Re: Testing web page accessibility by phone

I wonder how much of this depends on the user agent, by which I mean the
combination of the web browser and screen reader.  As a specific example,
ever since JAWS for Windows discovered how to grab headings (*real* headings
with numbers, not just over-sized type that web designers like to pretend
are headings) and present them in a list with the ability to move
immediately to a heading, I have suddenly become very enthusiastic about
proper use of headings to mark off important section divisions in a web
page.  Prior to the heading support, I have to confess that headings didn't
do much for me because they were essentially indistinguishable from other
stuff on the page.  It makes a big difference, to me anyway, if you can gain
some sort of hierarchical view of a web page rather than just the classic
never-ending linear version.

In summary, how a web page "stacks up" may be surprisingly dependent on the
browser/screen reader used to view it.  Just my two cents, and hopefully not
too far off the mark.

Regards,
Jerry

----- Original Message -----
From: "phoenixl" <phoenixl@sonic.net>
To: <phoenixl@sonic.net>; <poehlman1@comcast.net>; <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2002 9:13 PM
Subject: Re: Testing web page accessibility by phone


> Hi,
>
> First, the goal isn't necessarily validation but looking at
> accessibility.  Second, different people have different interpretations
> of what an accessible web page is to blind people.  For example, look at
> the various standards that have been or are being developed.
>
> The methodology being used was to get subjective experience of various
> blind subjects.  Rather than taking the perspective that the web pages
> are accessible because they meet some set of standards, we focused on
> whether the blind subjects themselves experienced the web pages as being
> accessible.  The feedback that was given was interesting and helpful.
>
> Using a comparison strategy can also be helpful, but not always
> necessary for getting useful information.  The issue of skill is
> something to consider.  A question though is how much is it a blind
> person's responsibility to have a certain skill level and how much is it
> the web page's responsibility not to have high expectations for skill
> level?
>
> The Hisoftware person I talked with left me with the impression that the
> software doesn't have mechanisms for measuring such things as how long
> does it take for the blind subject to understand a web page or
> determining how accurately the blind subject understands the web page.
> The software basically is checking syntax against a specified set of
> standards rather than evaluating the experience of the subjects.
>
> Rather than discussing the questions, it might be interesting first to
> use them when working with a variety of blind subjects.  However, a
> question to ask is if a sighted person can understand the purpose of a
> web page in let's say 15 seconds and it often takes a blind person 2
> minutes to understand the same web page, is that web page accessible?
>
> Scott

Received on Wednesday, 29 May 2002 07:56:48 UTC