How%20People%20With%20Disabilities%20Use%20the%20Web

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How People With Disabilities Use the Web

• Larry G. HullAccessibility Engineer

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Video Know Your Users

• Web Accessibility From the Users Viewpoint
• California State University, Fresno
• http//www.csufresno.edu/webaccess
• Note video is open captioned

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Video Content

• Users with disabilities demonstrate and discuss
  the tools they use and the problems they face
  accessing the web
• Screen Magnification Software
• Screen Reader Software
• Refreshable Braille Display
• Voice Recognition Software

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Objectives

• Know the major disability types
• Become aware of the perspectives of individuals
  with disabilities
• Understand how people with disabilities use the
  web

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Screen Magnification Tips - 1

• Text high in contrast against background
• Dont use drop shadows or blurry edges
• Dont use script style or fancy fonts
• Avoid scrolling or moving text

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Screen Magnification Tips - 2

• Use standard menu locations
• (Left menus work especially well)
• Avoid overly large images
• Dont use soft-focus or blurry images

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Screen Reader Tips - 1

• Include a skip menu link at top of page
• Add alt text for graphics
• Title frames
• Use label to identify entry boxes in forms
• Limit the number of links on a page

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Screen Reader Tips - 2

• Limit the number of links on a page
• Dont automate the selection of a link
• Dont automatically refresh a page
• Be sure link text is descriptive. I.e., links
  need to be understandable when read separately
  from the page content

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Screen Reader Tips - 3

• Dont refer to buttons by their color or by the
  image (e.g., green palm tree)
• Avoid pop up windows if possible
• Include a text warning that clicking a link will
  open the page in a new window
• Provide a link (e.g., button) to close a new
  window

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Voice Recognition Tips - 1

• Alt text for menu buttons must match the text on
  the button exactly
• Keep alt text short and simple
• (does not conflict with screen reader tip that
  links be descriptive)
• Links must be visible, not requiring a mouse roll
  over to be seen

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Voice Recognition Tips - 2

• Place navigation links and forms at the top of
  the page so they are visible without scrolling
• (provide a jump to content, a skip menu)
• Limit scrolling by avoiding long pages
• (or provide a table of contents with links
  that jump to content not visible)

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Visual Disabilities

• Blindness
• Legally Blind
• Low Vision
• Color Blindness
• Do you use assistive technology to overcome a
  visual disability?

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Hearing Disabilities

• The web is a visual medium...or is it?
• Video, audio, and multimedia content is becoming
  more and more common
• Captioned audio is unfortunately still almost
  nonexistent on the web
• Provide transcripts for audio clips
• Provide synchronous captioning for video clips

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Motor Disabilities

• Spinal cord injury Lost or damaged limb(s)
• Cerebral palsy Muscular dystrophy
• Multiple sclerosis Spina bifida
• Arthritis Parkinson's
• Essential Tremor Lou Gehrig's Disease

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Key Motor Disabilities Concepts - 1

• Users may not be able to use a mouse
• Make all functions available from keyboard
• Users may not be able to control the mouse or the
  keyboard well
• Make pages error-tolerant (e.g. ask "are you sure
  you want to delete this file?")
• Do not create small links or moving links

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Key Motor Disabilities Concepts - 2

• Voice-activated software can replicate mouse
  movement, but not as efficiently as keyboard
  functionality
• Make all functions available from the keyboard
• Users may become fatigued using "puff-and-sip" or
  similar technologies
• Provide (visible) skip over menus or other
  lengthy content

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Cognitive Disabilities

• Someone with a cognitive disability has greater
  difficulty with one or more types of mental tasks
  
• Learning disabilities
• Dyslexia
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
• Brain injury
• Genetic diseases

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Degrees of Cognitive Disabilities

• Profound cognitive disability
• Needs assistance with nearly every aspect of
  daily living
• Unable to access much web content
• Less severe cognitive disabilities (e.g.,
  minor learning disorder)
• May function quite adequately
• Able to access well designed web content

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Techniques for Effective Communication - 1

• Keep site navigation simple, clear and consistent
  
• Create structure in documents adding
• Headings
• Bulleted lists
• Numbered lists
• Definition lists

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Techniques for Effective Communication - 2

• Highlight by changing font, adding style, or
  using background (rollover) color
• Simplify layouts as much as possible
• - but no simpler
• Keep navigational schemes as consistent as
  possible

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Techniques for Effective Communication - 3

• Group textual information under logical headings
• Organize information in manageable "chunks."
• Where appropriate, supplement text with
  illustrations or other media, and vice versa
• Dont forget to provide alt text and transcripts
  as needed

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Awkward Age of Computing

• As U.S. population ages, the number of people
  with impairments is increasing
• Technology can mitigate the effects of their
  changing physical abilities
• Windows XP accessibility features
• www.microsoft.com/enable/aging/tips.aspx

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A Screen Too Far

• Can't see text and objects clearly?
• Use large icons
• Increase or decrease font size of Web pages

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Built-in Bifocals

• Trouble seeing things close up?
• Turn on and use Magnifier
• Opens a floating window
• Enlarges different parts of the screen

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Lights, Camera, Action

• Dexterity issues slowing things down?
• Use speech recognition features
• Office XP
• Office 2003

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Tune Out, Tune In

• Alert audible notification problems?
• Turn on SoundSentry
• Get visual warnings for system sounds
• Use Windows XP to display closed captions

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Talk To Me

• Alert audible notification problems?
• Turn on and use Narrator
• Converts text and captions to speech
• Next step screen reader

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Cursor in a Haystack

• Search for cursor or mouse pointer?
• Use Cursor Options to change cursor size,
  appearance, width, color, or blink rate
• Use Control Panel mouse setting to modify pointer

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Loosing Your Grip

• Mouse pointer control problems?
• Use MouseKeys
• Transfer mouse functions to numeric keypad

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All Together Now

• Key Combinations Difficult?
• Use StickyKeys
• Press keys sequentially not simultaneously

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All Shook Up

• Tremors or stiff fingers?
• Use FilterKeys
• Ignore brief or repeated keystrokes
• Slow down the repeat rate

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Easy on the Eyes

• Indistinct or fuzzy images?
• Choose screen resolution
• Choose a high contrast color combination to
  improve screen resolution

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Turn on XP Accessibility

• Enabling Sticky Keys
• Start / Settings / Control Panel / Accessibility
• If accessibility icon is missing, install
  accessory
• Enabling Mouse Keys
• Start / Settings / Control Panel / Accessibility
• Uses the Num Lock part of keyboard

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Mouse Keys

• Diagram Mapping Operations to Keys

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Conclusion

• Design for users with disabilities
• Understand how people with disabilities use the
  web
• Employ relatively simple techniques that increase
  accessibility
• Result is a more usable web site for all
• As always, there are specific issues and problems
  that can also be addressed