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.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Is Available
Originally posted May 5, 2008
In general, web based 508 Accessibility requirements for software includes:
- Software Applications and Operating Systems - includes usability for people that are visually impaired, such as alternative keyboard navigation.
- Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications – assures accessibility to web page graphics by the visually impaired using assistive technology such as screen readers and refreshable Braille displays.
- Videos or Multimedia Products - includes requirements for captioning of multimedia products such as training or informational multimedia productions. Captioning or video descriptors must be able to be turned on or off.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) was published as a W3C Candidate Recommendation on 30 April 2008. The Candidate Recommendation stage means that there is broad consensus on the technical content, and W3C invites you to implement WCAG 2.0. Additional information in:
- WCAG 2.0 Candidate Recommendation Ready to Test Drive
- How WAI Develops Accessibility Guidelines through the W3C Process
- Overview of WCAG 2.0 Documents
Infinity Learning Solutions is adding closed captioning to DigitalChalk to help the hearing impaired. Is this enough? Does closed captioning really help the totally deaf who see English as a second language? I am exploring web based 508 requirements to determine the difference between guidelines and what is actually useful. There are helpful web sites for Accessibility Best Web Practices (Illinois Center for Information Technology Accessibility). I am especially interested in applying these practices to online learning. Any comments on this would be helpful.