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Re: BrailleNote and web accessibility

for

From: Cliff Tyllick
Date: Mar 4, 2009 1:25PM

Randy, thanks for going to so much trouble. Even if there is nothing that can be done today, perhaps this could identify specific steps we could take (or that the manufacturers of BrailleNote can take) to help people who are deaf-blind understand information that is best organized in tables.

This is another good reminder that, even when considering the visually disabled, "accessible" does not just mean "works well with a screen reader."

Cliff Tyllick
Web development coordinator
Agency Communications Division
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
512-239-4516
<EMAIL REMOVED>

>>> "Randall Pope" < <EMAIL REMOVED> > 3/4/2009 2:10 PM >>>
Hi Cliff,

I have ask the listers on DeafBlind Techies list with my question.
Hopefully I will get some responses for you. Stay tuned. Smile.

With Warm Regards,
Randall "Randy" Pope
American Association of the Deaf-Blind
Website: http://www.aadb.org

301 495-4402 VP/TTY
301 495-4403 Voice
301 495-4404 Fax
AIM: RandyAADB

Want to keep up with the latest news in the Deaf-Blind Community? Consider
subscribing to the monthly newsletter, "AADB Today" at http://aadb.org. It's
free and AADB membership is not required.


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Cliff Tyllick
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 12:47 PM
To: 'WebAIM Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] BrailleNote and web accessibility

Yes, Randy, that does help. I'm sure that others can better address the Web
2.0 aspects.

For table-based layouts, isn't this just one more reason to continue our
efforts to convert to CSS?

Does BrailleNote also fail with actual data tables? And, when it fails, can
it access the table's description?

Thanks!

Cliff Tyllick
Web development coordinator
Agency Communications Division
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
512-239-4516
<EMAIL REMOVED>

>>> "Randall Pope" < <EMAIL REMOVED> > 3/4/2009 11:30 AM >>>
Thank Cliff for asking clarification.

It is both. It appears the BrailleNote designs cannot handle tables very
well. As for the Web 2.0, it appears this device has not caught up with it.

Does this help?

With Warm Regards,
Randall "Randy" Pope
American Association of the Deaf-Blind
Website: http://www.aadb.org

301 495-4402 VP/TTY
301 495-4403 Voice
301 495-4404 Fax
AIM: RandyAADB

Want to keep up with the latest news in the Deaf-Blind Community? Consider
subscribing to the monthly newsletter, "AADB Today" at http://aadb.org. It's
free and AADB membership is not required.


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Cliff Tyllick
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 12:04 PM
To: 'WebAIM Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] BrailleNote and web accessibility

Randy, it would help to know what "other web technology" is preventing
access.

Table-based designs are (or should be) on their way out. Web 2.0 is what's
coming.

Or is the problem that one or more popular Web 2.0 sites use table-based
layout themselves?

Cliff Tyllick
Web development coordinator
Agency Communications Division
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
512-239-4516
<EMAIL REMOVED>

>>> "Randall Pope" < <EMAIL REMOVED> > 3/4/2009 10:56 AM >>>
Hi all,

I got a question about BrailleNote, a notetaker device from Humanware. From
the complaint I received, many of these users cannot access websites that
contain table layout and other web technology for some reason. Do we need to
slow down and wait for the BrailleNote technology to catch up before going
on with the Web 2.0 technology? Or should we go move on to newer web
technology? This has been on my mind for quite sometimes and trying to
figure the best direction to take.

With Warm Regards,
Randall "Randy" Pope
American Association of the Deaf-Blind
Website: http://www.aadb.org

301 495-4402 VP/TTY
301 495-4403 Voice
301 495-4404 Fax
AIM: RandyAADB

Want to keep up with the latest news in the Deaf-Blind Community? Consider
subscribing to the monthly newsletter, "AADB Today" at http://aadb.org. It's
free and AADB membership is not required.


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Jared Smith
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 10:30 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] When will developers be able to rely on ARIA?

On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 8:19 AM, Despain, Dallas wrote:
> But when will we be able to release such technology with confidence that
users will reap the benefits?

Now! You lose nothing by implementing it now. If site visitors are
using an older screen reader or browser that does not utilize ARIA,
they don't get the enhanced accessibility. While you should do what
you can to make it accessible without ARIA, if you implement ARIA you
can only make things better for those that have compatible
technologies.

Based on our screen reader survey results, it appears that most screen
reader users have relatively up-to-date browsers and screen readers.
I'd say the vast majority of them have ARIA compatible user agents
now. An IE8 release with proper ARIA support will only increase
adoption.

Jared Smith
WebAIM