[access-uk] Re: Google is more accessible from today
- From: "Ray's Home" <rays-home@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2006 23:34:22 -0000
Adrian, please do not get the impression that I'm suggesting the mere inclusion
of
headings alone is somehow a magic bullet which will dramatically improve access
or
usability of web pages. No, I'm only saying - as have quite a few here - that
it
has improved the usefulness of the Googleresults page.
I'm not a committee person, and nor am I involved in web development, but I
would
say the more web developers get to know about how screen readers can use the
various elements available for web page design, the more likely it might be they
will use these in their designs so that the the navigability of a site can be
better and its appearance still be good too. After all, isn't this what Tink
and
others are trying to do?
Amongst the sites I'd say are good to use for me are the Beeb, in general; my
bank's internet banking site, and Spamjab, which fortunately, I don't have to
use
so much now. In all cases it is due to elements such as headings, forms, combo
boxes and more being used propperly.
A not so good site, but not 'inaccessable' is Sound On Sound. there I find that
the start of a product review doesn't have a heading, in fact the review pages
don't have headings at all, but I would have thought a heading would certainly
be
appropriate in such a position. Still, not all is lost. I know that by
searching
for 'reviews' I land where I want to be.
So, I restate, apart from the design and coding of web pages, we must learn to
drive our screen readers properly too.
I am not at all sure how much committees can publish general guidelines and lay
down standards that are readily understood by many web developers. I suppose
though they have to try and do just that.
From Ray
I can be contacted off-list at:
mailto:ray-48@xxxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of
Graham Page
Sent: 16 November 2006 7:23PM
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Google is more accessible from today
supernova does as well as does IBM homepage reader though this is not really a
screenreader. I believe System Access does as well.
Regards
Graham
----- Original Message -----
From: Adrian Higginbotham
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 4:43 PM
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Google is more accessible from today
Good to hear that it is more than just one product that support navigation
by
heading, can anyone advance on JFW and W_E? of course if more sites like Google
implement structural mark-up then other assistive technology venders may follow
suit and this would be a positive thing. What worries me about the Search
results
as Headings as implemented by Google is not so much that they have done it,
afterall so many people have already said how helpful it is, and I am indeed
finding it is making my own life much easier, but rather that the Web
development
community at large may latch on to the idea that in order to make your Website
accessible to screenreader users you should mark-up important information in an
#h' tag. of course I might be too sinical and actually Google are leading the
world in using structural mark-up something which many of us have been
campaigning
for for a long long time and not just on the Web. here's hoping that every
document author follows their example. Let us however stay on their case and
make
sure that such a useful tag is used appropriately otherwise it will sease to be
effective. My concerns are in the main based on some work I did with a
consultant
a year or so ago who had used a screenreader user to test some of their work. He
had watched the individual navigating the Web for a while and concluded that in
the main he did not use site navigation but rather tended to read content and
follow links from there in, often following a very round about route to reach
his
destination. His particular solution to this was to enhance the access support
in
the content (good news) but to let loose with the role-over drop down menus and
other javascript dependant objects within navigation structures purely because
his
experience was that this would have little impact. Yes that was one developer
and
one insidence but it does demonstrate the power behind messages such as "thanks
for putting headers on every paragraph". developers like the rest of us look
for
easy solutions to difficult problems and I do feel that as a community we need
to
be cautious about over simplifying what are lets be honest complex issues.
Similar examples are evident as far back as the early days of the WAI
guidance, particular ones which spring to mind are the RNIB advocating the use
of
the star symbol (*) as an alt tag for esthetic images rather than a null value.
Viewing this on a scree in a training room the star looked rather like a letter
"x" and for a year or two there was a spat of UK Websites with sporadic xs'
here
and there for no obvious reason.
So yes lets offer praise where praise is due but lets also temper it with a
reminder that there is more work still to be done - has anyone for example had
cause to use the Google audio capchure feature lately - excellent that they
found
a work around for the visual only capchure but I'm not sure that the numbers
spoken over a garbled background noise is satisfactory, has anyone with hearing
loss tried to use this ?
Adrian Higginbotham
Project manager, Standards
British Educational Communications and Technology Agency - BECTA
Tel: Direct dial 024 7679 7333 - Becta switchboard 02476-416994.
Email: Adrian.Higginbotham@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Web: http://www.becta.org.uk/
BECTA, Millburn Hill Road, Science Park, Coventry, CV4 7JJ
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