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Sandra Earl

Web Axe - Practical Web Design Accessibility Tips - Podcast and Blog: Fieldsets, Legend... - 0 views

webaxe.blogspot.com/...egends-and-screen-readers.html

accessibility development legends fieldsets screen reader

shared by Sandra Earl on 12 Oct 10 - Cached
  • Some tips from the article include:Fieldset and Legend tags must be used together, never independently of each other.Keep the content of the Legend tag brief (the Legend may be read when each of the controls contained in a Fieldset receive focus.)In Windows Eyes, the option to read the Legend tag is off by default.Fieldsets may be nested.
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

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.”
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • 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

Turn Firefox into a screen reader with Fire Vox | 456 Berea Street - 0 views

www.456bereastreet.com/..._a_screen_reader_with_fire_vox

accessibility screen reader Fire Vox

shared by Sandra Earl on 12 Oct 10 - Cached
  • For anyone who hasn’t heard of Fire Vox, it is a free, open source screen reader extension for Firefox that works on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Among other things it has support for WAI-ARIA and the CSS3 Speech Module, and is a good alternative to VoiceOver if you’re on a Mac and need a screen reader for web browsing (or testing).
  • For developers Fire Vox makes it easy to check how their sites work in a screen reader. Sure, it’s just one of several available screen readers, but this one is free and cross-platform. In other words there is no reason for you not to have it installed, so grab a copy right now.
Sandra Earl

Unobtrusive and keyboard accessible connected select boxes | 456 Berea Street - 0 views

www.456bereastreet.com/...essible_connected_select_boxes

accessibility multiple select elements

shared by Sandra Earl on 12 Oct 10 - Cached
  • Any web developer who has created a reasonably complex form is probably aware of the concept of multiple select elements that are connected – choosing something from one select box either makes a new select box appear or changes the options of one that is already visible. There are usually two problems with this approach. One is that most implementations are completely dependent on JavaScript being available. Often there either is no submit button at all, or there is a submit button but without JavaScript there is no way to access the options that appear only as a result of changing the first select box. The other problem is that in some browsers, using the cursor keys to change the selected option triggers the onchange event immediately, so you can never get past the first option unless you know how to use your keyboard to display all options. I normally work around these problems by requiring users to submit the form to get the next set of options from the server. Obviously that isn’t an ideal solution either. So what other options do we have? One option that looks promising is described by Christian Heilmann in Unobtrusive connected select boxes - yet another solution approach. It involves using optgroup elements to create a two-level select box, which is then split into two separate select boxes if JavaScript is available. Neat. The solution Chris describes solves (or at least mitigates) the keyboard access problem since it doesn’t reload the page when the onchange event is triggered. And if JavaScript is unavailable, there is a single select box with option groups. The catch is that nested optgroup elements are not allowed in current versions of HTML, so this will not work when more than two connected select boxes are needed. Nested optgroup elements are allowed in the current Web Forms 2.0 Working Draft, so I guess there is a reasonable chance of that change making it into HTML 5.
Sandra Earl

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

accessites.org/...ning-for-dyslexics-part-2-of-3

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

Accessibility in web design provides a high degree of usability - 0 views

www.tvmama.com/des-a-high-degree-of-usability

accessibility

shared by Sandra Earl on 12 Oct 10 - Cached
  • The BBC has developed a script called Betsie, which will convert pages to plain HTML.
  • There can be a fine line between enabling and excluding technology. All it takes is some careless HTML, the addition of a few unsupported images and some multimedia frills, and entire web sites can disappear from view for substantial numbers of users.
Sandra Earl

Introducing WysiHat: An eventually better open source WYSIWYG editor - (37signals) - 0 views

www.37signals.com/...ter-open-source-wysiwyg-editor

accessibility WYSIWYG TincyMCE

shared by Sandra Earl on 12 Oct 10 - Cached
  • WysiHat is a WYSIWYG JavaScript framework that provides an extensible foundation to design your own rich text editor. WysiHat stays out of your way and leaves the UI design to you. Although WysiHat lets you get up and running with a few lines of code, the focus is on letting you customize it. We are giving developers early access to the project while we continue to work out the remaining issues. Note: It’s extremely early. Contributors are welcome so please check out the project on GitHub and send us your feedback.
Sandra Earl

Bruce Lawson's personal site  : Proposals for changes to lists in HTML 5 - 0 views

www.brucelawson.co.uk/...als-changes-to-lists-in-html-5

accessibility HTML5 lists development standards

shared by Sandra Earl on 12 Oct 10 - Cached
  • One of the things that have long irritated me about HTML is the restriction on what elements are allowed inside lists. The specs for both HTML 4 and 5 allow only li for ul, ol, and only dt and dd are allowed inside dl definition lists. I’d like to expand that to allow h1…h6, section and div.
  • Sandra Earl on 12 Oct 10
     
    Is this what we want to do with navbars?
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