- From: David Poehlman <poehlman@clark.net>
- Date: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 02:21:24 -0500
- To: Jon Gunderson <jongund@staff.uiuc.edu>, Ian Jacobs <ij@w3.org>, WAI User Agent Working Group <w3c-wai-ua@w3.org>
Here is the result of my evaluation of the guidelines using Jaws for windows and Internet Explorer 5. Evaluation Of User Agent Draft Guidelines text version, version 1.0; Using Jaws For Windows With Internet Explorer Version 5 David H. Poehlman 10/09/1999 Introduction This document represents my findings as a result of comparing the combination of Jaws For Windows version 3.31 release candidate 2 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 with all latest patches Against the text version of the User agent guidelines version 1.0 working draft of October 5, 1999. Emphasis is placed on applicability of the guidelines to this combination rather than how well the screen reader performed. It is my contention in this context that A Large part of the burden for access relies on either special user agents or the user agent providing an interface to which an assistive technology can make a good fit. The backdrop for this evaluation is from an end user perspective. I am not usually under any pressure to perform rapid web browsing tasks so have the luxury of time to figure out ways to use this combination and others. The Above combination represents the current state of the art in user agent and assistive technology interaction. This topic will need to be revissitted from time to time as technologies both specialized and general evolve. Jaws For Windows (JFW), as does at least one other screen reader, uses Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) to enhance accessability to the features of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 (ie5) on the windows platform which employ it. In addition, JFW uses some of the aplettes provided by Microsoft for customizing IE5. I have provided an appendix taken from the jaws for windows help file for ie5 which details setup and use of JFW with IE5. Platform This exploration was performed using microsoft windows.98 with sp1, Jaws For Windows version 3.31 release candidate 2, an Accent SA speech synthesizer and Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 on a Dell Optiplex Gx1 with pentium II processor running at 350 mhz and 64mb ram. This document contains: 1> each guideline 2> each checkpoint within its respective guideline and section if applicable 3> one of three ratings for each checkpoint as shown below: rating meaning A> y yes b> n no c: n/a not applicable 4> comments/questions where applicable. Input to this document, (especially from interface design experts, microsoft and or Henter-Joyce representatives) is highly encouraged. When reviewing the ratings below, bear in mind the document as a whole with special emphasis on the global portions such as the abstract,preface to each guideline, techniques, notes introduction and appendicies which are implicitly reflected here in. Rated guidelines Guideline 1. Support input and output device-independence 1.1 Ensure that all functionalities offered through the user interface may be operated through standard input device APIs supported by the operating system. n 1.2 Ensure that the user can interact with all active elements in a device independent manner. y 1.3 Ensure that the user can install the user agent software in a device independent manner. y 1.4 Ensure that the user can configure the user agent in a device independent manner. n The only obstacle I actually saw was that there was no way short of seeing it on a monitor what the color that had the focus during color configuration was. 1.5 Ensure that the user can access user agent documentation in a device independent manner. [Priority 1] y 1.6 Ensure that all messages to the user (e.g., warnings, errors, etc.) are available through standard output device APIs supported by the operating system. y Guideline 2. Ensure keyboard access to user agent functionalities 2.1 By default and without additional customization, ensure that all functionalities offered by the user agent may be operated through the standard keyboard API supported by the operating system. y 2.2 Provide documentation on default keyboard commands and include with user agent documentation and/or user help system. y 2.3 Provide information to the user about the current keyboard configuration. y 2.4 Allow the user to configure the keystrokes used to activate user agent functionalities. Users should be able to configure single key activation of functionalities. y 2.5 Allow the user to turn on and off author-specified keyboard configurations. n 2.6 Use platform conventions to indicate which keys activate which user agent functionalities. y 2.7 Avoid default keyboard configurations that interfere with system conventions. y 2.8 Provide a default keyboard configuration for frequently performed operations. y Guideline 3. Ensure user access to all content General Checkpoints 3.1 Ensure that the user has access to all content, including alternative representations of content. n 3.2 For dependent user agents only. Ensure that the user has access to the content of an element selected by the user. n 3.3 Render content according to natural language identification. For unsupported natural languages, notify the user of language changes when configured to do so. n 3.4 Provide time-independent access to time-dependent active elements or allow the user to control the timing of changes. n 3.5 When no alternative text representation has been specified, indicate what type of object is present. n However, if I save the page to a text file, It notes that there is an image with: "[picture]" printed in the space. 3.6 When alternative text has been specified explicitly as empty (i.e., an empty string), render nothing. y Checkpoints for continuous equivalent tracks (closed captions, auditory descriptions, etc.): 3.7 Allow the user to specify that continuous equivalent tracks (e.g., closed captions, auditory descriptions, video of sign language, etc.) be rendered at the same time as audio and video tracks. n/a Note however that this may change as samie evolves. 3.8 If a technology allows for more than one continuous equivalent tracks (e.g., closed captions, auditory descriptions, video of sign language, etc.), allow the user to choose from among the tracks. n/a see note above Checkpoints for audio: 3.9 If a technology allows for more than one audio track, allow the user to choose from among tracks. n/a see note above Guideline 4. Allow the user to turn off features that may reduce accessibility 4.1 Allow the user to turn on and off rendering of images. y 4.2 Allow the user to turn on and off rendering of background images. y 4.3 Allow the user to turn on and off rendering of video. y 4.4 Allow the user to turn on and off rendering of sound. y 4.5 Allow the user to turn on and off rendering of continuous equivalent tracks (e.g., closed captions, auditory descriptions, video of sign language, etc.) n/a 4.6 Allow the user to turn on and off animated or blinking text. y 4.7 Allow the user to turn on and off animations and blinking images. y 4.8 Allow the user to turn on and off support for scripts and applets. y 4.9 Allow the user to turn on and off support for user style sheets. n 4.10 Allow the user to turn on and off support for author style sheets. n substitute is not the same as turn off. 4.11 Allow the user to turn on and off support for spawned windows. n although there is support for turning off page transitions and opening each page in a new window. 4.12 Allow the user to choose between a frameset or its alternative supplied by the author. n 4.13 Allow the user to turn on and off author-specified page forwards that occur after a time delay and without user intervention. n 4.14 Allow the user to turn on and off automatic page refresh. n Guideline 5. Ensure user control over styles Checkpoints for fonts and colors: 5.1 Allow the user to control font family. y 5.2 Allow the user to control the size of text. y I'd like it to be more gradual though and more easily keyboardable. 5.3 Allow the user to control foreground color. y however, it is not done in a device independant manner. 5.4 Allow the user to control background color. y see note above. 5.5 Allow the user to control selection highlighting (e.g., foreground and background color). n 5.6 Allow the user to control focus highlighting (e.g., foreground and background color). n Checkpoints for applets and animations: 5.7 Allow the user to control animation rate. n Checkpoints for video. 5.8 Allow the user to control video frame rates. n/a 5.9 Allow the user to control the position of audio closed captions. n/a 5.10 Allow the user to start, stop, pause, and rewind video. n/a Checkpoints for audio: 5.11 Allow the user to control audio playback rate. n/a 5.12 When the user agent renders audio natively, allow the user to control the audio volume. n/a 5.13 Allow the user to start, stop, pause, and rewind audio. n/a Checkpoints for synthesized speech: 5.14 Allow the user to control synthesized speech playback rate. n/a 5.15 Allow the user to control synthesized speech volume. n/a 5.16 Allow the user to control synthesized speech pitch, gender and other articulation characteristics. n/a Checkpoints for changes to the user interface: 5.17 When new windows or user interface components are spawned, allow the user to control window size and position. y I cannot directly confirm this however. Guideline 6. Observe system conventions and standard interfaces 6.1 Use and provide accessible interfaces to other technologies. y 6.2 Provide programmatic read and write access to user agent functionalities and user interface controls (including selection and focus) by using operating system and development language accessibility resources and conventions. y 6.3 Notify dependent user agents of changes to content and user interface controls (including selection and focus) by using operating system and development language accessibility resources and conventions. n 6.4 Comply with W3C Document Object Model specifications and export interfaces defined by those specifications. n 6.5 Provide programmatic exchange of information in a timely manner. n 6.6 Follow operating system conventions and accessibility settings. In particular, follow conventions for user interface design, default keyboard configuration, product installation, and documentation. y Guideline 7. Support applicable W3C technologies and guidelines 7.1 Implement the accessibility features defined for supported specifications. n 7.2 Support appropriate W3C Recommendations. [Priority 2] For instance, for marking up Web pages, support HTML or an XML application; for style sheets, support CSS; for mathematics, support MathML; for synchronized multimedia, support SMIL, etc. n only supports html almost fully. Not cs2 or others. Guideline 8. Provide navigation mechanisms 8.1 Allow the user to navigate viewports (including frames). y 8.2 For user agents that offer a browsing history mechanism, when the user returns to a previous view, restore the point of regard in the viewport. y 8.3 For dependent user agents only. Allow the user to navigate just among table cells of a table (notably left and right within a row and up and down within a column). n 8.4 Allow the user to navigate just among all active elements. n 8.5 Allow the user to search for rendered text content, including alternative text content. y n 8.6 Allow the user to navigate according to the structure of the resource. n 8.7 Allow the user to configure structured navigation. n Guideline 9. Help orient the user 9.1 Provide a mechanism for highlighting and identifying (through a standard interface where available) the current viewport, selection, and focus. y 9.2 For dependent user agents only. Provide the user with information about the number of viewports. y Resource information: 9.3 For dependent user agents only. Allow the user to view an outline of a resource constructed from its structural elements (e.g., from header and list elements). y 9.4 Describe a selected element's position within larger structures (e.g., numerical or relative position in a document, table, list, etc.). n Link information: 9.5 For a selected link, indicate whether following the link will involve a fee. n 9.6 For a selected link, provide information to help the user decide whether to follow the link. y 9.7 Allow the user to configure what information about links to present. n 9.8 Provide a mechanism for highlighting and identifying (through a standard interface where available) active elements. n Table information: 9.9 For dependent user agents only. Provide access to header information for a selected table cell. n 9.10 For dependent user agents only. Indicate the row and column dimensions of a selected table. n Form control information: 9.11 Provide information about form structure and navigation (e.g., groups of controls, control labels, navigation order, and keyboard configuration). n Consistency: 9.12 Maintain consistent user agent behavior and default configurations between software releases. Consistency is less important than accessibility and adoption of system y Guideline 10. Notify the user of content and viewport changes 10.1 Provide information about content and viewport changes (to users and through programming interfaces). y 10.2 Ensure that when the selection or focus changes, it is in the viewport after the change. y 10.3 Allow the user to selectively turn on and off notification of common types of content and viewport changes. y 10.5 Indicate the relative position of the viewport in a resource (e.g., the percentage of the document that has been viewed, the percentage of an audio clip that has been played, etc.). n 10.6 Prompt the user to confirm any form submission triggered indirectly, that is by any means other than the user activating an explicit form submit control. n/a enter does not submit Guideline 11. Allow the user to configure the user agent 11.1 Allow the user to configure the user agent in named profiles that may be shared (by other users or software). [Priority 2] Users must be able to select from among available profiles or no profile (i.e., the user agent default settings). n 11.2 Allow the user to configure the graphical arrangement of user interface controls. n Guideline 12. Provide accessible product documentation and help 12.1 Provide a version of the product documentation that conforms to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. n 12.2 Ensure that all user agent functionalities that promote accessibility are documented. y 12.3 Describe product features known to promote accessibility in a section of the product documentation. y _________________________________________________________________ Appendix The Information Below is copyWright Henter-Joyce Inc. Introduction Internet Explorer 5.0 is a suite of tightly integrated programs that connects your computer to the information that is available through the Internet and the Intranets. Internet Explorer not only acts as a browser to display the data, but it also helps you find, incorporate, and interact with that data. Internet Explorer also includes all of the tools needed for you to communicate your message globally. It is recommended to use IE 5.0 with JAWS for Windows 3.31 or later. IE 4.01 is still supported as it has been in earlier versions of JFW, but JFW takes advantage of newer technology that is only available in IE 5.0. These applications run under Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, and Microsoft Windows NT. When using Microsoft Windows NT, Service Pack 4 or later is required. Getting Started Make sure that IE is installed properly on your system and running correctly. It is recommend that you do not install the Active desktop component with IE. If you want to use the IE toolbar, you should include text labels on the buttons. To do this, go to the Tools submenu under the View menu and check Text Labels. There are several advanced options that should also be changed. Open the Internet Options dialog under the Tools menu and go to the Advanced page. UNDER THE ACCESSIBILITY SECTION, MAKE SURE THE FOLLOWING ARE CHECKED · Move system caret with focus/selection changes. · Always expand all text for images. UNDER THE BROWSING SECTION, MAKE SURE THE FOLLOWING ARE NOT CHECKED · Show channel bar at startup. · Show friendly URLs. · Use smooth scrolling. · Enable page transitions. In the Accessibility dialog, make sure "Ignore colors specified on Web pages" is checked. This dialog opens when you press the Accessibility button in the General page of the Internet Options dialog. Note: You may want to turn off some of the multimedia options to increase speed when loading pages. JAWS Specific Internet Explorer Keystrokes AddressBar use INSERT+A. Reads the Address bar while maintaining the place on the page so that you can be in two places at once. Pressing INSERT+A twice quickly moves the JAWS cursor to the address bar. ALT+D, an IE 5 keystroke, selects the text on the Address bar. Either type in a new address, or copy or cut and paste to the clipboard. FocusToFirstField use CTRL+INSERT+HOME. Moves to the first input field in the page and speaks it. If no form field is found, JFW reports, “Input Field Not Found.” GoBack use ALT+LEFT ARROW or BACKSPACE. Loads the previously opened Web page and says the current line, which is the line you were on prior to leaving this page. GoForward use ALT+RIGHT ARROW. Loads the next opened Web page and announces it. JFW places your Virtual PC cursor at the top of the page and says the first line. Note: This is especially useful when you are just browsing pages. IEFind use CTRL+F. Calls up the Find dialog. MoveToNextLink press TAB. Moves to the next hypertext link or control in the page. You may activate a link by pressing ENTER when you land on a line that contains a link. MoveToNonLinkText use INSERT+ENTER. Moves to the next block of non-linked text that is larger than 50 characters. MoveToPriorLink use SHIFT+TAB. Moves to the prior hypertext link or control in the page. You may activate a link by pressing ENTER when you land on a line that contains a link. NextFrame use CTRL+TAB. Moves to the frame and says the frame label. PriorFrame use CTRL+SHIFT+TAB. Focuses and reads the previous frame in the HTML order. RefreshScreen use INSERT+ESC. Refreshes the screen and updates the state of information of the Off Screen Model. ReadCurrentScreen use CTRL+INSERT+DOWN ARROW. Reads the body of the page from the top with the JAWS cursor. Note: This is only available in non-virtual cursor mode. ReadNextScreen use CTRL+PAGE DOWN. Reads the next screen. Does a PAGE DOWN and begins reading with the JAWS cursor. Note: This is only available in non-virtual cursor mode. ReadPriorScreen use CTRL+PAGE UP. Reads the prior screen. Does a PAGE UP and begins reading with the JAWS cursor. Note: This is only available in non-virtual cursor mode. ReformatDocument use INSERT+F5. Synopsis Reformats multiple column pages to be more readable with speech. Rearranges multiple column pages to read in a linear fashion. IE columns are read one after another. Note: This is only available in non-virtual cursor mode. SaySelectedLink use INSERT+TAB. Says the focused link or control. If in a dialog, speaks the current control. If in a Web page, announces the link or control with focus. SelectAFrame use INSERT+F9. Brings up a dialog containing a list of the frames present in the page. Select a frame from the list and press ENTER. The focus moves to the frame you selected and speaks its content. SelectALink use INSERT+F7. Brings up a JFW dialog containing all of the links present on the page. You can then select a link by using the Arrow keys or the first letter of the link. Press ENTER to open the selected link. You may also TAB between the various controls in the Select A Link dialog. ToolBar use INSERT+F8. Lets you access the toolbar. While in IE, brings up a dialog box that contains a list of every button that appears on the toolbar. In this dialog you can select one of the buttons on the toolbar and press ENTER to choose it. VirtualPCCursorToggle use INSERT+Z. Toggles the Virtual PC cursor mode ON and OFF. When in a Web document, this command toggles between the Conventional mode and the Virtual PC cursor interface. Helpful Hints When you use Internet Explorer 5.0 with JFW, you work in one of three modes; Virtual PC cursor mode, Forms mode, or Conventional mode. The Context menu accessed by the Applications key does not apply to the Virtual cursor. Virtual PC Cursor Mode - The Virtual PC cursor is activated automatically when you open IE 5, and JFW begins speaking the text on the screen as soon as the page finishes loading. If the newly opened page is loaded, JAWS announces the presence of frames, links, and forms on the page. JAWS will announce if there are no frames, links, or forms on the page. If there are none on a current page, you can do a GoBack or GoForward. The Virtual PC cursor works in the Internet Explorer 5.0 environment in much the same way that the PC cursor does in other applications. The Virtual PC cursor responds to normal screen reading keys in the same way, but there is no visual indication on the area of the screen that is being affected. In addition, the screen does not automatically scroll, so to bring up text that is out of screen range, you must press INSERT+ESC or use the scroll bars. Caution: Manually starting to read before the loading has finished often results in less than all of the text being available. When reading a Web page with the Virtual PC cursor, you can select text using the standard Windows text selection keys, though there is no visual feedback of what is being selected. The SaySelectedText script speaks the text that has been selected. When a page with frames first comes up, all frames are readable in sequential order. With INSERT+F1 you are told, “The page contains frames.” As you enter a frame, you hear, “Navigation Frame,” As you leave a frame, you hear “Navigation Frame End.” CTRL+HOME brings the top of the document into view on the visual screen, CTRL+END brings the bottom of the document into view on the visual screen, PAGE DOWN moves down 24 lines, and PAGE UP moves up 24 lines. SayAll in line mode reads the document from top to bottom, and when pressing CTRL to stop SayAll, you are positioned near the last item read. You can navigate reading by line, sentence, or paragraph, as well as by moving by words and characters. When reading text on a Web page, each link appears to be on its own line, even though this may not be true on the screen. Visited links are identified as “visited.” They are also properly categorized as visited in the Links List dialog. When JFW encounters a link that does not have any text associated with it, one of two things is announced. If the link is a CGI link, the name of the graphic is spoken. Otherwise, the last directory component and the file name of the URL is spoken instead. To quickly skip past headers, you can press INSERT+ENTER. This moves you down through the page to the first text of at least 50 characters that is not a link. When it arrives at the text, the current line is read. When the cursor is on a line with a link, pressing ENTER or NUM PAD SLASH activates that link. Subsequently, pressing BACKSPACE moves you back to your last position on the last page read. When using the Virtual cursor and you encounter a link on the screen that has an ALT tag, JAWS will read that tag since it is more descriptive. Note: If you are talking to a visual user, you may want to route JAWS to the Virtual cursor in order to read the actual text on the screen. The Virtual PC cursor is enabled in DEFAULT.JCF. If you do not want to use the Virtual PC cursor, turn it off by un-checking the checkbox. Use the Virtual PC Cursor under the Advanced setting of the Configuration Manager in DEFAULT.JCF. If you want to have this cursor disabled every time you are in the IE 5, you can uncheck this box in BROWSEUI.JCF. Note: When reformatting a Web page using INSERT+F5, remember that this is only available in non-virtual cursor mode. Forms Mode - With the Virtual PC cursor positioned on a form field, press ENTER or the NUM PAD SLASH key to switch to Forms mode. You will hear "Forms Mode On", the information and the name of the control you are on. When you press ENTER to go into Forms mode, the PC cursor is activated on the current control. As a result, if you are on a button, the button is pressed. If you are on a checkbox, the state of the checkbox is toggled. If you are on a radio button that is unchecked, the radio button is checked, however, if it was already checked, it remains unchanged. If you are on an edit box, the PC cursor is placed at the top of the edit field. With Combo boxes, the first item is selected. TAB and SHIFT+TAB must be used to move between fields in forms mode. When using these keys for navigation, the natural tab order is used, including any links that may appear between fields. As you land on the different controls, JAWS announces the new control, such as a link or a field. While in forms mode you can navigate edit fields using the PC cursor as you normally do. To exit Forms mode, press NUM PAD PLUS to activate the Virtual PC cursor. Note: JFW remains in Forms mode until the Virtual PC cursor is activated or a new page is displayed, whichever comes first. Pressing INSERT+ESC also returns you to Virtual Cursor mode and moves the position of the Virtual PC cursor to the first control on the current page. Tip: Return to the Virtual PC cursor using the familiar NUM PAD PLUS. This turns Mode off. Link List Dialog - When in IE 5.0, you can bring up the Link List dialog by pressing INSERT+F7. When you find yourself in this dialog, you are in the Links List view. Whenever you enter this dialog, this list is sorted in tab order and shows all links. This List view lists the links on the current page according to the filter and sort order set by the other controls in this dialog. Each time it comes up, it defaults to listing all links in tab order. If the links have the same name but point to different locations, each one is listed in this list view. Visited links are determined by what IE indicates as a visited link. Because of this, if a link is visited to somewhere on the same page, the link is marked as visited even though you have not activated the link. Also, if you have visited a particular URL and then go to a page that has a link to that URL, the link is then marked as visited. If IE 5 does not show that it is a visited link, JAWS will not either. The Links List dialog has a display area where you can choose from three radio buttons: All Links, which if selected shows all links; Visited Links Only, which if selected shows visited links only; and Unvisited Links, which if selected shows unvisited links. You can go to the Sort Links area to choose from two sort options. The Links List dialog has a Sort Links area where you can choose from two Radio buttons: In Tab Order, which if selected sorts in tab order; and Alphabetically, which if selected sorts alphabetically. There are also three buttons available to assist you in navigating: Move To Link , which if selected moves to a link; Activate Link - if selected moves to an activated link; and Cancel, which if selected closes the Links List dialog. The Move to Link button, when activated, closes the dialog box and moves the Virtual PC cursor to that link on the current Web page. You can then use the navigational keys to explore around the link. The hot key for this button is ALT+M. The Activate Link button closes the dialog box and activates the link as if you had tabbed to it and pressed ENTER. It is also the default button. The Display group box allows you to select the radio button to filter the displayed list to display all links (default), visited links only, or unvisited links. You can tab to this group box or use hot keys to change the settings without leaving the list view. Hot keys are as follows: All Links use ALT+L; Visited Links Only use ALT+V; and Unvisited Links use ALT+U. The links list can have the links appear in tab order (default) or alphabetically. You can tab to this group box or use hot keys to change the settings without leaving the list view. Hot keys are as follows: In Tab Order use ALT+T, and Alphabetically use ALT+P. If you bring up the Link List dialog and wish to return to your current position on the Web page, you can activate the Cancel button (hot key ALT+C) or press ESC. Conventional Mode - You can temporarily turn off the Virtual PC cursor in Configuration Manager by unchecking the check box located in Advanced Settings. This returns you to the conventional JAWS cursor mode. Note: To temporarily toggle between Virtual PC cursor and PC cursor, press INSERT+Z. By unchecking the checkbox, using the Virtual PC cursor in the Advanced settings dialog of the Configuration Manager, you can navigate IE using the JAWS cursor and reformatting options that were used by JFW in IE 4.01. Be sure to save the changes. This functionality is not available if the Virtual PC cursor mode is enabled. The default setting is checked. Be sure to check the check box again and save. To find out more about how the conventional mode works, see IE 4 Help.
Received on Sunday, 10 October 1999 02:21:57 UTC