[Athen] Worpress/accessibility question

[Prof Norm Coombs]

I agree with Hadi.

I find access keys a very poor solution to pages that are designed poorly 
in the first place.

Granted, in my advancing age I have learned a ton of keys for windows, more 
for a screen reader and more if I sometimes us a second screen 
reader.  Then more in Excel if I need it to read cell comments and other 
features that the screen normally does not reveal automatically.  Then PDF 
readers have even more access keys.

When I go into a Web conference where the arrow or tab won't get me to 
important items but they try to fix it with access keys, I just turn off my 
brain.  How many special key combinations can I remember and especially 
when I have to remember which application I am using and which keys go for 
it and not another........

To tell the truth, I wouldn't have tackled that much trivial memorization 
when I was 40 years younger.

Call me lazy or maybe access keys are really a poor way to solve problems.
Norm
At 11:19 AM 3/30/2011, you wrote:

>Content-Language: en-US

>Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

> 

>boundary="_000_E64D96424F4E554C841B19F26A9E288E048C6058AEDSMAILBOX2adu_"

>

>"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o = 

>"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w = 

>"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m = 

>"http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml">

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

>

>

>

>Your input, as always, is welcome.

>

>

>

>Wink

>

>

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  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Once you choose hope, anything's possible.  Christopher Reeve
Norman Coombs norm.coombs at gmail.com

Making Online Teaching Accessible: Inclusive Course Design for Students 
with Disabilities by Norman Coombs published by Jossey-Bass Oct 10,2010
http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470499044.html