Re: 508 Compliance - Common Readability Issues

Subject: Re: 508 Compliance - Common Readability Issues
From: voxwoman <voxwoman -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: "McLauchlan, Kevin" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 13:14:04 -0500

I put the navigation at the bottom of my code page and use CSS to place it
visually anywhere I want. So the naked text reads like a nice article (with
headers and text) and all the nav links are on the bottom.

I didn't realize this was an issue for anyone, until I got an email from
someone who was blind and had difficulty navigating my old band's site
(because I used a lot of graphics for text so I'd get the fonts I wanted).
This was quite a while back, before CSS was invented.

-Wendy

On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 12:38 PM, McLauchlan, Kevin <
Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com> wrote:

> Heidi Glick wrote:
>
> > Thanks. I found what I was looking for on the WebAIM site
> > under Designing
> > for Screen Reader Compatability. The site provided excellent
> > examples of
> > things to look out for, such as homographs.
> >
> > http://www.webaim.org/techniques/screenreader/
> >
>
>
> Yow, the stuff you don't consider unless it slaps you in the face...
>
> I don't have any blind friends - nor any deaf ones, for that matter.
>
>
> I wonder how bending a page on my site to accommodate a screen reader would
> affect SEO.
>
> It's not clear what a screen reader reads first, with respect to textual
> content versus CSS and structural stuff (like menus, ads, etc.)
>
> For example, a site has a two or three-column design, with tired old
> menu-items-down-the-left column. The owner decides to switch-to (or add)
> across-the-top main menu with drop-down sub-menus. Did he just screw up the
> screen reader? Or did he make it easier for the blind person?
>
> The same guy has tier-2 and tier-3 pages and "helpfully" gathers links to
> related tier-3 pages and presents them in a table on the relevant tier-2
> page. One column has the links, and one column has the
> explanations/expansions to indicate why the visitor would want to browse to
> each third-tier page. Does this help... or hinder the unsighted visitor
> who's relying on a screen reader?
>
> Hmm. Where can one borrow a blind person to vet one's page-design
> decisions?
>
>
> - KevinThe information contained in this electronic mail transmission
> may be privileged and confidential, and therefore, protected
> from disclosure. If you have received this communication in
> error, please notify us immediately by replying to this
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>
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References:
Re: 508 Compliance - Common Readability Issues: From: Heidi Glick
RE: 508 Compliance - Common Readability Issues: From: McLauchlan, Kevin

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