- From: David Poehlman <david.poehlman@handsontechnologeyes.com>
- Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 08:54:43 -0400
- To: wai-ig list <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
In particular, how does this affect other usability? -- Jonnie Apple Seed With His: Hands-On Technolog(eye)s OUT-LAW News, July 21, 2005 > > UK law requires that websites are usable, not just accessible. But > usability > is sometimes overlooked. Here, usability and accessibility firm > Webcredible > gives tips for improving a site's usability for those who rely on > screen > readers. > > A screen reader is software that interprets the contents of a > screen and > presents it to a visually impaired user as speech or by driving a > Braille > display. Popular screen readers include JAWS, Hal and WindowsEyes. > > Simply ensuring your website is accessible to screen reader users is > unfortunately not enough to ensure these users can find what > they're looking > for in a reasonably quick and efficient manner. Even if your site is > accessible to screen reader users, its usability could be so > incredibly poor > that they needn't have bothered coming to your site. > > Webcredible has provided the following simple-to-implement > guidelines that > you can follow, which not only drastically improve usability for > screen > reader users, but for all web users: > > 1. Descriptive headings > > The use of on-page headings is one of the most important usability > features > for screen reader users, as it helps them more easily understand > the page > structure. Although text on the page may appear to be a heading for > sighted > users, it must be labelled as a heading within the HTML code for > screen > reader users to know it is a heading. > > Screen readers don't look at web pages - they read through the HTML > code. If > a piece of text is called a heading within the HTML code then the > screen > reader will announce that it's a heading. If not, screen reader > users won't > actually know if something that visually appears to be a heading is > actually > a heading. > > Another usability benefit of using headings for screen reader > users, is that > these users can call up a list of on-page headings and jump to the > section > of the page in which they're most interested. This works in much > the same > way as sighted web users scanning through web pages by glancing at > headings. > If headings are descriptive of the content contained beneath them > it becomes > far easier for screen reader users to find the information which > they're > after. > > 2. Descriptive link text > > Screen reader users can browse through web pages by calling up a > list of > on-page links, and activating the link in which they're most > interested. As > such, non-descriptive link text such as 'click here' should be > avoided at > all costs as it makes no sense whatsoever out of context. > > The good news is that the use of descriptive link texts represents a > usability benefit for everyone. When we scan through web pages, one > of the > items that stands out to us is link text. 'Click here' is totally > meaningless to web users scanning through pages and forces users to > hunt > through surrounding text to discover the link destination. > > 3. Lists > > Using lists within the HTML code is extremely useful for screen reader > users, as screen readers announce the number of items in each list > before > reading out the list items. This helps these users know what to > expect when > hearing a list of items (such as site navigation). > > This works in mush the same way as an answer phone telling you how > many > messages you have, before listening to them. By informing you of > how many > messages you have, you instantly know what to expect. If there's > only one or > two messages you can probably remember them; much more and you'll > probably > want to get a pen and paper and make notes. > > The use of lists is really just a behind-the-scenes change to the > code and > needn't affect the visual appearance of the website. > > 4. Logical linearization > > Screen reader users generally have to listen to web pages from > start to > finish, top to bottom, left to right. Sighted web users on the > other hand > can glance through a web page almost randomly, spotting important > information wherever it may appear on the page. Because of this, > important > information should always be placed towards the top of the page. > > One example of how not to do this is to place instructions for a > form at the > bottom of the page. > > Placing important information towards the top of the page actually > benefits > everyone, as the important information is now in the place where > sighted > users look first - the top of the page. > > 5. Short, succinct ALT text > > ALT text is the alternative text for images that gets read out to > screen > reader users. Any website offering even basic accessibility will > provide > this alternative text. Some websites try to over-explain the > information > conveyed by images, forcing screen reader users to have to listen > to a lot > of unnecessary and irrelevant information. > > Screen reader users often take longer than sighted web users to > work through > websites, so help make their surfing time easier with succinct ALT > text. > > 6. Short, front-loaded paragraphs > > Front-loading means placing the conclusion first, followed by the > what, why, > when, where and how. By placing the conclusion first, screen reader > users > can instantly gain an understanding of what the paragraph's about. > They can > then decide whether they want to keep on listening or if they want > to skip > to the next paragraph (which they can easily do with the screen > reader). If > the paragraphs are short, they can do this safe in the knowledge > that they > won't be missing extra information. > > Front-loading content obviously benefits everyone, as web users no > longer > have to search around for the main point of each paragraph. > > 7. Descriptive page title > > The page title is the very first thing that screen reader users > hear when > arriving at any web page, so it's truly essential that it's > descriptive of > the page. Again, this benefits everyone as users can use the page > title to > orientate themselves and confirm that they're on the page they > think they're > on. This is especially true for web users on dial-up connections > where the > page title displays a number of seconds before the rest of the page. > > Conclusion > > There are a number of relatively simple and painless things that > can be done > to improve usability for screen reader users. Fortunately, nearly > all of > them improve usability for all web users, meaning everyone benefits > - which > is never a bad thing. > > C Webcredible 2005 > > www.out-law.com/page-5931 >
Received on Monday, 25 July 2005 12:54:51 UTC