Archive for October, 2008
Accessibility to Multimedia
Originally posted August 10, 2008
508 STANDARD – Multimedia content on a page must also have accompanying alternative text or a description. For audio, this includes a text transcript or synchronized caption for the audio. The transcript is not a separate file, but part of the page. Captioning helps the deaf or hard of hearing to comprehend the content. The captioning can also help index the page for search engines. The W3C introduced SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language). SMIL is a markup language for closed captioning. RealPlayer and others have used the standard to provide manual formation of text for audio captioning.
DigitalChalk, Hunter College and IBM Research have built an automated transcription engine that creates synchronized text for audio and video files. DigitalChalk displays the captioned text and provides a real time editor for adding text for blind viewers of video. This function will be available 4Q2008. This work was the result of a grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR).
Web Accessibility Test Tools
Originally posted August 5, 2008
The Web Accessibility Toolbar can help you test your web pages for accessibility.
- Web Developer extention for Firefox
- Web Accessibility Toolbar for IE
After downloading and installing the Web Accessibility Toolbar, you will
see the menu options.
- WAT – Update function and documentation
- Check – Quick check tools
- Resize – Convenient browser window resize tools
- CSS – Options to disable or enable parts of CSS
- Images – Options to explore alternative text information for images
- Colour – Options to test page color contrast
- Structure – Tools to analyze page structure
- Tables – Tools to analyze table structure
- Frames – Tools to analyze frame structure
- Doc Info – Information about page
- Source – Tools to view source
- IE – Tools for IE accessibility standards
- Log – Open a log for note taking
- FireFox – Open this window in FireFox
- Opera – Open this window in Opera
IBM Research has tools available to check your web site for accessibility. The accessibilityWorks tool works dynamically with the browser to check and correct the web page without human intervention.
It is not clear how these tools work with dynamically generated pages or how these tools can auto-correct alternative text for images. Web 2.0 remains a challenge for these tools as well. Web 2.0 tools should provide a means for page authors to add alternative information where appropriate.
Law to Shame Higher Education Looks to Pass
Originally posted August 3, 2008
OPINION – A bill sponsored by Mike Castle (R-Delaware) to shame higher education for high costs is expected to pass and be signed into law by President Bush. I do not think this bill is incorrect in its message. I think Congress could look at on-line education as a valid, lower cost alternative. To me, this bill shows a lack of imagination and vision. Troy University (on-line) in Alabama is serving thousands of students at a fraction of the cost of traditional colleges and universities. Community colleges are cost efficient alternatives as well.
Congress should be looking at:
- Making on-line learning accessible so all can attend.
- Improving learning standards and technology to cut costs and deliver education to anyone, anywhere.
- Providing tax payer funds to the most efficient with the best results.
- Providing support for needed degree programs that can improve our society.
- Cutting tax-payer support for those institutions you plan to shame.
Shaming wasteful and high cost education providers is appropriate. We can do more. I encourage Representative Mike Castle to contact us at DigitalChalk for answers!
508 Standards: Text Alternatives For Images
Originally posted August 1, 2008
508 STANDARD – The single most important thing you can do to make a web page accessible is to include alternative text for images. When you use alternative text, you allow people who use talking browsers and screen readers to access the images.
- Use the alt attribute on every img element of your HTML code. Describe the function of the image, not the image itself.
- If the image is inside an anchor element, then the alternative text should convey the purpose of the link.
- If the image is not active, then the alternative text should convey the same information as the image.
- If the image conveys no new information, then specify that with a null alternative, (alt=”").
Remember, the person with a vision impairment must receive the same content as a sighted person. If you have an authoring system for instructors for example, you should allow the instructor to add alternative text for the content being created.
Apple’s 3Q New Products
Originally posted July 28, 2008
Jason D. O’Grady & David Morgenstern posted an interesting blog entry on ZDNet today, “Mystry Solved: Apple’s New Product is iTablet”. They are guessing that the 3Q announcement of new products will include this touch-screen tablet PC that utilizes 100 patents and parts of other products like iPhone. If they are right and this product is to be introduced and be successful, it could mean:
- The mouse could be dead – no need for a mouse with touch-screen gesture technology.
- Typing could be revolutionized – view specific keyboards could be introduced by each application.
- Navigation could be enhanced – with new standard gestures.
- Alternative views could be provided – with gestures and new application standard components.
- Context specific views/shortcuts could be created – taking advantage of smaller UI real estate.
This should be fun to see if this is a good guess and if so how it affects User Interfaces for accessibility.
Questions About Section 508
Originally posted July 25, 2008
“Section 508″ has a 1998 amendment to the Workforce Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Section 508 requires that electronic and information technology that is developed by or purchased by Federal Agencies be accessible by people with disabilities. The 1986 version of Section 508 established non-binding guidelines for technology. The 1998 version created binding and enforceable standards that are a part of the Federal Procurement Process. Section 508 does not apply to private sector web sites or public sector web sites which are not U. S. Federal Agency sites. This doesn’t include Congress, the Judiciary or to agencies using Federal funds. The purpose of Section 508 is to use the leverage of the Federal Procurement Process to enforce accessibility for Federally funded technology. It has been 10 years since Bill Clinton signed the amendment into law. Shouldn’t Congress, the Judiciary and all Federal Agencies comply as well? What’s good for contractors and Federal Agencies should be good for all. Ten years is a long time to let Congress come up to speed.
Federal agencies must purchase electronic and information technology that is accessible to people with disabilities, provided that it is not an undue burden on the agency. This means that if an accessible solution is available it should win the bid. What if all vendors applying for a contract do not have a 508 compliant product? What does the word should mean? I guess Bill Clinton would have to tell us what the meaning of the word should is.
Section 508 has 16 standards that must be satisfied in order to be compliant. Most pre-Web 2.0 sites do not have to be dumbed down in order to comply. The 508 functional standards were approved in 2001 and do not cover Web 2.0 web sites or dynamic content technologies. What is the best approach for Web 2.0 web sites? Should the sites be dumbed down? Should alternatives be offered? IBM has made strides to help here and have done an honest jobe of trying to establish tools to help. We will see if the next 508 standards amendment can help with this difficult topic.
Mice Should Die!
Originally posted July 23, 2008
ZDNet published a blog post by Adrian Kingsley-Houghes questioning the death of the computer mouse over the next few years. ZDNet referenced a sensationalist article in the BBC News, that the computer mouse will be extinct in the next few years and replaced by touch-screens and facial recognition technologies. A Gartner analyst predicts the demise of the mouse in the next 3 to 5 years.
I think the mouse will be replaced by touch-screen technologies. Let’s hope facial recognition technologies do not become the norm. Anyone who owns an iPhone knows the productivity of the finger gestures to zoom and navigate. I wonder:
- How productive are large touch-screens? Are they durable or affordable?
- Can the touch-screen interface be extended to include gestures for the visually impaired? This could include gestures for task automation.
- Can the intelligent keyboards on iPhone or Blakberry be used with the large touch-screen? This could provide task specific keyboard layouts.
- Could gestures be added to the interface to provide alternative summary views of a web page? Alternative views could include text only or sectional views.
- Could gestures be added to the interface to read just a paragraph or section of a web page?
- Could navigation gestures be added to the touch-screen interface? Gestures could include go to the next link, go to the submit button or go to the top of the page or menu bar.
What do you think? I would like to see the day where we only need our fingers to input information or navigate on a web page.
7 Cs of Accessibility
Originally posted July 20, 2008
The WCAG standard is certainly a very good standard to follow. There are simple things a web page designer can do to make a page more accessible.
- Contrast – select color schemes that have high contrast. Apple has made aqua and pastel color schemes popular, but for people with low vision, these color schemes are very difficult to read and navigate. This is especially important when you want a content object to be used for taking action. Provide multiple schemes that can be selected by the user. This will allow an option for all users with different accessibility needs.
- Context – group related content. People that use tools to zoom in to read content lose context when zoomed in. Don’t send them somewhere else on the page to do something. Keep content grouped together to keep the reader from having to go look for the next action to take. The content should have complete context when used. Use simple graphics that don’t require a degree in art to understand what their meaning is.
- Clutter-free – use less, more is not better. Keep the content purpose simple. Don’t provide information overload to users who want to use the page for a single purpose. This can reduce screen reader confusion and keep the context focused. Don’t duplicate content unless you believe it helps with navigation.
- Customary – be predictive. Follow typical and usual patterns. Don’t be so creative and clever that your web page navigation becomes a guessing game. There should be no question as to what options are available to the page user. Be obvious with navigation.
- Course simple – keep the path simple. Most web sites do not need more than ten pages to inform the user, gather information or provide services. Some large corporate sites never clean up their “out of date” content. That makes the site less usable and less useful. Avoid circular paths that imply a purpose that is never fulfilled, (I know that sounds obvious, but you would be surprised how many sites take users in circles.).
- Common sense – use good judgement. Common sense is not always used by web page designers when developing a web site. If simple design is good for accessibility then it is good for all users. Many web page designers think proving their personal creativity is more important than making the site usable.
- Current – keep the site current. Keeping the site current can reduce clutter, improve context and keep the course simple. It also makes the site more interesting to the reader.
Follow these simple rules and help make your web site accessible.
Firefox 3.0 Supports WAI-ARIA
Originally posted July 17, 2008
With Firefox 3.0 came a big accessibility enhancement in the form of WAI-ARIA (Web Accessibility Initiative – Accessible Rich Internet Applications) support. Internet Explorer, Safari and others have committed to support this browser standard. We will see when this happens. When I went to Firefox 3.0 help I found nothing about WAI-ARIA. I did find help for using a keyboard, using a mouse, fonts and colors, controlling web content and compatibility with assistive technologies. The sections on using a keyboard and fonts and colors were quite helpful and, I think, useful.
Browser accessibility can help third party application writers like DigitalChalk develop more accessible applications. Let’s keep encouraging browser development teams to make progress with the WAI-ARIA.
IBM Research Introduces Breakthrough for Visually Impaired
Originally posted July 8, 2008
IBM announced software to help the visually impaired report web site pages that are missing alternative text information to a database. Web site developers can then add the missing information making the web site pages accessible. The missing information is stored in a central database managed by IBM. IBM Research in Tokyo hopes this will help the Web site owner maintain the site. I don’t know if the software notifies the site owner or if the alternative information is checked for appropriate information. Malicious contributors could add invalid or obscene atlernative text. I like the idea behind this software if the original Web site is protected from malicious contributors.