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For the past several months I have been the proud owner of an Apple iPod Touch. As you know from reading this blog, I am far from being an “applefanboi” and have tended towards the “I’m a PC” side of things. But I have been dutifully impressed by this device and the technology behind it.

Perhaps what has impressed me most is the “touch screen” that is the main user interface. Like the move from the keyboard to the mouse – which Apple also perfected more than 25 years ago – the touch screen, I believe, is the way we will interact with computers in the future. I probably should expand that to include the fantastical 3D user interface that Tom Cruise’s character used in The Minority Report even though in that futuristic fantasy the interaction is between hands and holograms as opposed to actually touching a screen. But the concepts are the same – a more direct connection between human physical movement and the actions of a computer.

I think what I like best about the touch screen is how, almost intuitively (and I hate to even admit this), I was able to navigate the device. Being the typical red-blooded-American-male, I didn’t bother to read the directions until after I had given the device a good spin. I found it easy to navigate and move between apps and generally work the browser. The less intuitive stuff related to moving the badges around on the home screen or how to remove them from the device (I still don’t know how to do that on the Mac OS), I had to study to learn. But even these make sense if you think of it (unlike ejecting a CD by dragging it to the trash can – huh?).

The movement of dragging documents around on the screen to view them, squeezing and stretching them to zoom in and out and even the “flick of the finger” action of moving between pages is very close to the “feel” of hands and paper.

Well, it seems everyone has gotten into the “touch screen act” these days and yes things are getting ratcheted up dramatically with the recent release of the new Palm Pre – another touch screen dependent smart phone - in addition to the pending release of the Apple iPhone 3G S. Add to this is Microsoft’s announcement that touch screen capacity has been added into Window 7 (additional hardware required), and it is pretty clear that within a couple of years we will see more and more people engaging their technology “by touch” rather than using a clunky piece of hardware like a mouse or keyboard. Or will we?

Of course all of this creates many new challenges for people with disabilities. How does this new technology work with people who cannot see?

I am sensing that solutions to some of these issues may already be on the drawing board – well at the very least, on Apple’s drawing board. We’ll have to wait and see if the solutions become widespread.

Apple’s solution is the inclusion of the native VoiceOver screenreader into the new iPhone O/S. By the way, I was a little miffed by Apple’s insistence that the iPhone O/S is actually a version of Mac O/S X – bit of stretch if you ask me, Cupertino.

In addition to VoiceOver – which at this point apparently only works with the iPhone’s Safari browser and “native” apps – the new iPhone has Voice Control which will make dialing calls, choosing music and even announcing music titles accessible to people with visual impairments. As demonstrated, Voice Control is a universally designed feature which give heads-up control to all users and allows those who cannot see the device better ability to engage it.

But the clincher may come with the issue of the touch keyboard. If people who are blind or have visual impairments want to use the iPhone 3G S to send text messages or otherwise input text into the device, they are going to have to learn how to “touch type” in a whole new way. And the success of that remains to be seen – sorry no pun intended.

Of course, the next iteration of the iPhone (4G?) might have voice-to-text built in, but since we haven’t mastered that on desktop computers, it might not be that soon. But those Apple people are crafty.

It’s only been 48 hours since Apple made their big announcements at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference – WWDC (which I affectionately have referred to as the “Apple-Love-In”). It is clearly too early to gauge how this new iPhone will work with folks with disabilities. So, I am waiting patiently for the final verdict from my screenreading colleagues who just can’t wait to get their hands on the new toys when they are release to the public next week. I am assuming that Apple live tested these new accessibility features extensively before now – at least I hope they have – but I want to hear from my friends about what they really think about these tools when the phone is released and in the hands of real users.

So to answer my own question, it is pretty apparent that touch screens are the next big thing in personal technology, but maybe just a temporary thing.

Your thoughts?

~j

jeb Accessibility, Uncategorized, universal design Accessibility, Apple, iPhone, universal design, Voiceover

I have been on a quest to get the latest information about the various distance learning and conferencing software on the market and their accessibility. And I have not been having much success.

It seems that every day there is a new videoconferencing service or webinar package being created and most – if not all – have no information about accessibility and their use with assistive technologies. For example, my research about Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro has turned up nothing but some personal observations – all negative regarding access – and a VPAT that is less than stellar. The company claims that updates made last fall make it “more accessible” but I have not seen anything definitive other than the company’s own White Paper on the topic. Yet, I know of at least one state government agency that is using this application despite concerns about accessibility.

I do not mean to be picking on Adobe; it just so happens that Connect Pro is the last one I have been researching.

As people scramble with declining budgets, more and more organizations are cutting their travel budgets and will be relying on technology to connect people for continued learning and professional development. But will this be leaving out a multitude of people in the process if the DL tools are inaccessible?

You thoughts and resources would be appreciated. I would really like to know if there is anyone out there studying this.

~jeb

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Image used through license from Creative Commons - Goddard Video and Multimedia

jeb Accessibility, Software, universal design acrobat, adobe, videoconferencing

So the question I am often asked goes something like this…

“I am involved with an organization (business, governmental or nonprofit) and we have been publishing a printed newsletter for many years. But now because of ….and we want to save money….How do we go about publishing this on-line and saving money…?”

I’ve been down this road numerous times with different organizations. Each time the reasons for the conversion are different but usually, somewhere in the discussion, there comes the part about saving money.

After a number of these conversations, I’ve ended up with this thinking: If you are going to jettison the “paper” newsletter, you need to ask yourself several important questions, look at the various options available to you, and do the math.

Question 1: What is the best way to get your news content into the hands of your constituents in a way that will increase the likelihood that they will read it?

You have two major publication choices to consider: print/paper and digital/on-line.

On the paper side, you can stay with the current format or modify the current format to accomplish your goal. If cost is an issue, you can reduce your volume or the size or frequency of the issues. You could experiment with different paper/media and perhaps go from color to monochrome. All of this saves some money, but you will likely find some costs cannot be avoided.

In considering these two major options, you need to have a clear understanding about your readership. Personally – and I suspect that you will find this surprising – I have found that many people (especially people in my part of the world: Maine) are still “paper trained” and like to get local and special news in paper form. While many large urban newspapers around the country are going bankrupt, there seems to be no shortage of small local newspapers and free publications that are sent by mail or are available in various locations. And judging by the girth of some of these publications, I suspect that finding advertisers has not been that big an issue.

In my work I have generally advised clients to stay with the paper-printed news if they can afford it. By using the suggestions stated above (reducing size, volume or quality of paper, etc.) organizations may be able reduce costs sufficiently to keep their newsletters going, but results will vary. Organizations may also want to consider a relationship with the local newspaper (or one of these free newspaper vendors) to see if they can get their content out to the public free.

If you and your organization decide to go digital, expect that there will not be the incredible savings you anticipate. The printing and mailing cost may actually turn out be the least expensive part of the operation. As always, do the math.

Question 2: If we choose to go digital, how is this best accomplished?

Once again, you have several options: simple e-mail; e-mail with an attachment; and, web posting. There are other options, but for this article we’ll stick to these choices.

Simple e-mail is the process of sending out news content and topical information (in plain text or stylized Rich Text Format – RTF or HyperText Markup Language – HTML format) within the body of an e-mail sent to your constituents. These mailings may be simple plain text or also include images and styling (if using RTF or HTML).

E-mail with attachment involves putting the content into a separate formatted document (usually an Adobe Acrobat-PDF file), attaching it to an e-mail and sending it out to your constituents.

Web-posting involves actually publishing the content to a web page (usually using a form of HTML) and/or posting a link to a formatted  document (again usually a PDF) that is stored on a web server. In the linked form, the reader will have to download the formatted file from the web server. Often, web-posted news is associated with an e-mail alert (or through other means like Twitter) which “announces” the news and “drives” people to go and look/download.

E-mail solutions

Using any of the e-mail-based solutions assumes you have e-mail addresses for all of your constituents. In my experience, this is usually not the case. You will usually end up with the considerable task of getting the e-mail addresses and more importantly, maintaining them. If your newsletter goes to everyone within one organization (e.g. a company newsletter) and all of the domain names are the same, this might be an easy problem. But if your news is going to a diverse population, you will soon discover this is a monumental task because peoples’ e-mail addresses change very frequently.

Sending out large volumes of e-mail also requires special software and provisions to avoid spam blockers and filters so that your mail reaches your readership. In addition, unless you have your own mail server, you may discover that your ISP limits the amount of e-mails it will let you send in any one day (this is to try to prevent and discourage SPAM). There are server-based applications that you can use to work around this, and for an additional cost, you can hire a mailing service that will manage and maintain your list as well as send out the content. These companies are often paid by how much mail is delivered and have all kinds of clever ways of working around SPAM blockers and filters. All it takes is money…but wait a minute, wasn’t this something you were trying to save?

Web-posted solutions

For web-posted solutions you can either use a print-formatted document (e.g., Word file or PDF) posting on the web server or create an HTML-formatted version of the content. The amount of time to do either is about the same, so it may come down to the resources, skills and training of the people who you have on staff to create the newsletter. My experience has been that most staff talented enough to do layout and design in print form,  often have the expertise to do webpage design.

Portable Document Format – PDF

Adobe Acrobat PDF can be a great solution if you want your newsletter to look just like it did before and if you want to be able to print it out. This assumes that the original newsletter was formatted to fit on conventional size pieces of paper. If the newsletter was printed on larger paper, your constituents will still be able to view the content on their computer screen but will likely not be able to print it out in a way that will make it easy to read.

It needs to be noted that historically PDF files have caused many problems for people with disabilities. In the early evolution of Acrobat, PDF files were simply “images” of the printed version and if you relied on an assistive technology device called a screen reader (a device that translates text into speech), you simply could not access the content of the file. Modern PDF files can certainly be made accessible, but frequently problems are encountered when the content is formatted into columns and spread across multiple pages. Knowing how to correctly “tag” PDF file content to make it accessible requires some additional skills and training. The evidence shows that many PDF documents that are distributed around the web are not correctly formatted and remain inaccessible to people with disabilities. Read about how to make Accessible PDFs and other documents on the Maine CITE website.

HyperText Markup Language – HTML

For the same amount of time and effort (and often a lot less), a trained staff person can usually put your newsletter content into HTML and publish it on a web server. With advancements in web design and software, much of the complex design elements have been eliminated making the job of posting content on the web easier and more efficient.

There are many advantages in using HTML to publish news content. If you use a content management system (CMS), the news content can be scripted to allow for comments, creating opportunities for dialog with readers (either through a simple comments section or via a blogging or wiki protocols). HTML content also allows for the use of linkage or “feed” services and “sharing” applications and protocols which promote and encourage readers to share the content with a wider audience through various social networks like Twitter and Facebook.

Once your content is in correctly coded HTML format (see Accessible Web Design resources on Maine CITE), it is usually accessible by all devices including assistive technology devices and handheld devices such as PDAs and “smart” cell phones. Furthermore, you can embed links, objects and rich media into your content making it more dynamic.

Final Things to Consider

Audience: When considering the move from paper to digital newsletters, it is most important to know you audience. Plan ahead, do your research, find out what your constituents would prefer. You may even want to take a poll to determine preferences.

You will need to know if your readers have access to the internet and will they be able to access the content as an attachment? If you choose to use an attachment to an e-mail, do your constituents have sufficient throughput and capacity to handle large attached files. Knowing something about the preferences and experience of your readership is crucial.

Lastly, you should consider if your audience will want to, and know how to, interact with the content and share it? Within certain segments, social networking still involves chit-chat at the church social and not via the internet. But you might be surprised if you ask your readers about this.

Staff: You also have to consider whether your staff have the resources and skills to converted content into accessible digital formats. If traditionally you have been preparing your content in a simply word processor and sending it off to the printer for design and layout, you may need to hire someone else (or provide additional staff training) to be able to do this kind of work.

Lastly, if considering an e-mail solution, you need to determine if your organization has the resources to create and maintain an up-to-date e-mail database, as well as the bandwidth and resources needed to send the digital content?

Summary

In summary, there is no easy or simple answer to the question posted at the beginning of this article. Thoughtful consideration and planning is needed in determining the path you take. As noted earlier, the conversion from paper to digital newsletters may not produce the savings you initially imagined.

jeb Accessibility, General Information, Uncategorized Accessibility, newsletters, publishing

I am sure there has already been much written about the various “appliances” out there that folks are using to “tweet.” My personal favorite is still TweetDeck which I have been using now for about six months. This blog is not intended to compare or contrast the many apps, just to talk about my favorite.

For the uninitiated, the beauty of TweetDeck (hence called TD) is its ability to create various groups and to sort your “follows” into various groups or lists. The main default list is called “All Friends” and consists of all of the people you currently follow on Twitter. As you add more twits to this list, they automatically appear in the All Friends list.

The best feature of TD is the ability to create new lists based upon a subset of the All Friends list. Within these groups you can also filter the list using either the tweet content, name, or time. The groups are created as vertical lists that are arranged in columns that can also be moved around as needed.

I will not pretend to be an expert on TD – let alone Twitter – but I have developed a “system” for sorting the over 1,300 “twits” I am currently following. I like my system, but I am open to hearing from others as to how you handle yours. So feel free to comment on this blog or just tweet your ideas (presuming you can do so in 140 characters).

So my system (which has evolved over time) essentially comes down to four major groups. First, in the far left column is the All Follows. Next, for pure organizational purposes, I have the TwitScoop feed. I must admit this is a bit addicting. Then I have two columns that I might call my “A” List and my “B” List. The A List is technically called Education/Maine because it originally consisted of people who were educators in Maine that I knew and wanted to follow. But it has expanded to include any number of folks, mostly from New England, but a combo of educators and others whose tweets I find most interesting. In this group I keep my closest friends and colleagues so that when I have “conversations” all of the content is easy to follow. BTW, I have added my own Twitter name here so it posts my tweets too.

The B List is for folks a little farther (further?) away and from other more diverse backgrounds. There are a large number of other web designers here, writers, and other just plain interesting folks.

In the next column I have what I call my News feeds. These are twits that are either actual news organizations (CNN, BreakingNews, NYT, etc.) and some individuals whose tweets often take on a “newsy quality.” I also have some feeds from twits that post jobs and other cyclical news (earthquake announcements, weather alerts etc.). BTW, Mr. TD, if you are reading this, a cool feature to add would be the ability to have certain twitter accounts sound a tone or alarm when a new tweet is posted. This would be great for foul weather alerts and hot breaking news.

The next two columns are Replies (or as some call them “Mentions”) and Direct Messages. I call these my utility groups as I usually leave these scrolled off on the right side and only occasionally read them (1-2 times per day).

Rounding out my lists, I have included a column containing my 12seconds.tv feeds.

So how does it all work…?

Well by default, I have all new follows post in the All Friends column only. The exception is when, while reading tweets in TD, I notice someone in another tweet who looks or sounds interesting. After checking out their profile, I decide to follow. I usually then assign this new person to the A List or B List. But generally, in most cases, new twits start in the All Friends and I only move them up into A or B after I’ve had a chance to sample their tweets for a few weeks.

Over the past 6-8 months I have unfollowed a very low number, but I have moved some folks from B to A, A to B and from B back to All Friends. I sort of feel like the sports team manager; as the performance improves, they get into the starting lineup. As their performance drops, well you get the idea.

I can’t say that this is the best way for organizing my follows, but it works. If you have a system, please feel free to share.

~j

jeb Uncategorized tweetdeck, twitter

Wow, two stories around the internet this week have to do with digital books in the educational arena.

Yesterday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled the latest entry in the Kindle family – the DX. The new larger e-book is being marketed to colleges and universities as the first e-text for higher ed. The announcement was made at one of my Alma maters, Pace University in NYC. Apparently Amazon has several colleges lined up to pilot the new device in their classrooms and lecture halls. The new Kindle comes in at nearly $500 so the colleges have indicated some interest in subsidizing the cost of the device. Read the NY Times article about the announcement.

The second big e-text news came yesterday as well as California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced a plan to “make California the first state in the nation to offer schools free, open-source digital textbooks for high school students.”

According to the news release on the governor’s blog:

“At the Governor’s request, Secretary Thomas will work with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell and State Board of Education President Ted Mitchell to develop a state approved list of standards-aligned, open-source digital textbooks for high school math and science. This list will be compiled after content developers across the country are asked to and have submitted digital material for review. “

It is clear the the e-book is the future of education. The exact shape, size and format remains to be seen. But whatever the outcome, the actions of the last two day will no doubt push accessibility issues forward as both the higher education and public schools entities will require that all of these devices and materials will be accessible.

Very exciting.

~j

jeb Accessibility, universal design e-book, e-books, education, HIGHER ED, kindle, publishing, schools

PC Magazine has been a denizen of the Information Technology world for over 20 years and has been delivered to my doorstep for almost that long a time. Through thick and thin I have enjoyed reading this monthly publication and have used its website religiously to find reviews of IT products and services.

Last December they announce – quite suddenly – that they would no longer be publishing a print version. Ostensibly PC Magazine was falling victim to the same hardships that other print media were experiencing – fewer readers and rising costs. And with the pending decline in the economy and the obvious reduction of advertising dollars, it was probably their only alternative.

I am not real happy with their decision to move to a digital-only format, but I am frankly irate with the way they went about this transformation.

Following the surprise announcement of the change, I had expected to hear something explaining exactly how PC Magazine – or specifically Ziff Davis,  the publisher – was going to fulfill the balance of my paid subscription. One month went by, then two, then three. I would think about it and then forget. So last week, a full four months after the last paper issue crossed my threshold, I decided to visit the PC Magazine website to see if I could find out what was going on. This was almost a complete waste of time as ultimately I needed to send them a digital request for information.

To their credit, the PC Mag folks did reply promptly to my query and explained that they had sent the notice to the e-mail address they had on record. This particular e-mail address was the one I used when I first subscribed to the magazine over 10 years ago. It has been out of use for at least 10 years. Needless to say, I never got the notice.

After three or four e-mails back and forth, I now have access to my three past issues. In the new digital system, the magazine content is apparently converted into a proprietary format requiring the use of a special reader software package provided by a company called Zinio. The glitzy “reader” presents the content in a format that mimics the paper copy complete with faux ability to “turn pages” using your mouse. On first blanch, the text is almost impossible to read, but by clicking on the screen, the focus is zoomed in and the text is then too big to allow easy viewing. The whole experience quite frankly sucks – sorry, I could not think of another word.

I just penned an e-mail back to the Customer Service folks at PC Mag and I am sharing it with you here (see below). It summarizes my experience and my next steps.

As you will read in this blog, I have been heavily involved in the movement to make digital content accessible to people with disabilities and have strongly advocated for the creation of universally designed websites. The Zinio/PC Magazine experience is very far from universal design.

So, as we all deal with the forthcoming changes to news and media industry, we will no doubt encounter more of this. I for one will be keeping watch and providing my opinion.

Here is my e-mail to the PC Magazine Customer Service folks:

Thank you for the resolution of this subscription issue. I have now been able to successfully download the past issues of PC Magazine and begun reading them. I must however express my disappointment and dissatisfaction in the process that I needed to engage in order to find out what had happened to my paid subscription.

At the very least, it seems to me that as you folks were planning to move from a printed to a digital version of PC Magazine you may have warned your subscribers of this eventuality and asked them to update their contact information. I apparently first subscribed to PC Magazine over 10 years ago since the e-mail address you have on record has not been used by me for at least that long a time. I have, over this time used the on-line updates from the website to send me some of the various special reports (e.g. Daily News Alert, etc.) and you had my correct e-mail address for those. Due to having the wrong e-mail information, I was missing my subscription for nearly four months.

I understand and can empathize that this has been a difficult time for many in the print publishing business, but I think you need to be more cognizant of your subscribers and work harder to keep the ones you have. Simply switching to digital from paper without notice was not a good move in my book (no pun intended).

Lastly, I must let you know that I will likely not be renewing my subscription to PC Magazine when it expires. I am very sad about this decision and I would like you to understand my reasoning.

Personally, I don’t find reading periodicals online at all satisfying. I tend to read my magazines and newspapers in location where I do not usually have – or want to have – access to a laptop or other digital device. That has been the beauty of paper! That was what I was willing to pay for. As for the content – you currently offer all of the magazine’s content free of charge on your website without needing to use any silly readers which are cumbersome to use and not universally-designed.

Until someone can find a way to digitally replicate the paper-reading experience, I regret that the publishing industry will continue to die, and I will continue to cling on to the last remaining pieces of paper.

Sincerely,

John E. Brandt
Web Design, Development, Consultation
Augusta, Maine USA
www.jebswebs.com
jeb@jebswebs.com
207-622-7937

jeb General Information, universal design Accessibility, pc mag, universal design

Application updates always drive me nuts. No matter how may times I do an upgrade to a web application, Drupal, Joomla, WordPress, whatever, I always prepare for the end of the world.

Most recently when I tried to update Nucleus, my old blog program, I managed to “nuke” the whole thing. Had to install a whole new blog app (which was actually a blessing in disguise).

Anyway, I just updated my Joomla app (on the main jebswebs site) to version 1.5.10. I was using 1.5.0. That gives you some idea on how long it has been since the last update.

It went perfectly.

So confidence is back, blood pressure is back to normal, ready to take on the next challange!

~j

Image from Olaf – Creative Commons

jeb Uncategorized

This news release comes from the National Federation of the Blind which is one of the organizations that is leading a protest against the Authors Guild. I’ve commented about this controversy several times in this blog, here and here. It appears things are starting to really get stirred up.

The Reading Rights Coalition, which represents people who cannot read print, will protest the threatened removal of the text-to-speech function from e-books for the Amazon Kindle 2 outside the Authors Guild headquarters in New York City at 31 East 32nd Street on April 7, 2009, from noon to 2:00 p.m. The coalition includes the blind, people with dyslexia, people with learning or processing issues, seniors losing vision, people with spinal cord injuries, people recovering from strokes, and many others for whom the addition of text-to-speech on the Kindle 2 promised for the first time easy, mainstream access to over 245,000 books. Read the whole news release on the Maine Cite website

The Reading Rights Coalition have also started their own website

~j

Image from Creative Commons license

jeb General Information e-book, kindle, reading, universal design

Every once and a while, I need to get a “fix” of Alan November.

I’ve known Alan for almost 15 years and knew he was way ahead of things then. His thinking always helps me stretch.

This is from his website and is not about “Accessibility.” But it IS about “accessibility.” Watch and think.

~j

Find more videos like this on NL Connect

jeb General Information november learning, schools, technology

I blogged a few days ago about a recent decision by Amazon to turn off the text-to-speech feature of the new Kindle 2 after The Authors Guild complained about licensing issues. The National Federation of the Blind are organizing a protest on April 7th at the Authors Guild in New York City.

More information about the protest can be found on their Facebook page

~j

jeb General Information Authors' Guild, blind, kindle, NFB

accessible facebook logo

From Dan Jellinek E-ACCESS BULLETIN

A tool to make the social networking site Facebook more accessible to visually impaired users has been created by Project:Possibility, a group of not-for-profit software developers in the US. The application allows visually impaired users to log in, navigate and use the site by combining screen reader technology with other coding techniques.

Brian D’Souza, a team member who worked on the project, explained: “We leveraged an existing technology developed by Google called AxsJax (accessibility + AJAX) which combines use of screen readers and java script and navigation methods to make navigation and modification of content of webpages easier. It provides a lot of value for a blind person.”

Facebook’s popularity has risen dramatically in recent years, with more than 150 million users worldwide. However some users claim it does not fully support assistive tools, with several groups active on the site itself pressing for a more accessible service, such as The Official Petition for a More Accessible Facebook, which contains almost 1,500 members. Some measures have already been taken by Facebook to accommodate the needs of disabled users, such as releasing screen reader-friendly versions of some of its applications.

The Facebook tool was one of a series of projects created at the recent UCLA SS12, an annual ‘code-a-thon’ held at the University of California, Los Angeles. Software developers spend a weekend working on projects for disabled people.

Other projects developed by the same team at this year’s SS12 included Project AWE, a ‘website accessibility tagging tool’, which allows users and third parties to rate the accessibility of web pages. Ratings are automatically retrieving when the disabled user visits the page, allowing them to immediately gain an idea of how easy the page will be to navigate.

NOTE: I’ve sent an e-mail off to the Project:Possibility folks to find out how one actually can acquire Accessible Facebook and will post their response when I receive one.

To subscribe to this free monthly bulletin, email eab-subs@headstar.com with ’subscribe eab’ in the subject header. You can list other email addresses to subscribe in the body of the message. Please encourage all your colleagues to sign up! To unsubscribe at any time, put ‘unsubscribe eab’ in the subject header.

~John B

Originally posted 02/16/09 | Posted by admin | Category Accessibility

jeb Accessibility Accessibility, Facebook

Accessible Twitter

Dennis Lembree the founder and host of Web Axe, a blog and podcast on web accessibility has built and produced an accessible access portal for Twitter called Accessible Twitter.

The newly developed site features a simple, consistent layout and navigation which meets WAI and Section 508 Accessibility Standards. The site also assures that all links are keyboard accessible and that users can access their Twitter account with or without JavaScript. Accessible Twitter uses large default text size and high color contrast and works well in both high or low resolution browser settings.

Lembree is the owner of the web development company CheckEngine USA, and co-founder of Refresh Detroit, a group of web professionals in Southeast Michigan.

~jeb

Updated/revised 2-19-09

jeb Accessibility Accessibility, twitter

WordPress logo

I guess it’s the scourge of age. You get comfortable with something and as time goes on the resistance to change increases. But in the technology world, there is no such thing. You simply can’t get too comfortable.

I had been using a very simple – almost primitive – blog authoring program which served me well over the years. It was very accessible on both the front end and the back end when the prevailing big  boys in the field were still asking how to spell accessibility.

There were a few quirks with that application and I set about today to fix them. As you may have guessed, that five minute project turned into a nightmare. So the long story short is I’ve jumped ship and installed Word Press. This template that I am using is supposed to produce valid XHTML and CSS 3.0; in which case it should be full accessible. I’ll be checking it over the next few days and giving you a complete report.

But the good news is that Word Press is an absolute delight in terms of depth, design and functionality. Adding and updating themes and widgets is a breeze and making changes to the settings a delight. And it makes the posting process so easy.

Being the Brooklyn-born cynic, I’m waiting for the other shoe to fall.

We’ll keep you posted.

~j

jeb General Information Word Press

Explore the Description Key

I just came across information about a website dedicated to Description for persons with a vision loss, literacy needs, or loss of cognitive abilities. This site is dedicated to providing description to educational materials and should be of interest to Assistive Technology specialists working in schools.

From the website, Description is defined as:

jeb General Information blind, description, visual impairment

Adobe Acrobat logo

UPDATE: New versions of Acrobat Reader 9 and Professional 9 are now available for download. Updates and patches to older versions are supposed to be available tomorrow, March 18th. Also note that I patched what I could and then today received what I thought to be a very suspicious e-mail with a PDF attachment. Read about it on my other blog

I learned this on Twitter a few days ago and am frankly surprised it has not become more widely knows. Basically, there has been a security problem found in the Adobe Acrobat Reader and Adobe Acrobat Professional which allows certain malware to attack your computer. Initially it was reported that by simply disenabling the JavaScript switch in Reader (and Professional) the problem went away. As an interesting aside, I did this and the very first PDF I downloaded and read an hour later came from Adobe and it required the JS switch be turned back on.

Anyway, in this latest report from ZD Net, it appears that that advice does not mitigate the problem and that Adobe is no closer to a solution than it was a few days ago.

So, the only general advice we can give sportsfans is to avoid opening Adobe Acrobat files until the security issue is resolved. As is stated in the ZD Net article: “All users of Adobe Reader/Acrobat should therefore show extreme caution when deciding which PDF files to open regardless of whether they have disabled JavaScript support or not.”

Here is a link to the ZD Net article with details

Update:  Here is more information from Adobe – but the general consensus is to make sure you have you Anti-Virus programs running and up-to-date.

http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt/2009/02/adobe_reader_and_acrobat_issue_1.html

http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa09-01.html

~jeb

jeb General Information, Software adobe, pdf, security

VoiceOver icon

[Originally posted October 19, 2008]

I think.

I had the opportunity to partake in a presentation at the ACTEM MainEducation 2008 Conference last Thursday (October 16, 2008) where the presenter Mike Shebanek, Product Marketing Manager in Apple’s worldwide software product marketing group and 14-year veteran of Apple Inc. spoke on the new and improved accessibility features of the Mac OS X.

In addition to showing all of the marvelous widgets and gizmos that are built throughout the operating system, half of Mike’s presentation was on the new VoiceOver “screen reader” that is built into the new OS. VoiceOver first appeared in 2005 in OS X v10.4 Tiger, but grew a more distinct reputation when v 10.5 – Leopard appeared. The major reason was the inclusion of a new “voice” – Alex. Quoting from Apple, “…the new voice of Mac OS X Leopard, speaks English and uses advanced new Apple technologies to deliver natural intonation even at extraordinarily fast speaking rates.” My blind friend Steve noted that “Alex breathes!”

Those who know me know that “I’m a PC” and although I’ve tried not to get caught up in the hype of the OS Wars, Macs and I have not always gotten along very well. My first foray into AppleLand was in 1999 when I joined the staff at Maine ASCD – an All Mac Environment. Ironically, I had interviewed at Bates College earlier that fall – another All Mac Environment – and was assured by the folks there that I could be readily converted. I think the combination of the fervor and intensity of those from AppleLand are what I often find most troubling. Apple People from AppleLand tend to be a little over zealous and try a little too hard to find converts. They sometimes remind me of the Jehovah’s Witnesses on Fulton St. in Brooklyn when I was a kid. Stare at the ground and keep walking.

The Apple conversion did not take place in 1999 partially because I went from being fairly neutral about the Mac to downright hostile. The new iMac I was presented with actually bit me and drew blood – but that’s another story. Within a year I had divested Maine ASCD from their aging Mac fleet primarily for economic reasons. We simply could not afford the product. I admit to a little glee when the iMac kept crashing for unknown reasons and the G3 was full of macro viruses.

So with that background, I tuned into Mike Shebanek’s sermon fully expecting to find holes of faulty logic and extended examples of overreaching. While there was some of that – and I will note that Mike is a “Product Marketing Manager” – I was dutifully impressed. Not so much with all the gizmos, but I think that I actually sensed that Apple may “get it.”

The “get it” I am referring to is the concept of Universal Design that I have been preaching about for the past 8-9 years. The idea that products and services should be designed with the goal of making everything easier for everyone and in so doing, make it easier for people with disabilities.

I’ve heard many other speakers claim their respective companies were indeed modeling this behavior only to again and again find flaws in their message. My most recent experience was with the folks at Adobe who while claiming to have fully embraced accessibility, have been building and exploiting Rich Internet Applications using their new Adobe AIR development system. The best I can tell, everything they make with that product is completely inaccessible.

Unlike some of the competition – and I am now actually pointing my finger in the direction of northern Washington – Apple does appear to have practiced what they preach. The new VoiceOver does appear to really be a fully functioning – and fully integrated – screen reader AND actually has functionality that fully sighted people can use. This makes it a Universally Designed system; not an add-on or a plug in.

So, I was impressed and figured I had to make a public admission.

Now, the marketing pitch that Mike made did indeed make me a bit squeamish. But, paraphrasing the logic: “… for less than a thousand bucks, you can purchase a MacBook with OS X and not have to purchase an $800 copy of JAWS or other screen reader…” Hmm, kind of hard to argue with that.

To give the full picture – and just to prove that I was not completely co-opted – while VoiceOver is integrated into the OS, not all software made for the Mac – including many Apple-labeled products – work with it. And my colleagues and I are still testing VoiceOver before giving it our blessing. But I feel like I have drunk the Kool Aid. Stay tuned.

~j

Originally posted 10/19/08 | Posted by admin | Category Software and Applications

jeb Accessibility, Software Accessibility, actem2008, actemshare, Apple, maineeducation, Voiceover

VoiceOver

[Originally posted 01/08/09]

As I continue to “drink the Kool Aid,” I am pleased report that Apple is continuing its move toward making the Mac OSX not only fully accessible but Universally Designed. The latest on this was the release of iWork09 the new version of the Apple “office suite.” The previous version was one of the few Apple applications that did not work with VoiceOver, the built-in screenreading application in Mac OSX.

With the revisions to iTunes and the iTunes website made last fall, and this announcement this week at MacWorld, Apple shows that it continues to “get it” and move towards a fully Univerally Designed operating system.

Keep up the good work. Or, should I say, keep up the good iWork .

Read more about the iWork news on Lioncourt’s blog

~jeb

01/08/09 | Posted by admin | Category Accessibility

jeb Accessibility, Software Apple, iWork, OS X, universal design

Apple safari for Mac + PC

Judging from all the twittering on Twitter regarding the latest version of the Safari browser, most people seem pretty happy with the release.

This past Tuesday, February 24th, Apple released Safari 4.0 in public beta to the approving roar of Apple enthusiasts and technology wonks alike. Some in the industry have indicated that Safari 4.0 was long overdue, but as the latest round of browser wars seems to be reigniting, the timing of this release was pretty effective and perhaps well planned.

What is of concern to me is how well the new browser will behave in terms of accessibility and particularly how well it will interface with the Mac OS X screen reader – VoiceOver. Reports from my various colleagues who have been putting Safari 4.0 through its paces have been rather impressive. I suggest you head over to the Mac-accessibility blog for  the play-by-play and to get specifics, but the general consensus is that the new browser is a winner and seems to work well with assistive technology. For mere mortals, ZDNet has several reviews with all of the details.

~j

jeb Accessibility, General Information Accessibility, Apple, browser, safari, Voiceover

accesstext logo

The AccessText Network is a membership exchange network that will facilitate and support the nationwide delivery of alternative files for students with diagnosed print-related disabilities. AccessText will serve as the national nucleus for post-secondary distribution of approved alternative textbook file exchanges, training, and technical support.

The new service will be was launched in February 2009

AccessText is a venture founded and supported by the Association of American Publishers and Higher Education textbook publishers. AccessText is administered through the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, the University of Georgia, and the Alternative Media Access Center. AccessText is located at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.

Driven by its members and a national advisory committee, AccessText will operate as a conduit between the publishing world and post-secondary institutions’ disability programs.

AccessText will rely heavily on the expertise of state and national disability advocacy service organization including:

• Association of Higher Education and Disabilities (AHEAD) E-text Solution Group
• Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC) of the California Community Colleges
• The High Tech Center Training Unit of the California Community Colleges
• Learning Disability Association of America (LDA)
• National Federation for the Blind

For more information, visit the AccessText website.

~j

Originally published 12/05/08 |  Category Accessibility

jeb Accessibility, General Information Accessibility, HIGHER ED, PRINT DISABILITY

Maine Governor John E. Baldacci announced last night in his State-of-the-State address his intentions of expanding the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) – aka. the Laptop Program – to Maine high schools. This should be good news to the folks in Cupertino, CA as the contract for the new program will be going to Apple Computers.

According to the Maine Department of Education website:

The expansion is part of an agreement the state Department of Education negotiated with Apple Inc. for a reduced rate on the laptops, allowing the state to lease 100,000 machines within existing funds dedicated to educational technology. Under the agreement, the state will provide new laptops to all high schoolers and replace older machines at the middle school level.  School districts are not required to participate in the program, though superintendents have indicated overwhelming support for the laptop expansion.

The MLTI program began in 2002 with deployments of  Macintosh i-books to all 7th and 8th graders and their teachers. The program has been renewed once in the interim with laptops also being provided to high school teachers and some central office staff.

The newest iteration of the MLTI program was announced to include the capacity for families to be able to use their student’s laptop to access job and labor information from the state’s Department of Labor (DOL). I presume this means it will provide a link to the DOL Career Center website and not mean the state will provide home internet access to these families.

“We are going to revamp our laptop program and turn it into a powerful tool for the entire family,” Governor Baldacci said. “Every night when students in seventh through 12th-grade bring those computers home, they’ll connect the whole family to new opportunities and new resources.”

Read the entire news release

~jeb

jeb General Information Apple, education, laptops, MLTI

I have updated my blog entry from a few days ago regarding issues with the security of Adobe Acrobat. Read the latest update there.

~John Brandt

jeb Software acrobat, adobe, pdf, security

I just finished reading a blog entry on the E-Access Bulletin about efforts to force Amazon to shut off the text-to-speech feature of the new Kindle 2 e-book reader. It seems certain publishers want additional “audio royalties” for providing what they see as a “audiobook.”

I know things are tough financially all over, but this seems pretty mercenary to me. Personally, I see a big difference between a mechanized text-to-speech reading application and audiobooks where the content is usually read by a compentent actor or perhaps by the author themselves. The richness of that experience is very different from the “computer voice. ”

It also seems to me that the publishing industry is running scared in light of what has happened to the recording industry and the Napster fiasco. They really need to put their heads together and come up with a plan to get into the game or they will simply dematerialize. Challenging every new innovation is not a solution and will only leave a bitter taste in the mouths of many consumers.

The text-to-speech features of Kindle 2 are a wonderful and universally designed element making printed materials much more available to persons with print disabilities. They should be rewarded and not punished.

Read the whole blog entry from E-Access Bulletin

UPDATE: Just read this additional blog entry from TechFlash about this controversy. Note the comments from the Authors’ Guild disputing some of the commentary.

National Federation of the Blind is into this – see press release. And see “KindleBoards.”

Some twittering about a protest in NYC on 4/7/09. Will post more when I know.

~j

jeb Accessibility, General Information audiobooks, e-books, kindle, publishing, text-to-speech, universal design