Assistive Technology

Using Assistive Technology

I downloaded IBM's Home Page Reader which is a screenreader for the blind or people who have trouble seeing the computer screen. The experience of using this software was interesting. Right off, I found a couple of my pages had the wrong title for the page and I found a typo. I have looked at these pages often and never would have noticed the incorrect title or the typo if the pages had not been read out loud to me. The software took some getting use to. I liked the added assistance the program provided by having the male voice reading the text and a female voice reading the links. Moving around with a keyboard was difficult for me as I have refined my computer abilities to a point where I can use the mouse for almost everything and using Home Page Reader required that I learn keyboard shortcuts.

In using this software, I realized that experience with a site would make the navigation easier. I found myself having to go through a page at least once to get an orientation on what was available. Then I could make a decision about what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go. It was interesting to see how the screenreader interprets some words like homepage versus home page. I had some problems with the program and application/memory errors which would close Home Page Reader.

In designing for a screen reader, I can see that consistency in navigation would be important. Putting a pipe between a continuous line of links makes it easier to determine where one link starts and one link stops. Interestingly, the screenreader read the JavaScript menu on the DWD home page, but it read the menu of links in the male voice so it was confusing. I do not think someone would recognize them as links and they were run together because there was no character between the menu (link) items. I was confused and I KNOW the page.... Skip links and quick links are a nice addition to pages allowing someone to navigate quickly around the page. Links at the bottom of the page that will take you back to the top or back to the home page are nice features to include on pages.

Week 3 Questions and Answers

1. Question 1: What are 3 different categories of accessibility tools, and who might use them?
   Hardware, software and other technology. Software would be browsers that allow the blind or physically disabled to access Web pages. Hardware would be special workstations or Braille displays. Other technology could be the HTML code and WAI guidelines that assist in the access of the information. Everybody can benefit from better coding and supportive techniques like images and captions, multimedia and captions, text and images.
   
   
2. Question 2: What are 3 types of features which are built into common GUI browsers which are used by people with disabilities to increase accessibility to the web?
   The ability to change the display font size, allowing a user to use their own stylesheet, ALT text, and keyboard access/navigation.
   
   
3. Question 3: How do you think the experience of a sighted person using a screenreader differs from that of a blind person? In what circumstances might someone who can see images and text want to use a screenreader?
   A sighted person can still get a general overall view of a Web page and so their orientation to their location on the page would be better. A screenreader would be valuable to someone who can see but might have some visual impairment or for a person who might lack the concentration needed to read an entire page. The ability to hear the page read aloud while viewing the text would help people get a better understanding of the Web page content.