October 2, 2007IEEE IPCC2007 Building Communication With Access for All Richard B. Ells Senior...

October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC2007

Building Communication With Access for All

Richard B. EllsSenior Webmaster

University of [email protected]

October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007

Introduction

The Web is a fundamental means of communication and service for all of us.

We want our Web pages and applications to work for anyone interest in them, including people with handicaps.

This goal can be achieved by careful attention to standards and by awareness of alternative experiences of interaction with what we create.


Explosion

• … in hardware capabilities• … in software complexity, capabilities• … in access devices, including assistive

technologies• … in rich media, interactive applications• … in uses for the Web• … in reliance on the Web and Internet in

conducting business and delivering services


What is Accessibility?

Accessibility is the degree to which a Web site or service is available to and usable by a person with a disability.

If they can successfully meet their needs in coming to the site, the site is accessible.


Why Care About Accessibility?

• Compliance with the law• Keeping talent• Serving your clientele• A waiting market• Because you care• A sound technical approach


Why Care:Compliance With the Law

• Government, education, and public institutions• Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act requires

Federal sites be accessible• Used by many states

• W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

• Framework for many laws in Europe

• Courts may find private Web sites are a “public accommodation” covered by 508 as they become more essential to the delivery of public services


Why Care:Keeping Talent

• Important parts of our workforce are aging

• Selecting inaccessible software could force capable people out of their roles

• Poorly considered design changes can make a needed Web site or service suddenly unusable • A valued employee developing a common

disability could be prevented from continuing their career


Why Care: Serving Your Clientele

• Many institutions by definition serve people with disabilities• Education• Social services• Banks and other financial services• Government


Why Care: A Waiting Market

• About 12% of people between 16 and 24 have some form of disability (21 million people)

• Aging segments of the population develop limitations and impairments that can be addressed with software, if the services they want to use are designed to interact well with such software


Why Care: Because You Care

• Consideration and inclusion of people differently-abled than the norm is a positive and necessary value for many institutions

• Including the disabled yields benefits• Gives richness to the enterprise• Depth to learning and team experiences• Remind us of the breadth of human

experience and ability


Why Care: A Sound Technical Approach

• Technical methods for supporting adaptive and assistive technologies are the same as those used to ensure support of a wide range of access devices

• By doing professional quality Web management, you are already doing much of which is included in accessible Web design


Disabilities

• Cognitive impairment• Dyslexia

• Physical impairment• Limited dexterity

• Sensory impairment• Blind• Deaf


Disabilities: Cognitive disabilities

Dyslexia, learning disabilities, hyperactivity

• Supporting the person’s interaction with content• Software that speaks highlighted text

• Search that suggests alternative spellings


Disabilities: Physical Impairment

Poor motor control• Keyboard navigable user interface

design (fully functional without using the mouse)

• Specialized keyboards and pointing devices

• Sip and puff


Disabilities: Sensory Impairment

Low contrast vision, color blindness, blind, deaf

• Text to voice conversion• Tactile interface• Selected colors

• Alternative stylesheet• Alternative texts for graphics• Transcripts provided for audio


How AT Works

• Programs• Adaptive Technology API

• Web sites• Static• Dynamic• Interactive Dynamic (AJAX)


How AT Works:Programs

• Aspects of Accessibility APIs• Standardized roles for interface divisions• Standardized properties for elements• Focus management• Interaction model• Device navigation mappings• Semantics interpretation• Change notification


How AT Works:Web Pages

• Standards-based• Semantic markup• Alternative text for non-text

objects• Association

• Tables• Forms


How AT Works: Web Pages

• Early AT simply scrapped text• Current AT can read the HTML or DOM

• Utilizes semantic text element types such as headers

• Generally page by page

• Current AT has difficulty with dynamically updated page content• Hard to track where and when changes

occur


Web Technology Improvements

• Device Independence• Standardization

• HTML/XHTML• DOM• Scripting

• Adaptive Technology• Rich Media


How AT Works:Simple HTML


How AT Works:HTML And Javascript


How AT Works:HTML and AJAX


How AT Works:Supporting AJAX

Accessible Rich Internet Application (ARIA)

• Developed cooperatively by W3C• Added functionality to support

interactive dynamic Web pages• Roles• Focus management• State


Achieving Accessibility

• Organization priority• Build understanding of accessibility

across the organization• Provide development frameworks

that support accessible design• Build accessibility evaluation skills


Arguments

• Ship now, fix later• The product we use does not do accessibility• Agile development (80/20)

• If so few people have disabilities, don’t their needs fall in the 20% that agile development says are optional?

• Utilitarianism• Greatest good for the greatest number• Jeremy Bentham, the philosopher who defined

utilitarianism, disavowed the “greatest number part”• “The dictates of utility are neither more nor less than

the dictates of the most extensive and enlightened benevolence.” Jeremy Bentham

October 2, 2007IEEE IPCC2007 Building Communication With Access for All Richard B. Ells Senior...

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