Web Accessibility Rambles

Teach a man to fish....

Wednesday, 30 January 2008

I once used the phrase “Teach a man to fish” in a Web Accessibility presentation. I have been ridiculed ever since! This phrase was used in the context of teaching users how they can adapt / customise their browsers, software and tools to improve their user experience. A simple example is teaching visually impaired users how to increase the text size in a browser.

Here is an post from Accessify which discusses this matter further: http://accessify.com/news/2007/09/teach-a-man-to-fish-or-how-to-resize-text/

Posted byCharlie M at 02:22 0 comments  

Accessible = Ugly ?

Tuesday, 29 January 2008

This is a great post from Andrew Faulkner which discusses the common myth that Accessible design means boring, unattractive web pages.

http://fadtastic.net/2008/01/15/accessible-can-be-beautiful/

Posted byCharlie M at 04:46 0 comments  

Social Networking vs Accessibility

Monday, 28 January 2008

Social Networking. Most of us use some form of social networking tools. In fact, according to Kath Moonan, AbilityNet’s Senior Accessibility and Usability Consultant, the “UK participation in social networking is the highest in Europe with around 80% of the online population now making over 25 million visits a month”. However, sites such as Facebook, Myspace, YouTube and Bebo to name but three are not Accessible to all. This is the main focus of the new report written by AbilityNet (LINK : http://www.abilitynet.org.uk/docs/enation/2008SocialNetworkingSites.doc). Ironically, it is possible that the users that are excluded, may be some of the users who will have most to gain from social networking online.

Users may not be able to sign up for an account due to the use of CAPTCHA’s (discussed in previous post), then if they can actually log in, are faced with an array of the most basic accessibility problems. Most of the issues can easily be remedied.

I will not spill the content of the report for you here, but please follow the link above and see for yourself.

I will leave you with a short quote from the report:

“We would like to ask the operators of these sites to look at some of the key factors governing disabled access, namely: the reduction of the amount of CAPTCHA and the provision of an intelligible audio alternative; user-friendly support for those experiencing access problems and lastly, adherence to what is, after all, the law.”

Posted byCharlie M at 13:25 0 comments  

Second Life is now too important not to be accessible

Sunday, 13 January 2008

Here is a link to an interesting article about the accessibility of secondlife. I must admit, Ive been on secondlife and I have attended talks/demos/seminars on secondlife. However, I still do not see the point. Perhaps I'm still missing something. I can, to some extent, understand the social networking aspects, and also the game-like exploration it allows. But for business? Can you really live off an income from secondlife? I suppose only time will tell.

Very large corporations are investing a vast amount of time and money producing a secondlife presence. This surprises me. I have always found the secondlife experience slow, tiring and prone to crashing. It is the last place I would part with my well earned cash.

Anyway enjoy the article: http://www.it-director.com/blogs/Abrahams_Accessibility/2007/12/second_life_is_now_too_important_n_.html

Posted byCharlie M at 13:36 0 comments  

Web Accessibility sites...not Accessible

Monday, 7 January 2008

This comment by Dennis Lembree on the WebAxe site tickled me...

Call me picky, but it sure bothers me when web page articles about web accessibility are not accessible themselves. Talk about bad credibility...

For example, the article Web Accessibility. . . Making your Pages Friendly to People with Disabilities is dreadful. Just by glancing at the main text, several issues are apparent:

• Insufficient color contrast. That dark gray text on a black background just don't work!
  
• Text size is too small; text may be difficult to resize in some browsers. Absolute sizing (pixels) are used in the CSS instead of relative sizing (ems, percentage).
  
• No sub headings in the content, and the content is not divided into "manageable groups".
  
• The links are not linked--just written out; and with obnoxious spaces also. For example: Academy of Web Specialists (http://www . onlinewebtraining.com / courses.html)

Posted byCharlie M at 13:52 0 comments  

Predicted Growth in Number of Accessible Technology Users from 2003 to 2010

Sunday, 25 November 2007

Posted byCharlie M at 13:51 0 comments  

Flash Accessibility?

Thursday, 1 November 2007

Bold words in my last post I know. Id like to go into a little more detail as to how I came up with the controversial opinion that Flash is, or rather can be accessible.

Flash allows us / the designer to produce multimedia which can be displayed in many ways: Visually through Images, drawings, text and video, or maybe using Audio to portray information…Its flexibility is the key to its potential Accessibility. Here are some examples taken from the Webaim URL in the previous post as to how flash can increase / improve accessibility:

· Multiple ways of presentation: Flash can provide content in multiple ways. View an example of multiple presentation methods ( ).

· Scalability: Because Flash is based on vector objects (mathematically defined lines and shapes) rather than raster (pixels of differing colors) technology, most Flash content can be easily scaled to any size without distortion. Individuals with low vision may be able to interact with Flash content in ways not possible with HTML content. View a scaleable example ( ).

· Keyboard accessibility: Flash allows a higher level of keyboard interaction than is allowed in HTML. Many Flash movies can be made more functional, powerful, and easy to use by allowing keyboard access. View a keyboard example ( ).

· Engaging: Flash can engage learners through interactivity, animation, sound, graphics, and many other ways. Individuals with learning or cognitive disabilities can better comprehend and focus on some Flash content. Flash multimedia can be used to supplement static HTML content.

· Self-voicing: Because of the audio capabilities of Flash, it can present content through audio, thus removing the need for a screen reader to extract audio content from the Flash movie.

The WebAim article goes on to explain how almost all of the HTML accessibility issues are also present in Flash…Here are some different disabilities groups and some ways in which the inherent Flash accessibility issues can be “accessified” :

· Hearing disabilities
o Provide synchronized captions for any audio that conveys content

· Photo epilepsy
o Remove strobing content that flashes between 2 and 55 times per second

· Motor disabilities
o Ensure the Flash content is keyboard accessible
o Do not require fine motor skills

· Cognitive disabilities
o Give users control over time sensitive content
o Provide easy to use controls and navigation schemes
o Be consistent
o Use the clearest, simplest language appropriate to the content

· Low vision
o Provide plenty of contrast
o Allow the Flash content to scale to a larger size

· Blindness
o Ensure screen reader accessibility or provide an accessible alternative
o Ensure keyboard accessibility
o Do not interfere with screen reader audio or keyboard commands
o Provide textual equivalents for all non-text elements that convey content or provide a function.


So, Flash does have the ability to be accessible, IF it is created by a developer who has accessibility in mind. It has the potential to be more accessible than HTML due to its flexibility and the potential for assistive technologies to not be necessary to interact with the content. However, a large proportion of the flash which is developed is not produced with accessibility as a priority. Perhaps it’s a lack of training? Perhaps it a Lack of accessibility awareness? Perhaps the designers think its not necessary?? Whatever the reason, Adobe are trying to produce an accessible product. A quick glance at there website shows their commitment to the ‘accessibility for all’ movement http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/ .

It is also important to remember that Flash content can only be used if the correct plug-ins have been installed / pre-installed. In 2002 (March 15th I believe) support for Microsoft's Active Accessibility (MSAA) (a standard interface for enabling assistive devices such as screen readers to work with Windows-based applications) was built into Flash. This was a big milestone for Flash Accessibility. However, if Flash is ‘poorly’ designed, assistive technologies will still struggle as mentioned in this blog: [ http://accessability.blogspot.com/2007/03/flash-animation-and-assistive.html ]

Flash can also be used on some mobile devices thanks to Flash Lite [http://www.adobe.com/products/flashlite/] and similar packages. Again another step towards Universal Accessibility of Flash.

My conclusion to this (longer than expected) rant, much like many others you will read on the topic is that Flash CAN be accessible if it is produced with ‘accessibility for all’ in mind. The tools are available to create the accessible content, but maybe the problem is more that the accessibility message has not quite sunk in with many developers yet.

Maybe rather than immediately jumping on the “Flash is not accessible” bandwagon we should consider the external factors: The designers ignorance to the Accessibility features available in the development tools, some technologies lack of compatibility with the software… etc

Perhaps Flash is accessible, but some of the designers and electronic devices which access Flash are not??

I welcome your thoughts and opinions on this matter.

Posted byCharlie M at 11:53 0 comments