Entries tagged with accessibility - MIX Online

Web Accessibility with Cynthia Shelly

Joshua Allen — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:07:00 GMT

Cynthia Shelly has worked with web accessibility both inside Microsoft and with our partners. She currently works in the Accessible Business Unit; the team who bring you the accessibility center on MSDN, among other things.

Cynthia recently joined me in the MIX Online studios to discuss her work with web accessibility at Microsoft; from common issues and problems she has seen in Microsoft web sites as well as external sites, to her work as part of the Windows Live Writer team. Live Writer was a fascinating example, since it's a tool which allows people to create accessible web content, which itself is accessible -- attention to both sides of the equation that is often overlooked.

Screen Reader Demo

Joshua Allen — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:21:00 GMT

The other day, while helping an agency build accessibility into a Silverlight project, the designer asked where he could see an example of a screen reader in action. This is a reasonable question, since the vast majority of web developers and designers have never observed someone using a screen reader. And simply trying to use one yourself is likely to lead to frustration and little real empathy for everyday users of screen readers. You can't really test accessibility by having sighted people conduct usability tests using a screen reader.

I recommended that my designer friend check out the classic YUI video showing Victor Tsaran using a screen reader. Be sure to watch starting around the 25:00 minute mark where Victor speeds things up to what is normal speed for him.

The other advice I often give people wanting to understand the user experience of someone using a screen reader, is imagine that users are browsing your site using the Lynx web browser. This advice works best if you actually have used Lynx a bit, so you understand what it's like to navigate in a linear, link-oriented fashion. If you don't use Lynx, or if the page heavily uses AJAX, you can get an idea by simply dumping the list of the links on the page in linear order, along with alt tags for any images.

Accessibility: It's The Law

Joshua Allen — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 01:59:00 GMT

Last time I discussed accessibility here, it was to hold out a carrot. Designing for accessibility makes your site more mashable, skinnable, and maintainable. But if the carrot isn't enough, the government holds a big stick.

The U.S. District Court of Northern California has just ruled that a class-action lawsuit can proceed alleging that Target failed to make its web site accessible to the blind. Every case is unique, and I can't speculate on what the outcome will be in this case, but it sends a strong message. Accessibility is the law.

The regulations squeeze from two directions at once, like the jaws of a vice. Not only may sites be required to comply with Americans With Disabilities Act as in the case above, but the federal government (the biggest purchaser of technology in the world) will only do business with vendors who comply with accessibility guidelines.

While many popular web-development tools (like Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar) recommend that you check your web site against Section 508 guidelines, it's questionable if simply validating Section 508 is enough. That's the problem with validators -- any creative person can conceive of a site design which is accessible yet doesn't validate, or a site design which validates yet is not accessible. You should use 508 only as a starting point.

Another challenge is that the legislative guidelines were developed before AJAX and RIA really took hold, and the standards bodies are only just beginning to catch up. It may be some time before the legislation catches up with current practice. But this shouldn't deter you from taking accessibility seriously. Several countries besides the U.S. have regulations regarding web accessibility, and these regulations will only become crisper over time.

And besides, when the carrots are so tasty, why get too close to the stick?