Re: [Fwd: Guidelines for making web notes accessible]

Here's the main problem I've run into with accessible lecture notes.

Powerpoint is a popular package for lecture notes.  It exports to HTML, but
there are problems.

1. The default output is just one big image per slide with no alt text,
completely unreadable.

2. There is a text version of the page, but

   It only shows text of original, no images, no ALT text 

   Text that isn't part of the outline view shows up in scrambled order.

As an example see the power point side at

http://astro.temple.edu/~kasday/talks/dt-web/ppt_test/test/sld001.htm

Click on the "text" button (the button with image of A on it with ALT text
"text".

It will show the effects mentioned above. 

You can get around this if

a. All text is in the outline
b. All info in the images are part of the outline.  One trick is to have
the text equivalent in the outline and then put the image on top of it so
it's hidden in the graphic view.

You could also edit the text result by hand, but remember that you have to
re-edit the text view every time you change the pictorial view or it will
overwrite everything you've done. So this isn't really very practical.

By the way, one good thing about Powerpoint output is that, unlike other
packages, it produces HTML with proper heading tags <H1> <H2> etc.

Len

P.S. The above slide is part of a simplfied talk on web accessibility that
was aimed at people doing on line notes here at Temple.  The URL is
http://astro.temple.edu/~kasday/talks/dt-web/




At 02:34 PM 8/31/99 -0400, David Poehlman wrote:
>
>Please cc the original sender in any reply?
>-------- Original Message --------
>Subject: Guidelines for making web notes accessible
>Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 13:12:40 +1000
>From: Trevor Wilks <twilks@MAIL.NEWCASTLE.EDU.AU>
>Reply-To: "* WEB http://www.rit.edu/~easi"
><EASI@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU>
>To: EASI@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
>
>Hi everyone,
>
>Our Web team are currently working on a set of standards for uploading
>lecture notes to the Web. They are taking the issue of accessibility
>very
>seriously as a way of reducing the expenditure on employing notetakers
>in
>lectures as well as making the notes accessible to as many students as
>possible.
>
>Just wondering if people on this list who are involved with Tertiary
>education have gone down this road already. If so it would be much
>appreciated if you could point me towards any relevant info that is
>available or any inside tips. We are applying the general web access
>guidelines as per WAI etc.
>
>Also  I have seen some information related to the accessibility of
>mainstream software packages. I think it was in a checklist type of
>format.
>Any info on either of these subjects would be much appreciated.
>
>Thanks in advance
>Trevor
>Trevor Wilks - Manager
>Adaptive Technology Centre
>Student and Academic Services Division
>Auchmuty Library
>University of Newcastle
>University Drive Callaghan
>NSW 2308 Australia
>Ph-02 49217046
>Fax-02 49217410
>Email-twilks@mail.newcastle.edu.au
>
>
>
-------
Leonard R. Kasday, Ph.D.
Universal Design Engineer, Institute on Disabilities/UAP, and
Adjunct Professor, Electrical Engineering
Temple University

Ritter Hall Annex, Room 423, Philadelphia, PA 19122
kasday@acm.org        
(215) 204-2247 (voice)
(800) 750-7428 (TTY)

Received on Tuesday, 31 August 1999 16:25:20 UTC