Frames:
HTML frames used to sub-divide a browser screen into smaller and separate
sub units can be inaccessible to women using screen readers and users
with non-frame browsers.
Forms - Input
Boxes:
Some browsers cannot access Web page form tags without the use of a
mouse. Women who are blind may not have access to the input form tags.
Also, persons with mobility impairments may find it difficult to access
the small radio buttons and check boxes in HTML form tags.
Graphic Format
Tables and Charts:
Information presented in graphic format only - e.g. pie chart or text
inside a bitmap image, is not accessible.
Concrete graphic
links:
Some women with cognitive, learning, or developmental disabilities may
have problems interpreting text-only pages. Graphic images or image
maps used as links can be very helpful. Moving images can be distracting
to people with attention deficit disorder.
Text Format Tables:
Tables presented with X & Y text columns are difficult for screen
readers to access.
Text Columns:
Multiple text columns across the screen are very difficult for screen
reading devices to interpret.
Avoid Browser
Specific HTML Tags:
Some browsers have their own specific HTML tags that cannot be interpreted
by other browsers.
Multiple formats
for downloadable documents:
Sites offering document downloads will sometimes only offer formats
often inaccessible for persons with visual disabilities – e.g.
PDF files (require Acrobat Reader) (__ size ; __ pages)
Lists and List
Tags:
Certain HTML tags will not show the preceding numbers on their lists
when read with screen readers.
Photographs:
Women with visual disabilities cannot access the photographs on Web
pages. Consider using alternative text to describe what's in the picture
as best as possible.
Navigation Buttons:
Some Web sites utilize graphic buttons for navigation. Women with cognitive,
learning, or developmental disabilities can use graphic buttons to navigate
more easily. Please consider using alternative text to mark these buttons
so they are accessible for women with visual disabilities using screen
readers. It is helpful to include text-based navigation links.
Graphic Links:
Some browsers cannot use images as links, or read the alternate text
within the image tag. Also true for those suffering from Disgraphia
or other forms of Dysphasia - the inability to decode pictures and images
(they invert the foreground and background). When someone with this
condition reads the batman symbol they see yellow fangs and not a black
bat.
Backgrounds:
Most browsers cannot read the so-called Web page background pictures
or "wallpaper" and these backgrounds quite often interfere
with the text due to poor contrast.
Larger Graphic
Links:
Persons with mobility impairments may find it more difficult to move
the mouse with great precision. Slightly larger graphic links, e.g.
a minimum of 0.5 inch by 0.5 inch, will make navigation much easier
to achieve.
Lists of Text-Based
Links:
Some sites like to place long lists of text-based links close together
in rows or columns. This increases the probability of mouse errors for
persons with mobility impairments.
Allow for re-sizeable
fonts:
Some users have partial vision and may need to change the default font
size to a larger type.
Use of Bullets:
Bullets, as a graphic without a text tag (alternative text - ALT tag),
cannot be detected by many screen reading devices.
Easy to use downloads:
Some files or programs made available for downloads arrive in more difficult
to use compressed formats; e.g. zipped files. Some of these require
the user to read complex read-me files to use the program. Everyone
appreciates easy to use downloads.
Video Clips and
Real-Time Audio Sound Stream:
Some sites offer video clips in various formats. At present this is
a minority of sites but these are likely to increase over the next few
years. Without enhancements the video portion is inaccessible to women
with visual disabilities, and the audio portion inaccessible to persons
who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Text Description
for Audio Clips:
Some sites enhance their pages with audio clips, but fail to provide
text versions for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. The information
contained in the audio clip is then inaccessible.
Punctuation:
Punctuation helps structure documents for a screen-reading device.
Blinking Text:
Blinking Text can easily get missed by some screen reading devices.
PDF files:
PDF files, if created originally from word processing files, are generally
readable, provided the creator did not set a high security level. The
security feature in Adobe Write, to mitigate tampering, is the prerogative
of the author, and if the level is set high, the file cannot be opened
by the accessible version of Adobe reader, 5.1, used in conjunction
with recent releases of JAWS and WindowEyes. If files are scanned in,
the text is virtually a picture of text and not real characters, hence
unreadable by screen readers. In this case, it is necessary to save
the file and use a thing called a virtual printer, which creates an
image file which can be subjected to OCR. Recent versions of Open Book,
Kerzweil 1,000, and OmniPage have this feature. The results, as in any
OCR situation, can be precarious varying from very good to useless.
In many cases columnar or chart materials can be so badly reformatted
as to make intelligibility impossible.
