Accessibility

1. Accessibility Hugh Lunnon, Jo Castle and Aidan McGinley

2. What is Accessibility? • An accessible product or service is one which can be used by all its intended users • Accessibility is most commonly discussed in relation to people with disabilities • Accessibility barriers occur when the design of the technology fails to allow for the variations in users' abilities.

3. Accessibility goals • All users are able to perceive and understand the controls, instructions and outputs • All users are able to reach and manipulate the controls, inputs and outputs • The user interface is consistent across functions, devices and repeated use • For users who still cannot use the service, an equivalent alternative service is available

4. Web Accessibility • Web sites and applications • that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with; • Web browsers and media players • that can be used effectively by people with disabilities, and • that work well with assistive technologies that some people with disabilities use to access the Web; • Web authoring tools, and evolving Web technologies • that support production of accessible Web content and Web sites, and that can be used effectively by people with disabilities.

5. Impact of the Web on People with Disabilities • The Web is becoming a key resource for: • news, information, commerce, entertainment, • classroom education, distance learning, • job searching, workplace interaction, • civic participation, government services. • It is displacing traditional sources of information and interaction -- • schools, libraries, print materials, discourse of the workplace; • some of the traditional resources were accessible; some not. • An accessible Web means unprecedented access to information for people with disabilities.

6. Web Accessibility is a Cross-Disability Issue • Examples of design requirements for people with different kinds of disabilities include: • Visual: • described graphics or video; • well marked-up tables or frames; • keyboard support, screen reader compatibility; • Hearing: • captioning for audio, supplemental illustration; • Physical, Speech: • keyboard or single-switch support; • alternatives for speech input on voice portals; • Cognitive, Neurological: • consistent navigation, appropriate language level; • illustration; no flickering or strobing designs

7. Accessibility Contributes to Universal Design (Design for All) • Accessible Web design can contribute to better design for other users: • Multi-modality (support for visual, auditory, tactile access) benefits users of: • mobile phones with small display screens, Web-TV, kiosks. • Multi-modality increases usability of Web sites in different situations: • low bandwidth (images are slow to download); • noisy environments (difficult to hear the audio); • screen-glare (difficult to see the screen); • driving (eyes and hands are "busy"). • Redundant text/audio/video can support: • different learning styles; low literacy levels; second-language access. • Style sheets can support: • more efficient page transmission and site maintenance. • Captioning of audio files supports: • better machine indexing of content; faster searching of content.

8. Tips for Accessible Websites • Images & animations: Use the alt attribute to describe the function of each visual. • Image maps. Use the client-side map and text for hotspots. • Multimedia. Provide captioning and transcripts of audio, and descriptions of video. • Hypertext links. Use text that makes sense when read out of context. For example, avoid "click here." • Page organization. Use headings, lists, and consistent structure. Use CSS for layout and style where possible. • Graphs & charts. Summarize or use the longdesc attribute. • Scripts, applets, & plug-ins. Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported. • Frames. Use the noframes element and meaningful titles. • Tables. Make line-by-line reading sensible. Summarize. • Check your work. Validate. Use tools, checklist, and guidelines at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG

9. Tips for Checking the Accessibility of Your Website • Turn off graphics & sounds • Check the contrast by viewing the page in greyscale • Turn off style sheets • Turn off scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects • Use the largest font size allowed by a browser • Use Text based browser like Lynx (http://lynx.browser.org)

10. Designing Accessible User Interfaces • Points to consider • Obstacles to Accessibility • Impact on system design • Access Technologies • Design guidelines • Overview • Examples • Issues and Trade-offs

11. Design Guidelines

12. Obstacles to Accessibility • Disabilities • Visual impairments & blindness • Hearing • Cognitive • Physical • Neurological

13. Obstacles to Accessibility (2) • Technological • Lack of technological updates • Slow processing times • Environmental • Noisy surroundings • Non-hands free environment • Other • e.g. Not operating in the users natural language

14. Impact on System Design • Problem: Encountered when sites are: • Mainly text-based • Mainly graphics-based • Provide information in purely audible format • Rely on certain hardware usage • Rely on up-to-date technology • Have fixed text and colour schemes

15. Impact on System Design • Solution: PROVIDE ALTERNATIVES!

16. Access Technologies • Alternative methods of system input/output • Screen magnifiers • Screen readers/Speech synthesizers • Braille devices • Alternative keyboards • Speech recognition software • Work with these when designing user interface & content

17. Design Guidelines • Main Aims • Highlight different user contexts • Show alternative ways of expressing content • Ensure graceful transformation • Show ways to increase ease of navigation and understanding

18. Design Guidelines (taken from W3C) • ‘Provide alternatives to auditory & visual content’ • ‘Don’t rely on colour’ • ‘Use mark-up & style sheets & do so properly’ • ‘Clarify natural language usage’ • ‘Create tables that transform gracefully’ • ‘Ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully’ • ‘Ensure control of time sensitive content changes’

19. Provide alternatives to auditory & visual content • Serve same purpose as original format • Textual descriptions of images and navigation buttons/ charts and diagrams • Textual descriptions of auditory content • Non-textual equivalents

20. Design Guidelines (taken from W3C) • ‘Provide alternatives to auditory & visual content’ • ‘Don’t rely on colour’ • ‘Use mark-up & style sheets & do so properly’ • ‘Clarify natural language usage’ • ‘Create tables that transform gracefully’ • ‘Ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully’ • ‘Ensure control of time sensitive content changes’

21. Moving Blinking Scrolling Auto-updating content Ensure control of time sensitive content changes

22. Moving Blinking Scrolling Auto-updating content Distracting Hard to read/interact with As yet user agents do not provide control mechanisms for this kind of feature Ensure control of time sensitive content changes

23. Design Guidelines (taken from W3C) • ‘Provide alternatives to auditory & visual content’ • ‘Don’t rely on colour’ • ‘Use mark-up & style sheets & do so properly’ • ‘Clarify natural language usage’ • ‘Create tables that transform gracefully’ • ‘Ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully’ • ‘Ensure control of time sensitive content changes’

24. Design Guidelines (taken from W3C) • Ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces • Design for device independance • Use interim solutions • Use W3C technologies & guidelines • Provide context & orientation information • Provide clear navigation mechanisms • Ensure documents are clear & simple

25. Design Guidelines • Main points • Provide alternative ways of expressing information • Do not rely on any one format/ technology • Work with existing access technology • Make everything as clear and simple as possible

26. Issues & Tradeoffs • Trade offs of guideline compliance • 3) Sacrifice flexibility of mark up language • 6) Limitations on use of new technologies • 11) Non-W3C technology = PDF • 14) Increased standardisation of web = decreased innovation and design

27. Issues & Tradeoffs • Issues • 7) and 10) Responsibility Issues • If many alternatives are provided, all must be updated • Can be time consuming and costly to implement accessibility • More costly to add to an existing site than develop in from start • Improved visitor experience • Increased Customer Base

28. Solutions

29. Solutions • Website Assessment • Lynx • Booby • Accessibility helpers

30. Tesco.com • First link on a text browser is to Tesco Access • Text-based site for slow connections, old browsers and people with accessibility issues • Fully opened by lynx, very few issues with bobby

31. news.bbc.co.uk • Another site with a text-only link at the top • Also has a ‘skip to main content’ link • Lessens problems with visual impairments and the browsing paradigm • Allows non-sited people to view news as well as sited people

32. Betsie • BBC also has Betsie • BBC Education Text to Speech Internet Enhancer • Turns any browser into a hi-visibility, customisable, text-only browser • BBC sites optimised for betsie • Changeable font, size, colours and so on. • Screen reader enhancements

33. Panasonic myCinema@home • Very good looking site • Absolutely NOTHING for text-only browser • Not even ‘this site will not work without internet explorer’ • Very poor page – visually impaired user wouldn’t know if it had simply not finished loading or was broken • Other pages have long, standard header • 16 pages of header on lynx before any detail • User not sure whether or not the page has moved on from the last one.

34. Denon.co.uk • Site inaccessible due to imagemap • Text-only browser can open frames with some success • However the main links are contained within an imagemap with no alternative text • Site written by a German company, so all errors (site does not support frames, 404 and so on) are in German

35. Things to remember • Text-only pages • Check site with bobby and a text-only browser • Alternative text for images • Even if your product is unsuitable for a visually impaired person (DVDs, books), they might be buying for someone else • If in doubt seek outside help

36. Software • Accessibility products often use MS standards to determine what is on the screen of an application • Problems arise with incompatibility • Lotus notes compared to outlook • Ensure compatibility with Microsoft to help ease of use for a disabled person.

37. Accessibility Products • Several products available to help disabled people access the web better • Screen readers • Braille Displays • Magnifying and high-contrast tools for those with low site • These all help, but only if a website/product allows it

38. Braille Displays • Allow blind people to read what is on screen • Hundreds of ‘pins’ rise and fall to represent what is on-screen in the form of braille • Not cheap – typical setup costs in the region of £10,000

39. Dictation Software • Works by turning the text on-screen into synthesized voice • Needs no special hardware – simply a soundcard and a speaker/microphone • User can control the pc with verbal commands • Needs ‘training’ in order to work well • Several packages available at a reasonably low price – from £50

40. Conceptual model • Web is based on browse and explore conceptual model • This model is based on sight • Blind people will never be able to use the net as quickly as full-sighted people • Other models are more suited to lesser-sighted people – for instance command model

41. Conclusion • Web helps disabled people to achieve independence • Accessibility is important • Lots of design guidelines and help available • Keep all prospective users in mind • Some high-profile websites and software packages still have poor accessibility • Some products available to help

42. References • Sites we used included: • W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) • (http://www.w3.org) • Irish National Disability Authority • (http://accessit.nda.ie) • RNIB (Royal National Institute of the Blind) • (http://rnib.org) • Web Accessibility Initiative • (http://www.w3c.org/WAI/) • IBM able website • (http://www.ibm.com/able) • Lynx Text-Based web browser • (http://lynx.browser.org/) • Bobby webpage layout validator • (http://bobby.cast.org) • Betsie Website->text only translator • (http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/betsie/)