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Re: WebAIM-Forum Digest, Vol 39, Issue 6

for

From: Access IT
Date: Jun 8, 2008 8:30PM

Nancy Johnson mentioned earlier that she was an administrator for Blackboard
- does anyone know where that was? Thanks.

On 6/8/08, <EMAIL REMOVED> <
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: Speech output for a Trip Planner Table (Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis)
> 2. Re: labeling question (Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis)
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> To: <EMAIL REMOVED> , WebAIM Discussion List <
> <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Date: Sun, 08 Jun 2008 11:08:33 +0100
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Speech output for a Trip Planner Table
> Tom Kort wrote:
>
>> I am working on the accessibility of trip planners.
>>
>
> Trip planners are notorious for accessibility problems. Would you mind
> explaining in what capacity you are working on them? Are you developing
> one? Testing one?
>
> In my work I am currently using the Job Access to Work (JAWS) screen
>> reader program on the Vancouver translink.bc.ca website.
>>
>
> A link to the precise page, or a description of how to get there, would
> be helpful. Are you talking about:
>
> http://tripplanning.translink.bc.ca/
>
> Also, is this trip planner a planner you are developing, retrofitting,
> or simply one you are using as an example for your own work?
>
> Some (slightly) better examples you might like to look at include:
>
> http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/
>
> http://traintimes.org.uk/
>
> When I access the trip planner for Translink I get something like:
>>
>
> A readout of the top navigation bar ("link graphic bus schedules nav
>> slash five", etc) A readout of the main graphic ("link graphic South
>> Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority") A readout of the
>> bottom navigation bar ("link graphic home nav slash five", etc)
>> ....readout of some more graphics... A readout of the table name A
>> readout of the headers ("link graphic trip options, link graphic
>> start, link graphic trip end", etc.) A readout of the first table
>> row: "Detail Expo Line 5 15p 5 19p 4min 00 point 62 k m dollar 2
>> point 5 0" The output I ultimately want is "Press for Details,
>> Transit Line Expo Line, Trip Start 5 15pm, Trip End 5 19pm, Duration
>> 4 min, Transfers 0, Walk 0 point 62km, dollar 2 point 5 0"
>>
>>
>> Question. Is there a good method to produce my desired speech output?
>>
>> While it's reasonable to think about aural rendering on a micro
> level, e.g. how different date and time formats are read, your focus on
> a macro level needs to be on strategies users with different abilities
> employ to navigate the web, the transactions a given web resource is
> intended to facilitate, and how the features provided by the web
> technology stack, taking into account both specifications and
> implementations, can best support them.
>
> W3C's "How People with Disabilities Use the Web" is a good starting point:
>
> http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/Drafts/PWD-Use-Web/Overview.html
>
> as is the BBC Access 2.0 blog's series of interviews with people with
> disabilities:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/6k2zsq
>
> I'd recommend the following videos about how people use assistive
> technology:
>
> http://del.icio.us/benjaminhawkeslewis/video%2BuserStrategies%2Bdisabled
>
> Doug Geoffray's talk on screen reader technology is also useful:
>
> Doug Geoffray: From the Mouth of a Screenreader (Part 1)
> http://video.yahoo.com/watch/357221
>
> Doug Geoffray: From the Mouth of a Screenreader (Part 2)
> http://video.yahoo.com/watch/357221
>
> I'd recommend looking through draft WCAG 2.0 as a starting point guide
> to using web features to meet those needs:
>
> http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag20
>
> There are good introductory guides to form and table accessibility
> issues on the WebAIM site:
>
> http://www.webaim.org/techniques/forms/
>
> http://www.webaim.org/techniques/tables/
>
> In terms of complex forms programming, perhaps the most important
> additional insight is to keep instructions for using a form in fieldset
> legends or field labels or field TITLE attributes or before the FORM
> element, since if you place it elsewhere inside the FORM element (in a
> heading or paragraph element for example) it may be missed entirely if a
> JAWS user moves from form control to form control in JAWS forms mode (or
> the equivalent in other screen readers).
>
> Finally, involve end-users in testing your solution by asking on
> end-user discussion groups:
>
> Freedom Scientific JAWS users:
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
> http://www.freelists.org/list/jfw
>
> Dolphin HAL users:
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/dolphinusers/
>
> GW-Micro Window-Eyes users:
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
> http://www.gwmicro.com/Support/GW-Info_Archives/
>
> Apple VoiceOver users:
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
> http://www.freelists.org/list/macvoiceover/
>
> GNOME Orca users:
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
>
> NVDA users:
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> http://www.freelists.org/list/nvda
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> Thunder users:
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>
> Can JAWS or any other popular screen reader program filter out the
>> "p" on the time (5:19p)?
>>
>
> Why is there a "p" there in the first place? What does it mean? Why
> isn't it correctly written as "5.19 p.m."?
>
> Can JAWS read the column of a table as it traverses a row?
>>
>
> There's a good introduction to JAWS's table navigation facilities at:
>
> http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/Surfs_Up/Tables.htm
>
> The manual has further details under the "HTML Tables" topic, including
> the following:
>
> When you move to the next or prior cell in the same row using table
>> navigation commands such as ALT+CTRL+RIGHT ARROW, JAWS reads the
>> column header and the data in the cell and announces the column
>> number.
>>
>
> http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_support/doc_screenreaders.asp
>
> Tom continues:
>
> One weird thing happens... When I get the trip planner results,
>> sometimes I get the readout of the previous page, instead of the
>> current page, Why is this?
>>
>
> To answer this, we'd need instructions on how to reproduce the problem.
> If I had to guess, I suspect that the page was actually being
> dynamically updated by JS in a way that does not cause JAWS to update
> its virtual buffer. See discussions (from various points of view) at:
>
> http://del.icio.us/benjaminhawkeslewis/ajax%2BscreenReaders
>
> --
> Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis
>
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Date: Sun, 08 Jun 2008 11:09:01 +0100
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] labeling question
> Nancy Johnson wrote:
>
>> It uses empty label tags. Would that be considered an acceptable
>> alternative?
>>
>
> No. There's no guarantee that user agents will incorrectly treat the
> TITLE attribute of a LABEL element as its content.
>
> --
> Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis
>
>
>
>