Accessibility Standards
Web 2.0 and Navigation Difficulties for the Blind
Originally posted August 15, 2008
SECTION 508 – Web page navigation can be an issue for the visually impaired. Clutter nad repetitive navigation links can keep the visually impaired from finding the main content of a web page. Section 508 calls for the web page designer to use a skip navigation link to help the blind reader find the page main content. Jim Thatcher’s blog post provides samples of how to design a web page for screen reader navigation. By placing a link at the top of a page, the blind reader can find the navigation link quickly and bypass listening to clutter, advertising and repetitive navigation information.
<a href=”#Main”>
<img alt=”Skip to main content” src=”1.gif” width=”1″>
</a>
… Search form, select menus, left navigation
… Right navigation content
<a name=”Main”></a>
… Main content
This works great for static, text oriented web pages. But what about?
- dynamic web pages that have content that is generated based on user triggered events? Can the “skip to main content link” access the dynamic content? The web page programmer should provide skip links based on the content generated.
- dynamic Web 2.0 pages that have ajax, dynamic HTML or java scripts? Alternative text information can help, but the screen reader cannot consume some of this information. The 508 and WCAG 2.0 standards call for the web page designer to provide an equivalent experience for the disabled. If possible, the web page designer could provide an alternative web page for the screen reader to consume. This would be at great expense to the web page provider and would most likely not be acceptable to the accessibility standards purest.
- web pages with multiple “main content areas”? When possible, web pages should be designed with a single purpose. The web designer should provide multiple links to the multiple task areas on the page.
- web pages with mashups or content from other web sites? As with dynamically generated content, the web page designer can provide skip navigation links to mashup content. The web page designer should try not to include non-accessible content from other sites.
Providing alternative content paths to offer an equivalent experience may not satisfy the purest, but I would swallow my pride and accept it if I could use the web site. More research is needed to see what others are doing to improve navigation within a page. Any comments or ideas?
No Child Left Behind?
Originally posted August 12, 2008
By 2008, all states must test all children for standard language, math and science skills. These results are to be reported publicly. What about visually impaired children? Many of them spend hours learning braille, orientation and mobility, assistive technology, living skills and occupational therapy. They spend time learning these skills and forego learning the skills being assessed. Some children spend additional hours learning subjects that sighted students receive instruction on during regular hours.
In my case, there were no courses available to teach mobility, assistive technology or living skills outside of special institutions. I was not sent to the Michigan School for the Blind. My parents thought it best for me to receive the same education as my brothers. I attended public school and was passed along and left behind. I did receive new technology low vision aides in middle school. This helped me participate and catch up. The 1960’s had little to offer visually impaired students outside of specialized institutions. There were no expectations for me. My parents wanted me to have the same experience and if I could overcome, I would be the better for it.
The pendulum has swung to the other extreme. Children with visual impairments are to be offered the same learning experience as sighted children. One way of doing this is through distance learning. Computer technology that follows accessibility standards can level the playing field and give visually impaired students the same learning experience.
- Courses must be accessible via screen reader and assistive technology.
- Linked web material must be accessible.
- Multimedia must have alternative information.
- Web 2.0 synchronized content must have audible queues for the visually impaired student.
- Visually impaired instructors must have lesson creation process accessibility.
- Audio and video players must have keyboard accessibility.
Distance learning can be done at any time, allowing visually impaired students the ability to attend regular courses with their sighted peers. This gives visually impaired students the opportunity to participate in standard assessments.
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.
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.
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.