COMM1PCOMM1P Alan Woolrych Accessibility 9

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 Introduction Accessibility “Making Content Available to All” Who are “all”?

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 Design Assumptions Sight Manual Dexterity Hand-Eye Coordination Introduction

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 They may not be able to see, hear, move, or may not be able to process some types of information easily or at all They may have difficulty reading or comprehending text They may not have or be able to use a keyboard or mouse They may have a text-only screen, a small screen, or a slow Internet connection Lack of Capabilities 1

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 Lack of Capabilities 2 They may not speak or understand fluently the language in which the document is written They may be in a situation where their eyes, ears, or hands are busy or interfered with (e.g., driving to work, working in a loud environment, etc.) They may have an early version of a browser, a different browser entirely, a voice browser, or a different operating system

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych Million disabled people in UK 20% working population are disabled 17million adults with literacy problems 1 million adults with learning difficulties 1.7 million people unable to read standard print –Source: Disability Rights Commission - Disability Briefing Briefing: February 2001 Some Statistics (UK)

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych % of population with severe disability 9.9% of population with non-severe disability 19.5% of population with some degree of disability or, Nearly 49 million people Some Statistics (USA)

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 More Recently (IBM) Over 8 million Americans have visual impairments. 2.7 million Americans have speech impairments million Americans consider themselves visually impaired to some degree. 22 million Americans are deaf or hard-of- hearing. Nearly 3 million Americans are colour-blind.

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 Dyslexia affects over 40 million Americans. 4.6 million Americans use Assistive Technology Devices for hearing impairments. 500,000 visually impaired Americans use Assistive Technology Devices. More Recently (IBM)

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 Legislation The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (UK) Does apply to IT Lot of grey areas (like most laws) Lacks Enforcement

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 Technology Aids Screen Reader Aural feedback Visual signalling for audio

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content 1.text equivalent for non-text content (e.g. alt tag for images) 2.vice-versa...non-text equivalent for text (beneficial for non readers) Accessibility Guidelines (W3C)

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 Don’t rely on colour alone text and graphics should be understandable even when viewed without colour e.g. colour deficiencies, monochrome displays Accessibility Guidelines (W3C)

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 Use markup and style sheets and do so properly e.g., using a table for presentation effect difficulties using specialised software, such as organisation of the page and navigation But don’t sacrifice appropriate markup! Accessibility Guidelines (W3C)

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 Lets Try a Test Volunteer Please!

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 Break Back By….

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 Clarify natural language usage Use markup that facilitates pronunciation or interpretation of abbreviated or foreign text natural language markup allows: search engines to find key words and identify documents in a desired language, improves readability of the Web for all people, including those with specific difficulties Accessibility Guidelines (W3C)

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 Create tables that transform gracefully Tables for any use also present special problems to users of screen readers Accessibility Guidelines (W3C)

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 Accessibility Guidelines (W3C) Ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully Use new technologies BUT.. Make sure pages work in older browsers, and when users choose to turn features off e.g that pages are usable when scripts, applets etc. are turned off or unsupported

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 Ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes Allow user control over moving, blinking, scrolling objects…paused or stopped Accessibility Guidelines (W3C)

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 Provide context and orientation information help users understand complex pages –Especially users with cognitive or visual disabilities –Helps all users Accessibility Guidelines (W3C)

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych Provide clear navigation mechanisms 13.Be consistent and.. 13.Clearly identify the target of each link 14."Information about version 4.3" instead of "click here". Accessibility Guidelines (W3C)

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 Ensure that documents are clear and simple Clarity + Simplicity = Understanding Accessibility Guidelines (W3C)

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 A Design Issue “Designing better interfaces for people with special needs will almost inevitably lead to better interfaces for all” Alistair D N Edwards

COMM1P9COMM1P9 SCET MSc EC/ECA © Alan Woolrych 2001 Design Issues (guidelines) Use text & non-text equivalents Beware using tables Use ALT tags with images Ensure that hyperlinks have a meaningful title