[Athen] Worpress/accessibility question

[Wink Harner]

Thanks everyone. Your comments supported my initial thoughts. I received it from a math teacher who is totally engaged in technology and doesn't quite "get" the accessibility/useability of it. I especially liked Hadi's explanation --very clear! 

Wink 


----- Original Message -----
From: "Prof Norm Coombs" <norm.coombs at gmail.com> 
To: "Access Technology Higher Education Network" <athen at athenpro.org> 
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 6:41:40 PM 
Subject: Re: [Athen] Worpress/accessibility question 

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 

> 

> 

>_______________________________________________ 

>Athen mailing list 

>Athen at athenpro.org 

>http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org 


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
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 



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-- 
Ms. Wink Harner 
Manager 
Disability Resources & Services 
Mesa Community College 
1833 W. Southern Avenue 
Mesa AZ 85201 

480-461-7447 
winkharner at mesacc.edu 

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