CD and Web Accessibility

At 08:10 AM 10/24/2000 , Anne Pemberton wrote:
>At 03:31 PM 10/23/00 -0700, Kynn Bartlett wrote:
> >What do you think I need to know, as a web designer, about the needs
> >of the specific users we are talking about (those with cognitive
> >disabilities)?

>The first needs are: 1) Illustrate the text on a page -if illustrations are
>small to conserve upload time, include a larger version that can be
>accessed by clicking on the small version on the page,

Anne, what sort of instructions should we write on how and when to
illustrate something?  My initial thoughts are:

* Provide enough illustration so that a user who is unable to
   read the text of the page can at least guess at the functionality
   from the graphics with a high degree of reliability

* Design to allow navigation via graphics by non-textual users

* When providing "raw information", consider ways to add graphics
   to aid in comprehension -- for example, add icons in additional
   to textual information in tables

>2) write in the simplist language possible,

What sort of guidelines can we write for this?

* Consider the audience; select both an average reading level and
   a -minimal- reading level.  Remember that there are going to be
   audiences besides the core audiences who may benefit from what
   you write.

* Remember that writing simply is _not_ "writing down"; in fact,
   it takes greater skill to communicate to all audiences than to
   a highly technical or specialized audience.

* Use Strunk and White's philosophy of making every word tell, and
   don't overcomplicate the language, intentionally or unintentionally.

* Spell-check your work (and grammar check if possible) to ensure
   correct language usage; poor writing skills make it harder to
   comprehend the content.

>3)keep headings and titles short and simple,

* Restrict headings and titles to the smallest number of words
   necessary to convey meaning.  Lower-numbered headings (H1, H2)
   should have shorter text than higher-numbered headings.

>4)use simple graphics to illustrate various titles and parts of a document,

Not sure how to quantify this apart from what's been said above.  Can
you think of any issues I may be missing here?

>5)if the information is necessarily complex, write a summary to appear at
>the top of the page or beginning of a site, in very simple language, and
>put the complex details later with simple suitable headings. 

* Create a simple summary of content which is longer than (some
   measure of length); include this length as both a visible summary
   and in the META DESCRIPTION tag for the page.

>The answer to those who argue that cognitively impaired folks cannot use
>computers, is that they can, and they are(and some come to the web via tv).
>There are several cognitively impaired students among those I teach every
>week, and, although it takes them longer to master the steps, they are
>learning, as much as possible, the same skills as the other kids.

Anne, it might be useful if there were a site or a page set up
specifically with this message, which describes the cognitively
impaired students and how they use the web.  This might be a good
research project for an intern working in this field, for example.

Such a site could then be linked to as an information resource so
that web designers could "see for themselves".  I think web sites
of this sort are a good use of the WWW medium -and- may be even
more useful than just a footnote in the WCAG or on the WAI site.

(If you wanted to talk to me about this more, I would be willing
to help with such a project, as I have time.)

>Oh, let me also suggest that to keep language simple, it will be necessary
>to define terms via a link from the term rather than in the text. The link
>should include an illustration as well as definition of the term, and it
>should allow the user to use the back key to quickly return to the full text.

This is a good idea.  Do you think that some sort of icon would be
useful for this?  Maybe a little open book after such a link?  The
difficulty is distinguishing a definition link from an ordinary
link; there needs to be a visible distinction made for usability's
sake.  Naturally we can't -mandate- something for all pages out there
but we can definitely -suggest- alternatives.

(There should also be non-visual indications that a link is to a
definition; I think this is easier to do, e.g. with the TITLE
attribute and with CSS.)

>Among the learning disabled folks there is a cadre of people who have
>average or higher cognitiion levels who are severly hampered reading text.
>These people will use sites function at a higher cognitive level that those
>who are "cognitively disabled", but need the help of illustrations. They
>are well suited to hearing the content read to them, and may be best
>accommodated by a speech-reading browser that doesn't block out the
>illustrations while reading the text.

Hmm, so something like IBM's Home Page Reader would help.

Now, here's the next topic for us to ponder:

      How can we make web interactions -- such as forms, searching,
      e-commerce -- more accessible to people who have cognitive
      disabilities or reading difficulties?

Most of what we've talked about have dealt with the "document" idea,
and ways to "provide access to content."  An even harder challenge is
providing access to _functionality_ and _interaction_.

Discussion generation seeds:

(1) What would a search engine look like for someone who can't
     read or write?
(2) How can someone with cognitive disabilities fill out forms
     online?  Do we need to provide special coding to enable them
     to do this in an easier fashion?
(3) Describe an ideal e-commerce experience for someone who is
     cognitively disabled and is yet able to use their own money
     as they wish.  Then describe an e-commerce experience for
     someone who is not in this situation.  Is the latter possible?
     Is the former difficult to do?

--Kynn

-- 
Kynn Bartlett  <kynn@idyllmtn.com>                    http://kynn.com/
Director of Accessibility, Edapta               http://www.edapta.com/
Chief Technologist, Idyll Mountain Internet   http://www.idyllmtn.com/
AWARE Center Director                      http://www.awarecenter.org/
What's on my bookshelf?                         http://kynn.com/books/

Received on Wednesday, 25 October 2000 15:53:42 UTC