Software ADA Compliance

1. Software ADA Compliance SE373 – Group 3 Mason O’Mara Matt Klubertanz Thomas Vanselus Nicholas Sorenson

2. Overview • ADA Introduction • ADA Compliance and Software Quality • ADA Compliance in Web Development

3. What is ADA? • ADA: Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 • Civil laws that prohibit discrimination based on physical or mental disability • Similar rights granted by Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Protects Major Life Activities • Hearing, seeing, speaking, performing manual tasks, walking, etc

4. ADA Compliance • Products and services that conform to the needs of the disabled • Wheelchair ramps, sign language interpreters, braille • Applies to many different services, including software

5. ADA Compliance and Software Quality • When thinking about a user base, keep in mind users with disabilities • How would someone who is blind use your application? • Disabilities that most commonly link to software use include: • Blindness, hearing impairment, physical inabilities to use equipment

6. ADA Compliance and Usability • Usability is one aspect of Software Quality: • Usability pertains to learnability, efficiency, memorability, error severity, and satisfaction • These qualities can be applied to systems made ADA compliant, and should be strived for during development • By not providing disabled users with a degree of usability, we exclude them from our user base

7. ADA Compliance and Usability - Learnability • The ability to effectively learn how to use a piece of software • Low learnability can contribute to unpredictably • High learnability can contribute to expertise in a piece of software • ADA Learnability – users who are blind will need more assistance in learning a visual system

8. ADA Compliance and Usability - Efficiency • If the usability of a system is easy and allows a user to perform tasks effectively, the system usability is highly efficient • For most normal users, a lack of UI or too bulky of a UI can attribute to low efficiency • ADA Efficiency – Organizing a system to cater to those who cannot use a mouse will make that system more efficient for that disability group

9. ADA Compliance and Usability - Memorability • Memorability of a system describes the user’s ability to remember steps in using that system • Command prompts have a low memorability factor, while simple clean UIs can lead to high memorability for a common user • ADA Memorability – Blind users will need to memorize spatial relations of UI elements

10. ADA Compliance and Usability - Error Severity • Error Severity describes the criticality of errors caused by using the system • Strive for a low amount of error severity in a system’s UI • ADA Error Severity – ADA users will need descriptive error descriptions, as well as ADA compliance ways to resolve these UI errors

11. ADA Compliance and Usability – Satisfaction • Satisfaction describes how enjoyable a user experience is in a piece of software • If other aspects of software usability are violated, often satisfaction is also violated • ADA Satisfaction – A user experience designed for users without disabilities should also be designed for those with disabilities

12. Why develop for ADA Compliance? • Increased Business • Extended user base • Showing you care about clients with disabilities • Create a more robust all around experience • ADA compliance typically supports a strong software quality • Ethical Integrity • Legal obligations

13. ADA Legal Cases • Netflix captions case • http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/netflix-sued-deaf-groups-over-instant-streaming-captions-122555 • Companies that interact with the United States Government • Great Lakes Higher Education • LSAT equality case • http://www.npr.org/2011/06/15/137179261/blind-law-student-claims-discrimination-in-testing

14. Web Development ADA Considerations • Who is our primary audience? • Does this audience contain users with disabilities? • What percentage of our users fall under this category? • Is there a particular disability we may need to conform to? • What is the quality cost vs. cost of quality

15. ADA Compliance in Web Development “The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.” -Tim Berners-Lee

16. ADA Compliance in Web Development • Websites and web applications are some of the most common targets for ADA compliance • Generalized, open user base rather than specific target audience • Common target for customer complaints and lawsuits

17. ADA Compliance in Web Development • W3C – World Wide Web Consortium, standards organization that oversees HTML and CSS, among other web technologies • WAI – Web Accessibility Initiative, a group of individuals who strive to make online information available to those with disabilities, overseen by W3C

18. ADA Compliance in Web Development • W3C defines three priority tiers for web accessibility: • Content that must be compliant. • Some users may find content impossible to access • Content that shouldbe compliant. • Some users may find content difficult to access • Content that maybe compliant. • Some users may find content somewhat difficult to access • Development priority: make information accessible • W3C- http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/full-checklist.html • WebAIM - http://webaim.org/standards/wcag/checklist

19. Web Accessibility - Images • All images that provide vital information should have alt tags associated with that image <imgsrc=“logo.gif" alt="University Of Wisconsin Platteville established 1866" ></img> • Purely decorative images should have an empty alt tag

20. Web Accessibility – Audio and Video • Audio and video content may not be viewable by those who are blind or deaf • All video content should be accompanied by subtitles • All audio content should be accompanied by a text transcript • Animation and video also could include a transcript of visual information

21. Web Accessibility – Color Usage • Contrasting colors should be used sparingly • Color blind users need to be kept in mind • Black and white variants of all color intensive information should be provided • Screens should not flicker with color Difficult to read Confusing color contrast Red green colorblind

22. Web Accessibility – Dynamic Content • Content given through dynamic means should be made accessible • If dynamic changes cannot be made by a particular user, an alternative to the information should be provided • Content changed dynamically should also be made to this alternative

23. Web Accessibility – Language • Try to avoid spatial descriptors such as “above”, “below”, “next to” • Keep in mind how a text reader pronounces words • Use “screen-reader text” where necessary

24. Web Accessibility – HTML structure • HTML tags should be used appropriately to best aid screen reader users • Proper use of header tags • Keep in mind hyperlinks and tabbing order • Appropriate use of forms and form labels • Correct usages of tables • Limit hidden elements

25. Web Accessibility – ARIA • ARIA – Accessible Rich Internet Applications • HTML semantics designed to help assistive technologies convey information presented in rich interactive web applications • ARIA uses various states and properties to detect when rich content has been changed/modified

26. Web Accessibility – ARIA • Aria-checked (state) • Describes if a checkbox is checked • Aria-live (property) • Describes updates to a live region • Polite – wait to read live text • Assert – do not wait to read live text • Aria-hidden (state) • Describes if an element and its children are visible • Aria-multiline (property) • Describes if a text input accepts one or multiple lines

27. A Note on Localization • Disabilities compliance laws differ from country to country: • http://www.w3.org/WAI/Policy/

28. Testing Web Accessibility • Once a website, page, or application has been developed for accessibility, this accessibility needs to be tested • Cross browser testing should be a consideration • Internet Explorer • Mozilla Firefox • Google Chrome

29. Testing Web Accessibility • Keep in mind W3C’s priority checklist • Tier 1 priorities include: • Content should be viewable without stylesheets and scripts • Text equivalents for all non-text elements • Appropriate language and use of color

30. Testing Web Accessibility • Tier 2 priorities include: • Proper HTML markup • Proper CSS formatting • No harsh color contrasts • Use proper meta data • Consistent navigation • No periodic refreshing of a page, or pop-ups

31. Testing Web Accessibility • Tier 3 priorities include: • Create a logical tab order • Consistency • Form placeholder text • Ability to skip over unnecessary content

32. Testing Web Accessibility – Screen Readers • A screen reader is a piece of software that can read text and markup and reply with an audio translation • Test your webpages with a screen reader to ensure blind users are getting a good user experience • Different screen readers may vary on how they read text • JAWS • ChromeVox

33. Testing Web Accessibility – HTML Validators • HTML validators can point out simple problems in html markup and structure • By correcting this often simple mistakes, a page can become significantly more accessible • http://validator.w3.org/

34. Summary • ADA and ADA Compliance • Americans with Disabilities Act, those with disabilities cannot be discriminated against • Software must be compliant to those who are disabled • ADA Compliance and Software Quality • Usability • Quality cost vs cost of quality • ADA Compliance and Web Development

35. References • NBC Netflix story: • http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/netflix-sued-deaf-groups-over-instant-streaming-captions-122555 • NPR LSAT story: • http://www.npr.org/2011/06/15/137179261/blind-law-student-claims-discrimination-in-testing • W3C, WAI documentation and basic information: http://www.w3.org/WAI/ • W3C ADA documentation: • http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/full-checklist.html • http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/ • http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/ • WebAIM ADA standards: • http://webaim.org/standards/wcag/checklist