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Re: Usage Statistics? JAWS and IE

for

From: Hoffman, Allen
Date: Jul 21, 2011 2:21PM

Test without screen readers and you will know if things are coded so they are supposed to work.
I recommend using WAT, Object Inspector, and Ferret.
Firebug is great also.


Use a standards based test process which addresses all the relevant accessibility requirements and test for all relevant disabilities, e.g. blind, low-vision, deaf, hard-of-hearing, motor disabilities, speech disabilities, cognitive.




If they don't, you have a better idea where the problem is.
Just as a browser incompatibility can cause you to write code, then workaround code, andthen some more workaround code, you could do that for AT products and version--but who wants to do that? Why should you do that?




-----Original Message-----
From: David Farough [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 3:26 PM
To: 'WebAIM Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Usage Statistics? JAWS and IE

Another factor that comes into play is that for Languages other than
English, it often takes a significant amount of time to Update these
versions. I have heard that people using French versions of Jaws might
be 3 or 4 versions behind.

David Farough
Application Accessibility Coordinator/coordonateur de l'accessibilité
Information Technology Services Directorate /
Direction des services d'information technologiques
Public Service Commission / Commission de la fonction publique
Email / Courriel: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Tel. / Tél: (613) 992-2779

>>> "Steve Green" < <EMAIL REMOVED> > 01:27 PM Wednesday, July
20, 2011 >>>
In our experience it is not unusual for people to be using JAWS
versions
that are 4 versions old or more. The main reason is the cost of
upgrading,
but that's not the only reason.

We recently did some work for the UK Home Office, and their standard
desktop
had JAWS 8. They only update the standard desktop every few years, so
they
can get well out of date in terms of browser and AT versions. This is
not
uncommon with organisation that have to support tens of thousands of
desktops.

I know some people who always upgrade everything to the latest version
and
others who never upgrade anything for the entire life of their machine
-
there is no 'typical' behaviour.

Bear in mind that a disproportionate number of blind and visually
impaired
people are unemployed or in low-paid jobs, so the cost of upgrading
their AT
is very significant. Also some are wary about changing a system that
works -
screen magnifier users have endless problems with ZoomText and Windows
upgrades, although JAWS does not appear to be as bad. If a user's AT
does
not work after an upgrade, it can be especially difficult for them to
fix
it.

Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd




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