Mary Gillen | - Part 9

ACCESSIBLE E-COMMERCE: Five Online Shopping Problems Encountered by People with Disabilities

Posted on March 21, 2019March 21, 2019 by Mary Gillen

Pencil Drawing of Shopping Cart

In the article Tips For Online Shopping With Disabilities: A Website Accessibility Guide, you’ll discover some of the common online shopping problems experienced by people with disabilities.

These include:

Rarely can you see what clothing looks like on people sitting down. There’s the website, but what about the products themselves? For people who use wheelchairs, it can be hard to tell if clothing they see online would be comfortable or flattering in a wheelchair
Detailed, homogeneous descriptions can be difficult to find on some sites. According to surveys, only 49% of disabled people feel they have even some of the information needed or wanted while making purchasing decisions
Flash animations can be bad for both visually impaired and learning-disabled users, creating over-stimulation. Sometimes, there’s not much to be done for ads, but sites themselves can be overstimulating, too.
Subtitles and closed captions are a small thing to add to videos but sometimes ignored. Be sure to turn on closed captions on YouTube, as most websites use YouTube to host their videos.
Plain links called “links” or “click here” are not helpful to those who use screen readers. Luckily, labeling a link with the text “click here” is falling out of fashion

Read the rest of Tips For Online Shopping With Disabilities: A Website Accessibility Guide

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WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY TESTING & REMEDIATION SERVICES: Mary Gillen is an experienced Website Accessibility Compliance Auditor and Remediator. She can test your website to determine if it meets accessibility standards:

WCAG 2.1: 312 checkpoints covering A, AA and AAA W3 accessibility guidelines
Section 508: 15 US federal guidelines covered by 59 accessibility checkpoints

Find out more about Mary Gillen’s Accessibility Testing & Remediation Services: Websites, PDFs, Office Docs & Videos

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ACCESSIBLE DESIGN: Make Your Mobile Buttons More Accessible for Color Blind Users

Posted on March 20, 2019March 20, 2019 by Mary Gillen

Cartoon of seven human hands holding mobile phones

In the article 5 Techniques to Make Mobile Call to Action Buttons Intuitive, author Anthony has a suggestion on how to make your buttons more accessible to color blind users.

“Color blind users won’t be able to tell the difference between the weight of buttons. They need something more than color to serve as a visual cue.”

Including an icon on the checkout button helps the color blind user better understand the Call to Action

“Giving the high priority action an icon adds the extra emphasis to set it apart,” he writes. ” When users scan, they often fixate on visual elements more than text. The icon ensures that all users will pay more attention to the high priority action than the other ones. If you removed the color and label, users would still be able to recognize the checkout button. The icon communicates checkout as well as the text does.”

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WCAG 2.1: 312 checkpoints covering A, AA and AAA W3 accessibility guidelines
Section 508: 15 US federal guidelines covered by 59 accessibility checkpoints

Find out more about Mary Gillen’s Accessibility Testing & Remediation Services: Websites, PDFs, Office Docs & Videos

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ACCESSIBLE RECIPES: Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Posted on March 16, 2019March 16, 2019 by Mary Gillen

Woven Irish Flag

ST. PATRICK’S DAY CARB-LOADING RECIPES

The Gillen Coat of Arms is the knife and fork, so in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I must share some family recipes that celebrate the day.

My grandmother Mary (known as “Nanny” and beloved by her nine grandchildren) was born in Ireland, and came to the U.S. when she was 16.

Here are two of her recipes I make in her honor every year:

Irish Soda Bread Slices in Wicker Basket

Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:

4 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup currants or golden raisins
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients and raisins. Cut in butter. Beat eggs, add them to mixture, then add milk. Place in loaf-shaped pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Nanny’s Irish Apple Cake

Irish Apple Cake

Ingredients:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter plus 1 tbsp butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
4 Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled, and diced (2 cups)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously grease an 8-inch round cake pan.

NOTE: The trick to a great apple cake or pie is to brown the apples in butter first.

Heat 1 tbsp butter in frying pan. Gently brown the apples.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg, browned apples, nuts, and vanilla and stir well. Sift in dry ingredients and mix well.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake until cake is lightly browned and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then un-mold and serve hot or cold with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Serves 10 to 12.

Enjoy! Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all!

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WCAG 2.1: 312 checkpoints covering A, AA and AAA W3 accessibility guidelines
Section 508: 15 US federal guidelines covered by 59 accessibility checkpoints

Find out more about Mary Gillen’s Accessibility Testing & Remediation Services: Websites, PDFs, Office Docs & Videos

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ACCESSIBILITY ANALYSIS: The WebAIM Million

Posted on March 12, 2019March 12, 2019 by Mary Gillen

detail shot of a calculator showing one million on itu00b4s display

In February 2019, WebAIM conducted an evaluation of the home pages for the top 1,000,000 web sites using the WAVE stand-alone API (with additional tools to collect site technology parameters). While this research focuses only on automatically detectable issues, the results paint a rather dismal picture of the current state of web accessibility.

Some results from the analysis:

97.8% of home pages had detectable WCAG 2 failures
Low contrast text, below the WCAG 2 AA thresholds, was the most common accessibility issue detected.
33.6% of all images (12.3 per page on average) had missing alternative text (not counting alt=””).
Skipped headings were present on 362,659 home pages (36.3% of all pages). 148,573 home pages (14.9%) had no headings present at all.
24.4% of pages had links with ambiguous link text, such as “click here”, “more”, “continue”, etc.
Only 9.6% of home pages had a “skip” link present. However, 14.3% of these pages had skip links that were broken

Read the rest of The WebAIM Million Analysis

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WCAG 2.1: 312 checkpoints covering A, AA and AAA W3 accessibility guidelines
Section 508: 15 US federal guidelines covered by 59 accessibility checkpoints

Find out more about Mary Gillen’s Accessibility Testing & Remediation Services: Websites, PDFs, Office Docs & Videos

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ACCESSIBLE CODE: Get the PayPal Bootstrap Accessibility Plugin

Posted on March 12, 2019March 12, 2019 by Mary Gillen

Using Bootstrap framework (version 3.x) on your website? You need to upgrade to Bootstrap 4 or use the PayPal Bootstrap Accessibility Plugin to make the default Bootstrap 3 components accessible for keyboard and screen reader users.

The plugin does not affect the performance or the visual layout of your website.

Get the PayPal Bootstrap Accessibility Plugin now.

[SOURCE]

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WCAG 2.1: 312 checkpoints covering A, AA and AAA W3 accessibility guidelines
Section 508: 15 US federal guidelines covered by 59 accessibility checkpoints

Find out more about Mary Gillen’s Accessibility Testing & Remediation Services: Websites, PDFs, Office Docs & Videos

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ACCESSIBLE AUDIO: Get an Android Audio Boost with Sound Amplifier

Posted on March 12, 2019March 12, 2019 by Mary Gillen

Two tin cans joined by a single string

As we get older, some of us can use an audio boost from time to time, especially in cafes, restaurants and other public places where there’s a lot of background noise. With Google’s Sound Amplifier, audio is more clear and easier to hear.

According to Google: “You can use Sound Amplifier on your Android smartphone with wired headphones to filter, augment and amplify the sounds in your environment. It works by increasing quiet sounds, while not over-boosting loud sounds. You can customize sound enhancement settings and apply noise reduction to minimize distracting background noise with simple sliders and toggles.”

Available on the Play Store, the app supports Android 9 Pie or later phones and comes pre-installed on Pixel 3.

Download Sound Amplifier to your Android phone now.

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WCAG 2.1: 312 checkpoints covering A, AA and AAA W3 accessibility guidelines
Section 508: 15 US federal guidelines covered by 59 accessibility checkpoints

Find out more about Mary Gillen’s Accessibility Testing & Remediation Services: Websites, PDFs, Office Docs & Videos

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ACCESSIBLE CONTENT: Step Away from the Animated GIF

Posted on March 11, 2019March 11, 2019 by Mary Gillen

Animated GIF Logo

Are animated GIFs on your website considered accessible content?

Most animated GIFs should not be used because they fail the WCAG 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide (Level A) Guideline:

“Moving, blinking, scrolling: For any moving, blinking or scrolling information that (1) starts automatically, (2) lasts more than five seconds, and (3) is presented in parallel with other content, there is a mechanism for the user to pause, stop, or hide it unless the movement, blinking, or scrolling is part of an activity where it is essential…”

TEST TOOL: If you are considering using an animated GIF, use the University of Maryland’s Photosensitive Epilepsy Analysis Tool to test that the animation won’t trigger seizures in folks who are sensitive to them.

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WCAG 2.1: 312 checkpoints covering A, AA and AAA W3 accessibility guidelines
Section 508: 15 US federal guidelines covered by 59 accessibility checkpoints

Find out more about Mary Gillen’s Accessibility Testing & Remediation Services: Websites, PDFs, Office Docs & Videos

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ACCESSIBLE APP: Seeing AI – Talking Camera for the Blind

Posted on March 8, 2019March 8, 2019 by Mary Gillen

Seeing AI from Microsoft is a free app that narrates the world around you. Designed for the blind and low vision community, this ongoing research project harnesses the power of AI to open up the visual world and describe nearby people, text and objects.

Optimized for use with VoiceOver, the app enables you to recognize:

Short Text – Speaks text as soon as it appears in front of the camera.
Documents – Provides audio guidance to capture a printed page, and recognizes the text, along with its original formatting.
Products – Scans barcodes, using audio beeps to guide you; hear the name, and package information when available. (works with iPhone 6 and later)
People – Saves people’s faces so you can recognize them, and get an estimate of their age, gender, and emotions.
Scenes (early preview) – Hear an overall description of the scene captured.
Currency – Recognizes currency notes. (Requires iOS 11)
Color – Identifies color.
Handwriting – Reads handwritten text like in greeting cards
Light – Generates an audible tone corresponding to the brightness in the surroundings.
Images in other apps – Just tap “Share” and “Recognize with Seeing AI” to describe images from Mail, Photos, Twitter, and more.
Photo browsing experience – Describes photos on your phone

Seeing AI is built to help you achieve more by leveraging the power of the cloud and artificial intelligence. As the research progresses, more channels may be added.

Check out tutorials with this YouTube playlist: http://aka.ms/SeeingAIPlaylist

Visit http://SeeingAI.com for more details.

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WCAG 2.1: 312 checkpoints covering A, AA and AAA W3 accessibility guidelines
Section 508: 15 US federal guidelines covered by 59 accessibility checkpoints

Find out more about Mary Gillen’s Accessibility Testing & Remediation Services: Websites, PDFs, Office Docs & Videos

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ACCESSIBLE EDUCATION: 20 Tips for Teaching an Accessible Online Course

Posted on March 7, 2019March 7, 2019 by Mary Gillen

Sheryl Burgstahler, Ph.D. of the University of Washington has created twenty basic guidelines she follows as she develops her own online courses. Although these tips do not cover every potential accessibility issue, they provide a good start.

Read now: 20 Tips for Teaching an Accessible Online Course.

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WCAG 2.1: 312 checkpoints covering A, AA and AAA W3 accessibility guidelines
Section 508: 15 US federal guidelines covered by 59 accessibility checkpoints

Find out more about Mary Gillen’s Accessibility Testing & Remediation Services: Websites, PDFs, Office Docs & Videos

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Category: Mary Gillen

ACCESSIBLE E-COMMERCE: Five Online Shopping Problems Encountered by People with Disabilities

ACCESSIBLE DESIGN: Make Your Mobile Buttons More Accessible for Color Blind Users

ACCESSIBLE CODE: Create a Simple Tooltip Using ARIA & Vanilla JavaScript

ACCESSIBLE RECIPES: Happy St. Patrick’s Day

ACCESSIBILITY ANALYSIS: The WebAIM Million

ACCESSIBLE CODE: Get the PayPal Bootstrap Accessibility Plugin

ACCESSIBLE AUDIO: Get an Android Audio Boost with Sound Amplifier

ACCESSIBLE CONTENT: Step Away from the Animated GIF

ACCESSIBLE APP: Seeing AI – Talking Camera for the Blind

ACCESSIBLE EDUCATION: 20 Tips for Teaching an Accessible Online Course