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Thread: Moodle and Accessibility
Number of posts in this thread: 4 (In chronological order)
From: John E. Brandt
Date: Tue, Jun 27 2006 9:00AM
Subject: Moodle and Accessibility
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The latest version (v 1.6) of Moodle, the open source distance learning web
application is now available for download. This version addresses some of
the accessibility issues noted in past versions - but still does not meet
all standards for accessibility.
The Moodlers are working on v 1.7 which WILL be fully accessible. The design
team have listed their scope of work and are looking for input (and perhaps
help) in the development.
Details on this may be found at:
http://docs.moodle.org/en/Moodle_Accessibility_Specification
John E. Brandt
Augusta, Maine USA
www.jebswebs.com
From: Jared Smith
Date: Tue, Jun 27 2006 9:40AM
Subject: Re: Moodle and Accessibility
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John E. Brandt wrote:
> The latest version (v 1.6) of Moodle, the open source distance learning web
> application is now available for download. This version addresses some of
> the accessibility issues noted in past versions - but still does not meet
> all standards for accessibility.
>
> The Moodlers are working on v 1.7 which WILL be fully accessible. The design
> team have listed their scope of work and are looking for input (and perhaps
> help) in the development.
Great news and very timely. WebAIM is working on a project right now to
improve accessibility of a client's Moodle installation. Our documentation
will be submitted back to the Moodle team. While it's great that they are
making strides, many of the accessibility 'fixes' in 1.6 are pretty poor
and in some cases worse than previous versions (the breadcrumbs, for
instance). Their intentions are good, but they just need more input from
folks that really understand accessibility.
Jared Smith
WebAIM.org
From: M.Cooper
Date: Wed, Jun 28 2006 4:10PM
Subject: Moodle and Accessibility
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Jared,
I feel I must respond on behalf of the team at the Open University who
have been working on specifying accessibility improvements in Moodle to
your comments on the WebAIM Accessibility Forums copied here:
>>>
"While it's great that they are making strides, many of the
accessibility 'fixes' in 1.6 are pretty poor and in some cases worse
than previous versions (the breadcrumbs, for instance). Their intentions
are good, but they just need more input from folks that really
understand accessibility."
<<<
I do not think this complies with the guidance on the use of this list,
to quote: "Please maintain high standards of civility and courtesy
toward other members of the listserv."
The 3 people who have done the bulk of this work have decades of
accessibility experience behind them. Not only do they have extensive
knowledge of the principles of and guidelines for accessibility but they
also regularly conduct evaluations with disabled people and pay due
regard to the interplay between accessibility and usability in web and
other software applications. I hope you meant no offence by your
comment but I am afraid some was taken.
That having been said, we of course welcome constructive criticism of
our work. If you wish to do so could you please post this to the Moodle
Accessibility Forum? The current draft of the Moodle Accessibility
Specification and the invite for feedback is at:
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=48603
In specific response to the Breadcrumb issue you cite: We had made a
recommendation that the use of ">>" which was read by a screen-reader as
"greater than, greater than" was best replaced by suitable graphic with
appropriate alt-text. Unfortunately the implementation in response to
this recommendation was less than ideal and we are looking forward to
this being improved in the next release.
Achieving good accessibility in any application is an iterative process.
We do not claim to get it right first time but we do claim to be working
towards better access for all including people with disabilities.
Best regards,
Martyn
Martyn Cooper
Senior Research Fellow
Head: Accessible Educational Media team (http://iet.open.ac.uk/aem)
Institute of Educational Technology (http://iet.open.ac.uk)
Open University
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
UK - MK7 6AA
Tel: +44 (0)1908-655729
From: Jared Smith
Date: Wed, Jun 28 2006 5:50PM
Subject: Re: Moodle and Accessibility
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M.Cooper wrote:
> The 3 people who have done the bulk of this work have decades of
> accessibility experience behind them. Not only do they have extensive
> knowledge of the principles of and guidelines for accessibility but they
> also regularly conduct evaluations with disabled people and pay due
> regard to the interplay between accessibility and usability in web and
> other software applications. I hope you meant no offence by your
> comment but I am afraid some was taken.
I certainly did not mean offense and apologize if it was taken as
offensive. I certainly understand the complexities of accessibility and
that folks will be critical of your work, no matter how much effort you
put into it (did you read some of the responses to our own recent site
redesign?). My comments, like the original posting, were intended to get
others to get involved in this project, not in merely being critical of
the great strides that have already been taken.
> That having been said, we of course welcome constructive criticism of
> our work. If you wish to do so could you please post this to the Moodle
> Accessibility Forum? The current draft of the Moodle Accessibility
> Specification and the invite for feedback is at:
> http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=48603
And this is where I should have sent my criticism, instead of to this
public list. I've been working for some time on some recommendations for
changes and will need to review them with the complete 1.6 release. I'll
be posting them to the Moodle forums soon, though in reading your 1.7
specifications document, it seems that most of my concerns are being
addressed.
> Achieving good accessibility in any application is an iterative process.
> We do not claim to get it right first time but we do claim to be working
> towards better access for all including people with disabilities.
I certainly applaud you and the rest of the team for doing what you are
doing in regards to accessibility. Yes, there is ALWAYS more that can be
done on any project. I look forward to being more involved in these
efforts in the near future.
Jared Smith
WebAIM.org