[WG: Accessibility] Follow up to Miami Sakai Accesibility testing (Re: accessibility Digest, Vol 23, Issue 5)

[Amy Greenbaum]

Please see my responses to Brian's questions below.  I began each line with
>>> to indicate the location of responses.

On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 10:45 AM, <
accessibility-request at collab.sakaiproject.org> wrote:
>
> ------------------------------
> Thanks so much, Amy, for sharing those accessibility testing experiences!
> This kind of feedback is very helpful to us. I look forward to reading it
> more deeply.
>
> A few questions:
>
>   Did you make or use any walkthrough scripts when performing your testing?
> If so, would you be willing to share them with the Accessibility Working
> Group?
> > Testing should determine if additional styling on multiple choice radio
> buttons is needed for easier readability.

>>> We did not use walkthrough scripts.  We asked the JAWS user (named V) to
perform typical user tasks.  We did not script the order ahead of time,
rather we wanted to observe her experience.  (I hope that I have't
misunderstood your question, if I have, let me know.)


>   Can you elaborate on the context and the difficulties the user had? I
> don?t want to lose this opportunity for improvement, but don?t understand
> the issue you raised well enough to move forward.

>>>It was difficult to move up and down through the various multiple choice
options and then go back after hearing the choices to select the desired
answer.

  You mention the need for end user help documents. Did the user look for
> accessibility information and not find it? Should it be made more obvious
> (like a hidden link just for screen-reader users to the accessibility help
> information)? Besides the layout description suggestion, is there something
> missing from the Accessibility Information in the help system that the user
> could have benefitted from?
>
>>>The problem we found with the help documents was that it was not always
easy to navigate to the help button (we are using the Sakai contextual help
question mark button that visually appears in the upper right area of the
various Sakai tools.  Navigating there or to the help link we have in the
left menu requires leaving the work area which isn't always convenient.  We
were not sure that there was an easy resolution to this, but noted it as
part of V's epxerience.


>
> > Overall Niihka layout description was helpful for our JAWS user and
> helped orient her to the actions expected by the system. Online webcasts
> (with focus on audio descriptions) could provide this orientation in a
> just-in-time, on-demand way.
>
>   I think I understand the spirit of this suggestion. Would you be willing
> to provide an example layout description for a tool, or to review
> descriptions if we create any?
>
>>> Yes, we would and I think that V would be willing to give of her time as
well.  I can ask her when you are ready.

>
> I can try to answer a couple of your questions:
>
> > Although it should be tested with colorblind simulation software,
>
>  There are many types of colorblindness which makes it a complicated topic
> and difficult to check against every type of colorblindness by using a
> colorblindness simulator. What really counts is the contrast between the
> text color and the color of the text background. There are many free
> automated color contrast ratio checkers that work as browser plug-ins. Two
> plug-ins for Mozilla Firefox that we like include great color contrast
> checkers in them:
>
> ?         The Firefox Accessibility Extension at:
> http://firefox.cita.uiuc.edu/
>
> ?         Juicy Studio Accessibility Toolbar at:
> https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/juicy-studio-accessibility-too/
> The WCAG 2.0 Success Criterion 1.4.3 suggests a color contrast ratio of at
> least 4.5:1 for normal sized text. See the Understanding WCAG SC 1.4.3
> document for a great explanation of the significance of the color contrast
> ratio measurement and of why the 4.5:1 minimum was chosen:
> http://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/visual-audio-contrast-contrast.html

>>>Thank you for this information.  We ended up using some of the sites.

>
> > In course sites with many tools added, proceeding through the left menu
> could be a lengthy process. We suspect there might be a JAWS command that
> will skip the menu, but that may need to be researched.
>
>  The Sakai interface has headings at the beginning of every section ? this
> includes before each section of navigation and of course, the selected
> tool?s title is a heading. In JAWS, a user can press H to move forward to
> the next heading and Shift+H to move backwards to the previous heading. This
> is the easiest way to move about the page, and a standard JAWS feature.
> Sakai has also included three hidden links (?jump to content?, ?Jump to
> Tools List?, and ?Jump to worksite list?). These links are at the very top
> of every page and include an accesskey that allows quick access to those
> three areas. To skip past all of the content and jump right to the start of
> the chosen tool?s content, simply use accesskey ?c?. This would be
> ?Alt+Shift+C?.
>
> Sakai follows the UK e-commerce standards for assigning accesskeys to
> various buttons and links in the interface. The ?JAWS command ?Alt+Shift+S?
> would save or submit a form.? is actually one of the access keys put in by
> Sakai developers. A full list of the global and standard tool-specific
> access keys can be found on the ?Accessibility Information? page in Sakai?s
> Help System (https://oncoursehelp.iu.edu/helptool/doc/arkn#keys).
> > Research is needed to see if any of the screen readers could be
> configured to do this on an optional basis.
>
>   There are JAWS verbosity settings, but unfortunately JAWS treats
> link/button text and titles as an either/or feature. It can be configured to
> read either the link/button text, or the title, but not both. Another
> popular screen-reader, GW Micro?s Window-Eyes, can be configured to read
> both the link/button text and the title. We have included how to configure
> Window-Eyes to do this in the Accessibility Information found in Sakai?s
> help system.
>
> >>>Brian - thanks for this information on JAWS/Sakai navigation.  I am
going to share it with our team so that we have it available for V and other
users.


> Thanks again for providing this feedback. We really appreciate it!
>  -Brian Richwine
>
>>>Thanks Brian,
Amy Greenbaum
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