quote:

government websites would be on top of it.

quote:

Dan, if I didn't make a thread regarding accessibility

quote:

I'm sure some of them aren't compliant by these rules

quote:

I'm confused already and I can see what I'm doing.

quote:

Would it be a feasible compromise to create a text only version of a site to truly focus on accessiblity? would that do the trick?

quote:

Passed Automated Verification

quote:

If the Priority 1,2 and 3 issues listed below do not apply to your page, then it qualifies as Bobby AAA Approved and you are entitled to use the Bobby AAA Approved icon

quote:

manually verify the following issues

quote:

That's the tricky bit!

quote:

Then last Friday (8th April) Julie received the CD and did test it only to find the content was even less accessible than its online counterpart when she showed it to her RNIB colleague, web developer Gary Readfern-Gray, a completely blind screen reader user.

Talking to PSF, Gary explained that although his reader could read parts of the site – which predominantly uses Flash animation - Macromedia’s own guidelines for the software’s best use had been completely ignored by the developers. As a result – and as mentioned above - navigation required hovering a mouse over certain areas of the homepage and some games were colour coded with no alternatives given.

Where the CD was concerned, because the games were delivered as executable files and not in a browser, its content couldn’t be seen by screen readers at all.

Gary commented: “There are three levels of accessibility – one where the reader works fine, two where content is not readily accessible but could be made so and three where it absolutely cannot be accessed at all. Demgames falls into the third category, although given the games themselves are text based, they could be made more inclusive with substantial redevelopment.’

As things stand the Demgames site is both highly inaccessible and probably wide open to prosecution under the DDA, so PSF contacted the ODPM for comment.

Spin machine whirring to life, the Ministry, in collaboration with the e-Democracy Project itself issued the following statement:

“The Local e-Democracy National project takes accessibility very seriously and has sought to work with organisations and individuals with an extensive knowledge of accessibility. This is demonstrated by the direct involvement of groups such as the RNIB as partners to create a set of accessible icons/avatars for use in e-democracy on a national basis in one of the project's work packages and careful design of the new government website.

In relation to the pilot democracy games project, the current website front-end is still undergoing modification and integration with the national project website. The HTML parts do meet the W3C level-two accessibility standards, however it is recognised that the standards and analysis means do not translate readily for the content developed in Flash.

In terms of the actual Flash games it is widely accepted that Flash has accessibility issues, but is not fundamentally inaccessible. The premise behind the e-Dem games work was to engage a very specific element of the population with new media. The fact that the games are developed primarily for mobile phone or CD use has bearing here.

A number of steps were taken to address accessibility during development of the games, namely:-

1. The game play was designed so that it was not discriminatory to people with accessibility issues, e.g. avoiding many gaming conventions such as reaction time challenges etc, and ensuring that the games would be fun for people, including those with impaired abilities, to use.

2. The games are designed to offer full keyboard control for mobility impaired users. The game avatars also appear from a mix of ethnic and minority backgrounds.

3. We cater for no-Flash or low-capability-browser situations in an elegant fashion that is not critically dependent on technology such as JavaScript or VBscript. Alternative access to the container information is provided in the form of a standard HTML version of the content.

We are in the process of testing screen reader compatibility for the visually impaired – the pilot followed best practice guidelines for this but has identified some incompatibility. Updated code will be available as soon as possible and we are working on addressing this for the final release. The opportunity exists for active participation in this process by RNIB.

We want to retain the games because they have been very well received, but recognise that they must fulfill their accessibility obligations for adequate acceptance by a truly universal audience. We have already identified areas of improvement for marking improvement (sic) – such as better use of sound. The developers also continue to explore what else is possible within the remit of the technology.

Evolutionary steps are being identified at pilot stage, and any future use of gaming technology for government purposes will be able to pick up from the lessons learned during pilots such as this."

Which all sounds very impressive but nonetheless fails to address the serious points that:

1) The ‘very specific element of the population’ referred to above obviously does not include disabled people since many are completely excluded;
2) The needs of disabled users were not – could not have been – considered when the site was under development;
3) The ODPM/e-Democracy NP position, laudable though it may seem, did not prevent them sending the site live regardless of major issues around accessibility – ironic given the nature of the Project’s remit;
4) The technology implemented (in this case Flash) was appallingly deployed.

All that having been said though, Demgames does offer some valuable lessons, even if not exactly those for which it was conceived. For a shining example of how not to do things on the web or CD it is excellent

quote:

If you are a hobby web developer i.e. someone who does not charge others for their services, and your site is intended for a very limited group of visitors, don't bother, forget accessibility and go back to what makes you happy

quote:

But if the site owner loses a considerable amount of money, where do you think s/he would look to recoup some of that money?

quote:

I seriously hope someone reqrites that law, because people who need to comply, won't compy without knowing for certain the requirements.

quote:

Glad you took the time to read a some of the old posts

quote:

Considering that is what a lot of the users on this forum are doing, that is quite a bit of people! Many of these people don't even know about the problem, and when you mention "valid code" they reply, "huh?".

quote:

Seems like in the UK, they have very well thought out requirements about web design, and basically say you have a set of rules to comply with.

quote:

the US laws are completly bull. I can't even believe the law on ADA is so unclear.

quote:

I'm currently using Window Eyes to do this via Firefox.
and
Ummmm also suggest you install the documentation and read it. I'm confused already and I can see what I'm doing.

quote:

Versions
The following links will take you directly to the latest nightly builds of Mozilla and Firefox.
WARNING:
These nightly builds are not tested like the publicly available versions. It is possible that they may not function at all like you might expect. Use them at your own risk.
Mozilla - Latest Nightly Build
Firefox - Latest Nightly Build
More information regarding the interaction of Mozilla/Firefox and Window-Eyes will be posted when it becomes available. If you have any questions, please contact support at 260-489-3671.

quote:

Still you don't have very many bad guys at all in the overall scheme of things.

quote:

Uninstall did not work, the app cannot be removed in the normal way. WinXP System Restore got rid of it,