- From: David Poehlman <poehlman@clark.net>
- Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 11:10:24 -0400 (EDT)
- To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
-- Hands-On-Technolog(eye)s touching the internet voice: 1-(301) 949-7599 poehlman@clark.net ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/poehlman http://www.clark.net/pub/poehlman Dynamic solutions Inc. Best of service for your Small Business network Needs Http://www.dnsolutions.com ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 21:53:52 +0000 From: Stella O'Brien <smo-brien@lioness.demon.co.uk> Reply-To: webwatch-l@teleport.com To: webwatch-l@teleport.com Subject: webwatch-l Ten Hazards in Accessible Web Design Title: Ten Hazards in Accessible Web Design Author: S. O'Brien Date: 4th August 1998 Annoying design ranges from minor irritations to trapdoors and mazes that are hazards in the search for information. I have listed nine items. I would be interested to see other people's tenth item or lists. Contents 1 Images without alt text 2 Alternate text but no common sense 3 Unclear text 4 Unscannable text 5 No support for keyboard shortcuts 6 Unhelpful links 7 Non-intuitive frames 8 Navigation without stable landmarks 9 Meta refresh and moving distractions 10 Please insert your own choice of hazard. 1 Images without alt text Not every picture is worth a thousand words or a long download time. Authors need to understand their chosen graphics well enough to be able to describe them, and their purpose, in alt text or another suitable way. I can choose whether I download an image or animation. Some users don't have that choice. For them, the lack of alternate text traps them in a maze of guesswork, or makes the site impossible to navigate. 2 Alternate text but no common sense Alt text and longer descriptions are intended to communicate the contents or purpose of the graphic which they replace. I don't need to know that the image I have not loaded is "A rainbow coloured horizontal line". I am interested to learn that it represents "Section 2" or "Part 3". I do not care that something is a "Java applet". The author communicates more with "Animation: why water expands when frozen". I'd welcome a link to a full text description of the animation and experiment. I don't want to be left to wonder about what I am missing but I still choose not to Java-enable my browser. Some users do not have the choice. This is annoying if using the web for leisure. It is user-hostile if this example were to be part of a web-based education package. 3 Unclear text Complex background images and colours obscure text and make it difficult to read. So do poor colour contrasts; white text on a pale grey background is difficult to read and to print because of the similar hues. I never want to be forced to decipher Lucinda Sans, set small, doubled and shifted to produce a shadow effect. Hint, I dislike the work of authors who set absolute font sizes and specify the face. 4 Unscannable text Even for sighted people with big screens, it takes longer to read online text than print. Users scan text, picking out keywords and sentences and ignoring those areas which do not interest them. Body text should be lean and relevant. I like an organised framework of summaries, headings, and lists to aid scanning. These help me to decide whether I want to follow a link or to read a full document. 5 No support for keyboard shortcuts Not everybody can use a mouse or tracker ball. I find it faster to tab between form fields than to select each one by mouse. Good authors make it possible to tab up, down, and across the screen, using directional arrows, 'enter', and other keys to control the cursor. For some users keyboard shortcuts are the only way that they can interact with a page. 6 Unhelpful links I dislike links that read "click here". I want the text in the link to indicate where the link would take me or what it is for. If I have scanned the text and found interesting keywords, I want the keyword repeated in the link phrase. If I want to listen to a web broadcast I like the link to be descriptive and to give the name of the station, and the title and date of the programme. I do not want a link which is the elaborate file path and obscure name for the audio file. An alt text that tells me that an icon link is " a radio button" or "a camera" doesn't help me: labelling it "Videos available to rent" is useful. 7 Non-intuitive frames Frames are badly used by many web designers and lead to unpleasant surprises when nothing behaves in the way you expect. Frames are difficult to navigate, print, or bookmark. Without a title for each frame it is impossible for some users to anticipate its contents or function. I want to look for information. I don't want to be forced to make a mental map of the site so that I can use it. Frames cause problems for users of some assistive technology, and people with cognitive disabilities. Too many web sites do not let a user past the home page without a frames enabled browser. 8 Navigation needs stable landmarks Many countries have stories about people who remove sign-posts or sabotage them so that visitors can not find their route. If someone sympathises with this type of action, then please don't advertise your site to me. I am not a confident wayfinder. I like web pages to reflect the name and hierarchy of their web site in the title so that: I always have an idea of where I am I can recognise them in the history list. I need every page to link to a home page. I like a home page to offer me a choice of overviews of the site's structure and contents. Navigation aides should be consistent in name, style, and position throughout the site. 9 Meta refresh and moving distractions If I take a phone call when I am looking at a web page, I want to be able to concentrate on the call and return to the same page. I do not like to find that the author has used meta refresh or a similar mechanism to drop me through a trapdoor onto another page. It is annoying for me. It is dis- orienting for some people who use screen-readers. It is a mystery to users who have cognitive disabilities. On-line text is harder to read than print. So, I don't want to be distracted when I am trying to read. I do not want part of my page to jump, scroll, or flash. Such antics can interrupt the smooth use of assistive technology. 10 Please insert your own choice of hazard. Best wishes - Stella Stella O'Brien smo-brien@lioness.demon.co.uk
Received on Wednesday, 5 August 1998 11:10:06 UTC