[macvoiceover] Re: Designing web pages for screen readers

I think the key to good webdesign, whether your designing for sighted or blind, is the principle of separation of content and presentation. Practically, this means using HTML to mark up your pages semantically (use headers instead of siply making text bold; use lists instead of simply sticking bullets in front of paragraphs; etc).
To revisit the navigation example, instead of authoring your pages with navigation at the bottom (bad design from a sighted person's perspective I guess), use HTML headings to divide the page into logical sections.I like the conventionof placing a page title just after all the navigation links, and just before the main content of the page. This then acts as a target which the screen reader can use to skip over the nav section. If headings are used properly throughout the page, then by skimming the headings with a screen reader, the user can get a feel for what's on the page without having to read the whole thing.
CSS can be used to style the semantic markup to suit your presentation needs. 

Just my two cents...
-- Rich

On Jan 30, 2008, at 3:19 PM, Greg Kearney wrote:
I have been designing and programming the webpages of Curtin University Centre for Accessible Technology (www.cucat.org) and it doing so have collected a few thoughts about accessible web pages.
Along with as the usual things like alt tags and high contrast of type. It occurred to me from my own use and that of my blind wife that many pages require the screen reader, and sighted users as well, to navigate through a whole range of site navigation links before ever getting to the content of the site.
In the CUCAT site I have attempted to deal with this by placing the navigation links at the bottom of the page so that when you land on a page you reach that pages content. In the event of a very long page where the navigation would be at the bottom I will have a single link which will take the reader to the navigation links.
It would seem to me that this approach would be better for pages intended to be read by screen readers, as well as by the sighted rather than have all the visual and auditory distraction of complex headers at the top of the page to navigate through before reaching the true content of the page.
Also I feel the content of the page read in an uninterrupted flow without breaking to offer other services or information.
As a general design rule I feel that webpages have become much to complex and busy. This applies to the sighted as well as the blind. Would you want a book in which the text flashed, moved or in some other way animated the pages? Would you want a book in which bight coloured text, unrelated to what you were reading littered the sides of the main content area? The answer is, no, of course not but that is often what we are getting from modern website design. There seems to be of late the approach the because we can do something on a page we should. 

Just some thoughts to think about.


Greg Kearney
535 S. Jackson St.
Casper, Wyoming 82601
307-224-4022
gkearney@xxxxxxxxx



Click on the link below to go to our homepage.
http://www.icanworkthisthing.com
Manage your subscription by using the web interface on the link below. 
http://www.freelists.org/list/macvoiceover

Users can subscribe to this list by sending email to  
macvoiceover-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with 'subscribe' in the Subject field OR by logging into the Webinterface at http://www.freelists.org/list/macvoiceover 





Click on the link below to go to our homepage.
http://www.icanworkthisthing.com

Manage your subscription by using the web interface on the link below.
http://www.freelists.org/list/macvoiceover
Users can subscribe to this list by sending email to macvoiceover-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe' in the Subject field OR by logging into the Web interface at http://www.freelists.org/list/macvoiceover

Other related posts: