[Athen] Worpress/accessibility question

John Gardner john.gardner at orst.edu
Wed Mar 30 13:58:37 PDT 2011


I think that Hadi is being too polite. I have never ever ever found a web
site using access keys to be helpful.

I find them a nuisance. It is hard to believe that the well-meaning people
who propose such helpful ideas ever ask for feedback from blind users.



John Gardner





From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Rangin, Hadi Bargi
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 11:20 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network; DSSHE-L at LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU
Subject: Re: [Athen] Worpress/accessibility question



Hi Wink,



I responded to this topic earlier at one of our local mailing list. See
below and hope it helps.



There are a few fact that we need to know about access keys:

1. Access keys are useful as long as there are only a limited numbers of
them and are used consistently across the domain.

2. Access keys frequently overlap with OS, browser, and assistive technology
shortcut keys. As long as the end-user can specify the access keys to
desired functions in an application, then it makes sense but according to
the article



"One of these Omeka plugins, called Access Keys, allows site administrators
to specify
access keys
(or keyboard shortcuts) for navigating around Omeka. People who are blind
do not navigate Web sites through a graphical user interface; they usually
rely
exclusively on their keyboard. Access keys are time-saving shortcuts that
allow them to navigate quickly and easily. For instance, an administrator
could
specify that the access key "s" would be reserved for loading the "Search"
page, the "h" key could be reserved for the "Home" page, the "a" key for the
"About" page, and so on."



the administrator assigns the access keys. And this is the problem. how the
admin knows what access keys doesn't interfere with my OS/browser/assistive
technology shortcut keys.

This is similar to that an admin choose the best color setting for the
users. I believe we all do have our color preferences and administrators
should not impose their color preferences to the end users.

The optimal option is to provide the mechanism that end-user specifies
his/her access keys within a domain depending on his/her OS/browser/AT
settings.



I personally think access keys cause more problems for AT users than helping
them. We really don't need to invest too much energy into access keys
solution. An application with logical heading structures/landmarks doesn't
need access keys very much. They are helpful if we are dealing with
pages/forms that we access repetitively.



Thanks,

Hadi





_____

From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Wink Harner
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 12:29 PM
To: DSSHE-L at LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU; 'Access Technology Higher Education
Network'
Subject: [Athen] Worpress/accessibility question

Hi all,



Forgive cross-posting.



Received this from a colleague today and am curious as to your collective
(wise!) thoughts about Wordpress and accessibility for Blind users.



Here is the link to the higher ed article about a plugin for wordpress to
help blind people.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/access-keys-a-wordpress-plugin-to-impr
ove-accessibility/32181?sid=at
<http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/access-keys-a-wordpress-plugin-to-imp
rove-accessibility/32181?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en>
&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en



Your input, as always, is welcome.



Wink



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