[vicsireland] Re: Javaa Scripts
- From: "Ed Harper" <goat@xxxxxx>
- To: <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2007 22:44:09 -0000
Hi Tony,
I may be wrong, but I don't think the other Tony was vehemently attacking
you. I suspect he was expressing frustration at one of the things which is
a comnplete nuisance, as I am sure you know - and that's why you sent the
thing to the list - to anyone using a screen reader. I have also had the
experience of trying to use the audio alternative, to discover that it
didn't work. It's a bit like the alternative accessible site that some
companies feel is the way forward, they usually don't get so rigorously
tested and so are frequently not accessible.
On the otherhand I entirely agree with you that any attempt to offer an
alternative is better than none, as it at least gives a starting point for
negotiation, and if an audio capture doesn't work it isn't unreasonable to
approach the webmaster and say so. In the case I came across I did, but
with no effect sadly, or at least no reply.
I would be very sorry if you didn't send articles of this type to the list
as I find them interesting.
All The Best
Ed
-----Original Message-----
From: vicsireland-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:vicsireland-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of tonysweeney
Sent: 12 February 2007 15:39
To: vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [vicsireland] Re: Javaa Scripts
I feel your reaction to be ____________way over the top
Surely something is better than nothing till we get the inclusivity "design
For All" we all seek!
Pity you couldn't have given a more reasoned response!
I am not speaking for the article writer but his peace seemed reasonable
enough under the circumstances.
I doubt that anyone would be so stupid as to think that an article
forwarded to your list would necessarily be the opinion of Vics!
Surely all thoughts and opinions should be discussed with respect and in a
civilized manner!
Why do you not contact the editor and article writer giving your opinion
there?
You will have no worries about me forwarding articles to your list in the
future because I won't be!_____
I am also seriously considering not renewing my membership when it is due
around again.
Disgusted.
Tony Sweeney.
----- Original Message -----
>From: "Tony Murray" <Tony.G.Murray@xxxxxx>
To: <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 9:21 AM
Subject: [vicsireland] Re: Javaa Scripts
Hi,
I don't think the below article is particularly helpful to anyone, and it's
message is skewed in my opinion. To be honest, I'd prefer not to see this
kind of stuff posted on our list, as I'd hate to think that VICS would
support recommendations like the below.
"captchas can be made accessible by using audio clips in addition to images
to verify users as human. Some sites, like LiveJournal.com, already do
this."
Yeah, Right!
- What about deaf/blind people?
- What about those using single channel soundcards? (Jaws won't speak while
the audio clip is playing in this case)
- What about people using magnification and who have no soundcard? (I bet
those distorted images are pretty tough to make out for someone using
something like Lunar)
- What about someone who may have cognitive difficulties?
- What about those with dexterity problems?
- What about someone who just can't really type that quickly?
Hardly 'design for all'. Captchas = bad. I don't know how you would make
them truly accessible, but the below suggestion is fairly pathetic. There
must be an alternative solution to the use of Captchas.
Cheers,
Tony
----- Original Message -----
>From: "tonysweeney" <tonysweeney1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "vics" <vicsireland@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2007 2:20 AM
Subject: [vicsireland] Javaa Scripts
> Chicago Defender, IL, USA
> Friday, February 09, 2007
>
> As Web evolves, blind left behind
>
> By Tim Spangler
>
> The last time Ray Campbell tried to buy Cubs tickets online, Tickets.com
> asked him to enter the text in a distorted image in order to prove that he
> was
> not a robot programmed to automatically buy tickets for scalpers. .
>
> The only problem: Campbell couldn't read the text in the image. In fact,
> he
> couldn't see it at all - he's been blind his entire life.
>
> "All I want to do is buy tickets and I can't do that, because there's this
> verification and they have not provided an audio link to it," Campbell
> said.
>
> For America's nearly 2 million blind or visually impaired Internet users,
> problems like these can prevent them from taking advantage of all the Web
> has
> to offer.
>
> "The two challenges with Web accessibility are not just being able to
> access
> the site, but being able to use the site," said Leah Gerlach, director of
> counseling
> at the Diecke Center for Vision Rehabilitation in Wheaton.
>
> Gerlach said the growing use of multimedia video on Web sites creates a
> significant accessibility challenge, saying that Internet video can
> confuse
> the
> screen reading software that blind and visually impaired people use to
> browse the Internet.
>
> Blind Browsing
>
> Blind and visually impaired people use special software called screen
> readers that "speak" to them in a synthetic voice what is happening on the
> screen.
>
> When browsing a Web site, a screen reader examines a page's code and
> determines how the page is laid out and what links are on it, then reads
> the
> content
> of the page to a user.
>
> Screen readers rely on explanatory text, defined by webmasters, to
> interpret
> images. Because of this, the World Wide Web Consortium, which sets
> Internet
> standards, requires developers to define alternative text for every image
> on
> a page.
>
> Multimedia content, like Adobe Flash, is unintelligible to screen readers
> and is skipped entirely when the page is read. Sites that rely heavily on
> Flash
> should be sure to offer accessible, text-only versions of their pages.
>
> Screen reading software uses text-to-speech conversion, machines that
> translate on-screen text to Braille or a combination of both to present a
> Web page
> to a blind or visually impaired user.
>
> The challenges
>
> Campbell is a technician at the assistive technology help desk at the the
> Chicago Lighthouse, an organization for the blind and visually impaired. A
> former
> software engineer at Lucent Technologies, he now takes calls from blind
> and
> visually impaired people across the U.S. and Canada and helps them solve
> computer
> problems and navigate Web sites.
>
> Campbell identified what he said are the Web's three major accessibility
> problems: graphics without descriptive text, required plug-in
> installations
> and
> visual registration tests, called captchas, an acronym for "Completely
> Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart."
> Captchas
> are
> particularly troublesome when it comes to accessibility.
>
> Why captchas?
>
> Many major sites require users to verify that they are actually human -
> not
> automated robots. By presenting the browser with a captcha - an image of
> distorted
> text that is difficult for a computer to decode - and asking the user to
> enter the text they see in the image, robots can be blocked from the site
> while
> human users who can see the text are given access. Campbell said that
> captchas can be made accessible by using audio clips in addition to images
> to verify
> users as human. Some sites, like LiveJournal.com, already do this.
>
> What works, what doesn't
>
> Blogging, a growing Internet phenomenon, is still largely text-based and
> tends to be more screen reader friendly than other applications.
>
> "My experience has taught me that [blogging] is pretty accessible," said
> Campbell, who keeps his own blog on LiveJournal.
>
> "Screen readers can handle a lot of the current techniques that are being
> used in Web design," Campbell said, as long as designers take extra care
> to
> make
> their sites accessible. These include avoiding the use of images to
> display
> text, providing audio narration for videos and offering text-only versions
> of pages with multimedia content.
>
> As interactive, multimedia Web sites become more prevalent, blind and
> visually impaired users might find themselves behind the curve as
> designers
> forgo
> accessible pages for glitzy ones and screen reading software lags behind,
> said Leah Gerlach at the Diecke Center
>
> "We don't drive change. We have to follow it and keep up with it," Gerlach
> said. "We're always six months behind cutting edge because we have to be."
>
> Tim Spangler is a reporter for the Medill News Service.
>
> http://www.chicagodefender.com/page/local.cfm?ArticleID=8439
>
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