Thread Subject: Low vision concern - graphics as navigationaltools

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From: Smith, Jamie
Date: Fri, Apr 20 2007 6:40 PM
Subject: Low vision concern - graphics as navigationaltools

I am very concerned that the needs of low vision persons are being "left behind". I work for Florida Blind Services and many of our customers are blind. We have more people whose needs aren't being met because of low vision issues than speech or Braille users though their concerns are also near and dear to my heart.

Many users that have low vision use ONLY their browsers and operating systems for accessibility needs.

They are not using special AT. (NOTE --- I have a cognitive disability and also do not use AT - folks without AT that rely on browsers or operating systems may be left behind beyond the low vision users which I am writing about.)

Great sites like http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/index.shtml are using images as their main navigation tool. Our low vision users that are not using AT cannot access the navigation tools.

Because of css has power to make a link look like a button I don't understand why web developers are still married to using a graphic for navigation rather than text. It is because of a great site like http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/index.shtml still using a format for navigation that is not usable by a low vision user with AT, that I feel we need to have some standard to meet this need.

Every person with a disability does not have AT. Nor does have one with a disability need to purchase a high cost AT device if the creators of such sites understood the need. Unfortunately, even understanding the need many not be enough, so I would feel better if we had a item to meet this need. It could be something to the effect that navigation items shall not use graphics unless they are of the type that allow for enlargement (don't know technical term).. Graphics (that can't be enlarged) in text that are needed to understand text should be required to use the old d html link description. Alt tags be they short or long descriptions don't help low vision users that don't have AT.

Color contrast issues have been a lower issue for my users than the issue of graphics for navigation, followed by graphics that were needed to under the text (e.g. org chart). I don't see any item meeting this need. I could be mistaken. I just want to be sure that we meet everyone's needs. Everyone here wants to do that as well. So I feel comfortable bringing it up. This is a great group of persons!




Please take a few minutes to provide feedback on the quality of service you received. The Department of Education values your feedback as a customer. Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg is committed to continuously assessing and improving the level and quality of services provided to you by Department staff. Simply use the link below. Thank you in advance for completing the survey.


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From: Hoffman, Allen
Date: Mon, Apr 23 2007 6:55 AM
Subject: Re: Low vision concern - graphics asnavigationaltools

let me write down what i read from this:

people who are low-vision who are not using a screen magnification
assistive technology have difficulty using graphics-based navigation
items because they are not resizeable without the use of AT. Is this
tru for IE and FireFox? If these items are coded correctly with
alt-attributes does that resolve this problem for the user group you are
talking about? Is this more a problem based on use of image maps that
are not coded with alt-attributes or individual graphics used as
clickable items--this is often done in JavaScript AJAX type
applications.




Allen Hoffman -- 202-447-0303

From: tom brett
Date: Mon, Apr 23 2007 7:05 AM
Subject: Re: Low vision concern - graphicsas navigationaltools

<<Is this tru for IE and FireFox?



Yes IE and Firefox do not enlarge the graphics.





<<? If these items are coded correctly with alt-attributes does that
resolve this problem for the user group you are talking about?



I would think that a great many low vision users do not use speech out put.
Many low vision users need to have the text and images enlarged to make them
clearer or in some cases visible. While I have trained myself to be able to
use screen readers I do find the speech output to be annoying sometimes and
prefer to use zoomtext instead. Even if the graphic is coded correctly the
user would need to hold the mouse over the graphic image in order to view
the alt text.





.









From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
[mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of Hoffman,
Allen
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 8:53 AM
To: TEITAC Web/Software Subcommittee
Subject: Re: [teitac-websoftware] Low vision concern - graphics as
navigationaltools



let me write down what i read from this:



people who are low-vision who are not using a screen magnification assistive
technology have difficulty using graphics-based navigation items because
they are not resizeable without the use of AT. Is this tru for IE and
FireFox? If these items are coded correctly with alt-attributes does that
resolve this problem for the user group you are talking about? Is this more
a problem based on use of image maps that are not coded with alt-attributes
or individual graphics used as clickable items--this is often done in
JavaScript AJAX type applications.







Allen Hoffman -- 202-447-0303





_____

From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
[mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of Smith,
Jamie
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 8:32 PM
To: TEITAC Web/Software Subcommittee
Subject: [teitac-websoftware] Low vision concern - graphics as
navigationaltools

I am very concerned that the needs of low vision persons are being "left
behind". I work for Florida Blind Services and many of our customers are
blind. We have more people whose needs aren't being met because of low
vision issues than speech or Braille users though their concerns are also
near and dear to my heart.




Many users that have low vision use ONLY their browsers and operating
systems for accessibility needs.



They are not using special AT. (NOTE --- I have a cognitive disability and
also do not use AT - folks without AT that rely on browsers or operating
systems may be left behind beyond the low vision users which I am writing
about.)



Great sites like http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/index.shtml are using images
as their main navigation tool. Our low vision users that are not using AT
cannot access the navigation tools.



Because of css has power to make a link look like a button I don't
understand why web developers are still married to using a graphic for
navigation rather than text. It is because of a great site like
http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/index.shtml still using a format for
navigation that is not usable by a low vision user with AT, that I feel we
need to have some standard to meet this need.



Every person with a disability does not have AT. Nor does have one with a
disability need to purchase a high cost AT device if the creators of such
sites understood the need. Unfortunately, even understanding the need many
not be enough, so I would feel better if we had a item to meet this need.
It could be something to the effect that navigation items shall not use
graphics unless they are of the type that allow for enlargement (don't know
technical term).. Graphics (that can't be enlarged) in text that are
needed to understand text should be required to use the old d html link
description. Alt tags be they short or long descriptions don't help low
vision users that don't have AT.



Color contrast issues have been a lower issue for my users than the issue of
graphics for navigation, followed by graphics that were needed to under the
text (e.g. org chart). I don't see any item meeting this need. I could be
mistaken. I just want to be sure that we meet everyone's needs. Everyone
here wants to do that as well. So I feel comfortable bringing it up. This
is a great group of persons!





Please take a few minutes to provide feedback on the quality of service you
received. The Department of Education values your feedback as a customer.
Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg is committed to continuously assessing and
improving the level and quality of services provided to you by Department
staff. Simply click on this link to the "DOE Customer Survey". Thank you in
advance for completing the survey.

DOE
<http://data.fldoe.org/cs/default.cfm?staff= = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = |20:34:
32%20Fri%2020%20Apr%202007> Customer Survey