Web design critique
from visually impaired
perspective
CMSC 434 Sep 13, 2005
Hyunyoung Song (hsong@cs.umd.edu)
Ahmad H. Ibrahim (amadib@mail.umd.edu)
Outline
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Screen reader
Section 508
JAWS , Homepage Reader
Demo
Screen reader Architecture
Pixel based GUI
Screen Reader
User Interface
Off-screen model
Accessibility API
Text to Speech
Messages
Applications
OS
Braille Display
Challenges in a Screen reader
Pixel based GUI
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User Interface
Off-screen model
Accessibility API
Applications
OS
Limits from
Accessibility API
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MS Word and MS Active
Accessibility
Limits from Application
Contents
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Animations in
Macromedia Flash
Applications
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Commercial Products
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Open Source Products
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JAWS by Freedom Scientific
Window-Eyes by GW Micro
VoiceOver for Mac OS X by Apple
Homepage Reader by IBM
BRLTTY and suse-blinux for unix text consoles
Gnopernicus for unix graphical applications exporting
the AT-SPI interface
Screenfull, an in-progress screen reader for Windows
Windows XP
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Narrator
+U
Outline
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Screen reader
Section 508
JAWS , Homepage Reader
Demo
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1194.1 Purpose
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Give access to electronic and information technology to federal
employees with disabilities
1194.21 Software applications and OS
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(c) A well-defined on-screen indication of the current focus shall be
provided that moves among interactive interface elements as the input
focus changes. The focus shall be programmatically exposed so that
assistive technology can track focus and focus changes.
(d) Sufficient information about a user interface element including the
identity, operation and state of the element shall be available to
assistive technology. When an image represents a program element,
the information conveyed by the image must also be available in text.
(l) When electronic forms are used, the form shall allow people using
assistive technology to access the information, field elements, and
functionality required for completion and submission of the form,
including all directions and cues.
1194.2 Web-based intranet and
internet information and
applications
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A text equivalent for every non-text element
Non-text element
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Multimedia presentation: alternative text repr.
Color: shouldn’t imply information (ex. Markup)
Link: provide redundant text link instead of image link
Tables: provide rows and column headers
Script language sequence should have equivalent functional text
that can be read by assistive tech.
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Client-side image maps provided instead of
server-side image maps
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Web Content Accessibility Guildlines 1.0
Outline
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Screen reader
Section 508
JAWS , Homepage Reader
Demo
IBM Home Page Reader 3.04
The voice of the World Wide Web
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Reads Web pages, the Microsoft Windows desktop an
d selected system applications
Incorporates magnification and highlighting
Assists Web developers in testing for accessibility
Supports Adobe PDF and Macromedia Flash content
Provides access to popular Web-based e-mail applicat
ions
Includes Multilanguage IBM text-to-speech technology
Cost: $149.00
Freedom Scientific JAWS
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Skim Reading Summary
PAC Mate Desktop
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Hear Unicode and Hexadecimal Characters
Language Detection
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customization
PDF Table Verbosity Options
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detect the language of the current word and read it using the
appropriate synthesizer voice.
Control How JAWS Uses Style Sheets
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PAC Mate Desktop allows you to control your desktop computer with
your PAC Mate via an ActiveSync connection.
Wide-Range of supported software
Cost: $795.00; $1,495.00(NT)
Usability for
the Visually Impaired User
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User input devices: keyboard vs. mouse
1. ALT+D
2. Tab
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User interface: text
vs.
1. menu icons
2. notepad, word
Ctrl+L
image
1. menu icons
2. flash, shockwave
Usability for
the Visually Impaired User
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Readymade audio content ♪♫♪
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Favorite activities: E-mail, Downloading, Chatting
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Favorite websites: live concert audio feed
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mail.yahoo.com, bittornado, AOL Instant Messenger
www.bt.etree.org
Favorite applications: FTP, Direct Connect
Outline
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Screen reader
Section 508
JAWS , Homepage Reader
Demo
First Hand Experience
Guest: Ahmed Zaghal
References
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_reader
http://www.utoronto.ca/atrc/reference/tech/scread.html
http://www-3.ibm.com/able/solution_offerings/hpr.html
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_downloads/jaws.asp
http://www.nanopac.com/
http://www.cs.wright.edu/bie/rehabengr/Comp1/Speech.htm
http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-WEBCONTENT-19990505
http://www.section508.gov/