Closed captioning is a relatively recent development in the history of broadcasting, and it was designed with the hearing impaired in mind. According to a useful history on the National Captioning Institute’s (NCI) website, the technology dates back to the early 1970s, when Julia Child’s The French Chef “made history as the first television program accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers.” Real-time captioning arrived later, with stenographers typing at a blazing 250 words-per-minute to keep up with live news and sporting events.
If it wasn’t for the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 and additional rules adopted by the FCC in 2012, it’s unlikely my daughter’s IP-based Netflix streaming content would even have closed captioning options today.
While the NCI doesn’t explicitly acknowledge the growing use of closed captioning by those without hearing impairments, it does note that “closed captioning has grown from an experimental service intended only for people who are deaf to a truly global communications service that touches the lives of millions of people every day in vital ways.”
It’s certainly not just a phenomenon for young people. There are many people my age who admit to using them because they have some middle-aged hearing loss or simply need help understanding what the characters on Luther or Peaky Blinders are saying. They use captions to focus more intently on the content.
The need to read captions for what you can hear might even have a biological base. According to Dr. Sudeepta Varma, a psychiatrist at New York University’s Langone Medical Center, some people may have trouble processing the audio from television.
The HTML specification describes six heading elements: h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, and h6. The number in each of these heading elements reflects its priority, with h1 being the most general and h6 being the most specific.
This is an important thing to know! WebAIM’s 2017 Screen Reader survey tells us that navigating via headings is the most important way people who rely on assistive technology locate information. Because of this, it’s important to craft your website’s headings properly.
La profesora titular de Derecho Civil de la Universidad de Granada y patrona de la Fundación Derecho y Discapacidad, Esperanza Alcaín, ha señalado este lunes que “las administraciones no solo están obligadas a implementar la normativa en materia de accesibilidad de páginas webs y aplicaciones móviles del sector público, sino que también tienen que exigir su cumplimiento a toda la sociedad”.
Así se ha manifestado esta experta durante la presentación de una guía jurídica y técnica de orientación para el cumplimiento del Real Decreto 1112/2018, de 7 de septiembre, con el que se incorpora al ordenamiento jurídico español la Directiva (UE) 2016/2102, del Parlamento Europeo y del Consejo, de 26 de octubre de 2016, sobre la accesibilidad de los sitios web y aplicaciones para dispositivos móviles de los organismos del sector público, que incluye la Administración General del Estado, administraciones autonómicas y locales, las entidades públicas y privadas dependientes de ellas, las universidades públicas, la Administración de Justicia, el Congreso de los Diputados, el Senado, el Consejo de Estado, el Consejo Económico y Social, el Consejo General del Poder Judicial, el Tribunal Constitucional, el Tribunal de Cuentas, el Defensor del Pueblo y el Banco de España, entre otros.
"I believe that losing my hearing was one of the greatest gifts I've ever received," says Elise Roy. As a disability rights lawyer and design thinker, she knows that being Deaf gives her a unique way of experiencing and reframing the world -- a perspective that could solve some of our largest problems. As she says: "When we design for disability first, you often stumble upon solutions that are better than those when we design for the norm."
Ciegos, gitanos, musulmanes, negros, obesos, religiosos, transexuales, parados de larga duración, personas con Asperger, de baja estatura, síndrome de Down, en silla de ruedas... Doce colectivos marginados responden a preguntas anónimas ante la cámara en un tono desenfadado, sin dramatismo y con humor, para combatir los prejuicios y la discriminación.Hay un vídeo sobre las personas ciegas:
There were multiple difficulties noted. The key issues were:
- Insufficiently labelled input fields (meaning screenreaders are left unsure of what information is needed in the boxes they're asked to enter information into)
- Links with identical text, that lead to different locations. While this is not a failure of WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), it is not good practise.
- Dynamic content not made accessible to screenreader users, e.g. auto-suggest search results
Further difficulties noted in the complaint were:
- Unable to browse and purchase electronics such as the iPhone, iPad, and MacBook Pro laptop
- Inability to make service appointments online
- Trouble finding a store
A blog trying to be a pattern library. All about designing inclusive web interfaces, piece by piece.
Web site accessibility is a serious civil rights concern that has historically been difficult to measure and to establish success criteria for. By conducting automated accessibility analyses via the WAVE tool, we calculated accessibility norms of a statistically appropriate, random sample of K–12 school Web sites across the U.S. (n = 6,226) and merged results with national datasets to determine how school demographics influence accessibility. Results indicated that schools across all demographic groups generally struggle to make their Web sites fully accessible to their universe of diverse users and revealed that the concrete, highest-impact steps that schools nationwide need to take to improve accessibility include improving poor contrast between text and backgrounds, providing alternative text to images and other visual elements, and labeling form controls.
Using the label element checks all of the boxes for inclusivity when properly formatted: it's directly associated with a form element (either with the for attribute or by nesting the element inside the label), displayed as text by standard browsers, and spoken by screen readers. Clicking or tapping on a label will focus the associated element (or select the checkbox or radio option), and when you focus directly on the element, screen readers will read the label. Ensuring that both visual and auditory cues are present and intelligible are critical when you consider that in WebAIM's annual screen reader study screen reader users report relying on a mix of both, with the majority using audio exclusively.Hay otras alternativas a label, pero en este artículo se explica que no siempre funcionan:
It's possible to use markup other than label, but when you do, users may see or hear blank form elements and have no idea what to enter.
At first glance, placeholder does a very similar job to label: it's displayed as text (within text inputs, specifically) and read aloud by screen readers. The placeholder has a purpose, though, that diverges from that of a label. It's meant to be a suggestion, formatting guideline, or hint that is ultimately replaced by user input. So while a placeholder may seem like a worthy label alternate on the first pass through a form, once a data value is entered, that label is gone. And that's just one of several reasons why placeholder is an inadequate substitute label. It's much more valuable when used as a guide.
The aria-label attribute provides label text to screen readers for identifying interactive elements, or elements with ARIA roles, and it produces the same audio feedback as the label element. There's no reason to use both on the same form field, and we actually recommend against trying.La conclusión es clara:
Out of the box, the label element is all we need to indentify fields in an accessible way. Used in combination with accessible hiding and other helper elements, like placeholder or icons, we can ensure that a form element's purpose is clearly communicated to all users.
La noticia de que Renfe invertirá 700.000€ en mejorar su web nos ha alegrado tanto a @marcborras y a mi que hemos decidido hacer un hilo con 17 predicciones de cosas que esta vez, ya sí que sí, seguro que van a arreglar. Empezamos 👇 pic.twitter.com/y4SR7fFSgZ— Carlos Sánchez (@chocotuits) 3 de febrero de 2019
Renfe ha pisado el acelerador nada más aprobar su plan estratégico. Si el mismo día en el que se puso en marcha la operadora anunció la licitación del primer paquete de trenes para renovar su flota, hoy es el día de su página web. La operadora ferroviaria ha licitado el contrato, valorado en 700.000 euros, para renovar su principal canal digital de contacto con sus clientes.Y sorprendente este dato:
La mejora de la web de Renfe es una de las medidas más demandadas por sus usuarios desde hace años. Esto ha provocado que esta licitación haya sido una de las primeras en ponerse en marcha. Una decisión muy simbólica que tanto el presidente de la compañía, Isaías Táboas, como su director de estrategia, Manel Villalante, han querido priorizar para ponerla en marcha lo antes posible.
El proyecto licitado tiene por objetivo mejorar la usabilidad de la web de Renfe. Uno de los elementos más destacados en el plan estratégico de la operadora. En el caso de la web la intención es desterrar todos los actuales problemas que genera la actual y dotarla de las capacidades que permitan mejorar el rendimiento y el posicionamiento de los contenidos.
Hay que recordar que la última gran renovación del principal canal digital de Renfe se realizó hace 10 años. Un periodo en el que regularmente se han ido introduciendo mejoras pero que el tiempo ha dejado anticuado.
En concreto, entre enero y agosto el 46,8% del total de billetes se vendió a través de la web. Renfe comercializó 16,8 millones de plazas de tren a través de su portal de Internet.Y todo ello, a pesar de los problemas de usabilidad y accesibilidad que tiene la web de Renfe.
the ADA applied to Domino’s website and app because the Act mandates that places of public accommodation, like Domino’s, provide auxiliary aids and services to make visual materials available to individuals who are blind.El juicio contra Domino's Pizza.
The UsableNet research team has been tracking 2018 federally filed ADA web accessibility-related lawsuits. In 2018, we tracked 2285 lawsuits—up 181% over 2017 which had 814.Igualito, igualito, igualito que en España.
Although many industries are involved across the cases, six stand out for the additional attention they get. Retail, food service, travel/hospitality, banking/financial, entertainment and leisure, and self-service, have the majority of cases, reflecting a general pattern over 2017 and 2018 toward these types of organizations.
Browser extensions (I’m using Chrome for the purposes of this post)
WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation ToolLighthouseaXe browser extensionWCAG Accessibility Audit Developer UISiteImprove Accessibility Checker
Other tools
Tenon.io (free and paid plans available)
Offering a separate website for those with disabilities does not comply with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) website accessibility requirements, the agency made clear with a $200,000 fine to the Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS).
The DOT established website accessibility requirements that require any U.S. or foreign air carrier that has a website and that operates at least one aircraft seating more than 60 passengers to ensure that its public-facing webpages on its primary website are accessible to individuals with disabilities. Set forth at 14 CFR Part 382, the rule had two phases of implementation.
By December 12, 2015, covered entities needed to ensure that core travel information and services on the airline’s primary website met the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Level AA Standard. Airlines had until December 12, 2016, to achieve compliance for all remaining webpages on the primary site.
But in February 2017, the DOT’s Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings discovered that SAS’ primary website was not accessible to persons with disabilities. Instead, the airline created an “assistive version” of its primary website at a separate and distinct URL.
This separate site violated the DOT rule, the agency said.
“In the preamble to the rule the Department explained that to create a separate accessible website would ‘likely perpetuate the problem of unequal access as carriers allot fewer resources than needed over time to properly maintain the second site,’” according to the DOT consent order with SAS. “The Department also stated that it is a ‘well-established principle of disability non-discrimination law that separate or different aids, benefits or services can only be provided to individuals with disabilities (or a class of such individuals) when necessary to provide aids, benefits or service that are as effective as those provided to others.’”
SAS’ failure to comply also constituted unfair and deceptive practices and an unfair method of competition, the agency said.
In response, SAS argued it “held a good faith belief” that the assistive version of its website was a conforming alternate version that brought its primary site into compliance, pointing the finger at a third-party vendor that “assured” the airline the alternative site met the requirements of the DOT rule. SAS no longer has an alternative separate website designed for individuals with disabilities, and its primary website is accessible.
The DOT Enforcement Office and SAS reached an agreement over the charges. While the airline did not admit to the violations asserted by the agency, it agreed to cease and desist from future similar violations and pay a compromise civil penalty of $200,000. Of the total amount, $100,000 was due immediately, with the remaining $100,000 due and payable if SAS violates the consent order within one year.
“This compromise assessment is appropriate considering the nature and extent of the violations described herein and serves the public interest,” according to the consent order. “It represents a strong deterrent to future similar unlawful practices by SAS and other carriers.”
David DeSandro de Metafizzy explica en esta presentación de las dotConferences cómo desarrollar el superpoder de interpretar los códigos de color hexadecimales que habitualmente se usan en HTML/CSS/Photoshop. La técnica no es complicada, aunque requiere conocer algunos detalles. En el caso del propio DeSandro tiene más mérito porque además es daltónico: "No puedo fiarme de mi percepción visual del color a la hora de trabajar con los diseños, así que desarrollé esta habilidad como una forma de cubrir esa necesidad".
Playboy.com was sued Wednesday by a legally blind man who says that the site, as well as Playboyshop.com, aren’t equally accessible to the blind and visually impaired.
In the class-action suit, filed Wednesday in federal court in New York, Donald Nixon says that he and other visually-impaired customers are unable to “fully and equally use or enjoy” the site’s offering. And that definitely goes on the Turn-Offs list.
“Due to the inaccessibility of Defendant’s Website, blind and visually-impaired customers such as Plaintiff, who need screen-readers, cannot fully and equally use or enjoy the facilities, products, and services Defendant offers to the public on its Website,” the suit reads. “The access barriers Plaintiff encountered have caused a denial of Plaintiff’s full and equal access in the past, and now deter Plaintiff on a regular basis from visiting the Website, presently and in the future.”
According to the suit, Nixon employs screen-reading software to access the internet. During his visits to the site, the lawsuit says, Nixon “encountered multiple access barriers” that “denied Plaintiff full and equal access to the facilities, goods and services offered to the public and made available to the public; and that denied Plaintiff the full enjoyment of the facilities, goods and services of the Website, by being unable to learn more information, the ability to browse products available for delivery, find information on promotions and coupons, and related goods and services available online.”
