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From: Angela French
Date: Tue, Sep 08 2015 1:35PM
Subject: ideas on restructuring this page
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Hello,
I am looking for ideas on restructuring this page: http://sbctc.edu/college/_f-majorprojectstatrep.aspx

I am not a fan of how the actual document link is not connected to the actual document name, but given that it occurs in multiple years (the columns) this was how it was done. The other issue is that some items actually have two document file types presented.

I would appreciate different ideas to consider that make it both highly usable, but of course, accessible.

Thank you



Angela French
Internet Specialist
Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
360-704-4316
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
www.checkoutacollege.com<;http://www.checkoutacollege.com/>;
www.sbctc.edu<;http://www.sbctc.edu/>;

From: Cliff Tyllick
Date: Wed, Sep 09 2015 10:05AM
Subject: Re: ideas on restructuring this page
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Angela, I see a lot of options here, but the organization you have seems reasonable to me. I would be interested in seeing what the rest of the list has to say, but I think the simplest way to improve its accessibility is to use the title of each report as the alt text for its respective icons. So:
' Instead of alt="word" use alt="Dec 2014. Word. Centralia. Student Services. 30000123."

Whatever you do, you will hear from people who use screen readers to produce lists of links: "Half the links begin with 'Dec 2014'. And a third begin with that plus "Word"! How am I supposed to find the one I want?"

I'd suggest they use their browser's search to look for the facility's name or location.

I definitely would not flip the alt text around—in other words, not alt="Centralia. Student Services. 30000123. Dec 2014. Word." If I did that, then people reading the whole page would hear the title of the report twice before hearing the date published and file format.

There are other reasonable solutions:
' Change the tag of each cell in column 1 from <td> to <th> andlet the table



Sent from my iPhone
Although its spellcheck often saves me, all goofs in sent messages are its fault.

> On Sep 8, 2015, at 2:35 PM, Angela French < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
> Hello,
> I am looking for ideas on restructuring this page: http://sbctc.edu/college/_f-majorprojectstatrep.aspx
>
> I am not a fan of how the actual document link is not connected to the actual document name, but given that it occurs in multiple years (the columns) this was how it was done. The other issue is that some items actually have two document file types presented.
>
> I would appreciate different ideas to consider that make it both highly usable, but of course, accessible.
>
> Thank you
>
>
>
> Angela French
> Internet Specialist
> Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
> 360-704-4316
> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> www.checkoutacollege.com<;http://www.checkoutacollege.com/>;
> www.sbctc.edu<;http://www.sbctc.edu/>;
>
> > > >

From: Cliff Tyllick
Date: Wed, Sep 09 2015 10:34AM
Subject: Re: ideas on restructuring this page
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Sorry—while trying to edit my answer, I hit "Send" with my fat fingers. To finish:
' You could change the tags in the first column of the table to <td>. The advantage is that you would systematically associate the name of the facility with each of its reports. The downside is that people using the list of links would still hear all those instances of "word," "PDF," and "Excel," with no unique identifiers. I like the alt text method better.
' Add aria-labelledby attributes to each icon's <img> tag. to make this work, you would also have to give each item in column 1 its own unique ID. But I don't think this would improve the experience at all for people who use screen readers and rely on lists of links. (Would it, folks? I'd like to know for sure.)
' Instead of a table, you could use a list, but I think that would make it harder for sighted people to skim for individual items.

Angela, I wonder about one other thing: Would it make better sense to flip the second two columns in your table, to put the more recent reports first? If most people want the more recent report, then you're making most of your customers work through a link they don't want to get to one they do. Flipping them might be a bad idea if your tables have been this way forever, but I think it would make finding the report I want easier.

Cliff Tyllick
Accessibility Specialist
Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services
Austin, Texas
512-377-0366 (o)


Sent from my iPhone
Although its spellcheck often saves me, all goofs in sent messages are its fault.

> On Sep 8, 2015, at 2:35 PM, Angela French < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
> Hello,
> I am looking for ideas on restructuring this page: http://sbctc.edu/college/_f-majorprojectstatrep.aspx
>
> I am not a fan of how the actual document link is not connected to the actual document name, but given that it occurs in multiple years (the columns) this was how it was done. The other issue is that some items actually have two document file types presented.
>
> I would appreciate different ideas to consider that make it both highly usable, but of course, accessible.
>
> Thank you
>
>
>
> Angela French
> Internet Specialist
> Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
> 360-704-4316
> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> www.checkoutacollege.com<;http://www.checkoutacollege.com/>;
> www.sbctc.edu<;http://www.sbctc.edu/>;
>
> > > >

From: Angela French
Date: Wed, Sep 09 2015 10:36AM
Subject: Re: ideas on restructuring this page
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Thank you! I look forward to hearing ideas from others as well.

Angela French

From: Angela French
Date: Tue, Sep 15 2015 2:36PM
Subject: Re: ideas on restructuring this page
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Hello Listers,
Any other suggestions or opinions on how to restructure this page to make it more accessible?
http://sbctc.edu/college/_f-majorprojectstatrep.aspx

Angela French