Outline
•Current Situation
•Training Opportunities
•Issues for multiple audiences
What is accessibility?
•Ensuring access to online materials for disabled Visual impairments
Hearing impairments
Mobility impairments (hands)
Cognitive impairments (largest population)
•Audience students/staff/instructors/visitors
Goal: Universal Design
“Universal Design” Designing for the largest audience
possible regardless of disability or ability
– UMN Duluth Web Glossary
“Universal Access”
“…regardless of disability, location, device or speed of connection to the Internet”
Accessibility at Penn State•National Federation of the Blind
Problems identified with
ANGEL, eLion, Elecrtonic Reserves, Clickers
•Captions Required (AD 25) Marketing Videos (mandated Feb 1)
•Official Websites Accessible (AD 54) Course Materials?
Notable Guidelines•WCAG W3C Consortium
Version 1.0 and 2.0
• 2.0 most recent and includes Web 2.0 sites
3 Levels (level 1 = minimal)
•Section 508 U.S. Government – under revision to more
closely match WCAG
•ARIA – For Web 2.0
Training Opportunities
•Web Developer Lunch http://breeze.psu.edu/webdeveloperlunch
Tue April 19 – Dreamweaver, TABLES, FORMS in Web
Tue May 17 – Accessible Javascript
•Lynda.com Accessibility Course Login via ITS Training
•http://accessibility.psu.edu
Key Resources•Penn State
http://accessibility.psu.edu/ (Penn State Hub)
•iCITA (Illinois) http://fae.cita.uiuc.edu (FAE Evaluator)
http://firefox.cita.uiuc.edu (Firefox Plugin)
•WebAIM http://www.webaim.org (WebAIM)
http://wave.webaim.org (Visual Evaluator)
Audience vs. “Guidelines” •Different types of disabilities…but
needs remain the same across tech A video is a video no matter the technology
and will need captions
•Accessibility needs to evolve with new tech There’s no “spec” for Twitter, but we can
guess potential problems
•Accessibility benefits everyone Everyone will be temporarily disabled
Severe Visual Impairment•Requires a screen reader to read
Web content aloud Multimedia, images need to be described
Not all descriptions need to be hidden
Program elements/menus/form fields need to identify themselves properly
•Hidden Audience Text-based mobile device, missing plugin,
images disabled, or broken image link
Two Sites, Images Disabled
ALT Tagger in ANGEL
Enter information “Alternative Text” field when uploading images
Testing ALT Tags•Disable Images Manually in browser preferences
Firefox Accessibility Extension (adds accessibility toolbar)
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5809
WAVE Testing Web Site (shows ALT tags)
http://wave.webaim.org/
New Apps Screen Reader Gotcha
•Not all apps and plugins include information for screen reader Old iTunes: MP3 music files were
accessible, but navigation in iTunes was not
Some users encounter difficulty creating a login! (esp Flash based interface)
Web Forms – Need to signal new informationSee WAI-ARIA for how to code. JavaScript CAN be accessible so can Flash…
Online Forms/Menus•Forms must identify field to screen
reader If HTML, then use LABEL tag to match field
with label
•Menus must announce options
Hearing Impaired•You cannot hear content Captions, captions, captions (or
transcript)
Some users more fluent in sign language
•Hidden Users Forgot headphone in lab
Audio cuts out
Can’t find one of 5 volume controls
Poor audio quality (even for normal hearing)
Captions Reveal Information
Caption shows how to spell Cole Camplese’s name.
About Captions
•About ½ students in Phil 12 used caption option in videos
•External text files can be created for Quicktime
Flash Video
Video & Audio Podcast on iTunes
YouTube
Streamed Video
iTunes
Captioning Tools•Movie Captioner (Mac Only)
http://www.synchrimedia.com/
Installed in the CLC Computing Labs
•Windows Solutions MAGPie (Free from
http://ncam.wgbh.org/webaccess/magpie/)
Others for Windows and Mac
Movie Captioner Tool (PSU)
Find Me Some Captions!
•The hardest part is the transcript. Can you: Write a script first
Order a transcript/script from a TV show
Buy the DVD (which often has English subtitles)
Pay for a transcriber? NOT a high end skill
Speech recognition an option, but proof text.
Live captioning does require a specialist
Other Tools
•Speech Recognition (Imperfect) Requires training for each speaker (5 min)
Relies on audio quality
Good for frequent podcasters/lecture capture
Captions should be checked manually
•Commercial Providers $75-$150 per hour of video
Many based on speech recognition instead of typists
Low Vision Users•May zoom browser 200% or more Good color contrast (light vs dark)
Fonts should be extra legible on Web – usually serif
Avoid 6-8 point text. 12 pt should be minimum for main content. 9/10 OK for small text.
Text zooms better than images – Use CSS instead of images for decorative text
•Hidden Audience iPhone users
Older users
At 300% ZoomWhich part of contentis an image?
Equation. This is an image because it was best optionavailable (and yes, it has an ALT tag).
A Little Hard on the Eyes
Tiny Text (7/8 pt)
Light gray field labels
Can you see the text?
An entire page in a cursive font?
Check Color Contrast•Default interface should have
good contrast. ANGEL good…Other tools?
•Tests http://juicystudio.com/services/
luminositycontrastratio.php OR
http://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/
AAA: All Good (Full Speed Ahead)
AA: Large Text Only (18 pix/14 pix bold)
Fail: Avoid (There is no “A”)
Two Blue Color Schemes
•Minor adjustments can change a borderline scheme to a good one and preserve designer intent
AA Level OnlyPale blue #CDF link text = #058
AAA LevelPale blue #F3F6FF
link text = #049 (bold)
Motion Impaired•Keyboard always easier than mouse Enable keyboard tabbing on forms
Develop text-based alternative (esp. drop down menus)
Keyboard shortcuts
BIG click targets & avoid disappearing controls
•Hidden Audience Carpal tunnel, broken wrist, essential
tremor,
New to mouse, iPhone, track pad…
Screen reader users prefer keyboard as well
Controls for Animation
Keyboard: S = Start/Slow, F = Fast, space = pause. Let’s view animation
Speaking of Flash•Have you Stopped animations/music by default and
given play controls
Checked color contrast? Used legible fonts?
Checked usability?
Made form labels/icons announce themselves?
• Including the play/pause buttons?
Described animation/images for screen readers?
Allowed for captioned videos?
Recommendation: Don’t build 100% Flash navigation site
Beware Drop Down Menus•Problems Hard for motion impaired users,
especially if they disappear
Hard for screen reader users unless properly coded (usually via CSS)
Hard for cognitively impaired users…unless entire site menu displayed
•Solution Text-based alternate (e.g. Site Map,
clickable main menus)
Cognitive Disabilities•Interface should be simple and
consistent Use same language throughout site/tool
Use language audience will understand
Restrict icons to the basics (e.g. arrow icon) or label all icons
Provide “Global View” (all options at once)
Don’t hide information too quickly
Let user start/stop animation & audio
Hidden Audience•Everyone appreciates usability
•Customers often have “simpler” mental models than developers Use “Whale” instead of “Cetacean”
Use “Impressionism” instead of “19th Century French”
Does everyone know what a “browser” is?
•Avoid Icon Trap
What are these icons?Icons + labels better
Color Deficient users
•Primarily Red/Green (10% men) Design so information viewable in black
and white (or grayscale)
Underline your text links
Supplement color coding with shape
• Red X and Green √
•Hidden Audience People with a black and white printer
ANGEL Quiz Scores X & √
Red/Blue for Warnings•Use a shade of blue instead of
green for warnings. Blue tends to preserve itself the best.
Testing Color Deficiency
•Photoshop CS4 Protonopia & Deuteronopia filters
Under View » Proof Setup menu
•View page in grayscale (change monitor settings)
•Online Color Blindness Testers http://www.iamcal.com/toys/colors/
http://www.vischeck.com/vischeck/vischeckURL.php
Testing New Tech•Can the screen reader access
information?
•Uploads Are captions supported for audio/video
uploads?
Are ALT tags supported for image uploads?
•Default format Legible text? Good color contrast?
Proper Headers?
WYSIWYG editor generating accessible HTML?
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