Link Roundup - May 2010

• Do Your Flashing Ads Cause Seizures?
• FAQ on software development for the blind or visually impaired
• Why You Should Adopt An Accessible Content Strategy (business case for accessibility)
• 4 Easy Steps to Make Your Site More Usable (and accessible) to Older People
• Program to help locate screen cursor: PinPoint 3 "Never Lose Your Mouse Again"
• Use ARIA to Indicate When Form Fields Are Required
• Google Slaps People with Disabilities in the Face
• Kill Accessibility (great comments)
• Test cases with HTML5, ARIA Roles & Screen Readers
• What are your favorite accessibility & UX blogs?
• HTML5: Techniques for providing useful text alternatives
• Next accessibility unconference is A11yCamp, Guelph, Canada, June 8
• Text CAPTCHA service - alternative to image or audio CAPTCHAs
• The new GNU accessibility statement
• iPad Assistive Technology Roundup
• Slides from Access U presentation HTML5 & Accessibility
• NFB files complaints against 9 law schools for inaccessible web site
• Importance of HTML Headings for Accessibility
• Future Web Accessibility: HTML5 Semantic Elements (Part 2 in a series)
• A few problems with the concept of accessible PDFs
• Do we need a new game plan to make the Web accessible? (great comments)

Podcast #81: HTML5 and John Foliot

HTML5 is hot. It's new, powerful, and exciting. But what is it exactly, and how will it make the web more accessible? Dennis discusses these issues and more with web accessibility veteran John Foliot. Topics include background on HTML5, browser support, new form functionality, how Canvas can be accessible, and much more!

Mr. Foliot runs the Stanford Online Accessibility Program. He is an active member of the W3C and is an integral part of the web accessibility community. He writes a blog entitled Unrepentant and you can find John on Twitter.

Download Web Axe Episode 81 (HTML5 and John Foliot)

[transcript of podcast 81]

Mentioned Resources

• HTML: The Markup Language
• HTML5 differences from HTML4
• HTML5 Doctor
• Bruce Lawson
• Remy Sharp
• Dive Into HTML5
• Book: Introducing HTML5 by Bruce Lawson and Remy Sharp (there's also HTML5 For Web Designers by Jeremy Keith)

Other HTML5 Resources

• Test cases with HTML5, ARIA Roles & Screen Readers
• HTML5: Techniques for providing useful text alternatives
• Slides from Access U presentation HTML5 & Accessibility
• Future Web Accessibility: HTML5 Semantic Elements (Part 2 in a series)
• HTML5 Demos and Examples

Walmart's Poor Alt Text and Use of Flash

Yesterday, Steve Faulkner of The Paciello Group wrote a tweet quoting an alt attribute on the Walmart.com home page. My first reaction was disbelief, frustration, and outrage.

I replied to the tweet, then found the following code (line 2421) which Steve was referencing:

<img src="http://i2.walmartimages.com/i/if/spacer.gif" alt="The Walmart.com site includes Flash technology. To avoid interruption of software designed to aid visually-impaired people, please turn off your Flash player." border="0" height="1" width="1" />

The message was designed for screen reader users. But just this one line of code is so wrong on so many levels including the following.

1. A spacer GIF? What is this, 1998? This is a badly outdated and poor practice.
   
2. Alt text is too long; I suggest under 15 words. Or, include the text as part of the main page or use some kind of "D" link.
3. This message was meant to be vital to the user (particularly if blind), and thus should not be stuffed in an ALT attribute.
4. Many people with visual impairments may not be blind, but have "low vision", and thus may not use a screen reader. These individuals could use a screen magnifier or simply enlarge text with their browser.
5. Law: Walmart is a very large corporation providing sale of goods nationally; this means that they are a great "Target" for a lawsuit, excuse the pun! (If you don't get the joke, read about the NFB vs. Target lawsuit.)
6. The use of Flash in itself is highly debatable. One can write a book about this point, but basically, Flash requires a proprietary plug-in, usually not developed with accessibility, and is not supported on many modern user agents such as the iPhone/iPad (not to mention many others including text-only browsers).
7. How does one turn off his Flash player, anyway?

Solutions

Immediate: Provide HTML alternative to content.

Better: Use accessible Flash and provide an HTML alternative to content.

Best: Use HTML only for content. Implement with web standards, progressive enhancement, and DOM scripting, to create the same visual effect as the original Flash. This will not only make your content accessible, but will also make the site lighter and faster and is also good for SEO.