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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.
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
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
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
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.
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
Why Care About Accessibility?
• Compliance with the law• Keeping talent• Serving your clientele• A waiting market• Because you care• A sound technical approach
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
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
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
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
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
Why Care: Serving Your Clientele
• Many institutions by definition serve people with disabilities• Education• Social services• Banks and other financial services• Government
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
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
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
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
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
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
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
Disabilities
• Cognitive impairment• Dyslexia
• Physical impairment• Limited dexterity
• Sensory impairment• Blind• Deaf
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
Disabilities: Cognitive disabilities
Dyslexia, learning disabilities, hyperactivity
• Supporting the person’s interaction with content• Software that speaks highlighted text
• Search that suggests alternative spellings
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
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
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
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
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
How AT Works
• Programs• Adaptive Technology API
• Web sites• Static• Dynamic• Interactive Dynamic (AJAX)
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
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
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
How AT Works:Web Pages
• Standards-based• Semantic markup• Alternative text for non-text
objects• Association
• Tables• Forms
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
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
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
Web Technology Improvements
• Device Independence• Standardization
• HTML/XHTML• DOM• Scripting
• Adaptive Technology• Rich Media
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
How AT Works:Simple HTML
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
How AT Works:HTML And Javascript
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
How AT Works:HTML and AJAX
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
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
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
Achieving Accessibility
• Organization priority• Build understanding of accessibility
across the organization• Provide development frameworks
that support accessible design• Build accessibility evaluation skills
October 2, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007
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, 2007 IEEE IPCC 2007