[bcab] Fw: AJAX and accessibility - Jaws to the rescue?

Met Steve Nutt at Sight Village, he was telling me that System Access is 
currently the only screen 
reader to support AJAX fully.   Well, looks like this could be about to change, 
although just a 
rumour at this stage.   Whether or not it's true, I wouldn't be surpised to 
hear that Windoweyes 
will be supporting it soon, in the least!   Leon Gilbert.

ENCS.

AJAX and accessibility - Jaws to the rescue?
E-consultancy.com 23/7/07
by Chris Rourke

RIAs like Ajax often have an accessibility weak spot since they need to work 
with JavaScript off to 
meet the basic accessibility guidelines.
Rumour has it that the next version of the popular screen reader Jaws may be 
able to handle Ajax 
interfaces.
Accessify's Ian Lloyd recently made reference on his blog to rumours regarding 
screen reader Jaws 
9.0 possibly having support for Ajax. According to Ian's source, the release 
notes for Jaws 8.0 made 
reference to support for Ajax functionality, however all references were 
removed prior to launch.
It would be an interesting development if Jaws 9.0 were to support Ajax. Ajax 
and other similar 
technologies such as Flex have revolutionised the way in which we interact with 
the web and have 
enhanced the user experience significantly. If this increase in usability was 
available to blind or 
partially sighted users then their entire experience of the web could be 
different.
Presumably the new version of Jaws will be using the small data transfers that 
occur in AJAX as 
triggers for the screen reading interactions, rather than full page refreshes 
which is currently 
used. Still, careful standards-compliant coding of the page will no doubt be 
necessary.
Screen reader software manufacturers have been notoriously slow to react to 
Internet trends. Any 
indication that they are starting to move with the times is welcome. The other 
factor in the interia 
is the relatively high cost of Jaws and other assistive technologies that can 
deter many users from 
upgrading to the latest versions.
Perhaps more significant is the presumption that where one leads the others 
must follow. Freedom 
Scientific's competitors would surely require to provide similar functionality 
in their own 
software.
Only when Jaws 9.0 is released will we finally discover whether it supports 
Ajax and if so, exactly 
how it will go about reading pages designed this way. Until then, we wait with 
anticipation.
For those interested in the world of AJAX and the impacton accessibility a 
couple other useful areas 
to check out are the IBM Ajax Accessibility page by Becky Gibson, and the W3C's 
ARIA framework.
Chris Rourke is the managing director of User Vision.

(Source URL)
http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/363851/ajax-and-accessibility--jaws-to-the-rescue.html


***  BCAB List administration ***

If you wish to unsubscribe, set vacation,, request a digest or carry out 
routine maintenance on your subscription to the list then go to:
http://www.bcab.org.uk/mailing-list.html

Alternatively, send an email to bcab-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word faqin 
the subject line. You'll receive an email with advice on managing your 
subscription to the list.
 
If you wish to discuss the administration of the list then contact:
bcab-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Other related posts: