WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Question about screen readers

for

From: Michael Goddard
Date: Aug 15, 2001 8:00AM

multi-media in my mind is any type of video or audio whether in real
video/audio format, avi, mpg or quicktime etc. A lot of the sites that I
have visited (mainly news and sport sites as well as miscellaneous sites
involving web development) I do not see any type of captioning available for
newsfeeds or broadcasts. And from my understanding, many online courses
that offer "real video" and audio do not have any type of captioning or
transcripts??
I get extremely frustrated with clips featuring "presentations and
interviews". I WANT to be able to access this information but have you ever
tried to lip read a real video? Impossible! I don't understand why
captioning cannot be seamlessly integrated with the media as the media is
formatted etc.. I know it is a lot of work and cost wise..some companies
cringe at spending the extra green.
Sorry if this response seems a bit heated. It is a big frustration on my
end and today is just one of those days.
Michael
----- Original Message -----
From: "Andrew Kirkpatrick" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
To: "WebAIM forum" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2001 9:35 AM
Subject: Re: Question about Screen Readers.

> Michael,
> Can you define "multimedia" as you interpret the term? I can point you to
a
> good bit of media that is captioned or described or has a transcript (some
> have all three). I am currently working on the issue of rich media
> accessibility (I define rich media as changing over time or in response to
> user interaction) at the National Center for Accessible Media in Boston.
We
> have a resource center with a showcase of accessible (multi) media at
> http://ncam.wgbh.org/richmedia/showcase.html. Some media is hosted on our
> site and others are linked. WGBH offers quite a variety of
> captioned/transcribed media (check out NOVA at WGBH/PBS or go to WGBH's
> QuickTime TV channel from your QT player).
>
> Andrew
>
> On 8/14/01 4:33 PM, Michael Goddard ( <EMAIL REMOVED> ) wrote:
>
> > Joel,
> >
> > Thank you for shedding some light to this. I believe I am getting an
> > understanding of how the screen is being read. Is it just the anchor
tags
> > and image tags that are read or are there other tags that I should be
aware
> > of?
> >
> > I will be extremely honest with you on your question about multi-media
> > presentations that I have come across that has text transcripts or
> > captioning. The answer is zero! I have yet to come across any
multi-media
> > oriented material that offers text transcription or captioning.
> >
> > Thank you for the information
> >
> > Michael
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Joel Sanda" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> > To: "'WebAIM forum'" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 4:29 PM
> > Subject: RE: Question about Screen Readers.
> >
> >
> >> Michael;
> >>
> >> Great question! I'm sighted and have hearing and have used JAWS quite a
> > bit
> >> to test the accessibility of our products ... so maybe I can shed some
> > light
> >> on this.
> >>
> >> Properly coded web pages will have their content, and some mark-up
> > necessary
> >> for meaning, read aloud by JAWS.
> >>
> >> Certain elements, like anchor tags, images, list items, and so on will
> > have
> >> a preface read before them. So the following code:
> >>
> >> <a href="http://www.home.com"><img src="home.gif" alt=""></a>
> >>
> >> Will be read aloud as "image, anchor tag: home.com". I may have the
exact
> >> wording off a little, but that's the crux of it. On the other hand,
coding
> >> the same feature this way:
> >>
> >> <a href="http://www.home.com" title="Go to Home.com's Home Page"><img
> >> src="home.gif" alt="Picture of a House"></a> can be read as:
> >>
> >> "link, Go to Home dot com's Home Page". Image: Picture of a House".
> >>
> >> As for Lynx - you're on the right track. I often use Lynx to test sites
> > with
> >> style sheets turned off and to "see" what the blind will "hear", since
the
> >> alt attribute is displayed in Lynx.
> >>
> >> Let me ask you this, in turn: how often do you encounter multi-media
> >> presentations that have text transcripts or closed captioning?
> >>
> >> As for training, have you hit the resources at: www.w3.org/wai? That's
> > free
> >> and there are some really good (the best, IMHO) learning resources
there.
> >>
> >> Joel
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Michael Goddard [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
> >> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 2:01 PM
> >> To: WebAIM forum
> >> Subject: Question about Screen Readers.
> >>
> >>
> >> I am curious as to exactly what do the screen readers "read and speak".
I
> >> am deaf so I cannot "first-hand" experiment with something like this.
> >>
> >> I have downloaded the Lynx browser to see what might a screen reader
"read
> >> and say" is this a reliable thing? Do the screen readers just speak
the
> >> text or do the screen readers actually speak the HTML coding as well?
> >>
> >> I am trying to migrate more into the accessibility field for web design
> > and
> >> development since I believe it is going to explode in the near future.
> >> Currently, I have over 5 years experience working in the field of web
> >> development (strictly HTML coding) have learned many more skills
> > including,
> >> graphics, PHP, MySQL programming.
> >>
> >> Anyone know of some online training for this? I know that WebAIM has
> >> courses but I cannot afford something like that. I am hoping there
might
> > be
> >> free courses anywhere?
> >>
> >> Thank you,
> >>
> >> Michael
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
> --
> Andrew Kirkpatrick, Technical Project Coordinator
> CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media
> 125 Western Ave.
> Boston, MA 02134
> E-mail: <EMAIL REMOVED>
> Web site: ncam.wgbh.org
>
> 617-300-4420 (direct voice/FAX)
> 617-300-3400 (main NCAM)
> 617-300-2489 (TTY)
>
> WGBH enriches people's lives through programs and services that educate,
> inspire, and entertain, fostering citizenship and culture, the joy of
> learning, and the power of diverse perspectives.
>
>
>
>