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Re: Evaluation: Accessible Interface to YouTube

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From: Randi
Date: Apr 29, 2009 2:10PM

Hi Tom,

I am newly blind and new to screenreaders. I am using a macbook with
Leopard, and running Safari using Voiceover, the Apple screenreader. I
went to the accessible youtube page but there were no videos or
anything. It has your little intro and then nothing, so I couldn't
test any videos or anything. Is this something with the development of
the page? IE: Are tere frames I need to navigate to? Or do youthink
its to do with the Apple? I don't actually know if I have Adobe
installed, but I don't think I do. Just wanted to let you know that on
the Apple end. Apple isn't widely known about omong blind and visually
impaired users, but its growing like wildfire. If there's something I
can do on my end to check it out, please let me know. I use youtube
all the time, but the inability to control the videos is quite
frustrating. Keep up the great work on that front!

Good luck,
Randi

On 4/29/09, David Andrews < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> You name Home Page Reader as a screen reader in your survey. It was
> discontinued years ago, and wouldn't support ARIA, I would ask about
> "system Access" a low-cost screen reader attaining some popularity.
>
> At 02:08 PM 4/29/2009, you wrote:
>>Hello all,
>>
>>I can't claim to be a long-term subscriber, but I'd appreciate a favour if
>>possible. I'm a final-year Computer Science student at Newcastle University
>>and for my dissertation I've been investigating the effect which what we
>>call "Web 2.0" has had on accessibility.
>>
>>As part of this investigation, I've implemented what I think are some good
>>practices, and to demonstrate a number of them working together I've
>> created
>>a somewhat simplified interface for YouTube, which you can find at
>>http://tube.majestyc.net/. It makes use of technologies such as JavaScript,
>>in line with what we can reasonably expect on the web nowadays, but also of
>>things like WAI-ARIA live regions to aid the use of such dynamic scripting.
>>Similarly, the video player uses a Flash object, but controlled by
>>JavaScript firing from standard HTML buttons, instead of using buttons
>>integrated into the Flash object itself.
>>
>>In order to evaluate what real-world users think, I've set up an online
>>questionnaire, available at the horrible address of
>>http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/128706/accessible-youtube, and via TinyURL at
>>http://tinyurl.com/aiyt-eval. It's built using the website Survey Gizmo
>> and,
>>while it's not exactly perfect from an accessibility perspective, it's a
>>pretty clean page and after a quick run-through myself with JAWS I didn't
>>find too many glaring problems. I'd have liked to have built a system
>>myself, but unfortunately simply haven't had time.
>>
>>Some people have questioned my use of YouTube, given that many of the
>> site's
>>intended audience will have visual impairments. However, not only is it a
>>good demonstration of multimedia on the web, I don't think we shouldn't
>>dismiss a video site outright. So many users are partially sighted, and the
>>impact of YouTube across the web - and, arguably, society - has been
>>enormous. And, let's not forget, it provides audio as well as video.
>>
>>Many thanks in anticipation of your responses, every single one is greatly
>>appreciated. I am running somewhat behind schedule, so I'm looking to
>> gather
>>as many responses as possible in the next few days. If anyone knows of a
>>good place to post this, let me know, or feel free to simply quote this
>>message.
>>
>>There's a link on the 'Thanks' page to email me if you'd like to see an
>>electronic copy of my dissertation when it's finished, but anyone
>>(questionnaire or no questionnaire) is welcome to email me directly and
>> I'll
>>add you to the list.
>>
>>Once again, you can find the site at http://tube.majestyc.net/ and the
>>questionnaire at http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/128706/accessible-youtube
>> (or,
>>if you trust a TinyURL link, at http://tinyurl.com/aiyt-eval).
>>
>>Thanks for reading,
>>Tom
>>
>>