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Re: Interaction with tab panels

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From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Aug 4, 2016 12:13PM

JP makes a point that has come up many times on this list:

Our software manufacturers aren't really giving us adequate accessibility tools, whether the tools are for accessing documents or tools for making accessible documents.

I won't single out Adobe or Microsoft because I find all of our manufacturers are dropping the ball.

So keep accessibility front and center on any user forums (manufacturer forums, not private discussion forums like WebAim).

Tell these software companies what you need their software to do.

And for those of us on this list with contacts at these companies, keep submitting your feature requests and bug fix reports for accessibility. We may be small in number, but we can still have a big voice.

I keep thinking that it's a matter of time before someone or the Department of Justice sues these companies for violations of Sec. 508. If those of us who create content don't have the tools to make our work accessible, can't the software companies be held responsible, too?

If a software program incorrectly converts a source document to PDF and mis-tags the PDF making it inaccessible, is that the fault of the person who created the content or the fault of the software company that made the conversion program?

FYI, PDF is in the public domain so many companies other than Adobe make PDF converters.

--Bevi Chagnon


-----Original Message-----
From: Jamous, JP [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Thursday, August 4, 2016 1:04 PM
To: <EMAIL REMOVED> ; WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: RE: [WebAIM] Interaction with tab panels

Thank you for this extra knowledge. I did not know it impacted low vision folks like that.

Well, it is a snowball effect. Microsoft patented it and declared that it is the best thing after sliced bread.

A buddy of mine that is a heavy Microsoft programmer contacted them and informed them how terrible it is for him and his customers. The answer was, "It is better for you than drop down menus. We do not create something that is not best for our customers."

Microsoft and Adobe could care less about accessibility from my experience. They only deal with accessibility to avoid legal issues. Aside from that they could care less.

Apple on the other hand, have done an amazing job with VoiceOver. I can set up any Apple device alone without sighted help. Even on the tinniest iPod, VoiceOver is available. This makes me wonder, "If they can put a screen reader on a tiny device running an ARM processor, don't you think Microsoft could do way better with Narrator?"

They are following Apple's business model now by providing Windows which runs on multiple devices. In fact, they changed the inner structure of Windows to match that of Mac. The only thing they did not touch was accessibility.
-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Chagnon | PubCom
Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2016 10:59 AM
To: 'WebAIM Discussion List' < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Interaction with tab panels

JP Jamous wrote:
"Please, give me my dropdown menus again. The ribbon is terrible and even sighted folks agree with me. Most of them including programmers do not like the ribbon bar."

One key fault of the ribbon bar GUI becomes very evident when viewed on a large, wide-screen monitor: there's too much distance the eye must track from the far left edge to the far right edge. This is the eye-tracking distance. Some monitor setups force the user to not just move their eyes left-to-right over this long distance, but actually turn their heads from left to right, like watching a tennis match.

It's worse for those using screen enlargers. This factor about the GUI is tiring and puts a psychological barrier in the user's mind.

On the other hand, drop-down menus don't force such an extreme eye-tracking distance on the user.

Also, when a MS ribbon bar menu is viewed on a narrower monitor (or with a lower resolution setting), the far right side of the ribbons are collapsed into unrecognizable icons or mini drop down menus. This is confusing and makes it difficult to find the utility or function you're looking for. It's especially bad for those of us who teach, moving from our personal computers to all kinds of projection systems at different resolutions. Our MS ribbon bars morph into something unrecognizable while we're presenting to several hundred people.

A similar thing happens with Adobe's top panels in InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator, so it's not just a Microsoft thing. It's becoming a common design theme throughout the computer interface design community.

--Bevi Chagnon