Web Site Accessibility Blog

Now here’s an item of interest, a large print keyboard. You have to wonder how much more productive people can be with this type of interface. The company also sells Braille labels to paste on the keys as well. The keyboard is not only large print, but also offers different levels of contrasting keyboards for low-vision users.

The keyboards are available at www.Keys-u-see.com

The keyboards also include a number of hotkeys for email, Internet and multimedia controls. The directional keys are molded with arrows, allowing users a tactile sense of the arrow keys. The price is the same as a typical keyboard product, under $40 USD, which makes it easily affordable for businesses, libraries or other public access areas.

Something I learned from a placement specialist is that most businesses assume that hiring a person with disabilities will require thousands of dollars of assistive technology changes to the workplace or workstation. That is radical thinking, and very far from the truth. In the vast majority of instances, the necessary assistive changes are as simple as a new keyboard or larger monitor. It is easier to accommodate than most people realize.

IBM is donating 50,000 lines of code to Mozilla’s Firefox project, which will enable FireFox v1.5 to offer enhanced accessibility features. The technology will allow for page magnification within the browser, automatic page narration, and keyboard navigation. These features will enhance the user experience for users with visual or motor disabilities.

The code will enable users to access these features without installing any additional software or plug-ins. According to the article, IBM has already helped FireFox with the support for Microsoft’s Active Accessibility, which is the industry standard for screen-reader technology.

As an avid FireFox user – I really love this announcement. It creates competition; competition creates innovation, which makes better products. I like this relationship and where it is heading. This isn’t so much of an anti-Microsoft happiness that I have, but a win-win for users that will benefit from this move.

This article on CreativeMatch.com caught my eye, as it is a standards-accessibility supporting article, citing the need for interoperability. Multiple user-agents, such as users with screen readers, Braille keyboards, PDA’s, mobile devices and an increasing number of automated agents are accessing web sites. As such, the author advocates a central focus on content, as he makes the statement, “The essence of accessibility is to put the content of a web page first and the design second.”

Now, while I am an accessibility advocate, I am also a marketing advocate. I have been known to agree with the mantra that “Content is King”, but I would be hard-pressed to say that design should be sacrificed to the sole expense of design. This seems like a somewhat logical statement; however it lacks the marketing focus of a website.

Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab released a recent study about user’s evaluations of web site credibility. While most of the subjects cited the importance and requirement of a privacy policy in assessing credibility, none actually used that strict of a criteria during the actual study. The finding showed that user overwhelmingly prefer to judge sites on the more “superficial” attractiveness of design. More than 46% of the respondents cited the design of the site. Specifically, the topography, layout, and font size and color scheme of the overall web site. One of the overwhelming elements that users found attractive was visual cues. Comments about visual design and trust increased in financial sites(54.6%), search engines (52.6%) and travel sites.

While sites should never rely solely on visual cues for navigation, information or other means of communication, visual cues are an important method of marketing a website. Simply because not all can use or see the visual options provided on a web site is by no means a reason to renounce implementing content around a design.

Design is a specific marketing and artistic expression that is central to persuasion and setting the tone for an advertisement, product display or meeting. If content were king in the off-line world, then we would have to toss out the image-oriented stores and only have rows of product with minimal marketing. Sort of the difference between the typical mall stores, such as Victoria’s Secret, and a Wal-Mart. Maybe that’s a horrid example, but it’s the best I can think of right now. (I don’t make frequent trips to the mall.)

In summary, we have to be willing to sell or provide information to site visitors with the way they prefer that interaction. There is a large group of people that use visual cues and enjoy the design, as it is a primary marketing tool. However, accessibility should be integrated, as marketing also implies getting out the message to the greatest amount of people as possible.

In the interest of fair play, I have posted the captcha’s from both MSN and Yahoo. For those who may have missed the earlier post, Google also requires a Captcha to register for their Gmail service. Helping someone sign up for a gmail account the other day, I had to explain that this was required, but there was no alternative to having a sighted person assist the process. Unfortunately, for those who do not have sighted assistance, there is no other alternative or instructions for alternate access.

I’ll be speaking at Search Engine Strategies next week in San Jose, and both Google and Yahoo are making their engineers available to answer questions. This is at the top of my list, so I will hopefully have some news after next week.

Francis West, IBM Worldwide Accessibility Director, wrote a great article found at ZDNet UK concerning the current accessibility law debates. European countries are considering defining, enforcing and labeling of accessibility, and many are asking them to consider the Unites States’ example of Section 508 as appended in 1998. If every country decides to create their own standards and enforcement of accessibility, then it could create a dampening affect, as products, software and innovation could suffer because of the multiple restrictions, approvals and definitions.

These actions could create different standards, and result in countries; agencies and developers arguing about whose standards are standard. But just as the Internet has no central governing authority, West suggests that accessibility should follow the same path and maintain an open dialog and collaboration.

The latest figures quoted by the article:

The World Health Organisation estimates that between 750 million and 1 billion of the world’s 6 billion people have a speech, vision, mobility, hearing or cognitive impairment.

In the US alone, more than 54 million people have disabilities. The numbers are increasing as 76 million baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 get older. In other developed countries, including Italy, Spain and Japan, 45 percent of the population will be over the age of 60 by the year 2040, according to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

Sesame Street has just released a new video, “Sesame Street – Friends to the Rescue.” The Children’s Television Workshop has created a show to help children understand what happens during storms, as Elmo, Zoe, Big Bird and the rest of cast of Sesame Street prepare for a big storm coming their way. This is to coincide with the upcoming hurricane season and hopes to answer some of the children’s fears from seeing last year’s hurricanes.

The wonderful thing about this video release is that there will also be accessibility features built-in to allow blind and visually-impaired children to “see” what is happening through descriptions of the visual elements. The program will include detailed and vivid explanations of facial expressions, colors, costumes, gestures and actions.

Sesame Street has been one of the most innovative children’s programming. All jokes aside, I remember growing up watching it, as Sesame Street came on TV a year before I was born. Now I see the joy my children get out of watching Sesame Street, while I trip over their Elmo toys.

Funny, as I was writing this, Microsoft Smart Tags are asking me if I would like directions to Sesame Street. “Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?” is now firmly in my mind, and I think I will hear the theme in my head for the rest of the evening.

Another great study by eMarketer surveys the things that are most irritating people on websites. Not surprisingly, POP-ups lead the charge in the aggravation factor. However, following close behind are sites that require registration to view content. I hope that the newspaper sites are listening, as the Internet will pass them by. Third on the list are sites that require the user to install additional software to view or access content. Someday, people may realize that the majority of the public is scared of installing anything on their computers. I’ve run into many clients that are hesitant to load the Microsoft updates, for fear of viruses, spyware and more “bad things.�

ON the other side, 75% of respondents said that they were “extremely” or “somewhat” likely to not visit an offending site again. The same amount also expressed considering unsubscribing from newsletters and other promotions if the site was irritating enough.

While this study does not take into account users that are unable to use inaccessible web sites, I am sure that the attitudes are the same. Who wants to bookmark and return to a site that does not offer a good user experience? The number that companies should see in this survey is that 25% of respondents gave any intention of voicing displeasure to the company. I am sure that the number of those that actually do complain is much smaller, which has the potential to be easily dismissed as a small minority.

I saw an email the other day from someone who had difficulty using a screen reader on another web site. While any perceived criticism is humbling to receive – ultimately, it helps to make the things better. The feedback made us aware of an issue that had been overlooked and is being remedied. The decision of one individual to being something to attention resulted in a site being modified for all users that shared the same access. That is a powerful statement.

When companies realize that a web site is a process of continual improvement and access, then we will start to see a change in attitudes and user experience. Until then, I am sure that these types of problems will always be around. Be sure to give feedback to those websites that need to know their limitations and problems. If it isn’t received well, you did your part. It is ultimately the company’s decision to make things right.