[gui-talk] Fwd: E-Access Bulletin: Issue 110, February 2009

[Steve Pattison]

From: Dan Jellinek dan at headstar.com
To: eaccess at headstar.com

++E-ACCESS BULLETIN
Access To Technology For All, Regardless Of Ability
- ISSUE 110, February 2009.

A Headstar Publication.
http://www.headstar.com/eab/ .

Sponsored by:
Ford Motor Company
( http://www.ford.co.uk ).

Please forward this free bulletin to others (subscription details at the
end). We conform to the accessible Text Email Newsletter (TEN)
Standard:
http://www.headstar.com/ten/ .


++E-Access '09: Technology For All
- Access To All Technologies By People With Disabilities
- Fifth Annual Conference And Exhibition
http://www.headstar-events.com/eaccess09/

In an ageing population, and in tough economic times, ensuring all
your customers, service users and staff are included in everything you
do is more vital than ever, from your externally-facing websites to
internal IT systems.

E-Access Bulletin's fifth annual conference and exhibition on access to
technology by people with disabilities is taking place on 23rd April
2009 at Olympia Conference Centre in London. Our keynote speaker is
Bill Thompson, technology critic and broadcaster, who will explore the
day's key themes.

Other speakers include Graeme Whippy, Senior Manager, Lloyds TSB
IT Accessibility Group; Shadi Abou-Zahra, of the W3C Web
Accessibility Initiative, on the new international web access guidelines
WCAG 2.0; Julie Howell, Chair of the committee developing a new
British Standard for web accessibility BS8878; and Damon Rose,
Editor of the award-winning BCC disability website 'Ouch', on the
future of accessibility.

Places cost just £195 +VAT for public sector delegates; £295 +VAT
for private sector; and £165 + VAT for small charities and non-profits
(turnover less than £150k a year). To find out more and sign up today,
visit:
http://www.headstar-events.com/eaccess09/

[Special notice ends].


++Issue 110 Contents.

01: More Workplace Assistance Needed With IT, Guide Warns.
- Employers' Forum on Disability issues procurement advice.

02: Lost Weekend Spawns Accessible Facebook
- Software developers create tool live at 'code-a-thon'.

03: Navigational Device Wins International Research Prize
Mobile phone application helps users of public transport.

News in Brief: 04: Linux Package - Adapted for visually impaired; 05:
Room Rights -accessible hotel search; 06: June Prizes - eWell-Being
awards.

Section Two: Focus - Web 2.0.
07: Licence To Tweet: Twitter is a microblogging system that has
soared in popularity, but there are numerous accessibility issues which
make the system difficult for some disabled users. Gez Lemon explores
the issues and offers his own possible solution using 'Greasemonkey',
a plug-in for the Firefox browser.

[Contents ends].


++Section One: News.


+01: More Workplace Assistance Needed With IT, Guide Warns.

Employers should do more to help disabled people with their IT
workplace needs, according to a new guide from the Employers'
Forum on Disability (EFD).

The 'Reasonable adjustments - line manager guide' (
http://fastlink.headstar.com/efd1 )
advises employers to ensure they procure the correct equipment to
ensure disabled workers can work to their full potential, including
voice-activated software; adapted keyboards; and chairs which support
the back and neck.

The guide includes example scenarios with solutions to common
problems associated with disabilities in the workplace. One of the
scenarios explores the difficulties that can occur from using IT
equipment incorrectly including back and neck pain, and swollen
wrists. Proposed solutions include an adaptor keyboard to place less
strain on the user's wrists, a mouse which does not need to be grasped
tightly and a chair adapted to suit the sitter's position.

Though focused on those with disabilities, the guide aims to maximise
the potential of all employees, by increasing understanding of and
adapting to the needs of disabled workers. It also sets out legal
guidelines and helps employers identify what can and cannot be
classed as a disability.

The EFD is a UK membership organisation helping businesses and
companies to recruit disabled workers and providing services and
products geared towards making the workplace more accessible.


+02: Lost Weekend Spawns Accessible Facebook.

A tool to make the social networking site Facebook more accessible to
visually impaired users has been created by Project:Possibility (
http://www.projectpossibility.org/,
a group of not-for-profit software developers in the US. The
application (
http://fastlink.headstar.com/pp2 )
allows visually impaired users to log in, navigate and use the site by
combining screen reader technology with other coding techniques.

Brian D'Souza, a team member who worked on the project, explained:
"We leveraged an existing technology developed by Google called
AxsJax (accessibility + AJAX) which combines use of screen readers
and java script and navigation methods to make navigation and
modification of content of webpages easier. It provides a lot of value
for a blind person."

Facebook's popularity has risen dramatically in recent years, with
more than 150 million users worldwide. However some users claim it
does not fully support assistive tools, with several groups active on 
the
site itself pressing for a more accessible service, such as The Official
Petition for a More Accessible Facebook (
http://en-gb.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2384051749 ),
which contains almost 1,500 members. Some measures have already
been taken by Facebook to accommodate the needs of disabled users,
such as releasing screen reader-friendly versions of some of its
applications.

The Facebook tool was one of a series of projects created at the recent
UCLA SS12, an annual 'code-a-thon' held at the University of
California, Los Angeles. Software developers spend a weekend
working on projects for disabled people.

Other projects developed by the same team at this year's SS12
included Project AWE (
http://projectpossibility.org/projects/handicapannotate/),
a 'website accessibility tagging tool', which allows users and third
parties to rate the accessibility of web pages. Ratings are 
automatically
retrieving when the disabled user visits the page, allowing them to
immediately gain an idea of how easy the page will be to navigate.


+03: Navigational Device Wins International Research Prize.

A device installed in mobile phones to help blind and visually impaired
people navigate from place to place has won the fifth International
Research and Development Award in New Technologies for the Blind
and Visually Impaired from ONCE (Spanish National Organisation of
the Blind).

The prize of 240,000 Euros to help fund further research was won by
the Shinobu Project, developed by the Human Communication and
Interaction Research Group http://www.hci-rg.com/ at the University
of Oviedo in Spain.

The device allows users to choose the best path to their destination
using public transport networks, by supplying information about the
route as they travel. This includes live information about train and bus
connections and details of possible points of interest to visit along a
choice of alternative routes. The information is relayed to the user's
mobile phone in real time.

ONCE received 58 applications for the latest award, from projects in
14 different countries worldwide.

http://www.once.es/new/otras-webs/english



++News in Brief:

+04: Linux Package: A version of the open source computer operating
system Linux has been released for users with visual impairments.
Vinux (a customisation of the popular Ubuntu distribution of Linux)
automatically activates a screen reader, detects USB Braille displays
and provides full screen magnification. The system was developed by
Anthony Sales of the Royal National College for the Blind:
http://vinux.org.uk/ .

+05: Room Rights: Wheelchair-friendly hotel rooms can now be
reserved online through two of the largest travel websites, signalling
the end of a two-year lawsuit. Expedia.com and Hotels.com have
agreed to include a search function for accessible accommodation on
their sites, following legal action by public interest law firm 
Disability
Rights Advocates, which had claimed the lack of such an option
violated civil rights:
http://fastlink.headstar.com/hotel1 .

+06: June Prizes: ICT projects which promote social inclusion can be
entered in the 'Reaching the digitally excluded' category at the
National eWell-Being Awards 2009. The awards promote innovative
uses of ICT for environmental, social and economic benefits, with the
winners announced in June:
http://www.sustainitawards.co.uk/ .

[Section One ends].


++Sponsored Notice: Designing For All:
- An Inclusive Approach To Web, Print And Electronic Publishing
- A Practical, One-day Training Course and Document Clinic
- Tuesday 17 March, Central London
http://www.headstar-events.com/dfa/

Trainer: Katie Grant, former publications manager, Disability Rights
Commission.

Our 'Designing for all' course is a practical seminar designed to
introduce organisations to the importance of designing accessible, easy
to read information for a range of different audiences including older
people and people with disabilities.

In a society which now includes a large proportion of disabled people,
people for whom English is not their first language and an ageing
population, it is imperative that all your organisation's information is
written and designed as accessibly and inclusively as possible. This
includes both traditional media such as leaflets and reports, and new
media such as the web.

Designing for all makes good business sense - boosting online sales
and improving recruitment and retention; good ethical sense; and good
legal sense.

Our course help you assess your current design and content of
information - please bring examples to our document clinic.
Registration costs £395 + VAT. Find out more and register online
today, at:
http://www.headstar-events.com/dfa/ .

[Sponsored Notice ends].


++Sponsored Notice: Adept Transcription
- Alternative Formats At Affordable Prices.

When you want alternative formats for disabled colleagues, customers
and staff, call Adept.

Formats we produce include audio, audio description, Braille, BSL,
Easy Read, e-docs for websites, large print, Makaton, Moon and sub-
titles, at prices from a penny a word.

Whether handling a newsletter, training DVD, equality scheme, public
service leaflet, contract or consultation, we provide:
- One-stop shop for all formats
- Products quality-checked by users
- Corporate presentation including your house style
- Fast turnaround of one document or thousands
- Multi-format discounts
- Accessible packaging

Contact us at:
Tel: 0208 133 5418 (precede with 18001 for typetalk)
Email transcription at adept-uk.org

[Sponsored Notice ends]


++Section Two: Focus
- Web 2.0.

+07: Licence To Tweet
- by Gez Lemon.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Twitter is a 'microblogging' system that allows
people to supply a feed of very short messages, or 'tweets' - just 140
characters long, to whoever subscribes to their feed. Subscribers can
then reply openly with their own messages, or use the system to send
private messages in reply. However, despite the fact that it is such a
simple concept (and leaving aside for the moment the question of who
has time to use it), the service raises various accessibility issues. 
Here,
blogger Gez Lemon offers one innovative solution.]

Considering the standard Twitter website is so basic, it's surprising it 
is
so inaccessible.

There are many accessibility problems with Twitter, but by far the
biggest issue is the use of various links that can only be activated 
using
a mouse. The links for making a particular tweet a favourite; the links
for replying to a particular tweet; and the links to delete a tweet or
direct message can only be activated using the mouse on the standard
Twitter website. The favourite, reply and delete links are revealed
when the user hovers the mouse over a tweet.

Hiding actions and only revealing them when the user moves the
mouse results in a very poor user experience for everyone, since many
mouse users will be unaware that the functionality exists at all. But 
for
keyboard-only users, the situation is far worse, as they could never
possibly know the functionality exists.

Twitter also offers a set of commands to use with Twitter updates,
including an '@username' command to send a reply to a particular
user. However, use of these commands from the keyboard does not
offer the full functionality available to mouse users, who can click on
function buttons.

The syntax for the manual command is '@username message you want
to send to the user'. While useful, there are two significant 
difficulties
with this syntax.

First, the reply is associated with the last tweet the user sent. If the
user
has sent tweets since the particular message a user intends to reply to,
the reply is associated with the wrong tweet. By contrast, the reply is
always associated with the correct tweet when using the mouse-
operated reply button.

Second, the user has to physically type the username. As usernames
aren't always simple to remember, the user sometimes has to copy and
paste them. By contrast, the name is automatically put into the reply
box with the correct syntax, and associated with the correct tweet,
when a user hits the reply button.

So overall, using commands to manually send replies is not an
equivalent for a button that does everything for the user.

There is also a manual 'FAV' command to make a tweet a favourite.
The syntax is 'FAV username', which will make the last tweet by the
user a favourite. But as with replies, the FAV command assumes you
are talking about the very last tweet from a user, which may or may not
be the case, and once again requires the user to type the username.

Keyboard-only users also cannot delete tweets or direct messages, as
there are no manual commands for deletion.

So how to solve these problems?

In fact, there are so many accessibility issues with Twitter that I
originally wanted to build an entire new accessible application for
using Twitter. The problem is that I wouldn't have the bandwidth to
run a server-side Twitter application, and Twitter doesn't currently use
'OAuth', an open authorisation system that allows other applications to
interact with it, without which I would have to ask users to trust me
directly with their usernames and passwords.

When discussing this on Twitter, one correspondent Derek Feather
suggested using 'Greasemonkey', a plug-in for the Firefox web
browser that allows users to install scripts to change web pages. This
was a good idea, as it at least allowed the biggest accessibility
problems to be addressed immediately.

So it was that I wrote the 'Focus Twitter Greasemonkey' script. The
script reveals Favorite, Reply and Delete links when appropriate for
each tweet in the timeline. The link phrases have contextual
information for assistive technology, but hidden visually, as the links
are clearly grouped with the tweet to which they belong. I also
removed the avatar from the keyboard tab order to reduce the number
of redundant links for keyboard-only users, as the name immediately
by the side of the avatar activates the same link. I have left the link 
in
place so that mouse users have a larger target area, as they can click 
on
the avatar.

If you don't already have Greasemonkey installed, you will first need
to install Greasemonkey in Firefox first. After installing the 
extension,
select the Focus Twitter Greasemonkey script, and you will be
prompted to install the script. From then on, you will have access to
reply, favourite and delete links using the keyboard.

This goes to show what's possible, but more needs to be done. Web 2.0
has great promise, offering software developers the ability to get rich
applications out to a wide audience on multiple platforms, but basic
usability principles are often overlooked. Software developers have a
responsibility to ensure their applications are accessible and usable by
everyone, regardless of ability.

Gez Lemon runs Juicy Studio:
http://juicystudio.com/ .

[Section Two ends].


++Special Notice: Fortune Cookie
- Web Sites That Really Work.

Fortune Cookie's dedicated web accessibility team makes sure that
everyone finds the web sites we design easy to use. As well as being
accessible, Fortune Cookie sites are beautiful and deliver stunning
return-on-investment. They're award-winning too. In 2007, our work
was nominated for major web design awards 11 times.

Legal & General, Kuoni, Diabetes UK, FT Business - just some of the
big name brands on Fortune Cookie's client list.

Every business can benefit from making its web site more accessible.
If you'd like to know what accessibility can do for your business, talk
to Fortune Cookie.

Visit our web site at:
http://www.fortunecookie.co.uk

Julie Howell is our Director of Accessibility. Email Julie at:
Julie.Howell at fortunecookie.co.uk .

[Special notice ends]


++End Notes.

+How to Receive the Bulletin.

To subscribe to this free monthly bulletin, email
eab-subs at headstar.com
with 'subscribe eab' in the subject header. You can list other email
addresses to subscribe in the body of the message. Please encourage all
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Please send comments on coverage or leads to Dan Jellinek at:
dan at headstar.com .

Copyright 2009 Headstar Ltd http://www.headstar.com .
The Bulletin may be reproduced as long as all parts including this
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encouraged to subscribe with us individually by email. Please also
inform the editor when you are reproducing our content. Sections of
the bulletin may be quoted as long as they are clearly sourced as 'taken
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site address:
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is also cited.

+Personnel:
Editor - Dan Jellinek.
Reporter: Tristan Parker.
Editorial advisor - Kevin Carey.

ISSN 1476-6337 .

[Issue 110 ends.]

Regards Steve
Email:  srp at internode.on.net
Windows Live Messenger:  internetuser383 at hotmail.com
Skype:  steve1963