[access-uk] Using BBC Flash based iPlayer site with JAWS - long
- From: "Tristram Llewellyn" <tristram.llewellyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 15:52:41 -0000
I noticed this morning some interest in the Flash based iPlayer site. I
have whatched the whole iPlayer thing with hope and then again sometimes
with despondancy. My latest take is that things are improving albeit
slowly with the Flash based streaming site since I last looked at it
JAWS a couple of months or so ago. The iPlayer service is still a
developing organism and still has some shortcomings, it is however
useable by a patient and reasonably knowledgeable JAWS user. I expect
that the other Flash aware screen readers will also be able to attack
this site with some success also. I would also expect that
accessibility of the site will improve.
Technologically I do not think it will be possible to design something
along the line of the WebbIE tools to gain access to this content. The
iPlayer site is what we have to work with and what we (as in the
generalised screen reader/access community) would urge the BBC to
improve.
The information posted here is mostly accurate but I offer it as is on
the basis of the conditions of ongoing changing nature and hope despite
its imperfect nature that it helps someone out there.
Jaws: Using BBC iPlayer click to play service
Product: Jaws
Version: 9.0
Windows OS: XP
Updated: 05/03/2008
Question:
How can you use the BBC iPlayer click to play service with JAWS.
Note 1: This information in this article relates to a web
resource which may be updated from time to time and therefore some of
the information in this article may be necessarily inaccurate.
Respectively this article is therefore a work in progress which will
have to be updated to keep page with these developments.
Note 2: The BBC iPlayer service is still in a stage of continued
development and the accessibility of this service will change and may
improve. However, even at present its present state it can be made use
of by moderately knowledgeable JAWS users.
Detailed information:
The BBC late in 2007 introduced its iPlayer download service that allows
users to download the last seven days BBC TV output and play it back on
their PCs with Windows XP or VISTA operating systems. In an effort for
further widen the potential audience the BBC later introduced a Flash
based playback only service called "Click to play" on the iPlayer site
at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer. This extension to the service was primarily
designed to placate users of other computer platforms which were not
compatible with the iPlayer download system, but has become more popular
generally and views with this service outnumber the download system by
about eight to one in favour of "click to play". The service makes
extensive use of Flash technology and although it is not as easy to use
with a screen reader as it possibly could be, it can still be useful.
Requirements:
* At present this service has been tested with Internet Explorer
7.0 only under XP. Other browsers make not work as well or differently
(such as Firefox) when using JAWS with this service.
* You must have the latest version of Flash player installed on
your computer this can be obtained from Adobe Systems www.adobe.com. In
future the BBC may decide to use a different format for streaming
however Flash is what is currently in use.
* This system has been tested with JAWS 9.0 so far, other Jaws
versions may also work however Jaws 7.10 may be considered viable.
* You should have some knowledge or how the use virtual PC cursor
keys, have some knowledge of quick navigation keys or have access to
reference them, the letter B for web page buttons and letter H for
headings will both be very useful and speed up operation.
Overview of operation:
There are two main steps using the iPlayer site, first is program
selection based on categories and the second is playing and controlling
the stream.
When first opened the BBC iPlayer site consists of six main navigation
links for locate programs, underneath these are sub categories. Once
you have selected a sub-category you may then select a program. After
selecting a program you may start its stream at which point player
controls which are otherwise not visible to the JAWS user become
available to control playback. Whilst not all of these controls are
accessible the majority of the essential ones can be used.
Steps for program selection:
1 With JAWS and Internet Explorer running press control+O and type
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer and press enter.
2 There are six links on this page that mainly concern us, these
are; home, last 7 days, Categories, A To Z and Radio whose meaning
should be fairly obvious. You can access these using insert+F7 links
list or the virtual PC cursor and finally by using tab key.
3 Select the link most appropriate to the way you wish to find a
program, eg. "Last 7 days" or "categories" and then press enter.
4 If you have chosen "Last 7 days" link then you may select one of
the days of the week of programmes that have opened below. If you have
chosen "Categories" then you can select programme categories such as
"Drama" or "Entertainment and comedy" for example. To choose a category
move the virtual PC cursor to the desired category and press enter.
5 To locate the program under the selected category you selected
you can use the letter H to move close the list of results as the
category you have selected will displayed on the page now as a heading.
6 After pressing H to locate the results heading you can use the
arrow keys with the virtual PC cursor to examine the results.
7 With the VPC you can press enter on either "filter results by
most recent" or on "A to Z". The latter of these two options gives the
listing of program results in alphabetical form.
8 Next in order using the VPC will be the heading called results
page number, your programme results may be on more than one page which
may allow you to skip to a page most likely to contain the programs you
are looking for. Pressing enter on any given number will jump to that
results page.
9 Further down are the actual programs are now listed. You can
use the arrow keys and also the letter H to scan through the heading
level three links which are the programs themselves.
Using search edit box to find programs
1 Press insert+F5 to list the form fields on the BBC iplayer site,
there are usually only two, choose the "unlabelled edit" and press
enter.
2 Type the name of the program you wish to find and press enter.
3 Press control to stop speech and press letter H for headings to
locate your search results.
4 Now use H for headings for the cursor keys to browse the results
from there.
5 When you have found the desired program press enter to reach its
page and start the stream (see below).
Playing and pausing the stream:
You are now ready to play the stream:
* To locate the play button press B until you reach the "find
programs" button and press tab to reach "4 buttons" or "--:--.--"
button, press enter on either of these to start the stream.
* To stop the stream immediately you can activate the same button
to pause the stream.
Problems playing a stream
When you press enter on some programs from your search results that are
flagged as parental guidance a pop up will display asking you to confirm
you age. JAWS does not appear to see this, if you have some residual
vision you may see contrasted a white box against the usually darker
background. You are not able to start the program until you have dealt
with this. If you find you cannot start the program then this may be
the problem. To resolve this issue press control+F to find the word
"yes" on the page. This forms part of a prompt for a checkbox "yes I am
over 16" and press spacebar to check the checkbox and then down arrow to
the "OK" button and press enter. From then you can play back the
stream.
Hints for player controls
Many of the controls in the player only have numbers and sometimes the
order in which they appear can change. It is often best to navigate
using the buttons quick navigation keys. Some of these numbers are more
important than others and you can use the "custom label" feature under
the insert+F2 keystroke to name some of these important controls so they
stand out for easier access. The following points are some navigation
hints about the player controls.
* Once the stream has started by pressing enter o the "4" button
or "--:--.-" button you will gain access more of the player's controls.
You can access these using tab and shift tab keys.
* If you tab to the "5" button this is the "play/pause" button
which you can operate with enter or spacebar. Note that you can use the
Jaws custom label feature to name this control.
* If you press tab or sometimes shift tab you will also find other
options including the "6" button which is "rewind" to start of stream
button.
* Button "8" is the volume but is not accessible to use with JAWS.
* To activate full screen view you must use tab or the B for
button quick navigation key to locate button "20" and press spacebar,
then press insert+minus to route JAWS to PC cursor and press number pad
slash. This is because this button only seems to except a mouse click
operation.
* To stop full screen mode press escape, the steam will however
continue playing.
Glossary:
Flash
A system designed to deliver content online independent of computer
platform, in order for users to access Flash content one must have the
latest version of the Adobe Flash player installed. Currently at the
time of writing this is version 10.
Pop Up
Usually a term used to describe a small window that appears after a
specific user action has taken place. Examples of such windows may
alert users os something or to ask for more information.
Stream
A stream is where either audio or video is fed down to a player on a
users PC for listening or watching. This avoids having to download the
whole file at once so that the user gets almost immediate playback
except where Internet connection conditions are bad. Streaming has
become most popular since the widespread introduction of broadband.
Quick Navigation Keys
A system used in Jaws that allows letter keys to be used whilst working
in Internet Explorer that allow single key navigation to specific kinds
of page elements for example B to navigate to firs and subsequent button
elements on a web page.
VPC
Short for Virtual PC Cursor as when used within the Internet Explorer
window with JAWS.
Regards.
Tristram Llewellyn
tristram.llewellyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Technical Support
Sight and Sound Technology
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