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Thread: [WD]: screen reader advice
Number of posts in this thread: 3 (In chronological order)
From: Bryce Fields
Date: Fri, Jul 22 2005 7:57AM
Subject: [WD]: screen reader advice
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On 7/22/05, S.Marshall < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> For example, I just go an accessibility report back about a website with
> some very, very simple tables - like this:
>
> # Question Answer Marks Out of
> 1 2+2=? 4 10 10
> 2 1+3=? 1 0 10
>
> The table has <th scope="col"> along the top, so it's all done properly
> from an accessibility perspective. And yet we've been requested to make
> a non-table version available that specifically includes it as plain
> text repeeating the headings on each line:
>
> Question 1. Question: 2+2=? Answer: 4. Marks: 10. Out of: 10.
>
> Which is exactly what the screen reader should be doing in the first
> place, given that <th> and scope=! But, er, apparently, it isn't
A little more about screen readers and the scope attribute:
http://usability.com.au/resources/tables.cfm
It's an interesting study. Apparently support for scope is pretty
bleak among screen readers.
--
Bryce Fields, Webmaster
Where I Work: Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education
Where I Play: www.royalrodent.com
"Do or do not! There is no try!" -- Yoda
From: Terence de Giere
Date: Fri, Jul 22 2005 2:23PM
Subject: [WD]: screen reader advice
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Bryce Fields wrote:
A little more about screen readers and the scope attribute:
http://usability.com.au/resources/tables.cfm
It's an interesting study. Apparently support for scope
is pretty bleak among screen readers...
A non table version of data may be required to support other devices
besides screen readers. Although not used nearly as much now, text-only
browsers may display a simple table by wrapping rows to the next line if
the table is too wide to fit on the screen, which may make them visually
incomprehensible because the headers will not line up with the data.
This could happen on a cell phone, or with a desktop browser such as
Lynx. If you focus only on screen readers, accessibility problems with
other kinds of assistive technology or other devices may be ignored. For
example magnification can render a table difficult to understand because
perhaps only a few words or even just a few characters may display on
the screen at a time.
If the data and the associated headers is presented as text in a way
that someone could just read the text over the telephone to another
person and be clearly understood, then it should be pretty accessible.
Terence de Giere.
From: Terrence Wood
Date: Fri, Jul 22 2005 6:47PM
Subject: Re: [WD]: screen reader advice
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I agree with Terence on this one.
I think it is important to consider your information design when
marking up tables.
Another good resource concerning table design is here:
http://www.ferg.org/section508/accessible_tables.html
regards
Terrence Wood.
On 23 Jul 2005, at 8:24 AM, Terence de Giere wrote:
> If you focus only on screen readers, accessibility problems with other
> kinds of assistive technology or other devices may be ignored.
> Terence de Giere.
>