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October 30, 2007
Pressing the Shift key five times
Filed under: Elderly, Mobility — Priti Rohra @ 7:10 pmWhile talking on the phone one might unknowingly press different keys on the keyboard. I was doing the same thing and suddenly the StickyKeys dialog box appeared. This was the first time I came across the StickyKeys feature of Windows XP. By pressing the Shift key five times, the StickyKeys dialog box gets activated.
This raised several questions in my mind, why has it been included by Microsoft, who’ll use them etc. This prompted me to find out more about ‘StickyKeys’ and their benefits.
In Windows XP, the StickyKeys feature can be found under Accessibility Options in the Control Panel.
Soon I learnt that they are helpful for users with mobility disabilities who find it difficult to press multiple keys simultaneously as well as senior citizens. When StickyKeys are turned on, you can press one key at a time instead of key combinations. I also learnt about the different StickyKeys settings like Audio-Visual alerts; lock the modifier keys and shortcuts to turn On/Off the same.
While learning about StickyKeys, I felt they are also helpful for any one of us, as we do multi-tasking. So decided to write a detailed article about the same!
You can read the full article at: Difficulty in pressing multiple keys simultaneously.
No CommentsOctober 26, 2007
Accessible Flash
Filed under: Flash — Shilpi Kapoor @ 5:58 pmHi, this is my first post on accessible Flash. To start off, we will not go into the complicated stuff, rather I will introduce you to some basic concepts we should think of while making Flash accessible. Flash offers a great deal of accessibility options to the developers. The main part of accessibility in Flash lies in the “Accessibility Panel”, which can be accessed either through the Window menu > Other Panels > Accessibility or by pressing Alt + F2. We can use the Accessibility Panel to provide name, description, tab index and other properties to the various user interface controls offered by Flash.
It’s very important to provide logical tab order to all the controls available on and off the stage. If the content is more on the dynamic side, you should opt for Actionscript to apply the Accessibility Properties at run time.
There are no standard rules, which one can follow to make Flash 100% accessible, but we need to try out the best practices along with certain tricks, alternatives and practical solutions to make it accessible to the level we want. I will be writing a detailed article on the same in coming days. Till then, I am waiting for your questions and feedback…
Remember, the mantra for accessible Flash is to test, test and test!!!
peace, veiky
No CommentsOctober 25, 2007
Spastics Society of Karnataka join hands with IBM India and PACER
Filed under: General — Priti Rohra @ 3:18 pmOn 24th October 2007 at Bangalore, Spastics Society of Karnataka (SSK) joined hands with IBM India and PACER centre to launch India’s first full fledged Assistive Technology centre. The centre is expected to start in the early part of 2008.
SSK’s Assistive Technology centre for Education and Life Skills Training is modeled upon PACER centre’s Simon Technology centre. The centre will provide education and life skills training to people with different types of disabilities which will help them to participate fully in various facets of life.
PACER centre is providing training to SSK staff and is seeking financial, technological and volunteer support from corporate donors and Assistive Technology vendors for building the centre. On the other hand, IBM has donated hardware and Accessibility Works software.
It’s a very nice initiative by the Spastics Society of Karnataka which will provide lots of opportunities for people with disabilities in Karnataka. In a big country like
India, more such centres should come up in different cities as well as villages to help millions of people with disabilities across the country.
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Spastics-Society-tiesup-with-PACER-IBM-India/231888/
No CommentsWould India ratifying the UN Convention on Rights of PWD have any impact?
Filed under: General — Mamta Tandel @ 12:52 pmOn October 1, 2007 India ratified the UN Convention on rights of people with disabilities (PWD). UN convention on rights of PWD promotes, protects and ensures that people with disabilities enjoy their human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with others.
According to Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi to the UN Convention aims at promoting respect for inherent dignity of people with disabilities. As per 2001 Census report, Mr. Dasmunsi said that India has a 21.9 million people with disabilities who constitute 2.13 percent of the total population. The minister added 75% of disabled people live in rural areas, while 49% are literate and only 34% are employed. (Source: News article on Indiaenews.com)
Read the full article on UN Convention on Rights of People with Disabilities.
No CommentsOctober 23, 2007
Browsealoud Makes your Website Talk
Filed under: Elderly, Learning, Visual — Priti Rohra @ 2:52 pmWhile surfing the Internet last evening, I came across a nice tool which is capable of reading websites, PDF documents and Word files. So I thought of sharing it with you’ll about the same. The tool is ‘Browsealoud’.
Browsealoud, a tool by Text Help systems is a free tool for users. However, website owners need to pay the charges in order to make their website talk. Browsealoud is helpful for people with:
- Learning disabilities, such as dyslexia
- Mild visual impairment
- Reading and literacy problems
- Senior citizens and
- Those who use English as their second language.
Browsealoud allows website owners to set the voice that will be used for reading the website, how the words need to be pronounced and the language used etc. Currently there are 2000 Browsealoud enable websites.
Users can move the mouse pointer over the text which they want to read and the text will be read out to them. However, when I tried to use with a keyboard, I was not able to use it initially but later on learnt that one needs to turn on the Mouse Keys feature of Windows in order to use it with a keyboard.
In addition, Browsealoud highlights the text on the screen as it is read out and comes with an in-built dictionary and text-to-speech support. One can even save the content in MP3 format and listen to it on the move via a smart phone, MP3 player an iPod etc. Browsealoud is available for both Windows and Mac.
All in all a wonderful tool which is absolutely free for users!
http://www.browsealoud.com/page.asp?pg_id=80002
October 22, 2007
Hello to All!
Filed under: General — Priti Rohra @ 9:35 amHi, I am Priti Rohra. I am an Accessibility Tester at BarrierBreak Technologies. I test software, websites, Elearning applications, PDF documents, Office documents etc keeping in mind the users need as well as different accessibility guidelines such as WCAG 1.0 and Section 508. I am visually impaired and use different screen readers for performing my day-to-day tasks.
I love to work with different screen readers and find out how they work with different applications, websites etc. I’ll be posting about latest innovations in the field of Assistive Technology and Accessibility.
Always B positive,
Priti…
Getting Started
Filed under: General — Shilpi Kapoor @ 7:56 amHi, I’m Vivek Gaikwad. I’m a flash developer with a focus on Accessibility. I manage e-Learning and Accessibility team at net systems. I’ve got a background in creating and implementing accessibility in different e-learning courses and games. Also, I’m always keen on finding out how to make things accessible for users with different types of disabilities.
I like to dig out the accessibility guidelines and best practices and play with them which are provided by the vendors. I have worked on flash, flex, captivate etc… and will start posting about the accessibility part of it soon…
peace, veiky
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