Re: Programmatically determining color

I think this is the perfect example of our open issue with "programmatically
determined" and with baselines.

Is it sufficient for the technology to provide the information so that a
good user agent and assistive technology could support it? (This is the
Section 508 model, I believe.) I think our "programmatically determined"
success criteria assume that this is sufficient.

If there is no user agent/assisitive technology that provides the support,
does this disqualify the technology for the baseline? Would we exclude CSS
from a baseline because JAWS doesn't report the color of text in this
circumstance?

Loretta


On 12/29/05 8:46 AM, "John M Slatin" <john_slatin@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

> 
> I just did a quick check to assure myself that JAWS recognizes and
> reports text colors.
> 
> It *does not* report the color!
> 
> For example, the page at
> http://www.joleschgroup.com/promo/narms/contact.jsp
> Shows required fields in red, using CSS (class="reqtitle" vs.
> class="notreqtitle").
> 
> For the text beside the Last name field, JAWS (Ins+F) reports:
> "Font is verdana, Helvetica, sans serif 8 pt text alignment: left align,
> center of cell, top of cell, comma (yes, it says the *word* comma!).
> Then it stops. 
> 
> 
> Behavior on the form at
> http://ontcurl.com/index.html?loc=9&lsubnav=95&main=info&url=clubupdate_
> org&upper=title
> Is the same.
> 
> Of course this is a user agent flaw-- JAWS is obviously capable of
> accessing the CSS information, but either it doesn't check for color on
> Web pages (it *does* report it in MS Word!) or the JAWS code is broken.
> SC 1.3.2 (L1) says:
> <blockquote>
> 1.3.2 When
> information is conveyed by color,
> the color can be
> programmatically determined
> or the information is also conveyed through another means that does not
> depend on the user's ability to differentiate colors.
> </blockquote>
> 
> But (at least for now) simply making the color programmatically
> determined doesn't actually work for people using JAWS. I don't have
> Window-Eyes or Home Page Reader at home (so much for *Home* page
> reader<grin>) so can't do further checking.
> 
> Ugh.
> John
> "Good design is accessible design."
> 
> Dr. John M. Slatin, Director
> Accessibility Institute
> University of Texas at Austin
> FAC 248C 
> 1 University Station G9600
> Austin, TX 78712 
> ph 512-495-4288, fax 512-495-4524
> email jslatin@mail.utexas.edu
> Web http://www.utexas.edu/research/accessibility
> 
>

Received on Thursday, 29 December 2005 18:06:20 UTC