Technological and Evaluation Foundations of Accessible

WebOssi Nykänen

Tampere University of Technology, Department of Mathematics, W3C Finnish Office.

A presentation for Media Goes Accessible 19.1.2012, at Aalto University

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Introduction

● Abstract● Web technologies and accessibility guidelines are

developed at the W3C. In this presentation we outline both, and consider how certain legacy problems of the ”desktop Web” could be overcome

● Outline of the presentation● World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and Web

Technologies● Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)● Beyond Legacy Assumptions

Part I:

W3C and Web Technologies

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World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

● Founded in 1994 with the vision of “One Web,” open to all

● Today Web is everywhere

● Web was invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the W3C Director

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W3C (Cont'd)

● W3C is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards ● Director Tim Berners-Lee, CEO Jeff

Jaffe● Standards and guidelines for

the long-term growth for the Web (cf. HTML, XML, WAI, Mobile Web)

● Over 300 members – welcome (myösW3C Suomen toimisto)

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W3C value proposition

Key properties● International organization● Strong Web community● Track record of success● Neutral forum for collaboration

across industries, ecosystems and communities

● Broad industry and academic participation (e.g. Browser, mobile, internet and corporate)

● Active, expert staff participating in work

Broad reach● Translations of standards to 55+

languages● Liaisons w/ 40+ global standards

organizations (UN, ISO, ITU, IETF, OGF, Unicode, ICANN, ETSI, Isoc…)

● 55,000+ people subscribed to 800+ mailing lists

● Millions of Hits/day on www.w3.org● 220+ Web standards:(HTML, XML,

PNG/SVG,RDF/OWL/SPARQL, Accessibility….)

● 1,800+ participants in 60+ Groups

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…The W3C Open Web Platform

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W3C One Web: Principles and vision

● Web for All ● Web Accessibility

Initiative; Internationalization; Mobile Web for Social Development

● Web on Everything● Web of Devices; Mobile

Web Initiative; Browsers and Other Agents

● Web for Rich Interaction● Web Design and

Applications; Web Architecture

● Web of Data and Services● Essential XML

Technologies; Semantic Web; Web of Services

● Web of Trust● Semantic Web; XML

Security, Web of Services Security; Privacy

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W3C Web technology stack

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Current work (lots of)

● Group structure, patent policy● Advisory, architecture, working,

incubator, interest, community, business, ...

● Events and workshops● Hot topics

● Television, HTML5, Data and Service Integration, ..

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What about Web and accessibility?

● Accessibility requires several things, e.g.● Understanding, willingness, and know-how for

supporting true user needs● Supportive tools and feedback● Enabling technology incl. open interfaces

● Thus, (Web) accessibility needs to be build into the technologies (and specified in that context)● Also needed: Active community, best practices,

technical guidelines, continuous evaluation, ...

Part II:

Web Accessibility Initiative

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Web Accessibility Initiative

● The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops strategies, guidelines, and resources to help make the Web accessible to people with disabilities (or context-specific challenges)

● Launched in 1997, directed by Judy Brewer● Accessibility built-in for Web

technologies● Guidelines and training materials● Outreach, projects, ...● Basis for many regulations

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Web Content Accessibility

● Accessibility is a property of a ”Web page” (incl. apps) that enables successfully using it

● Improve accessibility via four key principles:● Perceivable● Operable● Understandable● Robust

● ...while paying attention to accessibility issues, perhaps when using assistive technologies

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Interaction of roles and tools is needed

● Visit Essential Components of Web Accessibility

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Pivotal guidelines and techniques

● Standards and documented techniques● Web Content (WCAG) (also WCAG 2.0 in Finnish) ● Authoring Tool (ATAG); v2.0 in progress● User Agent (UAAG); v2.0 in progress● Evaluation Language (EARL); work in progress● Rich Applications (WAI-ARIA); work in progress

● Also resources for● Planning, implementing, managing,

evaluating, getting involved with WAI, etc.

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Evaluating and reporting accessibility

● Two basic ways of testing:● Preliminary review● Conformance evaluation

● Reporting is important● ”Who, what, criterion,

results”● In the future, reporting

can be done in machine-readable exchange format, using the Evaluation and Report Language (EARL) 1.0...

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Tips for hands-on work

● Visit Getting Started with Web Accessibility● Try out the Before and After Demonstration● Design your applications with users and test● Visit also the W3C Mobile Web Initiative

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Notes

● Accessibility is a commonplace design requirement that is also present during the application evolution phase (cf. security)

● Technologies should be used in ways that are ”accessibility supported” (cf. device independence)

● Content should be ”programmatically determined” (cf. Machine-understandable)● ...adding descriptions à la Semantic Web

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Notes (cont'd)

● Application functionality should be available via a keyboard interface

● Accessibility features of applications should be documented

● There should be an easy way for users to provide (contextual) feedback

● Hm. Why do we fall into these pitholes?

Part III:

Beyond Legacy Assumptions

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Thinking outside the box

● Obviously, the W3C WAI and practitioners need to deal with the current issues, where many applications emphasise visual design

● But things are in motion, consider...● What does using an application ”mean”?● Enriching current applications (WAI-ARIA)● Enriching evaluation feedback (EARL)

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What does using an application ”mean”? (Read: We currently spend lot of efforts to describe the graphical user interface...)

● According to a desktop metaphor (”a legacy example”):● Read instructions, navigate to appropriate view, fill in a visual form

fields, click button to submit, read scripted response (loop)● Not a disaster if Perceivable, Oper..., Und..., and Ro..., but really:

● From a functional user experience point of view:● Search information, iterate down to matching functionality, provide

task parameters and execute, query results (loop)● Logically, applications provide information and functions –

”buttons” etc. are part of the user interface implementation● Tough challenges ahead: Getting overview; naming and matching

tasks and functionality; certain kinds of input; remembering state and history; accessing specific sensory experiences

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Enriching current applications (WAI-ARIA)

● The basic approach for programmatically determining things is to write ”semantics” out (with commonly known model & names)

● A (bad) example of assuming common-sense reasoning:● User interface: Piece of HTML code (e.g. ”<div>”) is a button if it

happens to behave like one (and looks like it)● From machine-understandable semantic point of view:

● Instead of ”<div>”, say ”<div role='http://www.w3.org/ns/wai-aria/button'>” (i.e. using the standard ARIA taxonomy)

● Even better, anticipate to say ”<button>” in HTML5...● Result: The Controls of the user interface can be identified● Perhaps something similar could be applied to functions?

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Enriching evaluation feedback (EARL)

● Integrating and processing narrative eval feedback is tedious – luckily, this can be modelled similarly as well

● A example of assuming common-sense reasoning:● Report: A report says that the page ”www.example.org” fails to

provide alt attributes for images (and hence is not WCAG 2.0-A)● Considering machine-understandable semantics, say also:

...<earl:Assertion rdf:about="#assertion">

<earl:subject rdf:resource="http://www.example.org/"/> <earl:test rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/H36"/> <earl:result rdf:resource="#result"/>

</earl:Assertion>

<earl:TestResult rdf:about="#result"> <earl:outcome rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/ns/earl#failed"/> </earl:TestResult>...

● Result: tests can be integrated and automatically processed

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Fundamental challenges (?)

● Old legacy content and apps● New applications – and dev tools – are (still)

often developed visual design in mind● Locking applications ”just in case” for business

reasons etc. (vs. Open interfaces & linked data)● New apps, technologies, and devices

sometimes re-invent the old (solved?) mistakes● Everything isn't rocket science, but training is

needed; accessibility is also a moving target

Part IV:

The Final Words

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Conclusion

● W3C develops Web for all● Mindful development, testing, and evaluation are the

cornerstones of accessible Web design● The future of accessibility lies in machine-

understandability of information and tasks (?)● With proper mindset and tools, many accessibility

challenges can be solved● Thank you!

● Something still in mind? (Contact: Ossi Nykänen, ossi@w3.org, ossi.nykanen@tut.fi)