Fix the Web wants YOU to Address Accessibility

Accessibility Reviews, Accessibility Services, Assistive Technology Products No Responses »
Nov 172010

Fix the Web is a new web accessibility service that puts the microphone (or keyboard, in this case) in the user’s hands.  Web accessibility is on the minds of those who work in assistive technology because the adaptive software or hardware that someone might use to access a website is ultimately controlled by the accessibility of the website itself.  Their goal is to get 250,000 websites reported over the next 2 years.

How it works: If you are having accessibility issues with a website, Fix the Web gives you several options for reporting about your experience.  You can either use the form on their website, email post@fixtheweb.net, tweet the URL and include #fixtheweb and #fail, or download the Fix the Web toolbar to report on sites as you surf on them.  Volunteers then take the reports through a short process to check them and then will send them on to website owners, with information about web accessibility.

Fix the Web Report Form

Fix the Web Report Form

Fix the Web has a list of common reporting issues, also taken from the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). Some of these include:

  • keyboard navigation – ex. I can’t get from the home page to the pages for paying my bill. I can’t use a mouse so I use Tab to get to links, but I can’t tab to the Pay Your Bills link.
  • mouse clicking – ex. It’s hard for me to get the mouse to stop on small things. In the survey, it’s hard to click the little circles. On other surveys I’ve used, I can click on the words as well as the circles, which is a lot easier.
  • small text – ex. I can’t read the bus timetables because the text is too small. I set the text size to Larger in my browser, but the text didn’t get any bigger.
  • overlapping text – ex. I had trouble reading the small text. I increased the text size in my browser, but then much of the text overlapped other text and the pictures, making it impossible to read.
  • color combinations – ex. It’s difficult to read some of the product descriptions because the colors make it hard to see the text; in particular I have problems with blue/yellow and blue/orange color combinations.
  • alt text – ex. I’m using a screen reader to listen to your website. Screen readers can’t read images; they read the alt text from the code. The images on this page are missing alt text. For example, I hear “240.gif” which my friend tells me is an image for Special Discounts.
  • distracting animations – ex. I found the home page very confusing and it was difficult to find the information I wanted with all the animated things all over the page. They kept drawing my attention away from what I was trying to read.
  • captions – ex. I was told your website has good video tutorials, but I cannot get much information from the videos because I can’t hear them and they are missing captions.

Web accessibility is a hot topic on the INDATA blog. For more information, visit these informative posts:

Posted by Sara C at 11:17 am Tagged with: , ,

Assistive Technology: 5 Ways to Improve Web Accessibility

Accessibility Reviews No Responses »
Aug 132010
Access Button

Access Button

In the U.S., a report conducted by Microsoft and Forrester Technologies identified that from working age adults:

  • Approximately 1 in 4 computer users have visual difficulty or impairment.
  • Nearly 1 in 4 computer users have dexterity difficulty or impairment.
  • 1 in 5 computer users have hearing difficulty or impairment.

Essentially, assistive technologies provide support and promote greater independence to enable people to perform tasks that they were formerly unable to accomplish, or had a great difficulty performing.  The following list is five ways website creators can be more accessible to assistive technology users:

  1. Take advantage of internal navigation links, such as “skip to content” or “back to top.”  This will allow for users to skip through the sections of your site quickly.
  2. Provide content that conveys the same function as auditory or visual content.  You can do this by adding captions to images, or transcriptions to videos.
  3. Ensure that elements still work effectively, even when technologies like Javascript are turned off.
  4. Be sure that all information conveyed with color can also be available without color.
  5. Use heading tags for article titles and subheadings, and use table headers to make titles for each column in a table.

Computer users want to be able to have access to the Internet, and we can help improve their access by accommodating for all types of users.

Check out the SwitchedonMedia website for more information. You can also get information about assistive technology products and services on the INDATA website.

Posted by jtutton at 12:04 pm Tagged with: ,
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