Categories
android conference google presentations review

Google IO12 Review and Accessibility

I was fortunate enough to attend the Google I/O conference again this year (last year’s I/O blog). It was again held at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco, California. The opening keynote was a smash hit, and in addition to product announcements, featured skydivers wearing Google Glass!

On the second floor, it was a pleasure to meet Phil Strain (@pstr) in person; we’ve followed each other on Twitter for a couple years. He now works for Google and was helping out in the accessibility developer sandbox (booth). He demonstrated the latest ChromeVox. Also at the sandbox, Peter Lundblad demonstrated to me the braille output support using a new Nexus 7 tablet and a Humanware braille display.

Google announced the release of Android Jellybean (4.1) to be released through over-the-air updates to the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S and Motorola Xoom in July. The announcement came with several Android accessibility enhancements including:

  • Speech recognition is now local to the device, no longer requiring the device to be connected to the Internet in order to use it.
  • Gesture support allowing for greater nonvisual control of the device using the touch screen.
  • Native support for refreshable Bluetooth Braille displays.
  • Source: The Mobile Accessibility Landscape

Session videos

Making Android Apps Accessible with T.V. Raman, Charles Chen, Alan Viverette, Peter Lundblad. Session description:

Android 4.0 introduced platform-level accessibility APIs so that you don’t have to be an expert to make an app that’s accessible to people with disabilities. Come learn how APIs for accessibility make your job easier. We’ll provide code examples covering touch exploration, speech synthesis, multiplatform support through use of a DPAD, magnification for low vision, braille, and more.

Advancing Accessibility for the Web with Rachel Shearer, Dominic Mazzoni, Charles Chen. Includes announcement and demo of the new Chrome Accessibility Developer Tools. Session description:

This session will help you learn through code samples and real world examples how to design and test your web apps for complete accessibility coverage. We will review APIs such as the Text-to-speech (TTS) API, tools like ChromeVox and ChromeShades and how Google products implement solutions today for users with disabilities.

Related links

Tidbits

  • I ran into Peter Hazelhurst, former VP of two of my past employers. Turns out he now is Global Head of Payments, Product Management at Google. He presented on “Introducing Google Wallet Cloud APIs”.
  • It was neat to run into Isabelle Olsson, a lead designer on the Google Glass project, outside the conference center. She had presented in the keynote.
  • The line to get the “free” devices on the first day was incredibly long; wrapped around the entire first floor! I would say it was “unbelievable”, but not too surprising considering three cool toys were being handed out including the new Nexus 7″ tablet.
  • While attending on Wednesday, my wife, kids, and parents (who were visiting from Michigan) had a great time touring downtown San Francisco!
Photo of accessibility sandbox (booth) at Google IO 2012
Categories
articles review

Response to 15+ Tips to Improve Web Accessibility

I gave feedback in the form of a comment for the article 15+ Tips to Improve Web Accessibility of a Website. But, yet again, my blog comment was not published. The article is not bad, just needed some clarifications. So since my comment wasn’t approved (after several days), here it is:

Great points, although 4 have to do with forms. Some clarifications:

  • For alternative text on images, decorative images should have empty value (alt=””) and linked images must have alt text describing target of link.
  • Relative sizing in CSS not as important as it used to be. [Most browser do page zoom by default and all browsers but IE can zoom text set in pixels.]
  • CSS vs table layout doesn’t have any direct impact to accessibility.
  • Use ABBR tag for acronyms as well as abbreviations (acronym tag is deprecated).
  • For skip links, see end of this article for JS fix for functionality on some browsers: http://terrillthompson.com/blog/161

And now that I think about it, the article overlooks pretty basic techniques such as data tables, captioning, and ARIA. For a more complete list of tips, see my 25 Ways To Make Your Website Accessible.

Categories
screenreader survey webaim

About WebAIM Screen Reader Survey 4

As you may have heard, the results of the fourth WebAIM screen reader survey are now available. The survey provides valuable information on about screen reader users such as primary screen readers used, browsers used, and reasons for use.

WebAIM reports that problematic items have changed little over the last 2 years. The top ten are:

  1. The presence of inaccessible Flash content.
  2. CAPTCHA – images presenting text used to verify that you are a human user.
  3. Links or buttons that do not make sense.
  4. Images with missing or improper descriptions (alt text).
  5. Screens or parts of screens that change unexpectedly.
  6. Complex or difficult forms.
  7. Lack of keyboard accessibility.
  8. Missing or improper headings.
  9. Too many links or navigation items.
  10. Complex data tables.

Conclusions from the survey include:

  • JAWS is still the primary screen reader, but usage continues to decrease as usage of NVDA and VoiceOver increases.
  • The perception of accessibility of web content is decreasing.
  • 72% of the respondents use a screen reader on a mobile device, up from only 12% three years ago.
  • iOS device usage is significantly increasing and well above that of the standard population. Screen reader users represent a notable portion of the iOS device user market. Usage of Android devices is well below that of non-disabled users.
  • The use of properly structured headings remains of great importance. 

Here are a few great analyses of the survey:

Categories
design forms html5 label

Placeholder Attribute Is Not A Label!

Just so we’re all clear on this, the HTML5 placeholder attribute in a text input is not a replacement for the label element. Period. The placeholder should only be used as a brief example of the text to be entered.

Besides inconsistent support for screen readers, using a placeholder as an input label can create usability problems and issues for those with cognitive impairments. For example, how does one review the information entered if the placeholder is now gone?

The placeholder should be used like a title attribute (tooltip); it provides only supplementary information. If the information is required for the user (such as a strict text format) then this should be conveyed in the main content of the page, not in an attribute.

The W3C HTML5 placeholder specification specifically states it should be a “short hint…intended to aid the user with data entry” and also states:

The placeholder attribute should not be used as a replacement for a label.

Supporting articles:

Bonus!
On @a11yMemes, check out this humorous take on placeholder.

Addendum (more references):

Also see Web Axe follow-up post: Floated Labels Still Suck.

Related Tweet Jan 2016:

https://twitter.com/shoobe01/status/689221623774220288

Categories
usability

The Usability Principles, Accessibility Style

Steve Grobschmidt (@AquinasWI) recently blogged a three-part series titled The Usability Principles, Accessibility Style. Using Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics as a guideline, Steve discusses the principles and then explains how they each relate to accessibility. Great stuff!

The 10 principles discussed are:

  1. Visibility of system status
  2. Match between system and the real world
  3. User control and freedom
  4. Consistency and standards
  5. Error prevention
  6. Recognition rather than recall
  7. Flexibility and efficiency of use
  8. Aesthetic and minimalist design
  9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
  10. Help and documentation

Addendum:
For more related information, see my article Popular Mistakes in Universal Web Design which discusses the seven universal design principles.