It is not advisable nor is it documented as to how to do this.
please just
follow accessability guidelines and show your university the relivant
materials to force their hand. if you need help forcing their
hand, we can
help.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alex Jurgensen`" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac
OS X by
theblind" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 10:10 AM
Subject: Re: Help needed with basic Css for VO
Hi,Lol,
I am "aware" of the issues, but there is very little I can do about
accessibility within the existing infrastructure. I am finding that
I don't
know enough programming in the required language to modify existing
code,
and the result would, even if I could modify it, be probably a
mockery,
without special training. Lol, I am only fifteen, so fogive me if
this
sounds stupid. I am trying do do what is best for the end users.
The mail client I am trying to adapt is "open source", but the
sighted
users
pages are too crowded as it is. The university won't have a screen
reader
compliant client until I complete the code for a screen reader
specific
mode, nicknamed Open-Web-Accessibility. I want to develope
something with
screen users in mind as adapting sites, while allowing access, is not
really
optimized in my oppinion for the blind end user.
I don't remember, when I intoroduced myself to this list, but I am
a VO
user, and the Standard and Advanced interface, while usable,
present a
number of difficulties due to visual components such as images and
icons.
Hope this is helpful,
Thanks for listening,
Alex,
On Thu, Jul 31, 2008 at 12:17 AM, Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis <
[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Alex Jurgensen` wrote:
I am using Css to hide certain text that clutters the page and
that ony
sighted users could use such as the fact that the web browsing
mode is a
screen reader compliant mode. I litterly have "You are browsing
"ICE" in
Screen Reader Mode" at the top. I want to add a switch to
advanced or
standard mode links for sighted users that navigate to the screen
reader
mode of my page.
There's no reliable technique for hiding content from screen reader
users.
Mere text could be (very hackily) "hidden" by placing it in an
image with
alt="", but this will be invisible to some sighted users too.
Normal
links
and controls would be very difficult to hide; JS-based fake controls
might
be easier to hide but won't be usable by all sighted users (not just
because
of the dependency on JS, but also because they won't necessarily be
keyboard
accessible).
All this is unneccesary to the blind user, as it is a
separate service of the university than standard and advanced mode.
Basically, my task is to make a screen reader specific page.
You're perhaps aware of the issues, but in general creating a screen
reader
specific mode is a suboptimal approach compared to fixing the
other modes
to
work with assistive technology. See this discussion from RNIB:
http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/PublicWebsite/public_textbasedwebsites.hcsp
--
Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis
--
Alex A.AWEBSIGHT administrator
AWEBSIGHT web team
"Blindness is a gift, not a disability."
B.C unit
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
http://www.VisionMail.uni.cc/
