Accessible Web Design

When we read and discussed “Accessible Design for Users with Disabilities,” my first thought was “This is really important,” and my second thought was “Why haven’t I thought about this before?” Although it would be difficult to delve into every possible disability right here right now, I thought that it might be interesting to learn more about visually impaired internet users, and the screen readers that they use.

I found a video, “Screen Reader Demo” at youtube (you might want to start at about 6:30 for website reading). This video is of a visually impaired person talking the viewer through how the software works and what it can do for her, which is interesting to see. Especially interesting to me was how, at about 8:00 minutes in, she walks the viewer through what order the software goes through in the html: the links, the headings, and then starting with heading one and the following graphic, reading the ALT text, and so on. I enjoyed learning how visually impaired people use this kind of software, and even more the kinds of things that they expect this software to do for them. The occasional tips that she came out with for programmers were also interesting, but I suspect I will have to get better at HTML before I really understand the interactions between software and coding. All in all, however, this is interesting look at how visually impaired people use the internet, if you are patient enough to sit through the thirteen minute video.

Blind Inspirationcast. “Screen Reader Demo.” Online video clip. Youtube.com. Youtube, 3 Oct. 2013. Web. 29 Sep. 2015.