09/28/2011
Alt Text
- Every image must have an alt attribute, but not every image needs alt text.
- There's no such thing as an alt tag.
- The purpose of alt is not to display a tooltip. Microsoft, in their wisdom, decided that this would be a nice feature, and implemented it in Internet Explorer. Firefox, and other browsers which implement the spec as it was intended, correctly don't display alt as a tooltip. If a tooltip doesn't show up in your browser when you hover over an image, it doesn't necessarily mean the image doesn't have alt, or the site is inaccessible.
- You don't need to preface every alt text with "graphic", "image" or "photo" (except in specific instances, see below)
When it comes to writing alt text, all images are definitely not created equally. Alt text needs to be written according to the purpose of the image, not necessarily its content, and different types of images can be dealt with in different ways.
Images which convey information
It should be fairly obvious which images are intended to convey information and which aren't. If you're unsure, imagine you're reading the page out to someone over the phone. Is the information in the image important enough for you to mention? If so, it's an information image, and needs an appropriate alt text. As an example, if you have a page of information about a company director, including a photograph, then that photograph is intended to give information (i.e., what he or she looks like), so can be given alt text of "Photograph of Joe Bloggs, Chief Executive".Decorative images
An easy one this. Using the phone test - if it's just there to add some pretty to a page, then it doesn't need descriptive alt text. It can instead be given empty (alt=" "), or preferably, null (alt="") alt text. Null is preferable because empty will show up a tiny yellow tooltip. Alternatively, you can remove the image from the HTML entirely, and display it as a background image using CSS. This should never be done for information images.Functional images
Does exactly what it says on the tin. Or at least, the alt text should. Functional image alt text needs to describe the function, not the look. Where an image is used as a link, this is usually the destination of the link (e.g., "Home", "About us"). Form submit buttons should state the purpose (e.g., "Search now", "Go", "Cancel", etc.). If you're using your logo to link to your home page (or someone else's), then you don't need the word "logo". Your alt text could simply be "Organisation home" (if it's on your site), or just "Organisation" if it's someone else's.Images of text
Should be avoided, where possible, in favour of actual text, but where you have to use them, the alt text is easy - just repeat the text that's displayed in the image. Layout images
Now that CSS is gaining popularity and browser support, these should be a thing of the past, but if you've got spacer gifs or images which are only there to help you with the layout, try and keep them to a minimum, and make sure they have null or empty alt.
Structural images
These should also be replaced with appropriate HTML or CSS, but if you must, then make sure they have alt which correctly reflects the structural nature of the image, rather than what it looks like (e.g., "bullet" or "item", or even "*" for a list bullet graphic).
Complex images
If you've got charts or graphs, or anything more complicated than can be summed up in a few words, then alt isn't really going to do it for you and you'll need a longer description. You still need to give the image appropriate alt text though, and this can be as simple as "Graph showing the steady growth in share prices over the past five years". For the longer description, this can be presented in several ways, the easiest and most logical of which is in accompany text on the same page. If you can't do that, a link to a longer description can be given, again, preferably adjacent to the image it relates to.
Image maps
The main image used for the image map needs alt text, as well as each AREA element. The alt for the main image could be something like "Map of wards in x district", and, perhaps obviously, the alts for the AREA element should follow the rules for functional images given above. If in doubt, step back and think about what the purpose of the image is, and remember, keep it concise.
Source: http://www.rnib.org.uk/professionals/webaccessibility/wacblog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=22
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Vigil planned for corner where disabled pedestrian was hit (Kansas City Star)
A nonprofit that assists people with disabilities will hold a vigil in honor of a visually impaired pedestrian who was killed last month. The gathering will start at 5 p.m. Thursday at Main and 31st streets, which is where Chip Bloch, 54, was hit by a motorist on Aug. 29. Bloch was walking to his job at Metropolitan Community College's Penn Valley campus when he was struck.
Source : Kansas City Star
Explore : Health
Source: http://wik.io/info/US/290445960
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Have an opinion about how well Social Security follows accessibility guidelines in compliance with Section 504 of the Rehab Act?
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Multiple JavaScript event handlers
A classic example of trying too hard and making accessibility bloopers, can be found when web authors provide too many JavaScript event handlers in an effort to ensure device independence. This is the fifth in our series of articles on "too much accessibility".
Ensuring that users can make JavaScript events work, regardless of the way that they access your web page is vital. Users should be able to activate JavaScript events whether they use a mouse, keyboard, pointing / switch device or any other means of navigation. However, if two or more event handlers, designed to perform the same task are used, the effect can be the opposite of the one you intended. The most common problem is where onClick is used, and authors, believing that this is a mouse dependent event handler, will add an onKeypress, or similar to make sure that keyboard and switch users aren't left out. The problem here is caused by the belief that onClick is always mouse dependent. If the event is attached to a link or form control, onClick is device independent. In Internet Explorer there is no effect when onClick and onKeypress are used together; the second handler is ignored. No surprise there then. However in Mozzilla Firefox and Opera, the web author is taken at his word, and using onClick with onKeypress will activate the link or button, when all the user is trying to do is navigate over and passed it.. This kindly meant, but flawed technique has been seen in the wild, on a search button, which was preceded only by a link to the home page and the search input field. This meant that if navigating by using the [tab] key, there were only two pages available, Home and Search Results. The intrepid user could, of course, hold down the [shift] key while tabbing, which reverses the tab order, but would you walk backwards into a shop?
Source: http://www.rnib.org.uk/professionals/webaccessibility/wacblog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=39
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Reading List
Source: http://www.brucelawson.co.uk/2011/reading-list-6/
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09/27/2011
Assistive Technology Experiment: ZoomText
Source: http://webaim.org/blog/at-experiment-zoomtext/
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HTML5 and WAI-ARIA
Source: http://alastairc.ac/2010/04/accessibility-and-html5/
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Are your mobile apps accessible?
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is a useful standard for anyone wanting to create an accessible website, but there's no equivalent guidelines for creating mobile apps, so many developers may not realise there's a need, or a way, to make them accessible.
In this article we'll take a quick tour of the more popular phone operating systems, their levels of accessibility and how to create accessible apps for them.
iPhone
The iPhone has fast become a serious contender in the technology fashion parade among blind and partially sighted people. Some of the reasons for this are:
- The stunning (and free!) array of accessibility features built into the iPhone since the release of the 3G S in 2009, including a screen magnifier and fully featured screen reader.
- Concerns that phones using the Symbian operating system, currently used by a lot of blind and partially sighted people with an add-on screen reader and magnifier, won't be around for much longer.
- The ability to have a piece of high-end technology like this at the same time and same price as everyone else is almost a first and is causing quite a buzz.
How do I make my iPhone app accessible?
If you're using standard views and controls, they'll come pre-loaded with accessibility, so there's very little you need to do. Just make sure all your controls, including image buttons, have meaningful labels and the job is pretty much done.
If you're creating your own views or controls, you need to make them accessible by setting their accessibility status.
The Accessibility Programming Guide for IOS on the Apple site explains what you need to do to make your app accessible.
Accessibility for iPhone and iPad apps, an excellent blog post on the subject by Matt Gemmell, is also worth a read.
Once you've got an accessible app to show off, make sure to tell your prospective blind and partially sighted customers about it. A good way to do this is to list it as an accessible app on the AppleVis website. Also drop an email to our technology team - they might even make it an app of the month!
Android
So far Android phones haven't had the same take-up as the iPhone among blind and partially sighted people. Some of the reasons why are:
- Until Android 1.6, there wasn't a built-in screen reader so users had to choose, download and install their own.
- It's almost impossible to make an Android touch-screen phone accessible, so users were limited to phones with physical keyboards and track pads.
- From a developer perspective, building accessibility into an Android app isn't quite as easy as creating an accessible iPhone app because the Android accessibility API has more limitations.
The Designing for Accessibility page on the Google Eyes Free site gives an overview of how to make your Android apps accessible. It's nothing like as comprehensive as the Apple guide, but it should get you started.
Code Factory, the creators of the newly released Mobile Accessibility for Android screen reader, with its suite of ten accessible apps, are working on an accessibility framework for developers, which may be worth a look once it's released. Check whether it only allows for accessibility within the Mobile Speak environment, as this might be a limitation you want to avoid.
Blackberry
A screen reader called Oratio for Blackberry was released in the US and Canada in 2010, but up till now hasn't reached the UK. It currently only works with some older model phones that have physical keyboards. So right now it's not possible for a screen reader user in the UK to use a Blackberry.
RIM, the makers of Blackberry, have created a low-vision theme called Clarity that uses large sans-serif fonts and easy-to-read colour schemes.
There's more information about Clarity, and links to other accessibility info including a developer guide on RIM's Blackberry accessibility page.
Windows Phone 7
Unlike its predecessor Windows Phone 6.5, Windows Phone 7 is completely inaccessible to blind and partially sighted people, and it's been written in a way that stops developers from making it accessible. RNIB and other blindness organisations around the world are in talks with Microsoft, but it's likely to take at least a year before we see any improvement. So it's not currently possible to write an accessible app for Windows Phone 7.
Conclusion
Although the Blackberry and Windows Phone 7 story remains bleak, there's a lot you can do to make your iPhone and Android apps accessible.
Happy programming!
Source: http://www.rnib.org.uk/professionals/webaccessibility/wacblog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=47
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