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

As so often with accessibility and especially so on the Web thereare degrees of 
accessibility. What is unusuable on a first attempt becomes usable once you 
have worked out a strategy for achieving your end result. The difficulty with 
ajax type technologies is that it increases the likelyhood of things happpening 
that you aren't aware of so while infact you have achieved what you set out to, 
you aren't aware of it. One example of a particularly problematic ajax page is 
our expenses claims form at work. Unfortunately on a closed intranet so I can't 
show it to the list but clicking the "add" button causes information you have 
already entered to move down the screen and adds a new blank line at the top. 
On first review with a screenreader it looks as if you click the add button and 
the only thing that happens is that you lost the data you entered so far. If 
you only have a single line of data to enter you must still use the add button 
otherwise the claim isn't added to the total field. Something which resulted in 
me putting in a number of claims for no money when we first switch over to the 
system.  However it works fine for me now that I know how to use it.  Yes there 
are accessibility difficulties but yes there are ways around them they just 
take more learning than those in traditional web 1 situations.
 


Adrian Higginbotham


Accessibility content manager

British Educational Communications and Technology Agency - BECTA
Tel: Direct dial 024 7679 7333 - Becta switchboard 02476-416994.

Email: Adrian.Higginbotham@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Web: http://www.becta.org.uk/
BECTA, Millburn Hill Road, Science Park, Coventry, CV4 7JJ 


-----Original Message-----
From: bcab-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bcab-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of 
Alasdair King
Sent: 24 July 2007 07:30
To: bcab@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bcab] Re: Fw: AJAX and accessibility - Jaws to the rescue?

Following on from Isaac's question: do we know of any websites where AJAX makes 
them inaccessible or unusable, and there is an obvious case for using them? I'd 
be very interested in some real-world test cases.
I'll proffer up Microsoft Outlook over the web, the first AJAX application, as 
a start.

Best wishes,
Alasdair King

On 7/24/07, Isaac Porat <isaac@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hello Léonie and all
>
> I wonder what AJAX support really means. AJAX is a technology that 
> modifies part of the web page rather than updates the whole page.  It 
> is one thing to detect that something has changed and another to do something 
> about this.
> What I wonder is how the screen reader is to know how to respond.
>
> For example, in some situations, it may be appropriate to jump to the 
> part of the page that changed and then come back to the original point 
> of reading.  In some other situations it is appropriate only to alert 
> the user that something has changed and let him to view that later if 
> required.  Yet in other situations it is better just to ignore the 
> change as it is of little value to the user.  Unless there is a way to 
> mark this somehow to screen readers how can they respond properly?
>
> So the value of carefully crafted pages by screen reader's vendors to 
> demonstrate AJAX support is probably limited in respect to real world 
> situations.
>
> Any comments?
>
> Regards
> Isaac
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bcab-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bcab-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
> Behalf Of Léonie Watson
> Sent: 23 July 2007 19:56
> To: bcab@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [bcab] Re: Fw: AJAX and accessibility - Jaws to the rescue?
>
> Evening,
>
>         It's worth noting that Jaws already has reasonable support for AJAX.
> Using a set of seven benchmark tests, SA To Go completes all tests 
> successfully, whilst Jaws failed one and partially failed another.
>
>         I haven't had the opportunity to test Window Eyes just yet, 
> but will publish the full results as soon as I can find time to complete the 
> tests.
>
> Regards,
> Léonie.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bcab-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bcab-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
> Behalf Of editor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Sent: 23 July 2007 13:44
> To: bcab@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [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-t
> o-the-rescue.html
>
>
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--
Alasdair King
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