Joe Dolson: Accessible Web Design

Quietly released on the Saturday before Christmas, (what, are they trying to hide this news?) Google announced that their latest Toolbar release supports the Windows Accessibility API.

This is (obviously) a Windows-specific release, and even further, it’s just an Internet Explorer release. However, it’s definitely a step in the right direction! I was particularly glad to see the comment:

Version 5 comes as a part of our ongoing efforts to enhance accessibility in our client-side and web applications, which is a matter I hardly need to mention is very important. Jonas Klink, Software Engineer, Accessibility

(Emphasis added.)

Now, as many have commented, the accessibility level of much of Google’s code is atrocious. I like the idea that Google is actively invested in improving the accessibility of their products; but I have yet to see any serious evidence of this effort!

Still, in the holiday spirit, I will raise a glass to Google to encourage their accessibility efforts. (And if, as a side effect, I end up a little bit drunker, I will accept that.)

For a major issue in accessibility, I have to say that this really hasn’t seen much press. Granted, major lawsuits tend to move slowly — - glacially, you might say. However, given the fact that the last announcement concerning the National Federation of the Blind v. Target Corporation lawsuit was in September of 2006, you’d expect some kind of blog coverage on the latest announcement.

In fact, I found it difficult to find anything about it at all, at first — - I only became aware of it because I was talking to a web development manager from Target. (Articles are now easy to find via Google News.)

At any rate, the major news is that the lawsuit has been granted federal class-action status.

Granting class-action status allows blind people throughout the country who have tried to access Target.com to become plaintiffs in the suit, which alleges violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Associated Press

Further, the Judge (Marilyn Patel) ruled that changes in Target’s web site since the date of filing do not provide grounds for dismissal of the suit.

Judge Patel’s order Friday noted that Target has modified its Web site some since the suit’s filing to make the site more accessible to the blind. Target claimed the suit should therefore be dismissed, but Judge Patel ruled against that argument. Associated Press

Turning the suit into a class action may place additional pressure on businesses to start considering web accessibility a priority. One can hope, at any rate!

See also: Update: Target ruling may force retailers to adjust Web sites (Computer World)

Congratulations to Dennis and Ross on two years podcasting on web accessibility!

Recently, I wrote a series of posts about what I choose to call pseudo-accessibility — - part of which is the provision of website tools which emulate native browser functionality.

The reason these tools proliferate is because of developer laziness, not because of developer interest in accessibility. For some strange reason, it’s considered more difficult to educate the user about their browser than it is to build a text-resizing widget. (Granted, text-resizing widgets aren’t exactly rocket science.)

Ian Lloyd, of Accessify, has taken to video trying to address the text-resizing problem. You can see the video at his own relevant blog post — - Teach a man to fish (or how to resize text).

The video isn’t necessarily a finished product. As of this writing, it’s in it’s second version , as Ian has been graciously accepting comments and re-working the video in order to provide the best video tutorial possible on the subject.

Video, of course, isn’t a perfect solution — - but the transcript is available (not on Accessify.com yet, however,) and this is a good start towards user (and developer) education.

Thanks, Ian!

Thanks to Accessites and Mike Cherim for bringing this to my attention.

From the American Foundation for the Blind, it appears that RadioShack is announcing some significant accessibility plans for the near future, including a major renovation of their website to accord with the WCAG guidelines. The press release doesn’t contain a lot of detail, but there’s enough meat present to at least get an impression of RadioShack’s accessibility goals.

There are two parts to the announcement: improvements to their point-of-sale hardware to protect private data of blind and visually impaired shoppers and the web site initiative. The point-of-sale improvement is an upgrade to devices which will enable the visually impaired to enter their PIN numbers and other private data by themselves using tactile input devices, replacing existing touch-screen keypads which are unusable by the blind.

Read more: RadioShack’s Accessibility Initiative

I’ve got a new article published at Accessites.org: “Improving Accessibility Through Typography.”

In this article I talk about some of the complications of typography on the web and offer a few suggestions on how to deal with accessible typography. The main issue is the fact that good web text must be able to be modified by the user: and there are certain problems which can become serious issues if you make poor choices in how you handle your type.

Hope you enjoy!

In a press release on March 28th, Amazon announced that they will be working with the National Federation of the Blind to promote and improve accessibility in web technology. This is a valuable step, since Amazon.com itself has been rather a poster child for the lack of accessibility in e-commerce.

It’s also worth noting that Amazon powers the technology behind the Target website which is currently the focus of a National Federation of the Blind sponsored lawsuit. The services powered by Amazon constitute a not insubstantial portion of the web, and a re-development of those services in a more accessible manner id definitely be something to be welcomed. (More on this later.)

Read more: Amazon.com working with the National Federation of the Blind