On Friday, 16th September 2016, the annual A-TAG took place at Tech Gate Vienna. The view from the Tech Lounge on the 19th floor suggested that something big was coming our way. After an introduction by Klaus Höckner and Jo Spelbrink about the day's organisation, the opening note was delivered by Dr. Erwin Buchinger from the Federal Disability Office in the form of a video message. Meral Akin-Hecke from Digital Champion Austria unfortunately had to cancel due to illness.
Five Approaches for Online Editors for Accessibility were presented by Siteimprove Customer Success Manager Felix Petsovits in his talk:
- Headings must always be defined as h1 to h6,
- Page titles must be included,
- Text links and buttons must be given meaningful labels, and
- Semantic markup should be used.
Regarding alternative texts for images, he distinguishes three categories: functional, informative, and decorative images. Functional images should describe their function in the alternative text (for example, a magnifying glass icon should have the alt text “Search”). For informative images, the alt text should describe what is shown in the image, and for decorative images, an empty alt attribute should be set. Susanne Buchner-Sabathy stated that she prefers elements without an alt attribute so that the screen reader skips them entirely.
After a short coffee break, Markus Erle from axes4.com clarified the Status of PDF Accessibility on Austrian Federal Ministry Websites. The study, which was implemented with the help of the Matterhorn Protocol, showed significant differences among the various ministries. 2,212 PDF documents were analysed. 56.1% had tags (and 43.9% did not) – with the best ministry in this category tagging 89.2% of its documents and the worst only 9.4%. Three ministries scored best with an 87.50% key figure. However, two thirds of the ministries had less than 80%.
Markus Erle used the comparison with a bridge to illustrate how much 20% can represent when it comes to a barrier (in this case: a gap in the bridge). The most common problems with accessible PDFs were related to annotations, the document title, the PDF/UA identifier, the BBox for images, and untagged or incorrectly marked as artefact content. What was not checked were forms and whether an equivalent HTML content existed instead of the PDF.
Immediately afterwards, Michael Holzer fittingly explained how the Transition to Accessible PDFs in a Ministry was carried out. The example chosen was sozialministerium.at, which was indeed ranked first in the preceding study. Since 2013, the ministry has been creating accessible PDFs from InDesign. The new challenge was now to be able to export similar documents from Microsoft Word so that all created documents were free of barriers.
For this purpose, the ministry had axes4.com create a Word template that could be used by all users with basic software knowledge and instructions. Furthermore, he recommended the document Guide Word 2010 Accessible as well as MadeToTag for InDesign tutorials. For checking, the Accessibility Checker PAC 2 is best suited, and to create valid HTML markup directly from accessible PDFs, Callas Software PDFgoHTML is very good.
Afterwards, Dr. Gregor Eibl clarified the EU Directive on the Accessibility of the Websites and Mobile Applications of Public Sector Bodies. The aim of the directive is to create a harmonised market. It seeks to ensure that the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies are made more accessible based on common requirements. There are some cases that represent exceptions, such as archives, extranets and intranets, schools and kindergartens (except for administrative functions) or if the conversion implies a disproportionate burden. The principles of the directive are the same as those of WCAG: perceivability, operability, comprehensibility, and robustness.
After a substantial lunch menu with a choice of fish, meat, vegetarian, and vegan options, we continued refreshed with Michael Fembek’s Summary and Outlook of the Zero Project. The Zero Project is an initiative of the Essl Foundation and is dedicated to Best and Innovative Practices concerning accessibility, employment, independent living, education, media, and politics, and also presents an award to highlight their exemplary role. Projects from all over the world were presented, which can be viewed in detail on their website.
Subsequently, Maria Putzhuber and Wolfram Huber provided insight into the Accessibility Evaluation Process. First, the frontend is tested using automatic tools such as wave.webaim.org/, checkers.eiii.eu, validator.w3.org, and Mozilla HTML Validator Addon. This is followed by an expert evaluation using the Web Developer Toolbar (Firefox, Chrome, IE) and the Web Accessibility Toolbar, and an accessible user test by people with disabilities. Finally, an inspection report according to WCAG is created. The most common accessibility errors occur in three categories: Missing text replacement for visual content (no alt tags, insufficient or redundant info), deficiencies in keyboard operability (focus styling, overlays not controllable, unusual solutions), and semantics (headings, page structure).
Yehya Mohammed from the Fraunhofer Institute spoke in his talk about the Accessible Web of Things. The Web of Things (WoT) is a term that describes protocols, standards, software approaches, architectural styles, and programming patterns. The WoT aims to integrate real-world objects into the World Wide Web.
Here, a distinction is made between three different categories:
- Trackers that follow an ID
- Sensors that generate data
- Actuators that control things remotely.
The goal of the WoT is to connect the world. Especially the irrigation, health, and security sectors could benefit from it. The problem regarding accessibility with the WoT is that there are too many different protocols. Just as HTTP is the solution for the web, this should also be unified for the Web of Things. The JSON-based “Things description language” (TDL), for example, can be seen as the counterpart to HTML on the web.
Jo Spelbrink, Web Developer and Accessibility Contact at Zensations, in his presentation on Accessible Storytelling, which he delivered in sign language with simultaneous translation, pointed out that in marketing, the focus should be on better understanding target groups and considering all measures holistically. This does not mean integrating fringe groups, but rather considering the individuality of people and being aware of the heterogeneity of dialogue groups. If accessibility is considered in marketing, better and more intensive customer loyalty is possible through improved customer understanding. A positive user experience is thus placed at the centre. GARI, the Global Accessibility Reporting Initiative, has written a very good summary of the talk, see blog.mobileaccessibility.info/2016/09/accessible-story-telling.html
Since sighted people find it difficult to understand how websites present themselves to people who need to use a screen reader program, Susanne Buchner-Sabathy developed a Screen Reader Emulator named “Just Like Me”. This is freely available online at sabathy.at/jlm and can be used by anyone without prior knowledge or practice – unlike free screen readers or demo versions. At the beginning of her presentation, she impressively described, using the example of searching for a bunch of keys in an apartment, how tedious it can be to find simple things on a website if it lacks a meaningful semantic structure. If related areas are not hierarchically marked as such, it is comparable to having to leaf through every page of a book on a bookshelf in real life, because the bunch of keys could be hidden anywhere.
Christian Zehetgruber from TSB Transdanubia also dedicated his lecture to the blind – specifically with the first glasses that can read aloud: the OrCam MyEye. It aims to make everyday life easier for blind and visually impaired people by reading aloud texts in the immediate vicinity (street, house number, and doorbell signs, but also newspapers, books, etc.), controlled by hand gestures. It also indicates whether the scanned text might continue elsewhere. To avoid impairing orientation, the speaker is located near the cheek and not directly in the ear. The glasses can also provide information on how many people are standing in front of one and, moreover, offer the possibility to save known faces with names. From then on, these people are recognised from a distance of up to approximately eight metres. The same principle can, of course, also be applied to objects (e.g., certain packaging) or banknotes. The biggest limitation at present is that the glasses only work in sufficient light. Texts that are upside down cannot be read, but the glasses indicate that the image needs to be rotated. With poor contrast and very large serifs, it can also happen that the text is classified as unreadable. The smart glasses are currently planned for German, English, French, and Spanish and are available for €4,290.
In her presentation Complex Diagrams in PDF Files – Ways to More Accessible Data Communication, Kerstin Probiesch presented concrete solutions for dealing with complex graphics in PDF files.
- For simple diagrams, an alternative text is sufficient, but for more complex ones, it becomes too long.
- A simple option is to include the data as normal text within the main body.
- Especially for complex diagrams, it is advisable to provide the data table below the diagram, as this allows specific values to be targeted.
- If it is not desired for it to be placed below, it can also be appended as an appendix or an attachment to the PDF file. If an attachment is chosen, it should either be linked directly or specified precisely in the alternative text where and under what (meaningful) name it can be found.
- A more complex, but often practical, option is to embed the data table in the tag tree.
In the future, this problem may be resolved by SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) (see our blog post on this topic.
Christian Klim then informed about Smart Banking at Bank Austria. Smart Banking represents an extended online banking service and offers longer opening hours than bank branches. A consultation can be carried out with a bank advisor via video conference. Through screen sharing, folders can also be reviewed together. Additionally, a conversation with the presence of a sign language interpreter is possible from Monday to Friday, 9 am to 3 pm, with prior appointment. This service is free of charge and as secure as online banking.
In his Closing Note, Chris Heilmann addressed the accessibility of new technologies – because there, it is already inclusive. The digital, physical, and biological symbiosis of man and machine is referred to as the fourth industrial revolution. And this symbiosis is already in full swing. Microsoft’s augmented reality glasses HoloLens, for example, allow medical professionals to virtually dissect brains for training purposes.
Since 2013, there have been more smartphones than PCs, because in many countries around the world there is poor cabling and only small homes, but a smartphone can be used by everyone. This also changes the operation of electronic devices. Previously, there were only keyboards and mice; today, however, one can also use the camera, microphone, or movements for input. Similarly, for output, there is not only text, images, sounds, animation, and video, but also voice output, vibrations, and much more. And control can not only be done by clicking and tapping, but also by buttons, moving, approaching, inquiring, or showing emotions. Chris Heilmann himself works on the latter at Microsoft: What emotional state is a person in a video? Recognising this can, for example, help identify when a car driver is getting tired, to offer assistance at that critical moment. This type of recognition is already used by many media, for example, in the alternative texts for Facebook images. Microsoft demonstrates this on the page captionbot.ai, where images are described in meaningful sentences.
Live translations of phone calls, for example from Arabic to Swedish, already work just as well. Currently, this method can translate into 14-15 languages. There are also several providers of 3D avatars that can perform live translation of text or audio to sign language. He also mentioned an example from Sweden, where a camera is used to track eye movements to detect a learning disability and then optimally display the text.
x.ai also tries to make users' lives easier. For example, if three people are in email contact, the personal assistant can simply be included; it then looks into the participants' calendars and determines when they have time to talk to each other. These types of virtual assistants, based on artificial intelligence and machine learning, are available from various providers:
- Siri (Apple)
- Google Now (Google)
- Cortana (Microsoft)
- Alexa (Amazon)
- M (Facebook)
Messaging and the social web already occupy the majority of the internet today. The future lies in chat systems that allow searching for doctor's appointments, restaurants, and the like directly in the form of communication without having to visit websites.
Chris Heilmann also introduced the Microsoft Inclusive Design Toolkit. There, people with disabilities are seen as superhumans, because they have problems that other people also know, but are less aware of: “Disability is not a problem, but the blueprint for human-machine interaction.” In interface design, for example, it is always an advantage to include impairments. Why?
- Because the touch function can be difficult to use not only for people with one arm (26,000), but also for those who currently have a broken arm (13 million) or are carrying a child (8 million). In total, 21 million would thus benefit from one-handed touch control.
- The situation is similar with the other senses: not only the blind have problems with sight; elderly people or drivers should not only have visual outputs available.
- Similarly, not only the deaf are hearing impaired, but also those who have an ear infection or work as a bartender in a noisy bar.
- And speech recognition is not only unusable by mute people, but also people with a severe cold or a strong accent cannot use it, or only to a limited extent.
All these examples show that the market wants to solve human problems and new technologies can help us do so.
I would like to conclude my report on ATAG with a quote from Chris Heilmann, which in my opinion fits very well with the topic of accessibility (and the associated possibilities): “People who want to do something find ways. People who don't want to do something find reasons.” Let's try to be the people who find ways to accessible communication without being deterred by the reasons of others.
