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Re: BrowseAloud

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From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Mar 23, 2011 3:18PM

Hi John and all

Oh no, I am certainly not saying that. I am worrid if developers have
to put in tag specifically for a screen reader X, another tag
specifically for screen reader Y, a tag for LD software etc.
There must be basic guidelines for code that is accessible to all
Assistive Technologies, which the WCAG and the Authoring guidelines,
aim to be, and if developers follow that, the Assistive Technology can
turn that page into the ideal output for the users.
Basically I think there should be a universsally recommended design of
pages that technology expects and can turn into good output, it is not
the general developer's job to maintain assistive technology, but
merely to make sure code follows guidelines that benefit all Assistive
Technology software.

On 3/23/11, Jon Brundage < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> Hi Birkir,
>
> There really is not a way for assistive technologies to work independent of
> the code base provided on a web site. For example, how would a screen reader
> handle an image link that has no ALT attribute? How about a series of links
> all worded as "click here"? Flash with no control labels? I'm not sure what
> you are really saying in this post. Surely you do not mean to say "Code the
> page any way you want and leave it to Assistive Technology to figure it all
> out"?
>
> Jon
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Birkir R. Gunnarsson" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 3:27 PM
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] BrowseAloud
>
>
>> In general, and you can call me idealistic, I am extremely weary of
>> solutions where the developer of a web page has to write a lot of
>> special code to make the page accessible to a group of people.
>> The ideal solution should always be to put the information in place
>> that is necessary, and then leave it up to Assistive Technology
>> developers to grab this information and convert it into a user
>> interface that works for the target audience.
>> I do not know exactly how a visually impaired user experiences the
>> web, but I know what I need to do in order to allow a screen
>> magnification software to get the info it needs. As new technology,
>> new fonts and other improvements that benefit visually impaired users,
>> becomes available I do not have to do anything to update my page, but
>> if I implement the technology for a specific software for them I have
>> to change the implementation and worry about these things. I think we
>> put developers in a hopeless position if they have to understand all
>> the disabilities there are and allow for special solutions for all of
>> them on their web page.
>>
>>
>> On 3/23/11, LSnider < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>>> I guess I wonder why a sighted user (like me) wouldn't just use NVDA
>>> instead
>>> of this kind of utility (thank you for correcting me there)? That is what
>>>
>>> I
>>> meant by my comment, as it is still important to try and make your site
>>> accessible (I see it as an all encompassing issue not just for one set of
>>> users). I think I will contact them to ask about more details on what
>>> code
>>> has to be there...that may answer my questions about it.
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>>
>>> L
>>>
>>> On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 12:02 PM, J. B-Vincent < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>>>
>>>> BrowseAloud (or, as it calls itself, "Browsyloud") is NOT a screen
>>>> reader;
>>>> it's a speech output utility for people who can see and use a mouse
>>>> (e.g.,
>>>> people with learning disabilities). BrowseAloud is free to the end user,
>>>> but
>>>> very costly for the web designer to implement.
>>>>
>>>> > On 3/23/11, LSnider < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>>>> > > Hi All,
>>>> > >
>>>> > > Someone just sent this to me...The Library of Congress finally
>>>> > > updated
>>>> > their
>>>> > > web site. They now have a speech enabled feature using BrowseAloud.
>>>> > > The
>>>> > info
>>>> > > is at the bottom of this page:
>>>> > > http://www.loc.gov/access/web.html
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>>