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Re: comprehensive list of keyboard accessible software?

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From: Ryan E. Benson
Date: Jul 31, 2013 5:04PM


> I recently found a relatively decent
example from Articulate’s Storyline eLearning software
(http://www.articulate.com/products/storyline-section-508-vpat.php).

Personally I no longer trust Articulate. TL;DR: A year ago I checked them
out, they claimed full compliance then. No demos were compliant. I had one
team of experienced people in both e-learning and 508 put something
together via StoryLine, following all directions. Upon testing, the output
was kind of compliant, but had a slew of issues, nothing I'd "green light."
While working with our team, I was talking to one of their VPs, who said
the team was doing it incorrectly. I requested that they provide me a fully
compliant demo, they were not able to.

--
Ryan E. Benson


On Tue, Jul 30, 2013 at 5:30 PM, Jonathan Metz
< <EMAIL REMOVED> >wrote:

> Debra makes some good points about what to look out for. A lot of VPATs
> seem to be marketing propaganda too, but they should read like a technical
> spec sheet.
>
> The purpose of VPATs should be to highlight what makes one product or
> service more accessible than another. I recently found a relatively decent
> example from Articulate’s Storyline eLearning software
> (http://www.articulate.com/products/storyline-section-508-vpat.php). I
> think it’s important to highlight where accessibility exceeds (for
> example, if something hits WCAG AAA level, it should be mentioned), and if
> it doesn’t meet a provision, then it should be mentioned or a workaround
> suggested (i.e. “Final delivered PDFs will not include comments”).
>
> My rule is, if it doesn’t inform me of what the thing does or doesn’t do,
> it’s not a good VPAT.
>
> Jon
>
>
>
> On 7/30/13 5:02 PM, "McMorland, Gabriel" < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
> >My question is really, Is some other institution already doing a great
> >job at vetting commercial software accessibility? I hope so, because it
> >looks time consuming and a lot of the programs our students would use are
> >widely used by lots of people.
> >
> >I do take the point about the complexity of this issue, though. Debra has
> >a good insight on reading VPATs.-----Original Message-----
> >From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
> >[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Jonathan Metz
> >Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2013 4:57 PM
> >To: WebAIM Discussion List
> >Subject: Re: [WebAIM] comprehensive list of keyboard accessible software?
> >
> >Ahhh. I misread the post. Sorry about that.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >On 7/30/13 3:36 PM, "McMorland, Gabriel" < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> >
> >>I'm looking for a way to efficiently identify whether software is
> >>keyboard accessible or not. Instead of learning keyboard shortcuts, I
> >>need to know what tasks cannot be performed with the keyboard at all.
> >>This is a cool website, though.
> >>
> >>
> >>-----Original Message-----
> >>From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
> >>[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Jonathan
> >>Metz
> >>Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2013 3:11 PM
> >>To: WebAIM Discussion List
> >>Subject: Re: [WebAIM] comprehensive list of keyboard accessible software?
> >>
> >>As far as keyboard shortcut databases are concerned (I¹m not clear how
> >>this relates to evaluating VPATs), I¹ve found KeyXL
> >>(http://www.keyxl.com/) to be a fantastic resource for finding keyboard
> >>shortcuts to many programs. A lot of the software is old, but shortcuts
> >>don¹t generally change all that much.
> >>
> >>Jon
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>On 7/30/13 2:01 PM, " <EMAIL REMOVED> "
> >>< <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> >>
> >>>When I am evaluating Voluntary Product Accessibilit Template, I look
> >>>more for how they are filled out then for the answers they gave.
> >>>
> >>>For example, I have evaluated products which just put "compliant" in
> >>>every single checkbox on the VPAT. Since I have yet to meet many
> >>>products which can be completely considered compliant, those answers
> >>>just tell me that they filled out the VPAT thoughtlessly, which leads
> >>>me to believe that they are presumably thoughtless about accessibility.
> >>>(Obviously I will combine that assessment with my own accessibility
> >>>analysis; so far I have a perfect score on "shallow VPAT that just
> >>>claims perfect compliance means barely accessible product."}
> >>>
> >>>On the other hand, if I see a VPAT which is filled out
> >>>comprehensively, with the product limitations so carefully detailed
> >>>they could effectively be a bug list, it makes me think that they
> >>>probably came from ... a bug list. That is to say, it makes me think
> >>>this is a company that notices accessibility problems, examines them,
> >>>reports them, and presumably intends to fix them.
> >>>
> >>>Deborah Kaplan
> >>>Accessibility Team Co-Lead
> >>>Dreamwidth Studios
> >>>
> >>>On Tue, 30 Jul 2013, McMorland, Gabriel wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Good point. How effective do you find Voluntary Product
> >>>>Accessibility Templates?
> >>>> How effective do you find this site?
> >>>> http://buyaccessible.gov/
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> -----Original Message-----
> >>>> From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
> >>>>[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of
> >>>> <EMAIL REMOVED>
> >>>> Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2013 1:40 PM
> >>>> To: WebAIM Discussion List
> >>>> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] comprehensive list of keyboard accessible
> >>>>software?
> >>>>
> >>>> McMorland, Gabriel wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> I'm lookng for a regularly updated comprehensive list of keyboard
> >>>>>accessible software. A regularly updated comprehensive list
> >>>>>detailing all aspects of accessibility for software would also be
> >>>>>great.
> >>>>
> >>>> Such a list would be impractical -- if not impossible -- to create
> >>>>and maintain. There are an ever-growing number of software products,
> >>>>and each revision might improve or detract from their level of
> >>>>keyboard accessibility.
> >>>>
> >>>> However, perhaps you can focus the question further. Are you looking
> >>>>for a list of major office suite products (e.g. Microsoft Office,
> >>>>Libre Office, etc.) which are relatively good at keyboard
> >>>>accessibility?
> >>>>Social networking products? Graphic design products? Within a certain
> >>>>sphere, you might be able to find a better resource (with the
> >>>>understanding that it would likely be out of date as soon as it was
> >>>>created).
> >>>>
> >>>> Deborah Kaplan
> >>>> Accessibility Team Co-Lead
> >>>> Dreamwidth Studios
> >>>> > >>>> > >>>>list messages to <EMAIL REMOVED>
> >>>>> >>>> > >>>>list messages to <EMAIL REMOVED>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>> >>>> >>>list messages to <EMAIL REMOVED>
> >>
> >>> >>> >>messages to <EMAIL REMOVED>
> >>> >>> >>messages to <EMAIL REMOVED>
> >
> >> >> >messages to <EMAIL REMOVED>
> >> >> >>
> > > >