You Are Here: March 2008 Newsletter
### Edited by Joel Obuchowski
Articles and ideas for future newsletters? Please e-mail them to Debi Orton dorton@goer.state.ny.us and Joel Obuchowski jobuchow@ins.state.ny.us
NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING
- Meeting Date: March 13, 2008
- When: 2:30pm - 4:00pm
- Where: Forum Offices, 411 State Street, Albany NY
- Among the items for discussion:
- Accessibility Policy and Standard open for review and comment
- Validation tool update
- Plans for the March 26 Intro to Web Accessibility session -- over 160 registrations
- Plans for the May 13 AT Expo sessions
- Next Steps
NOTE: If you'd like to use the conference call option, please let Debi know as soon as possible so that arrangements can be made.
Map and Directions? Location link (via Mapquest.com):
UPCOMING EVENTS
OFT Policy and Standard Review Opens Later this Month
Within the next few weeks (unless you opted out), you will receive an e-mail from the Office of the Chief Information Officer/Office for Technology inviting you to participate in the biennial review of IT Policy P04-002 and IT Mandatory Technology Standard S04-001, New York's accessibility policy and standard. We encourage you to take this opportunity to join the discussion on the future of accessibility in New York.
"Introduction to Web Accessibility" To Be Offered
On Wednesday, March 26, the NYS Forum IT Accessibility Committee will present a half-day "Introduction to Web Accessibility," to be held in the Empire State Plaza meeting facility. This class would be useful to anyone wanting a general grasp of what web accessibility is and some of the ways in which web accessibility can be achieved.
- The program will touch on the following topics:
- Background in Policy and Law
- Eating the Elephant - Tackle the simple fixes first
- Making Images and Other Visual Elements Accessible
- Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) - Separating presentation and content
- Tables and Forms
- Testing Your Content for Accessibility
Registration is required. To register, visit http://www.nysforum.org/events/webaccessibilityintro-3-26-08/.
Section 508 "Refresh" at Recommendation Stage
On April 3, 2008, the Section 508 Advisory Committee will deliver its report to the federal Access Board. The report will include recommendations on updating the Board's Section 508 standards for electronic and information technology and its guidelines for telecommunications products covered by Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act. As soon as those recommendations are available, we'll report on them.
SAVE THE DATE!
Governor's Assistive Technology Expo - 10th Anniversary!
Lieutenant Governor David A. Patterson, a nationally-recognized advocate for persons with visual and physical impairments, will be welcoming attendees at TECHNOLOGY OPENS DOORS, The New York State Governor's Expo on Assistive Technology, to be held on Thursday, May 15, 2008 at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany, New York.
At the Expo, hundreds of exhibits and workshops on assistive devices and services will be showcased. In addition, the NYS Forum's award-winning IT Accessibility Committee will present a series of tutorials on all aspects of accessible website development.
We hope that you will join us for this exciting opportunity, which has been a biennial event since 1998, when it was first sponsored by the New York State Interagency Partnership on Assistive Technology and its Advisory Board. Based on past Expo attendance, up to 1000 participants are expected, so we urge you to register soon.
- For registration information go to:
- www.ATEXPO2008.com
- Or Call
- Michelle Murray
- NYS Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities (CQCAPD) (800) 522-4369 (NYS only Voice/TTY/Spanish) or (518) 388-0690
FEATURE ARTICLE
Standard 9: Image Mapping
Image maps are visual by nature, and pose difficulties for individuals with vision impairments. They are also problematic for individuals without fine motor control, and their usefulness may not be clear to less sophisticated web users.
9.1 Image mapping will be client-side based.
Image maps are text files that allow portions of images (invoked via the <img> element) to act as links (invoked via the <area> element and the <href> attribute). A single image can be broken into several regions, each with a different target URL (link).
The image map invisibly overlays an image, seen by the sighted user.
The image contains visual cues for the sighted user which correspond to destinations defined in the image map. The <map> and <area> elements use the coordinates associated with those visual cues to specify the target file for each area. The img element has the usemap attribute which is set to the name of a map element. The map element contains a sequence of area elements. Each area has a specified physical area of the image given by pixel coordinates of a circle, rectangle, or polygon together with an href, i.e., a URL to open if the area is selected. When a user clicks on such a map, the browser can easily determine which area (if any) was selected and which URL to open.
There are two types of image maps: server-side and client-side.
Client-side image maps are preferred over server-side image maps for at least two reasons: they are accessible to people browsing with non-graphical user agents and they offer immediate feedback as to whether or not the pointer is over an active region. Also, if alt attributes are present for areas in a client-side image map, those alt attributes can be spoken for the visitor.
9.2 Redundant text links will be provided for each active region of a client-side image map.
Although alt and tabindex and alt attributes can be added to each area element to provide flow and context, there is no guarantee that the visitor will be using a device capable of displaying visual information ? and many non-sighted users deliberately turn off images to speed downloads ? or that the visitor will be able to parse visual information, or that the visitor will have the dexterity required to manoeuver a pointing device to the described active areas of the image map. For these reasons and to promote general usability, it's a good idea to incorporate redundant text links directing the visitor to the same sections of the web site featured on the image map.
RESOURCES
We would like thank Michael Hritcko of the New York State Insurance Fund for contributing the Resources to the February 2008 edition and the following items below for this edition.
"A Reading Machine In Your Pocket: Introducing the KNFB Reader Mobile Edition"
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/Pub.asp?DocID=aw090206&Special=176
"Don't lose your head over accessibility"
http://theletter.co.uk/index/3357/don_t_lose_your_head_over_accessibility/
"Enabling Disabled Shoppers"
http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=24897
"knfbReading Technologies' Mobile Reader Product Line"
http://www.knfbreader.com/
"Motivated to Make a Difference: An Interview with Frances West of IBM"
http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw090103
"Screen Readers lack emphasis"
http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/?p=41
"Specify a maximum width for em-based layouts"
http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200803/specify_a_maximum_width_for_embased_layouts/
"The WCAG Samurai Errata Are Now Available"
http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200802/the_wcag_samurai_errata_are_now_available/
WCAG Samurai Errata
http://wcagsamurai.org/errata/
RECENT NEWS
"Watchfire products no longer available"
As of February 1, 2008 the Watchfire WebXact and Bobby Online products will no longer be publicly available.
For full notice, see this link: http://www.watchfire.com/products/webxm/bobby.aspx
HiSoftware Releases Latest Accessibility Solutions for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Monday March 3, 9:00 am ET AKS 1.1 and Compliance Sheriff for SharePoint provide for end-to-end accessibility compliance
NASHUA, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HiSoftware (www.hisoftware.com), a leading provider of software, services and managed operation solutions that monitor and optimize Web marketing analysis, content governance and regulatory compliance, today announced the general availability of the Accessibility Kit for SharePoint (AKS) v1.1 at the Microsoft Office SharePoint Conference 2008 in Seattle, Washington. This latest update to the AKS provides increased levels of accessibility across the collaborative environment. It includes 21 new control adapters for the Blogs and Wikis that have been developed to enhance the accessibility of the Web parts and individual controls within Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. Additionally, HiSoftware announced the release of Compliance Sheriff™ for SharePoint®. HiSoftware Compliance Sheriff for SharePoint enables users to create accessible Web content in SharePoint Server 2007 prior to publishing through an integrated workflow testing process. The software provides organizations with an easy, cost-effective way to successfully develop and maintain SharePoint Server 2007 sites that promote the highest standards of accessibility and general Web governance, promoting a higher quality user experience.
From linux.com:
GNOME focuses on accessibility -- with a little help from Mozilla and others February 27, 2008 (7:00:00 PM) - 4 days, 20 hours ago
By: Bruce Byfield
The GNOME Foundation has turned its attention to accessibility for people with disabilities. To help improve both Web accessibility within GNOME and the project's long-term direction, the Mozilla Foundation is joining the GNOME advisory board, and plans to help improve integration of the XUL development platform with GNOME. Even more significantly, the GNOME Foundation, the Mozilla Foundation, Novell, Google, and Canonical are jointly sponsoring a $50,000 outreach program to help improve accessibility in GNOME.
To an extent, these announcements simply formalize what has already been happening for the last few years. GNOME has included accessibility tools such as the Orca screen reader for several versions now, and has a large and active accessibility community inside the project. Willie Walker, a Sun employer and a lead developer on Orca, who has been working on accessibility for the X Window System for 20 years, describes the current state of GNOME accessibility as "a pretty decent solution," and says it is evolving rapidly, although he acknowledges that the tools do not yet match what is available on Windows.
(See full article at http://www.linux.com/feature/127801 )
"Work begins on British Standard for website accessibility"
- From: ComputerWeekly.com
- Author: Rebecca Thomson
- Posted: 17:22 15 Feb 2008
Work has begun on the development of a full British Standard for developing accessible websites.
According to E-Access Bulletin, the free e-mail newsletter on access to technology by people with disabilities, the British Standards Institution (BSI) has assembled a technical committee to oversee the development of a full standard.
Julie Howell, former RNIB digital access campaigner and currently head of accessibility at the digital agency Fortune Cookie, is the chair elect. Other committee members are likely to come from organisations such as the British Computer Society, the Cabinet Office, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
The BSi has already published a PAS (publicly available specification) 78 - "A guide to good practice in commissioning accessible websites", and this has been downloaded 54,000 times.
The new standard will not set out the technical requirements of accessibility, but will outline a process developers can follow to ensure they are making their websites and services inclusive.
The standard will include the need for user testing of websites by disabled people, and the need for organisations to produce an accessibility policy.
The standard is likely to be published in the first quarter of 2009, Howell says, and the committee IST/45 could eventually produce other work such as leaflets and training materials.
Howell said, "We have all agreed this has to be fast - I do not want it to be so collaborative and consultative that it takes a decade."
* News from Ability Net
eNation report - Social about networking sites AbilityNet have recently released their latest eNation report - Social networking sites lock out disabled users. Social networking sites may be revolutionising internet communication, and creating new and exciting opportunities in both leisure and business, but is this Brave New World as democratic and inclusive as it appears?
The full story and the report itself can be found at: http://www.abilitynet.org.uk/enation85
AbilityNet article: Creating accessible PDFs from Word 2007
Creating accessible PDFs from Word 2007 is a useful and practical article written by one of AbilityNet's consultants. Using the free plugin from Microsoft, this article will guide you through the whole process of making an accessible PDF from Word 2007 documents. The article can be found at: http://www.abilitynet.org.uk/webarticle87
* Article by Danny Buetow: Preparation for Making Text-based PDF
Documents Accessible
Required Software To make PDF files accessible, appropriate software must be used.
Acrobat Professional 7.0 and up contains all the required tools to render complete accessibility. It includes the capabilities to edit and repair tags, establish reading orders, add accessibility features, and repair accessibility problems in PDF files that are generated from any source. Acrobat Standard 7.0 offers limited accessibility for PDF files. It allows developers and publishers to tag PDF documents only once, check accessibility, and set basic accessible features. Since Acrobat Standard lacks all of the tools, it should not be used as the primary source to create accessible PDF documents. Adobe LifeCycle Designer renders accessible PDF interactive forms. Adobe PDF Forms Access tags forms that can be filled online.
All of these Adobe applications can be purchased from www.adobe.com.
In addition to the Adobe software, a standard word processing program is required, such as MS Word, to create accessible text-based PDF documents. This is not necessary when remediating a legacy PDF.
Accessibility Goals Once the appropriate software is obtained, accessibility goals must be established. In other words, the creator of a PDF document has to know the characteristics that will make it accessible.
- The document must have searchable text. Searchable text allows screen readers to access the information in the document. It also permits users to control accessibility settings.
- A document's structure must be tagged. Tags identify structural elements in a document. These elements can include titles, headings, sub-headings, figures, images, and links, Tags convey how elements relate to each other. For instance, if a sub-heading is tagged, then the screen reader knows that a heading must precede it. Tagging can be an easier process if the source document is accessible before it is converted.
- The reading order of a document must be logical. A logical reading order allows the content to be comprehensible to screen reader users. As stated above, tagging facilitates an easy-to-follow order. Textual information must be provided for graphics, form elements, links, and other non-textual items. Since screen readers cannot decipher non-textual items, text alternatives must be included. Although screen readers can identify form fields and URLs, providing text descriptions to these items enhances navigation for visually impaired users.
- Navigational cues should be available. To help users of assistive technology (AT), such as screen readers and head pointers, navigate a document more easily, a PDF document should contain cues. Examples of navigational aids include bookmarks, frequent heading, links, and a detailed table of contents. They help prevent all users from searching for something by scrolling through the document page by page.
- The language of a document should be specified. So screen reader users know what language(s) that a document uses, it must be set during the document's creation.
- Documents should contain characters that can be extracted as text. Characters must be extracted as text to allow screen readers or Acrobat Reader's text-to-speech utility to read content. If a font is inaccessible, then characters may seem as gibberish or be completely ignored by the AT. If a font does not convey enough information to the AT, the PDF document cannot be remediated for accessibility.
- If a document has form fields, ensure that they are accessible. As mentioned above, forms must have enough textual information so screen reader users can identify them easily. They also must be keyboard accessible so non-mouse users can reach and activate them.
- A document's security settings should not interfere with screen reader performance. As discussed initially, one advantage of a PDF document is the option of preventing users to copy, edit, or print its content. Nevertheless, the setting to restrict coping prevents screen readers to interpret the content aloud to its users. To resolve the issue, activate the option called "Enable Text Access for Screen Readers Devices for the Visually Impaired."
More to come on this subject next issue and be sure to go to tecaccess.net for a free accessibility test.
Danny Buetow: http://tecaccess.net