[Nfb-web] our website and accessibility

Thu Aug 24 15:37:18 CDT 2006

Hello Chris and listers,

Come to think of it I had the same problem with JFW 7.0 in the suggestion
form and had to keep going in and out of forms mode.

Peter Donahue

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Westbrook" <westbc at clw19.com>
To: "NFB Webmaster's List" <nfb-web at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2006 10:32 AM
Subject: Re: [Nfb-web] our website and accessibility

First, let me apologize for the harshness of the below message.
Unfortunately at times I have a tendency to make statements without fully
analyzing what I am saying and how it may come across to others.  Second, to
answer your question, Steve, I realized that window eyes wasn't reading the
controls of a form when browse mode is turned on when tabbing through form
fields.  Interestingly, Jaws reads the information whether forms mode is on
or off, probably guessing that since the text is in the table cell to the
left of the form field it should be associated with the control. When browse
mode is turned off in window eyes, window eyes makes this assumption as well
and reads the form correctly.  I still think label tags should be used to
make it clear what text is being associated with which control.  I have
tested window eyes with a properly labeled form, and window eyes then reads
the label whether browse mode is turned on or off.  By properly labeled, I
mean a form that has the following format.  <label for="id of control">label
of control on screen</label>...some markup here...<actual control with same
id attribute of label/>.  again, I' sorry to have been so harsh below, and I
hope this post is more helpful.
Chris Westbrook
email or msn messenger; westbc at clw19.com
skype: chriswestbrook (please write a message that explains who you are if
you add me to your contacts.)
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Berggren, John" <JBerggren at NFB.ORG>
To: "NFB Webmaster's List" <nfb-web at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2006 11:06 AM
Subject: Re: [Nfb-web] our website and accessibility

> Good morning, Chris--
>
> Thanks for your comments about the Web site.  First and foremost, let me
> assure you that accessibility is one of *the* top concerns when creating
> Web content for the national site.  You are right on the money when you
> suggest that we ought to be a model of accessibility for others.  We
> want to demonstrate to the Internet community that a Web site can be
> functional, intuitive and aesthetically pleasing, all at the same time.
>
> In general, the xCatalyst CMS tool should create accessible content.
> Before going live, we tested a number of forms on our site to ensure
> that they were navigable and understandable using both Window Eyes and
> JAWS.  We found the results to be satisfactory.  The forms examined
> didn't use every type of field available, but should have been an
> adequate check of general accessibility.
>
> Chris, I suspect that at least one of the forms you looked at was the
> "Suggestions for..." page.  You're correct--xCatalyst doesn't create
> label tags for its form fields.  However, I seem to remember that we
> didn't have trouble getting Window Eyes to identify each field by name.
> I'll get a look at that page right now.  It would be helpful, Chris, to
> know what version of Window Eyes you are using.
>
> Our shift to a content management system and the migration to the new
> site has been a learning experience, showing us better ways to do things
> as well as what to never, ever do again.  We're trying to get it all
> right the first time, but I promise you that's not going to always
> happen.  The most useful thing our members can do is let us know what
> doesn't work and what could be better.  Clearly, that's made a bit more
> difficult when simple feedback forms don't work properly.  Don't
> hesitate to email directly if you're having trouble with a particular
> page or Web site function.
>
> The intention here is to provide a site that gets both our members and
> visitors who are new to us the information they want as efficiently as
> possible.  And this has to be done while raising the bar for
> accessibility.  Your patience is appreciated, but your feedback is
> imperative.  Work with us and we'll get these things straightened out in
> exemplary fashion.
>
> Regards,
> John
>
> John Berggren
> IT Director
> National Federation of the Blind
> 1800 Johnson Street
> Baltimore, MD  21230
>
> P : 410-659-9314 x2329
> F : 410-685-5653
> E : jberggren at nfb.org
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfb-web-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-web-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Chris Westbrook
> Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2006 9:58 AM
> To: NFB Webmaster's List
> Subject: [Nfb-web] our website and accessibility
>
> I was really disappointed when I looked at the website for our members
> area yesterday.  I wasn't so disappointed at the sparseness of content,
> Peter covered that eloquently Yesterday.  When I looked at the various
> forms to submit suggestions and other things, I noticed they weren't
> reading well with window eyes.  A quick look at the source reveals that
> there are no label tags anywhere.  For those of you who don't know, a
> label tag is a quick and standard way to associate text on the screen
> with a control such as a form field.  I know we are getting our site
> from a new content management system, but I would think accessibility
> would have been part of the process in determining which cms to use.  I
> think if we are going to advocate for accessibility, we need to have a
> website that is completely accessible and be a model for others.  I'm
> really disappointed that we chose the easy way out with a cms that
> doesn't output fully accessible content rather than look at our
> membership to see who could assist with a redesign.  It makes me wonder
> whether the national office functions above and outside of the
> membership, but that's another discussion for another post.  I hope
> things are handled better in the future.
> Chris Westbrook
> email or msn messenger; westbc at clw19.com
> skype: chriswestbrook (please write a message that explains who you are
> if you add me to your contacts.)
> _______________________________________________
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> Nfb-web at nfbnet.org
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>
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