Boagworld - Accessibility for the visually impaired?2010-09-07T16:39:07-07:00http://boagworld.com/forum/
Lussumo Vanilla & Feed Publisher
Accessibility for the visually impaired?http://boagworld.com/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=5086&Focus=35397#Comment_353972009-12-06T04:19:26-08:002010-09-07T16:39:07-07:00RalphSaundershttp://boagworld.com/forum/account.php?u=2826
I was having a discussion with a web developer last night about how important accessibility was and the best way to go about making your sites accessible. I understand degrading your site with older ...
He said that he would do his best to make the HTML easy to read without CSS. Which I could understand as a matter of practice but how does this effect visually impaired people?
I guess what I am asking is, what is the best way to cater for the visually impaired when I am designing and developing websites?
Thanks Ralph]]>
Accessibility for the visually impaired?http://boagworld.com/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=5086&Focus=35400#Comment_354002009-12-06T08:12:30-08:002010-09-07T16:39:07-07:00sypherhttp://boagworld.com/forum/account.php?u=2732
You also have to think about colour blindness too, with reg-green becoming the most common.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blindness#Design_implications_of_color_blindness
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blindness#Design_implications_of_color_blindness]]>
Accessibility for the visually impaired?http://boagworld.com/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=5086&Focus=35406#Comment_354062009-12-06T20:03:23-08:002009-12-06T20:05:30-08:00richquickhttp://boagworld.com/forum/account.php?u=91
There's a LOT to consider, when it comes to accessibility .. even if you're just focussing on the narrow area of the blind.
Blind people use screen readers.
So, the best way to find out how ...
Blind people use screen readers.
So, the best way to find out how your site appears to them is to use one or more to visit your site.
The best piece of advice I can give you is to find someone who is blind and sit in on them visiting some sites .. ideally including your site.
If there's a local blind charity they may be able to arrange this.
You'll learn so much.
IBM homepage reader has a 30 day trial. The most common screenreader is Jaws. Dolphin's another one.
Testing your site with CSS turned off will help .. but won't do everything. Test with images turned off as well .. that'll help.
I also use Lynx .. a text only browser .. this highlights a lot of problems.
You need to do more than a cursory look at the page.
You need to try to perform different tasks.
For example, finding a phone number, submiting a contact form etc
Things that tend to crop up lots as issues in my experience include:
- Links that make no sense out of content .. such as "click here" - Form elements that don't make sense out of context ... eg. without labels. - Language / instructions that require you to be sighted (click on the green button) - Abbreviations that don't make sense when read. "Nr. London" may make sense to you. But when you hear "ner London" it isn't obvious what it is.
Read up on WCAG 1 and 2. Look at the RNIB's site (not for design tips, though!!). Read Joe Clarke's site.
Another thing to consider is partial sightedness.
Leesy, one of the other forum leaders, knows quite a bit about this. Leesy - where did you put your Barcamp slides?]]>
Accessibility for the visually impaired?http://boagworld.com/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=5086&Focus=35407#Comment_354072009-12-06T20:17:36-08:002010-09-07T16:39:07-07:00Doug S.http://boagworld.com/forum/account.php?u=1797
I think Jamie might be of some help here as well.
Normally what I do to test accessibility on my site is:
(1) Using Firefox, I disable javascript, CSS and images. I basically turn the browser ...
Normally what I do to test accessibility on my site is:
(1) Using Firefox, I disable javascript, CSS and images. I basically turn the browser into purely text so that only the raw markup can be seen. I then make sure the site makes sense if I were to read it out to myself. I look to see if it's easy to jump from one bit to another without having to go through all the content.
(2) I take a screen shot of the full page and drop it into Photoshop. There I throw contrast up and down to make sure everything is still clear, play with the saturation, just try to see how far I have to mess with the colors and leveling before it becomes illegible to someone like me who has no trouble seeing things on a screen. If I have to go to extremes to destroy my site (not talking about look but usability) then I figure I'm safe.
That's how I deal with the visually impaired. Don't forget that's only one type. I also tend to use big buttons and hit areas for those with motor-function issues. For example, aside from text links I try to make nothing smaller than 20px. Ever seen an elderly person with arthritis try to click a tiny button? They have to fight their body just to make the mouse move, precision isn't in their list of tricks.
I'd love to sit down with someone and watch them navigate the web with a screen reader. I'd also love to try it myself, and I may do so at some point.]]>
Accessibility for the visually impaired?http://boagworld.com/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=5086&Focus=35411#Comment_354112009-12-07T05:04:48-08:002009-12-07T05:10:18-08:00Leesyhttp://boagworld.com/forum/account.php?u=57
They are still in my head Rich. I've been meaning to rewrite it for ages but haven't got round to it yet. I'll force myself to do it this week :)
So onto the subject - Saying "visually ...
So onto the subject - Saying "visually impaired" can mean so many things. I am visually impaired (and "legally blind") but I am sitting here at my PC with no special equipment or software and using the web perfectly well. I can use the website with no problems because the site is well designed.
As mentioned, making sure the page is laid out semantically is helpful. This will allow screen readers to provide the best experience for using the site.
Provide alternative stylesheets which allow users to switch to things like high contrast views, larger text etc.
Think about page flow. Keep things in a logical order. Things jumping from one side of the page to the other can make it harder for people to read. For example, this page I find harder to read than others: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/the-death-of-the-blog-post/. First the text is on the left, then it's on the right, now it's on the left again. There's no consistency which makes it harder to read.
And I can't remember what else I talked about in my BCL7 slides so I'll try and dig them up later if I want to add more suggestions.