WebA11y

Great interview with Stevie Wonder from Click - BBC’s Technology Programme. The video interview is 15 minutes long but there is also a written synopsis. It was interesting to hear Stevie’s use of technology and also his opinion on surgery to restore eyesight. I was pleased so hear the interviewer bring up the issue of manufacturers not wanting to make products accessible due to increased costs in order to accommodate a small market. Stevie was right back at him with a reasonable response.

The interview was held at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January 2008. I think it is great that Stevie goes to this show and engages with the manufacturers. He also visits the product showcase of the Technology & Persons With Disabilities Conference each March in Los Angeles (I’ve seen him there each of the 5 years I have attended). He is great about stopping to talk with folks and pose for pictures. Whether you like his music or not, he is certainly a role model!

Added February 12, 2008: Here is an additional story and interview from NPR (National Pubic Radio):

Those in the accessibility field have probably already seen this survey from WebAIM: Screen Reader Survey. If you haven’t seen it yet, it is worth a review. It is a survey of about one thousand screen reader users of varying ability levels. The most interesting information to me was the consistent trend that flash content can be difficult to negotiate. This is a bit disturbing given how many sites are now using flash to implement extra “pizazz.” It was also insightful that there were not strong trends about the use of alt text or link text. I think that many web developers struggle with how detailed to make alt text. I know that I’m never quite sure whether to add more detail at the risk of too much chatter. Give it a look and form your own opinions!

A colleague pointed me to the new whitehouse.gov site on the day of the inauguration. I was proud that he had already noticed that the site wasn’t particularly accessible - that means my a11y message is getting through! With all of the talk on the news about the new administration embracing the internet I expected a more accessible site. However, I was disappointed. That first day, I found an accessibility statement on the site that stated that folks has tried to make it as accessible as possible and the work was on going. I visited the site on Jan. 28, and I can’t find that statement, even via search. Updated, February 2: It seems that the search will not work in Firefox 3.0.5 when images are turned off. Normally when I search I am taken to a new page with the results. In Firefox with images turned off a new page does not load. It works ok with images on and in IE8 with images turned off. Thus, I was eventually able to find the accessibility statement.

While the site is usable with the keyboard and probably with a screen reader with a bit of coaching, the low vision support is pretty dismal. While the images seem to have alt text, there are CSS background images used for the main navigation bullets on the first page and the contrast is pretty low. I guess a low vision person could find the links at the bottom of the page but the site is very hard to use with images turned off.

I will admit that I never tested the whitehouse.gov site under the old administration - it may have been equally as bad. However, for an administration that used the internet during the campaign and that touts the inclusion of all in government provided by the internet, not providing an accessible site is very disappointing. I hope the developers and designers make a concentrated effort on accessibility. After all, they should have to adhere to US Section 508, too!