Even if you meet the specs and still trap users you are not accessible
at a high level javascript isnt accessible – but not really
Best indicator of accessible content is valid, semantically accessible html
many of the great web2.0 sites have valid, well managed html
if you are still developing without using the modern approach, it will be a strike against you for accessibility
maintenance and new features also a problem – mastery of html and css is critical
Unobtrusive Scripting
script is living sep from the doc itself
good thing is that you can dev your scripting, pull it out and test with or without it – one of many ways you can make sure the core is working well
if you can take the script, pull it out and the site flow is still intact you are still getting closer to functional accessibility
no silver bullets
auto tools only as good as users
policy puts focus in the wrong place
cms and app frameworks intro own problems
make it easy for the devs and the interface and the content devs to do the right thing – not forced, but led to the right thing
important – when adding an image, make sure there is alt text
at the point that someone can do the wrong thing, make it easier to do the right thing
deisnging for people
for every blind user there are 10 more that cant read at 20/20
mom is the benchmark
2.5 mil cant grasp or handle small objects – cant handle a mouse with any precision
video sites – it becomes an enormous issue
talking about huge population of people who are missing out on a lot of this content
group in Utah – WebAIm – excellent webaim.com – excellent research – talk about cognitive problmes – 6 areas
memory , problem solving, attention, reading and lang, math, visual comprehension
nothing diff – simple principles of human-computer interaction
not talking about small group not interacting with the web anyway
18-64 numbers
outside of the range – up to 4 mil of all americans that cant grasp small objects
easier to use keyboard
Labeling
when we are creating labels – acc is about dealing with the disabled
underreporting of disabled
text only sites – funct equivalent is ghetto-ization
taking these people, and marginalizing
problem talkin about acc as the people who have disabilities
few people diagnosed with one or another will come out and self segment
imp – they are people
make sure that the us vs them isnt whats comign to mind – think enabling based on capabilities and helping them to work around their limitations
AJAX accessibility
a lot of progress
some of the best javascript devs in the web field are accessibility advocates
building frameworks that most people are using to create ajax based sites
good news about whats going on
we are used to having people like that dev
People who brought you
ray kurzweil speech synth in the 1970s
Universal remote control is a movement to accessibility
check out acc functions on your OS (OSX zoom function)
Ditectly accessibile AJAX
XHTML2 becoming more interesting
WC3 roadmap for access
ARIA – how we will work with these technologies
runs the gamus of wc3 tech
the way things are progressing
AJax as enabler
LMS with ajax as its core
working on it at all levels of the stack
making sure these things will be easier to use tomorrow than today
Youtube resp for offering ways for content to be captured
video.google.com/videocaption
making it easy to caption or audio desc is critical – standardization is the next steps
skip links useful and take no effort
keyboard op is huge
Twitter
great interface
likes it alot
works without script
can resize text
any number of ways to access and add content
socialize with one another
fatal problem – captcha
captcha one of the things that frustrates to no end – such opp and instead, by making a simple decision, you have shut people out
visual verification is a pandoras box
pushing away more users than you are keeping away the bots
what about script
a lot going on – a screenreader built for firefox
excited to see what is going on in modern acc development
Juicy Studio – blogger who does amazing work with this tech