[Blindtlk] : Article: The Impending Collision Of Accessibility and Rich Internet Applications

[Peter Donahue]

Good afternoon everyone,

    As a Web developer, a manager of several NFB Web Sites, (IOne of which
is a Coldfusion site), and a member of the National Federation of the Blind
I felt it necessary to bring this article to everyone's attention. Much of
what the write says is of real concern as we move towards greater use of
Rich Internet Applications, (RIAS) and the accessibility concerns they
present for screen reader users such as myself. The author mentions several
court actions we are engaged in in two states including my own state of
Texas.

    What he failed to mention is our Non-Visual Web Accessibility
Initiative.This is an outreach initiave of the National Federation of the
Blind Jernigan Institute that provides assistance to those wanting to
develop Web sites which can be easily accessed by screen reader users. The
initiative is made up of a network of Web Accessibility Consultants, (WACS)
that can be engaged by companies and organizations to work with their Web
developers to ensure that their Web sites are both rich in content and can
be accessed with screen readers.

    Since the Jernigan Institute's primary mission is to serve as a national
research and training institute developing new Web access solutions to
address trends such as the increased use of Rich Internet Applications is a
vital part of our Non-Visual Web Accessibility Initiative.Upon completion of
development of accessible Web sites and applications we test candidates for
Non-Visual Wab Accessibility Seal to ensure that these sites comply with our
Web Accessibility Standards. Sites which meet these standards can display
our Non-Visual Web Accessibility seal. You can see it by visiting the link
below.

    To learn more about our Non-Visual Web Accessibility Initiative please
visit:
http://www.nfb.org/nfb/certification_intro.asp?SnID=2133511408

    Efforts were made to urge Target and the state of Texas to take this
route to making their Web site and database applications accessible with
screen readers to avoid action in the courts. However these entities failed
to take this road to Web accessibility. We hope this information will aid
those wanting to ensure that Web sites and applications of all types can be
used by all people including screen readers. Here is the article:




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Pattison" <srp at internode.on.net>
To: "GUI Talk" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>; "Access-L" <access-l at access-l.com>
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2007 2:11 AM
Subject: [gui-talk] Fwd: Article: The Impending Collision Of Accessibility
and Rich Internet Applications



>From: Susan Thompson susan at sthompson.net
>To: VIP-L vip-l at softspeak.com.au
>
>  MediaPost.com, CT, USA
>  Wednesday, March 14, 2007
>
>  The Impending Collision Of Accessibility and Rich Internet
>  Applications
>
>  By Rob Garner
>
>  Over the last six months I have written about two trends in the Web
>  design world that will have an enormous impact on the future of natural
>search:
>  accessibility and rich Internet applications (RIA).  On one side of
>  the discussion, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is pressing
>  corporations in the state courts on the issue of designing accessible,
>  text-based Web sites for the visually impaired who use screen readers
>  such as JAWS.  On the other side, cutting-edge Web developers and
>  user-experience gurus are designing rich Internet applications for
>  better user experience in a Web 2.0 world -- applications that also
>  expand the boundaries of being search- and accessibility- unfriendly.
>
>  The tipping point in the debate on dichotomous design approaches will
>  not occur in the context of designing search-friendly Web sites; it
>  will occur in the impending corporate discussion of Web accessibility,
>  and whether or not corporations will build accessible Web sites in
>  place of, or in addition to, existing rich applications utilizing Flash,
>DHTML or Ajax.
>
>  In the Feb. 27 Forrester Research report entitled, "Prepare To Be
>  Challenged On Web Accessibility Compliance,"
>
>  www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,41644,00.html
>
>  analyst Michael Rasmussen discussed the increasing momentum of the Web
>  accessibility movement as it relates to recent court activity by the NFB.
>  His assessment centers on legal issues, the complexity of the Web,
>  lack of accessibility awareness and lack of ownership in
>  organizations.  The report also points out a few of the benefits of
>  designing for accessibility, including being a socially responsible
>  corporate citizen, reaching untapped markets, and also capturing the
>  riches of natural search optimization.
>
>  In early February, the NFB continued to pursue its Web accessibility
>  mission in the state courts by filing a case against the State of
>  Texas for using inaccessible Oracle software that effectively makes
>  content invisible to screen readers.
>
>  www.nfb.org/nfb/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=140
>
>  The NFB is also pursuing a case against Target in California, which
>  claims that the Target.com site is inaccessible to visually impaired
>persons.
>
>  The irony is that while Web accessibility is just beginning to appear
>  on the radar screen of corporate America, current mega-trends in
>  enterprise Web design are as far away from meeting accessibility
>  standards as they could possibly be.  To get an idea of the priority
>  of RIA in the Web development world right now, consider this roster of
>  sessions that represents the rich theme of the upcoming Thunderlizard
>  Web conference in San Francisco:
>
>  www.ftponline.com/conferences/thunderlizard/
>
>  - Ajax Frameworks & Design Patterns Survey
>
>  - Yahoo! vs. Yahoo! Case Studies of Three Mainstream, Large-Scale
>  Ajax/DHTML Implementations
>  - Keynote: The Dawning of the Age of Experience
>
>  - Making Web 2.0 Usable: An Ajax Case Study
>
>  So what does this mean for marketers?  It means that the RIA and
>  Accessibility showdown is coming soon to a server near you, and the
>  way you approach online Web development will have a potentially
>  serious impact in other areas of your company that have a stake in the
>  accessibility issue.
>
>  Even if your company doesn't already have some sort of rich presence,
>  it is quite possible that the next redesign will.  But will it be
>  search- and screen-reader friendly?
>
>  Designing for search-friendliness makes inroads into accessibility
>
>  Designing for search will provide many answers for accessibility.  A
>  no-risk, naturally optimized site is fundamentally accessible, though
>  there are still many other special considerations for compliance.  If
>  you are designing a rich interface, it would be wise to start thinking
>  now about how to make it accessible and search-friendly.  Here are a
>  few
>  considerations:
>
>  Find out if any rich applications are currently being developed by
>  your organization or respective digital agency.
>
>  If rich site applications are being developed, find out what is being
>  done to make the application search and screen-reader friendly. If you
>  are currently in the development process, it may be painful to address
>  search and accessibility, but it will be even more painful if your
>  site cannot be made accessible after launch.  Plan upfront, and avoid
>  trying to retrofit a search and accessible design solution at all costs.
>
>  If nothing is being done for accessibility or search, mobilize your
>  developers, designers, search specialists, and accessibility
>  specialists to assess and determine the best solution.This will likely
>  involve the creation of an entire second site for search engines and
>screen-readers.
>  If rich applications are a part of your future, get used to the dea of
>  maintaining two sites.  Don't fret - there are solutions for being
>  both accessible and rich, and your experts will help determine the
>  best solution for your site.
>
>  Rob Garner is a senior strategic planner for interactive marketing and
>  search agency iCrossing. He is president-elect of the Dallas/Fort
>  Worth Search Engine Marketing Association, and also serves on the
>  board of the Dallas/Fort Worth Interactive Marketing Association.
>
>  http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showAr
>  ticleHomePage&art_aid=57094
Peter Donahue