From: "wendy constantine" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
: : Does anyone have any ideas on how to ensure physical/navigational : accessibility on a touch screen (Apple) display? : : I'm working on a design specification and accessibility plan for a : museum in the UK that is particularly sensitive to access issues. So : far, my only thought has been to provide a keyboard or trackball : device in addition to the touch screen. <snip - more background info> Touch screens are difficult for people who have motor control problems, and providing a keyboard may help them, especially if the keys are large, well-spaced, and the software is designed so that pressing the key for a while produces just one keypress rather than a repeat. For example, some people with spacity may take some time to press the key down, and a long time to move their hand up again. I've also seen trackballs used successfully for some other motor control problems - the opposite type, i.e. for people who have difficulty with large movements and can only make very fine movements. Trackballs are often very sensitive so you can make a tiny movement and have it respond easily to you. Touch screens can be pretty much impossible for people with visual impairments. If you can't see the screen very well or at all, how do you know where to touch? This can be overcome by having huge target areas and spoken instructions ("Touch the top of the screen"). A couple of years ago, UPA UK had a very interesting talk on museum exhibit displays by someone who had done a lot of work on them for the Science Museum. They had a lot of problems with touch screens because, it turned out, young children have especially oily fingers (and, as an aunt of young children, I imagine that plain dirt came into the equation all the time). I'm afraid that I can't now remember how they solved the problem (or, I'm afriaid, the name of the speakcer) but you might want to ask the Science Museum about it, and about the use of touch screens in general. Best, Caroline Jarrett [EMAIL PROTECTED] 01525 370379 Effortmark Ltd Usability - Forms - Content ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help