rather than that they have a cognitive impairment. Or people won’t see failing eye-sight as a disability, it’s just ‘part of growing old’. But they are disabilities, and often multiple disabilities.”
  • Having gained a grasp of current research the project returned to guidelines such as WCAG 2.0 to see if any changes might be needed. “A large proportion of the needs of older people are met by the new guidelines, but other things might need to feed into the guidance we will issue on implementing the guidelines, for example guidance on how people prepare content for older people.,” said Arch. “Many older people have not grown up with computers, and may not realise their capabilities, for example that you can magnify text in your browser.”
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  • This argument is a development of the age-old mantra from the accessibility sector that people with disabilities want to use the web in the same way as everybody else - “it is a human right recognised by the UN,” says Abou-Zahra. But he recognizes that businesses in particular will also  be interested in the additional business benefits, especially in the current financial climate.
  • “With commercial organisations the return on investment is often an important argument. Well, a few years ago, companies might have said ‘how many older people are online?’ but with demographics changing they know the answer. And with the current surge in mobile phone use there is another incentive, since accessible sites work better on mobile phones.”
  • Another change of style will be a greater separation between the core guidelines and references to specific technologies such as Javascript or browser types, Abou-Zahra says.
  • “WCAG 1.0 was too  technology-specific. Back then HTML was more dominant, and there was less use of multimedia, but today we have a flurry of technologies such as Ajax, so the first lesson we learned is don’t write for a specific technology. Also, in the days of WCAG 1.0 we had to exclude Javascript because it was not sufficiently standardised and  assistive technology could not handle it consistently, but now that has largely changed so you need to include it, to look at how any technology should be accessible. The requirements - such as tagging images with text - needs to apply to any technology you are using.
Sandra Earl

Designing for Dyslexics: Part 3 of 3 - Accessites.org - 0 views

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accessibility cognitive learning disabilities dyslexia

shared by Sandra Earl on 12 Oct 10 - Cached
  • Shorter line lengths and narrower text columns make reading easier.
  • Consider setting a percentage width for text areas and set the margins to “0 auto” via CSS. The page side margins will then increase proportionately on wider screens.
  • Most browsers have a default line-height of around 1em. This normally results in closely packed lines of text. Increasing the line-height to around 1.3em immediately makes longer lines of text easier to read. Likewise, ensure that paragraphs are visibly separated. Don’t be afraid of white space. Use it to enhance readability.
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • percentages or ems.
  • If possible, use a sans-serif font. The decorative “hooks” on the main strokes of serif letters may create additional problems for dyslexic users.
  • If you have to use a corporate serif font, consider reducing the letter-spacing slightly so that the letters within a word lie closer together but increasing the word-spacing to create a slightly larger distance between individual words.
  • uneven word spacing disrupts that pattern recognition.
  • Unjustified text, although less attractive at first glance. is far easier to read.
  • When italic fonts are used on a web page, the individual letters can have a slightly jagged line compared to a non-italic font. This “pixelation,” coupled with their “lean to the left” makes them hard for a dyslexic person to read. The effect is compounded if the text is also small.
  • Use italics sparingly and consider bold text for important words. They’ll be far easier to read.
  • Photographs, charts and icons can convey a great deal of information regarding the topic of a page. Graphics can break the page up into smaller chunks. They can also provide visual memory aids and support comprehension for dyslexics.
  • Dyslexics often have poor organisational skills. Lists can help them by organising information into small, logical chunks.
  • Dyslexics tend to have poor information processing skills. So it is relatively easy to overload them by literally providing too much information on one page.
  • Within a page, use headings to sub-divide the page logically and visually. Adding coloured heading backgrounds or borders will act as further support.
  • Consider breaking complex pages down into two or three smaller pages.
  • Keep site navigation simple and logical. Make sure that the Home page is easily reachable from any part of the site. Try not to “hide” this important link in a logo.
  • break long sentences down into two or more shorter sentences
  • Many designers do not realise that some screen reader users can see perfectly well. It is not uncommon for dyslexics to use screen readers to support their reading. This may create problems where text has been positioned off screen.
  • If you do make use of off screen positioning, try to do so sympathetically. Consider the viewpoint of those who can both hear the screen reader and see the page. Ask yourself if you’re potentially creating confusion.
Sandra Earl

Designing for Dyslexics: Part 2 of 3 - Accessites.org - 0 views

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accessibility cognitive learning disabilities dyslexia

shared by Sandra Earl on 12 Oct 10 - Cached
  • “Ensure that foreground and background color combinations provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having color deficits or when viewed on a black and white screen.”
  • Scoptic Sensitivity Syndrome
  • can make high contrast text difficult to read because the words seem to constantly move on the page.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • anecdotal evidence suggests that, as soon as you reduce the colour contrast, the reading difficulties suffered by dyslexics are alleviated, to some degree, across the board.
  • Contrasts that comply with the thresholds can, and do, create very real problems for dyslexics.
  • t has been my experience that just about every issue within accessible web design is about balance. Skew any one factor too much in favour of a particular user group and you risk disadvantaging another group with opposing needs.
  • What I am suggesting is that, if a colour theme is chosen that conforms to, or exceeds, the W3C colour difference threshold, an alternative, low contrast style sheet should be provided as standard.
  • I then suggested that “disability” be defined as an “inability to pursue an activity because of a medically determinable physical or mental impairment.”
  • suggest that adhering to the Hewlett-Packard colour difference threshold would represent a more balanced approach to the issue of colour contrast. To that end,
  • I’ve developed an alternative color contrast analyser for people to try.
Sandra Earl

Designing for Dyslexics: Part 1 of 3 - Accessites.org - 0 views

accessites.org/...ning-for-dyslexics-part-1-of-3

accessibility cognitive learning disabilities dyslexia FUSION09

shared by Sandra Earl on 12 Oct 10 - Cached
  • The specific needs of dyslexics tend to be overshadowed by the more widely understood needs of the visually impaired. Unfortunately, design decisions that benefit the latter group tend create problems for the former. This is never more evident than in so-called “accessible” text only pages with their emphasis on high contrast and complete lack of images and colour.
  • What is Dyslexia?
  • The word “dyslexia” can be broken down into two parts: “Dys” meaning poor and “lexia” meaning language. Thus dyslexics have difficulties with words. Current theories suggest that
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • it is not a visual problem but a word decoding, or recognition deficit.
  • Our ability to recognise words is thought to be based upon two slightly different “memory skills” — phonetic memory and lexical memory. Dyslexics may have a good phonetic memory — as evidenced by their tendency to spell many words phonetically — but a very poor lexical memory.
  • No two dyslexics demonstrate their disorder in the same manner. It can affect boys and girls equally, across all socioeconomic classes worldwide.
  • “A combination of abilities and difficulties that affect the learning process in one or more of reading, spelling and writing.
  • Accompanying weaknesses may be identified in areas of speed of processing, short-term memory, sequencing and organisation, auditory and/or visual perception, spoken language and motor skills. It is particularly related to mastering and using written language, which may include alphabetic, numeric and musical notation.”
  • the more complex the written language is, the greater the likely percentage of people who will have difficulty reading it.
  • As many as 1 in 10 people in the UK are dyslexic.
  • Worldwide, it is likely that the number of dyslexics is likely to be equal to, if not significantly larger than, the number of visually impaired people.
  • poor short-term memory and organisational skills will mean that site navigation and page organisation become more important.
  • high contrast text difficult or impossible to read. The phrases I’ve heard most often are “the text keeps moving” or “the words seem to dance on the page.”
Vernon Fowler

Don't Rely on Default Browser Error Messages - Intopia - 0 views

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accessibility forms validation HTML5

shared by Vernon Fowler on 06 Feb 19 - No Cached
  • Another issue is that the messages are temporary. As soon as you put focus on the input with mouse, keyboard or touch, the message disappears. People with cognitive impairments will find it difficult to use these, and I think anyone trying to fill in the form while they’re distracted will have trouble as well. People who rely on the keyboard for navigation (which includes both sighted users and screen reader users) will also lose these messages as they move around the form.
  • If you’re confident of your error messages, you can remove the browser validation by adding the novalidate attribute to the wrapping form element, like this: <form novalidate>...</form>
  • You can style this with CSS, using the :valid and :invalid pseudo-classes
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Only the first error is noted with a message.
  • The rest rely on a change of border colour, which is, again, not evident to screen reader users.
  • Vernon Fowler on 06 Feb 19
     
    "When I found out the major browsers were beginning to include error validation into their support for forms, I was pretty excited. Form validation is always a fiddly part of accessibility, so I'm always looking out for ways to make it easier for developers to do properly. I read MDN's form data validation tutorial and a CSS Tricks article on client-side form validation and immediately made some test forms. Sadly, I was disappointed with the results. The default error validation in browsers is almost completely inaccessible. I was hoping we'd get default "you've forgotten to fill this in" messages that could be customised. I might have been a bit too optimistic! Validation at the browser level has many of the same issues we find at the website level."
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