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Re: Making Content Accessible to Sighted Users?

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From: JP Jamous
Date: Oct 8, 2016 8:55AM

Brandon,

KISS. Do not complicate matters. Look at how ticked off we all are including sighted people by the look of the ribbon bar and Windows 10. My sighted sister-in-law returned her new laptop because of Windows 10.

Just keep things simple, because most sighted users do not like too much on their screen at ones. In fact, the older they get the less they are drawn to that layout. It is just too complicated for their eyes.

Younger generations might like that because their eyes are young and sharp. However, older people using their eyes on daily bases tend to want to come home relax and rest their eyes. It is like us not hearing any noise, which brings tranquility to the mind.

So stick with simple styles and you'd make your life easier, presentations more professional and audience happier.

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Brandon Keith Biggs
Sent: Saturday, October 8, 2016 2:28 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Making Content Accessible to Sighted Users?

Hello,
Of corse one uses styles (It is rather hard not to). It just becomes:
What styles do I use? (Should links, headings and paragraphs be orange, silver and blue respectively over a black body? and what RGB values
exactly?)
Where do I place text so it is not covering pictures or vice versa?
How do I layout a site that sighted people like to look at? (For example, I'm pretty sure sighted people like to see everything on one screen and so they don't need to scroll).
How do I know how much text fits on one screen?

For MS Word, yes, they do use specific styling for each word. So if I copy and paste something, then it will show up in the same style as the place I pasted it from.

For powerpoints and excel sheets, I can type a whole essay and it's the same for me as one word. In fact, this is how I often take notes. (Note that in Excel now, I get the warning "cropped" or "overflowing" which means something, but when you type a "2" and get the "cropped" error, it is a little confusing).
Thanks,


Brandon Keith Biggs <http://brandonkeithbiggs.com/>;

On Fri, Oct 7, 2016 at 6:01 PM, whitneyq < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

>
> Surely you are not applying text display characteristics individually.
> You should be using styles, right.
> Everywhere I've worked we have made templates that include our
> settings for a robust set of styles.
> This is not primarily for a11y but for branding and consistency.
> Wouldn't the same thing hold true for Web using css?
>
> Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
> -------- Original message --------From: Maxability Accessibility for
> all < <EMAIL REMOVED> > Date: 10/6/16 6:44 AM (GMT-05:00) To:
> WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> > Subject: Re:
> [WebAIM] Making Content Accessible to Sighted Users?
> Hi Brandon,
>
> I totally agree with you on the pain a blind front-designer have while
> developing web pages. I myself being a blind developer fall into that
> ache quite oftern. However for Word and excel I try to play a safe game. Eg:
> After writing the entire document, I will start giving the font-size,
> color, alignment etc depending on the hierarchy of the content. End of
> the task I have to rely on sighted to double sure the visual changes
> take effect.
> A primary test can be still done using the NVDA command insert + f
> that speaks the color, font size and the style of the word selected.
>
> Looking to hear from others too.
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 6, 2016 at 2:54 PM, Brandon Keith Biggs <
> <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> > I am wondering if any kind of thought has ever been put towards how
> > blind creators and designers can make their content visually
> > appealing? Most of this has to do with the fact blind people have no
> > idea what looks good
> and
> > their screen reader doesn't have a setting that says "Looks good" or
> > "Can you move that element to the right because it is covering some text?"
> > But this is a huge problem because one can have the most amazing and
> > easy to use application or product, but if it doesn't look good,
> > then no
> sighted
> > person is going to touch it.
> > What this means is that if a blind programmer wishes to do front-end
> > design, they can't unless they can make something that looks good.
> > This means that if a blind person wishes to make a Word document or
> > Excel
> file,
> > they can make their content, but the first sighted person who reads
> > it is going to go crazy at all the differently sized fonts, the
> > extra spaces
> that
> > are not visible to the screen reader and different sizes of text.
> > So just as there is a checklist for creators to make their content
> > accessible to people with AT, there should be a checklist for people
> > with AT (primarily screen reader users) to make their content
> > accessible to sighted users.
> >
> > I have asked blind programmers what they currently do and the
> > responses
> are
> > not very reassuring. Some use prebuilt templates and just don't mess
> > with the defaults, some have a sighted designer who makes the site
> > look good
> and
> > others don't do front-end.
> > But this is a problem I think is really big when it comes to blind
> > people and employment. Because if a blind person needs to make a
> > document that
> is
> > distributed to all the employees, make promotional materials, create
> > templates for others to use or make powerpoints to present to bosses
> > or clients, there is going to be no trust, either by the blind
> > person or
> their
> > colleagues, that the blind person can make a usable document without
> help.
> >
> > I would like to know if anyone knows of any resources or guidelines
> > for making content accessible to sighted users?
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Brandon Keith Biggs <http://brandonkeithbiggs.com/>;
> > > > > > archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> > > >
> > > archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> > > > archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> >