How People With Disabilities Use the Web

1. How People With Disabilities Use the Web Larry G. HullAccessibility Engineer

2. Video: Know Your Users • Web Accessibility From the Users Viewpoint • California State University, Fresno • http://www.csufresno.edu/webaccess • Note: video is open captioned

3. Video Content • Users with disabilities demonstrate and discuss the tools they use and the problems they face accessing the web • Screen Magnification Software • Screen Reader Software • Refreshable Braille Display • Voice Recognition Software

4. Objectives • Know the major disability types • Become aware of the perspectives of individuals with disabilities • Understand how people with disabilities use the web

5. Screen Magnification Tips - 1 • Text high in contrast against background • Don’t use drop shadows or blurry edges • Don’t use script style or fancy fonts • Avoid scrolling or moving text

6. Screen Magnification Tips - 2 • Use standard menu locations (Left menus work especially well) • Avoid overly large images • Don’t use soft-focus or blurry images

7. Screen Reader Tips - 1 • Include a skip menu link at top of page • Add alt text for graphics • Title frames • Use label to identify entry boxes in forms • Limit the number of links on a page

8. Screen Reader Tips - 2 • Limit the number of links on a page • Don’t automate the selection of a link • Don’t automatically refresh a page • Be sure link text is descriptive. I.e., links need to be understandable when read separately from the page content

9. Screen Reader Tips - 3 • Don’t refer to buttons by their color or by the image (e.g., green palm tree) • Avoid pop up windows if possible • Include a text warning that clicking a link will open the page in a new window • Provide a link (e.g., button) to close a new window

10. Voice Recognition Tips - 1 • Alt text for menu buttons must match the text on the button exactly • Keep alt text short and simple (does not conflict with screen reader tip that links be descriptive) • Links must be visible, not requiring a mouse roll over to be seen

11. Voice Recognition Tips - 2 • Place navigation links and forms at the top of the page so they are visible without scrolling (provide a jump to content, a skip menu) • Limit scrolling by avoiding long pages (or provide a table of contents with links that jump to content not visible)

12. Visual Disabilities • Blindness • Legally Blind • Low Vision • Color Blindness Do you use assistive technology to overcome a visual disability?

13. Hearing Disabilities The web is a visual medium...or is it? • Video, audio, and multimedia content is becoming more and more common • Captioned audio is unfortunately still almost nonexistent on the web • Provide transcripts for audio clips • Provide synchronous captioning for video clips

14. Motor Disabilities Spinal cord injury Lost or damaged limb(s) Cerebral palsy Muscular dystrophy Multiple sclerosis Spina bifida Arthritis Parkinson's Essential Tremor Lou Gehrig's Disease

15. Key Motor Disabilities Concepts - 1 • Users may not be able to use a mouse • Make all functions available from keyboard • Users may not be able to control the mouse or the keyboard well • Make pages error-tolerant (e.g. ask "are you sure you want to delete this file?") • Do not create small links or moving links

16. Key Motor Disabilities Concepts - 2 • Voice-activated software can replicate mouse movement, but not as efficiently as keyboard functionality • Make all functions available from the keyboard • Users may become fatigued using "puff-and-sip" or similar technologies • Provide (visible) skip over menus or other lengthy content

17. Cognitive Disabilities • Someone with a cognitive disability has greater difficulty with one or more types of mental tasks • Learning disabilities • Dyslexia • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder • Brain injury • Genetic diseases

18. Degrees of Cognitive Disabilities • Profound cognitive disability • Needs assistance with nearly every aspect of daily living • Unable to access much web content • Less severe cognitive disabilities (e.g., minor learning disorder) • May function quite adequately • Able to access well designed web content

19. Techniques for Effective Communication - 1 • Keep site navigation simple, clear and consistent • Create structure in documents adding: • Headings • Bulleted lists • Numbered lists • Definition lists

20. Techniques for Effective Communication - 2 • Highlight by changing font, adding style, or using background (rollover) color • Simplify layouts as much as possible - but no simpler • Keep navigational schemes as consistent as possible

21. Techniques for Effective Communication - 3 • Group textual information under logical headings • Organize information in manageable "chunks." • Where appropriate, supplement text with illustrations or other media, and vice versa • Don’t forget to provide alt text and transcripts as needed

22. Awkward Age of Computing • As U.S. population ages, the number of people with impairments is increasing • Technology can mitigate the effects of their changing physical abilities • Windows XP accessibility features www.microsoft.com/enable/aging/tips.aspx

23. A Screen Too Far • Can't see text and objects clearly? • Use large icons • Increase or decrease font size of Web pages

24. Built-in Bifocals • Trouble seeing things close up? • Turn on and use Magnifier • Opens a floating window • Enlarges different parts of the screen

25. Lights, Camera, Action • Dexterity issues slowing things down? • Use speech recognition features • Office XP • Office 2003

26. Tune Out, Tune In • Alert & audible notification problems? • Turn on SoundSentry • Get visual warnings for system sounds • Use Windows XP to display closed captions

27. Talk To Me • Alert & audible notification problems? • Turn on and use Narrator • Converts text and captions to speech • Next step: screen reader

28. Cursor in a Haystack • Search for cursor or mouse pointer? • Use Cursor Options to change cursor size, appearance, width, color, or blink rate • Use Control Panel mouse setting to modify pointer

29. Loosing Your Grip • Mouse pointer control problems? • Use MouseKeys • Transfer mouse functions to numeric keypad

30. All Together Now • Key Combinations Difficult? • Use StickyKeys • Press keys sequentially not simultaneously

31. All Shook Up • Tremors or stiff fingers? • Use FilterKeys • Ignore brief or repeated keystrokes • Slow down the repeat rate

32. Easy on the Eyes • Indistinct or fuzzy images? • Choose screen resolution • Choose a high contrast color combination to improve screen resolution

33. Turn on XP Accessibility • Enabling Sticky Keys • Start / Settings / Control Panel / Accessibility • If accessibility icon is missing, install accessory • Enabling Mouse Keys • Start / Settings / Control Panel / Accessibility • Uses the Num Lock part of keyboard

34. Mouse Keys Diagram Mapping Operations to Keys

35. Conclusion • Design for users with disabilities • Understand how people with disabilities use the web • Employ relatively simple techniques that increase accessibility • Result is a more usable web site for all • As always, there are specific issues and problems that can also be addressed