The Adventures of Cindy Li

Refresh 2006 Conference: Nate Koechley - Creating Accessible DHTML

November 17 , 2006

Hello, world

Nate Koechley (Nate Koechley’s blog)
–Charter member of web dev team
–Trenches and in management

Browser vs Desktop

Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0
Getting it right the second time
our buddies are back, excitement again, cross pollination
DHTML/Ajax is not a specific technology

Rich Internet Applications (RIAS)
RIAS are: web apps
Accessiblity is availability
Information is provided to the desktop API
Some information is provided to the desktop API
W3C’s primary goals is to make information for all the people
So how can we move forward

Characteristics of techniques

don’t make it worse
provide alternatives
learn from other technologies
prepare for when a11y (this is an abbreviation for accessbility) tech improves
support improvement of a11y tech

Four techniques-use them all
standards based dev
redundant interfaces

Standards based development

overview and definition
create and stand upon strong foundation
subsequent layers enhance meaningful structured markup

example:
y! News
tab panel box
tab box is really anchored links
video capture from yahoo photos
all the functionality but if you turn off

Redundant interfaces:

multiple means of input
GUI input vs char input
direct movement of objects vs configuration-based movement
plain text vs auto complete
tab vs arrow keys

keyboard vs mouse

Esc vs cancel
drag-drop vs form-based
Ajax vs HTTP

Example: 1D slider
simple support for vertical and horizontal sliders as a direct
yahoo’s 2d slider
YUI menu from markup (unordered lists)
Transforms it on the fly
motion protection
technology protection: yuiblog.com
ex: drag-n-drop vs. edit flow

redundant interfaces
benefits
better for everybody
–keyboard is important for ALL users
–Let users choose from multiple task flows
–Transfer the complete set of expectations from the desktop

Drawbacks:
insufficient communication with accessibility APIs on the desktop
Dual experiences/interfaces may pressure goals of parity
Requires development of two experiences
but not 2x effort!
Can actually benefit development process
Faithful and predictable!
Preserve the illusion

Benefits:more options for everybody
Drawbacks: isn’t always easy
seems heavier and/or more complex
not always the path of least resistance

Rich interfaces require sophisticated definitions

“assistive technologies…requires information about the semantics of specific portions of a document in order to present those portions in an accessible form.”

Graded browser support from Yahoo
Three grades of Browser Support
C-grade (core support, 2%)
A Grade(advanced support, 96%)
X grade (the X-factor, 2%)

It’s possible to give the new richness to everybody, and morally correct
more users + good PR= win win
there’s no excuse for not doing this, plus it’s not that hard