Category: Web Usability

Plan to Assess Web Accessibility of 100 Cognitive Disability Organizations

~ John Rochford

I will assess the efforts of 100 cognitive disability organizations to make their Web sites accessible to their constituencies.  This post is a description of my current plan.  I am open to suggestions for improvement.

Evaluation Criteria

I will base the assessment upon WebAIM’s latest Cognitive Web Accessibility Checklist, which has these sections:

  1. Consistency (of navigation);
  2. Transformability (increased text- and image sizes, etc.);
  3. Multi-Modality (of content);
  4. Focus and Structure (use of elements to focus attention, not distract it, etc.);
  5. Readability and Language (clear display of text and use of plain language);
  6. Orientation and Error Prevention/Recovery (adequate instructions, feedback and error recovery)
  7. Assistive Technology Compatibility (use of alternative text, labels, headings, keyboard accessibility, etc.)

10-Point Measurement

On each Web site, I will look for the features described in the checklist. I will record a point if I find even one feature included in a checklist section. Thus up to seven such points could be recorded.

One point will be recorded if a site attempts to meet W3C accessibility standards (1.0 or 2.0).  I will judge this based upon a related site statement, or by a positive result from running WebAIM’s WAVE against up to three site pages.

One point will be recorded if a site has an accessibility statement.

One point will be recorded if a site explains how to use accessibility features.

Assessment-Progress Tracking

Upcoming blog posts will describe the assessment as I undertake each step.  It may well be that I revise my methodology after a few initial evaluations.

Index of Web Sites for 100+ Cognitive Disability Organizations

For this assessment, I created an index of Web sites of over 100 cognitive disability organizations.  To identify them, I used the same criteria listed in my previous blog post.

Notes

  • WebAIM is engaged in an effort to incorporate cognitive Web accessibility evaluation into WAVE. It may be WebAIM would find this assessment useful.  I will solicit feedback from Jared Smith, Associate Director of WebAIM.
  • Have a suggestion? Please post a comment or contact me.

50+ Web Sites Intended to be Accessible to People with Cognitive Disabilities

~ John Rochford

I have created an index of Web sites I have assessed as intending to be accessible to people with cognitive disabilities.  At the time of this writing, there are over fifty.  The criteria I used to identify them are essentially twofold:

  1. the site-sponsoring organizations serve people with cognitive disabilities;  and
  2. the sites incorporate at least one feature described in WebAIM’s latest “Cognitive Web Accessibility Checklist“.

I also limited my search to sites of countries where English is the dominant- or official language.  These included Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and those of The United Kingdom.  I plan to expand my search to other such countries, starting with the largest, India.

For the purposes of this project, I considered “cognitive disability” to include Alzheimer’s Disease, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Brain Injury, Intellectual Disabilities, Learning Disabilities (Dyslexia & Dyscalculia) & Mental Illness (Bipolar, Depression & Schizophrenia).

Of organizations that serve people with Alzheimer’s Disease, Brain Injury, and/or Mental Illness, I have not found related Web sites that include cognitive-accessibility features.  I suppose these sites are not designed to be used by their constituencies, but instead by the people who serve them.

The vast majority of Web sites I found, which did include cognitive-accessibility features, were those of organizations that serve people with intellectual disabilities.  They make an apparent effort to be accessible to their constituencies.  I thus made a sub-list just for them, of which most are in England.  Note: In The United Kingdom, “intellectual disabilities” are also referred to as “Learning Disabilities” or “Learning Difficulties”.

Common accessibility features of these sites include a default-large text size; text-size enlargers; plain language; text-to-speech; contextually-relevant images; and graphics or icons paired with text.

Characteristics Of Web Site Listings

  • All are sorted by country.
  • All have links to the Web sites.
  • All are annotated with a description of the organization’s mission or the site’s purpose.  All annotations are edited quotes from the site’s pages (Home, About Us or Mission).

Links to Web Sites Indexes & RSS Feed

Future Indexes

In the near future, I will publish other such indexes. To see a list, please refer to my previous post, “Upcoming Indexes of Resources Related to Cognitive Web Accessibility“.

Notes

Web Accessibility Insights from 6 Women with Intellectual Disabilities

~ John Rochford ~ 2 Comments

Last night, I met with a focus group formed to help me with the Clear Helper project.  It consists of people who are self advocates, who are interested in learning about computers, and who want to help me design a Web site accessible to them.  Each has an intellectual disability.  I know this blog post won’t sufficiently describe all I learned from them, but the following are some of the highlights.

Backgrounds and Interests

Joanne, Donna, Val, Nora, Mary and Jeanne are capable people.  The majority live in their own apartments and have jobs in the community.  Even so, only two have computers in their homes.  Another uses a public-library computer exclusively to exchange e-mail with her family.  The remaining four have little experience with computers.  Of all the ladies, one reported using the Web.

The main reason for the lack of computer experience is cost.  Despite ever-falling computer prices, the group members can’t afford them.  Of course, buying a computer is only a small part of the real cost.  Significantly beyond their means are: obtaining assistance for computer set up; purchase and integration of assistive-technology devices and software; and especially training.

All reported knowing of the Web, and that they want to learn about computer technology to access the Web’s many resources.  From most to least, they are interested in: learning to use e-mail; looking up recipes; determining local movie schedules; and finding contact information for state-government representatives.

Demonstration of Web Sites Designed to be Accessible to People with Intellectual Disabilities

I showed the group various Web sites intended to be accessible to them.  I started with Self Advocacy Online. The site-registration page has a fun video that takes users step-by-step through the registration form.  It pauses so users can complete each field, and prompts them to play the video to receive the next set of instructions.  The first set about creating a user name, and particularly the second set about entering an e-mail address, really confounded the group.  Members reported the instructions were too long, with too many steps and too much information.  Had the prompts been something as simple as “type a user name” and “type your e-mail address”, they told me, they would have understood what to do much better.

I showed them Easy You Tube and the BBC’s Us 5 video player.  For each, the group members reported confusion about the purposes of the control buttons.  Only two of the group members accurately reported the play button’s purpose.  They agreed that, if it had audio- and textual prompts that said “Play!” triggered by hovering the cursor on it, they would have understood what it was meant to do.

Demonstration of Clear Helper Test Pages

I showed them my recent experiment with designing features accessible to people with cognitive disabilities.

Because two group members told me at the start of our meeting that they found the text size of computers too small, I demonstrated my recent text size switcher.  The group acted surprised and pleased that a Web site / “the computer” could enlarge text.  Two said they thought the switcher was easy to use.  I also showed my instructions on how to use a Web browser to enlarge text size.  The group consensus was they were too confusing.  Even though the instructions begin by explaining the two-key combination to enlarge text, and show images of the keys, the group en masse asked, “What’s a control key?”

Switching between standard- and plain language versions was the next feature I showed them.  I pointed out the length of the standard version’s first paragraph.  I showed them the “Easy” link, and clicked it to reveal the plain language version.  Unprompted, immediate comments included approval of the short sentences and of the spacing between them.

My recent text-to-speech (TTS) experiment was next.  Group reaction was positive.  One lady explained in her own words that she is illiterate, and would need TTS to use a computer.  There was general agreement the voice narration should not announce the page content’s structural elements.

outline of a house: 2 windows, front door, A-frame roof, little chimneyI asked the group if they knew the purpose of my test home page image (pictured). One lady explained it was for the site’s home page,  the same lady who said she uses the Web.  Another guessed it meant that people lived there.  The rest of the group was silent.

Conclusion

This was an enlightening experience for me.  I learned that features on Web sites designed to be accessible for people with intellectual disabilities, features about which my impression was favorable, were not accessible (at least to this small group).  I am chagrined at my surprise that one of the ladies recognized and volunteered she found text most understandable when it was presented in small chunks.  I was equally impressed by another lady’s comment that making a Web site accessible to them means it would be easier to use for everyone.  This is a point the accessibility community continually makes.

Finally, I was again confronted with talking about Web accessibility to people who don’t have even basic computer skills.  All said they wanted to learn how to independently turn on a computer, and use its keyboard and mouse.  Acquiring and retaining these skills are going to be very difficult for these ladies simply because they don’t own computers, let alone their intellectual disabilities.

I plan to meet with this group again.  We agreed to think about what I could help them learn.  I know they have much more to teach me.

Notes

  • It is coincidence (not by design) that all the group members are women.
  • I don’t know how easy or difficult the group would have found the features I demonstrated had each been controlling her own computer.  Such activity will be part of the testing I do for the future Clear Helper Web site.

Building an API for JAWS Users May Be Useful to People with Cognitive Disabilities

~ John Rochford ~ 1 Comment

Research It is a new feature that enables JAWS users to quickly access information.  It uses APIs of publicly-available databases to retrieve the information on demand.  For each of the databases on DisabilityInfo.org, I could create an API for JAWS users.  I could then develop a Web-based search interface to query that API and others, and that is accessible to people with cognitive disabilities.

JAWS

JAWS (Job Access With Speech) is screen reader software used mainly by people who are blind or who have a significant visual disability.  It reads aloud in a voice the information sighted people see on their computer screens.  Yesterday, I attended a demo of JAWS 11, the newest version.  It was held at the Perkins School For The Blind by Eric Damery of Freedom Scientific, the maker of JAWS.

Research It

Of the new JAWS 11 features Mr. Damery demonstrated, it was Research It that caught my attention.  It is designed to be the equivalent of desktop gadgets.  Sighted people can glance at a desktop gadget to obtain information, then quickly return to their primary task.  Research It serves the same function for JAWS users.

With a single keystroke, JAWS users can open a field in which to type a query for weather reports; local businesses; FedEx-package tracking; baseball- and football scores, etc..  At the time of this writing, Research It can access 17 information sources.  Mr. Damery mentioned he had six more under development.

APIs

An Application Program Interface (API) is a software component that enables interaction with other software.  An API controls which data can be accessed and what can be done with them.  When JAWS users type a search term, such as “pizza; 33716”, Research It queries a publicly-available API that returns a list of pizza restaurants within and around that Zip code.

Building an API for Research It

I am considering creating an API for the databases of DisabilityInfo.org, a Web site maintained by New England INDEX, the UMass Medical School project for which I work.  I would also create custom rule sets and lookup modules for Research It to access the API. This would be particularly useful to JAWS users living in Massachusetts because the databases contain information about disability-specific programs and services within it.

Possible Search Interface

Using best practices of accessibility for people with cognitive disabilities, I could then develop a Web-based search interface to query the new API of the DisabilityInfo.org databases.  On that Web site, the search interface would not need to use the API because it would directly access the databases.  However, it could be embedded on other Web sites so their users could query DisabilityInfo.org databases via the API.  It also could be extended to be more universal; it could query the APIs of other publicly-available databases.  This would be especially useful for bypassing inaccessible interfaces such sites may have.

For many of the Research It search demos, Mr. Damery used two-word terms.  At least one had three, that for city, state and “weather”.  Although I am sure the intention is to keep search terms as simple as possible so using them is speedy, others could require even more words.  Implementing their syntax and remembering them may be beyond the capabilities of users with cognitive disabilities.  Therefore, I would likely develop an alternative solution I previously discussed, a search-wizard interface.

Note: On March 1, 2010, Freedom Scientific will conduct a Research It Webinar on creating custom rule sets and lookup modules.

Self-Advocacy Web Site for People with Intellectual Disabilities

~ John Rochford ~ 1 Comment

Self-Advocacy Online is an educational- and networking Web site for teens and adults with intellectual- and other developmental disabilities. Created by The Research and Training Center on Community Living, it is intended for people participating in organized self-advocacy groups.

The site contains three sections: a “Learning Center”; a search tool for finding self-advocacy groups; and “My Page” for within-site e-mail messages and discussion forums.

Site Registration

The site registration form has a few simple fields.  Fun, instructional videos explain each step.  The first video automatically pauses until activated by the user to indicate readiness for instructions about the next field.

To register, users are required to accept the site’s “Terms of Use Agreement”. While I understand protecting intellectual-property rights, and applaud protecting users’ privacy, the agreement is not written in language understandable by the site’s intended audience.  It could have been prefaced by a bulleted, plain-language summary of its principles.

Learning Center

The Learning Center has two modules, “Living a Healthy Life” and “Getting Organized”.  They are slide presentations combining text, pictures and voice narration.  Small chunks of content use simple analogies and examples.

Search Tool for Self-Advocacy Groups

The Self-Advocacy Group Search Tool can be used via a drop-down list of states, a Zip Code field, or an image map of the United States.  Contact- and other information is listed for each group.

Discussion Forums / Messaging

The “My Page” section, the only one that requires registration, has a list of friends and access to within-site messaging.  Discussion groups have a simple interface that makes it easy to create, to join, and to read/write messages within them.  At the time of this writing, there are low numbers of groups, users and messages.

Accessibility Highlights

Evaluation of a few pages using WebAIM’s WAVE revealed compliance with accessibility guidelines.  The site also has many accessibility- and usability features for people with intellectual disabilities.  Highlights:

  • a bright, simple, uncluttered page layout;
  • large-size text, short in length, and written in plain language;
  • scalable menu-button text that is not image based;
  • Learning Center Modules
    • voice narration begins automatically;
    • contextually-relevant images are synchronized with the voice narration;
    • visual- and/or audio prompts throughout draw attention to content and to slide navigation; and
    • a simple-to-use video player has only one button (play/pause).

Accessibility Problems

  • There is no text-size switcher / enlarger.
  • With browser-based controls, text size can be enlarged a little on the site without breaking down its page layout, but problems occur with larger text sizes.
  • In the site navigation menu, the current page is indicated by menu-button color, but in no other way.
  • Videos are not closed-captioned.
  • Search Tool Application
    • Form labels are missing.
    • The listings of self-advocacy groups all use the same link text, “More Information”, to related records.  This is a problem for screen-reader users.
    • Links to external Web sites open them in a new window without warning.
  • Learning Center Modules
    • Keyboard or single-switch based navigation is not enabled. This is a problem typical of such Flash-based applications.
    • At one point in the “Living a Healthy Life” module, the voice narration instructs the user, “After each item, click the green ‘Next’ button'”. Though there is such a button at the bottom of the slide, the written instruction at the top says to, “… click the orange ‘Go’ button,” and the one that appears afterward is an orange ‘Go’ button.

Overall Impression

Self-Advocacy Online, despite the minor problems listed above, is a wonderful demonstration of accessibility and usability for people with intellectual disabilities.  In particular, it is obvious that considerable instructional-design effort went into the modules of The Learning Center.

The subject chosen for the site is very important to people with intellectual disabilities; self advocacy has been a recurring topic in my interviews for The Clear Helper project. I hope additional funding is received to develop additional content for the Web site, to market it, and to help it become a thriving community.

Self-Advocacy Project Funding

The MacArthur Foundation – 2008 – – $72,000 – Digital Media & Learning Competition Award Recipient:

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN

Self-Advocacy Online is an educational and networking website for teens and adults with intellectual and cognitive disabilities, targeted at those who participate in organized self-advocacy groups. In supporting greater networking, peer exchange, collaboration, and communication to a general public, Self Advocacy Online will extend the reach of and interaction among people with disabilities so that they can more effectively speak up for themselves and make their own decisions.

Retrieved from: http://digitallearning.macfound.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=enJLKQNlFiG&b=3897211&content_id={F51C7F1C-A1AE-40AF-BBA7-DE9929CD1C38}&notoc=1

NEC, Active Voice Messaging Division – 2006 – $35,000

To The University of Minnesota Institute on Community Integration (ICI)  –  Minneapolis, MN

For Self-Advocacy Online (SAO), a research and development project to bridge the “digital divide” for persons with intellectual disability (ID) and related cognitive disability (RCD). The project will test, validate and recommend standards for accessible websites for persons with ID and RCD, as well as provide a national, maximally accessible website for self-advocates with ID and RCD that exemplifies the validated standards and provides needed content on self-advocacy. http://rtc.umn.edu and http://www.qualitymall.org

Retrieved from: Google cache of http://www.activevoice.com/news/pressreleases/pressReleaseDetails.aspx?PressID=38

Notes

Accessible, Image-Based Menu: Rough Draft

~ John Rochford

I created a rudimentary, image-based menu as part of my recent Experiment with Site Design for People with Cognitive Disabilities. It has a few features that may make it easy to use by people cognitive disabilities.  This is a continuation of previous posts that describe my intention to use image-based navigation for the future Clear Helper Web site.3-image, vertical menu: 1 on top is 'Home'. Other 2 are blank.

The menu, pictured on the right, appears in the “sidebar” column of a test page. The image on top, an outline of a house, is intended to symbolize the home page. An ideal is that the meaning it conveys is proven, through research and extensive testing, to be consistently understood.  Accomplishing that is beyond the scope of this project.

The two images below that for the home-page are blank placeholders.  To view options for them, see “Proposed Navigation Buttons For Future Clear Helper Web Site: Draft 2“.

Attributes of Accessibility Best Practices

  • The text labels are not part of the images, which enables them to match text-size adjustments, especially enlargements, made by a site visitor.
  • The color contrast of the images themselves is good.  To see how this was objectively measured, see “Proposed Back & Next Navigation Icons For Future Clear Helper Web Site“.
  • There are no animations that could cause distraction.

Other Good Attributes for People with Cognitive Disabilities

  • The images and the text labels are large.  This helps with comprehension. It also provides easy-to-click targets for mouse users.
  • The text label for the home page is simple, as will be the labels of future navigation images.

Problems

  • The lighter color around the home-page image is intended to show it is the current page.  This violates the accessibility guideline that colors alone do not convey meaning. I will have to determine an additional method.
  • I failed to measure the contrast of the colors surrounding the actual images.  I suspect it is not good, so I will correct it in a subsequent version.
  • The alternative text for each images is repeated by the text label beneath it.  According to best practices, this is not advisable because screen-reader users hear the same message twice.  I will fix that too.

Other, Related Posts:

Text-Size Switcher Experiment

~ John Rochford ~ 2 Comments

I incorporated a text-size switcher into a recent Experiment with Site Design for People with Cognitive Disabilities. I am trying this version because a feature like it may be easier to use for people with cognitive disabilities than a referral to instructions on how to increase text size.  This is a continuation of previous posts that describe my experiment with providing step-by-step instructions for changing text size in Firefox or Internet Explorer.

This text-size switcher, as pictured below, appears at the top of the test page, on the right side.

text menu above site logo and title

Description & Features

  • It is encountered immediately by site visitors who use a keyboard or a single-switch device for navigation.
  • It is activated via links that use simple words.
  • It has the following three versions. The first is displayed by default.  The latter two appear sequentially as the text-size switcher is activated. (The best way to understand it is to visit the test page and try it.)
    • Big Text
    • Smaller Text | Bigger Text
    • Smaller Text | Biggest Text
  • Its size always matches the text on the rest of the page.
  • Once it is invoked, the selected text size is displayed across all site pages.

[Edit on 2010-02-03: I just discovered a great article that discusses guidelines for text (font) resizing and the design difficulties faced accommodating it.  Entitled “Font Resizing Guidance“, it was written by Karl Groves of The SSB Bart Group. I realized with some satisfaction that, without having read the article first, the test page I created conforms to all the best practices and the recommendations it describes.]

Problems

As text size is increased, the switcher’s links shift left.  A mouse user therefore may need to move the cursor to the right to select subsequent links for larger text.  It would be simpler if the switcher were set up so a user could just click the same place a couple of times to increase text size.

It does not use symbols to indicate its function.  I will have to survey other sites to find examples of simple ones.

Request

As always, I am open to learning about alternative solutions. Please contact me or post a comment.

Related posts:

Experiment with Site Design for People with Cognitive Disabilities

~ John Rochford

I created my first Web site design intended to be used by people with cognitive disabilities.  It is only a first draft, but it employs many of the cognitive-accessibility attributes I have been discussing since I started this blog.

This post focuses on the CSS-based layout. Subsequent posts will describe the new text-size switcher experiment and the image-based menu.  The test page itself has a list of text-accessibility features.

The motivator for this draft was a desire for a two-column design that would not break no matter how much text size is increased.  To accomplish this, I used a hybrid of elastic- and fluid cascading style sheets (CSS) layouts.

Elastic Layout Definition

An elastic page layout scales as text size is changed.  To do this, the height and the width of a page’s main CSS container and other elements are defined by a unit of measure known as an “em”. Since ems are proportional to text size, containers and elements measured by them adjust themselves relative to changes in text size.

Fluid Layout Definition

A fluid layout, otherwise known as a liquid layout, adjusts itself to fit the size of the window in which it is being viewed.  By using CSS container sizes based upon percentages, fluid designs typically take up an entire window without producing a horizontal scroll bar.

Combined Layouts

The body of the test page has a width of 56 em. The two columns, “primary” and “sidebar” have widths of 65 percent and 30 percent respectively.  The combination of the widths for the body and for the primary column means that lines of text, no matter how large, will not be longer than 80 characters.  This is a best practice of cognitive accessibility.

The remaining 35% of the body width is taken up by the margin space (5%) between the two columns and by the sidebar / menu column.  This is enough room to enable the menu text to be enlarged without breaking the page design.

Design Problems

  • In aesthetic terms, the best I could say about the design is that it is “not pretty”.  I can create functional designs, but not eye-pleasing ones.  I will have to outsource to a professional designer.
  • The tab order is a problem.  People who are sighted, but who can not use a mouse, instead use the tab key or a single-switch device to navigate a Web page.  Doing so with my hybrid design does not immediately bring such a user to the primary content.  Worse, it appears tabbing through the page skips the primary content entirely.  This is mitigated by the “Skip to content” link at the top of the page, but it is still something I would have to fix were I to use this design on the production site.

Notes


Rix Centre: Accessible Web Sites by & for People with Intellectual Disabilities

~ John Rochford ~ 1 Comment

The Rix Centre specializes in developing new media technology and its use by people with intellectual disabilities to improve their lives. It is a research and development center as well as a charity based at the University of East London. In partnership with a team of Web users with intellectual disabilities, it develops standards and guidelines of Web accessibility for people with intellectual disabilities, particularly so they can participate in the rich-media world.

Click Start

One of The Rix Centre’s projects, Click Start, is of particular interest to me. Its purpose is to build, for people with intellectual disabilities transitioning to adult life, a network of accessible Web sites in ten North-East London boroughs.

Each site is a portal to smaller Wiki sites edited by staff of borough departments and by people with intellectual disabilities who use their services.  All are provided training, support and online software to produce and publish content.  “Easy read” Web sites are being created with photos, sound- and video clips alongside simple text.  The intention is to directly involve young people with intellectual disabilities so they may help each other with issues related to independent living, finding employment and education.

Important Goal

In a comment to my review of The Newham Easy Read Web site, Andy Minnion, director of The Rix Centre, states what he believes to be important about Click Start and the other such sites The Rix Centre has designed:

The key thing about these Websites and those that have followed ( at http://www.clickstart.org.uk ) is to engage people with ID in planning and developing the sites themselves so that their voices, experiences and opinions are shared and so that the support services featured are described by the people that they are designed to serve.

I could not agree with him more. I love that people with intellectual disabilities produce their own content for these Web sites.  Also, it appears to me they can publish it themselves.  My understanding is the “online software” being developed by The Rix Centre is a content management system accessible to users with intellectual disabilities.  This is wondrous to me.  That people with intellectual disabilities can produce and publish their own content is an ideal to which everyone should aspire.

I congratulate The Rix Centre, and wish every success to all the people involved in its projects.

Notes

Text-To-Speech Experiment & Evaluation: Cognable Speeka

~ John Rochford

I created a test page for an experiment with Speeka text-to-speech (TTS), graciously provided by Simon Evans of Cognable. I plan to incorporate TTS into every page of the future Clear Helper Web site.

Background

Speeka, a free service, is a work in progress. It is not a polished, commercial product. It is one of many Mr. Evans is developing to improve accessibility for people with intellectual disabilities.  A brief description of each of his projects can be found on the Cognable home page.

I think Speeka’s initial implementation was on the the Web site of Inclusive New Media Design. INMD is an organization that, like me, is working to develop best practices of Web accessibility for people with intellectual disabilities. When I first saw Speeka, I immediately liked its small form factor compared to that of ccPlayer, which I have been using.

Appearance & Placement

Speeka is embedded throughout the INMD site in the top, right of the content section. It appears as the image below. Rectangular. 3 buttons: play, back, forward. A speaker symbol and the word 'listen'On my test page, it appears as the following image.3 buttons: play, back, forward. The words 'audio stopped' underneath

I too placed it in the top, right of the content section.  Of the Web sites I have visited that use a TTS feature, most embed it in a similar location.  Those that don’t place it on the bottom of their pages.

Configuration

Setting up Speeka in my test page was a simple affair.  I inserted the HTML code provided by Mr. Evans.  I needed only to change the referenced file name.  I made one addition; that of the application landmark role to Speeka’s container. This helps people with screen readers, who use WAI–ARIA, to identify it. Upon placing the test page on the Clear Helper Web site, I invoked a hyperlink Mr. Evans provided to inform Speeka of the page’s presence.

Voice-Narration

I configured Speeka so it reads only primary content.  It can be set up to read all the textual content of a page, including menus, but I suspect it would be tiring to listen to the same menu over and over.

I chose to use a natural sounding, British male voice. [Edit on 2010-01-31: The voice is now an American one.] The test page it is reading contains text written as simply as I could at the time. Its pronunciation of the words and the sentences is very good. It had no problem with my last name.  I will have to test it with more complex text and with unusual proper nouns.

It announces every heading with the word “heading”; each list item prefaced by the word “bullet”; and the beginning- and the end of every list.  I was surprised. This feature is the first I have experienced with a TTS application.   It may be useful, but I think it would better serve as an option. [Edit on 2010-03-14: Announcement of list bullets, beginnings and ends is now an option. It is not active on the test page.]

General Navigation

The three-button interface is simple.  The audio narration can be played and paused with the same button. The forward button advances the narration by six seconds; the back button rewinds it by four.  Suggestions:

  • Perhaps it would be better if the forward- and the back buttons advance and rewind to adjacent sentences.
  • An option to restart the narration from the beginning may be helpful.  The only way I could do it was by refreshing the page using the Web browser.
  • Audio- and visible text labels for the buttons are a necessary feature, I think. An example can be found in a BBC Flash Player designed for people with intellectual disabilities.  It can be seen on the BBC’s Us 5 site, by clicking the link “Launch Us5 videos in pop-up windows”, then by selecting an actor.

Keyboard Navigation

Pressing the Tab key cycles through the buttons. The Space Bar or the Enter key invokes them. I had no trouble with this navigation within Speeka, but I could not tab inside the Web page to get to it. I could use the Tab key with Speeka only after changing focus to it by clicking it with my mouse.  This is not unique to Speeka.  I experienced the same with ccPlayer.  Keyboard navigation is important because many people with intellectual disabilities also have physical ones.  Such disabilities often preclude the use of a mouse, and require keyboard use or a single-switch device.

Interface Text

When the play button is clicked, the “audio stopped” text changes to a countdown of time until the end of the audio narration.  I think being presented immediately with the “audio stopped” text is potentially confusing.  I also think both it and the countdown test may not be necessary.

Speaka-Service Functions

Speeka converts Web-page text to MP3 files.  When a Web site visitor clicks the play button, the MP3 is streamed to the visitor’s computer from a Cognable server.  This is advantageous for Web sites that do not have a streaming-media server nor the bandwidth to support one.

A great feature of Speeka is it checks the text of each page on a regular basis.  When it detects a change, it updates the associated MP3 file.  Graphed statistics about this can be found on the Speeka home page.

Conclusion

Speeka has many nice features.  I think its inclusion on a Web site designed for people with intellectual / cognitive disabilities would provide site visitors with a significant accessibility feature. With all of Mr. Evans’ projects, I don’t know if he has the time to consider some of the options I have mentioned, but I plan to discuss them with him.

Note: No endorsement of Speeka or Cognable is expressed or implied.