[access-uk] Re: Google is more accessible from today
- From: Léonie Watson <tink@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2006 18:06:08 -0000
This isn't limited to access technology either. Opera v9.0 has the
ability to move backwards and forwards between headers, frames and text
elements. More information on using Opera without a mouse can be found here,
although I have no idea if Opera is accessible or not to screen reader
users.
http://www.opera.com/support/tutorials/nomouse/
Regards,
Tink.
_____
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Adrian Higginbotham
Sent: 16 November 2006 16:44
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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
_____
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Tristram Llewellyn
Sent: 16 November 2006 11:15
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Google is more accessible from today
"is it an improvement to accessibility or just a confluence by design or
miss-fortune of one feature within one popular screenreading product and
the semantics of a single website."
In the spirit of discussion I would argue clearly not, as more than one
screen reader navigates by headings for the rather more academically erudite
and upright purpose that the WAI WCAG may aprove of. Rigorous self
contained interpretation of guidelines is one thing, and real life is
another, and there is a danger in thinking that committees that make up WAI
WCAG guidelines can do everything. There is, if you want to think of things
that rigorously no such thing as technology independant accessibility, it is
in fact a web of interconnected technologies and standards. Even assuming
such bodies can think of or decide upon some other kind of structural mark
up that would have this effect, a screen reader or for that matter another
type of accessibility aid would still have to be coded for this if the
guidelines are to remain as such rather than a top down literal standard
that all websites should follow.
Regards.
Tristram Llewellyn
Sight and Sound Technology
Technical Support
www.sightandsound.co.uk
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