Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What is Web accessibility?
2. Why do we need Web accessibility?
3. What are common barriers to information on Web pages?
4. What is the key to making a site accessible?
5. What resources are available at UT to help me make an accessible Web site?
6. Why are Cascading Style Sheets a recommended accessibility practice?
7. Are some authoring tools better for making accessible sites than others?
8. How do people who are blind use the Web?
9. What is a screen reader?
10. Where can I get a screen reader?
11. How can a sighted Web developer benefit from using a screen reader?
12. Why is so much attention given to Web accessibility for screen readers?
13. How can I determine the order a screen reader will read a Web page, a form, or a table?
14. How do screen readers indicate text formatting?
15. How are JAWS and Window-Eyes different?
16. What is the difference between a screen reader and a talking Web browser?

Question 1: What is Web accessibility?

Web resources are “accessible” if people with disabilities can use them as effectively as non-disabled people.

Question 2: Why do we need Web accessibility?

• Access to information and learning is essential to a free society.
• Our moral responsibility is to ensure that people's ability to participate in the information age is not limited by a disability.
• Making the Web accessible allows people with disabilities to participate as equals in the University community and in the world beyond campus.
• We are economically interdependent, and increasing participation in the economy is good for everyone.
• The State of Texas requires state agencies and institutions of higher education to maintain Web sites that "meet the definition of a generally accessible Internet site" that can be used by people with and without disabilities

Question 3: What are common barriers to information on Web pages?

Many Web pages present barriers to people with physical, visual, hearing, and cognitive/neurological disabilities. Common accessibility problems on Web sites include:

• images without alternative text
• lack of alternative text for imagemap hot-spots
• misleading use of structural elements on pages
• uncaptioned audio or undescribed video
• lack of alternative information for users who cannot access frames or scripts
• tables that are difficult to decipher when linearized
• sites with poor color contrast.

Question 4: What is the key to making a site accessible?

The most important thing to understand is that people use the Web in very different ways. A site should therefore present information in a way that people can access it regardless of what kind of hardware or software they are using, and regardless of how they navigate through a site. Web designers cannot assume that everyone uses the same kinds of devices the same way.

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Question 5: What resources are available at UT to help me make an accessible Web site?

• The Accessibility Institute’s how-tos and demos have examples of accessible web elements, such as tables and buttons, along with code examples.
• Use the Accessibility Institute’s consulting service to integrate accessibility into your whole web design process.
• Visit Team Web’s Designing Accessible Web Sites page
• Accessibility Institute classes offer training in building accessible Web sites.

Question 6: Why are Cascading Style Sheets a recommended accessibility practice?

Style sheets separate the content and structure of a Web page from its presentation and layout. You can therefore change the look and feel of an entire Web site by editing one file. Style sheets also make it much easier to customize presentations for the needs of particular users, and to verify that presentation schemes work with assistive technology before becoming part of the site.

Question 7: Are some authoring tools better for making accessible sites than others?

The short answer is, yes, some authoring tools do provide more help with accessibility than others. For example, some tools can be set to prompt you for accessibility features such as alt text for images or labels for forms, and some can help you locate accessibility errors. Look for accessibility settings under the Preferences or Options menus in the authoring tool you use, or consult its Help documentation and user's manual.

For information about the features that should be in authoring tools, see the World Wide Web Consortium's Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 .

Question 8: How do people who are blind use the Web?

People who are blind use screen reader software to read the pages aloud. The software reads the page in a linear fashion from left to right and top to bottom. Screen readers announce structure by using phrases such as “this page has seventeen links” “visited link” and “heading level one”. Screen readers therefore deliver a stream of spoken text that combines content and functional information. Screen readers are also used by some people who have low vision and people with learning disabilities.

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Question 9: What is a screen reader?

A screen reader is software that converts information on the computer screen to audible spoken language.

A screen reader tracks the focus of the user’s navigation, converts the screen contents into a string of text, and then sends this string to a speech synthesizer to be spoken. For example, when a user presses the [DOWN ARROW] key in a word processing document, the blinking cursor moves to a new line. The screen reader considers the new line to be the pertinent information, and so sends it to the speech synthesizer.

In addition to tracking the screen focus, the screen reader has an enormous assortment of actions it can perform when the user issues keystroke commands, such as reading a given rectangular area of the screen, reading text with a particular color combination, or reading the title and maximized/minimized/normal status of the current window. The user can also customize how the screen reader behaves in a particular application, instructing it to announce font changes, new text appearing in particular areas of the screen, or which punctuation characters should be spoken.

Screen readers can generally anticipate what the user wants to hear without the user having to memorize more than a few keystroke commands. The learning curve to become truly proficient, however, is both long and steep. Synthetic speech also takes some getting used to. Still, a novice can begin using the software to surf the Web almost immediately.

Question 10: Where can I get a screen reader?

Two of the most commonly-used screen readers are JAWS for Windows and Window-Eyes Professional, both available only for PCs.

JAWS, an acronym for “Job Access With Speech”, is a popular screen reader for the Windows operating system. JAWS For Windows is manufactured by Freedom Scientific (www.freedomscientific.com ). The “home” version runs under Windows 9x, ME, and XP Home Edition, while the “Professional” license enables additional support for Windows NT/2000/XP-Professional. The downloadable JAWS software can run for forty minutes as a demo if you have not purchased an authorization key.

Window-Eyes Professional, by GW Micro (www.gwmicro.com ), is another popular screen reader that operates under Windows XP Home and Professional, 2000, or NT. The Window-Eyes “Standard” version runs under Windows 9x/ME. A 30-minute demo version is available for download.

If you would like to hear your Web site through the voice of a screen reader, attend the Accessibility Institute’s classes or contact us for a consulting appointment. Also visit the How-To section of this Web site to hear recordings of how JAWS handles various types of page elements.

Question 11: How can a sighted Web developer benefit from using a screen reader?

Testing with a screen reader is the best way to be confident that a Web site will be accessible. Screen readers are wonderful at discovering mistakes that often go visually undetected! Some examples include:

• Coding errors, especially regarding dynamically-generated code that a screen reader might read in the wrong order or fail to detect;
• Images with missing ALT-text or with inadequate descriptions like "click here";
• Spelling mistakes like "accessibilty" that might look right but sound very wrong when spoken by JAWS; and
• Grammatical errors, like "accessibility make it easy read the page for everyone!"

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Question 12: Why is so much attention given to Web accessibility for screen readers?

Spatial layout and graphical style are primary means to convey information on the World Wide Web. Sighted users know what information to attend to, often because of its appearance, an eye-catching image, or its placement on the page. Speech, by contrast, is strictly linear.

The linear constraints of screen readers make them good mechanisms for testing the accessibility of a Web site. Accessibility for screen readers demands the strictest separation of Web content from its style of presentation. This separation makes Web documents more flexible for different devices or Web browsers, regardless of screen size, colors, or the browser’s ability to display graphics. When a page’s content has a linear structure it makes sense when the screen reader reads top-left to bottom-right. This linear structure creates benefits that extend to users who use screen enlargers, people with learning disabilities, and people who rely on slow forms of input like on-screen keyboards or mouth sticks. Finally, screen readers rely exclusively on keyboard input--no mouse! Windows includes several keystrokes that non-disabled users may not be aware of, and assistive technologies add more. Keyboard access to all the functionality of a Web site is important for people who are blind,for people who use other alternative input devices that transmit keystroke equivalents to the computer, and of course for people without disabilities who prefer to use the keyboard.

Question 13: How can I determine the order in which a screen reader will read a Web page, a form, or a table?

In most cases, screen readers speak all page elements in the same order as they appear in the document's source code, left to right and top to bottom.

If you are not using a screen reader, you can use the mouse to see the reading order. When you click and drag, the order in which text, table cells, and images are highlighted is the order in which a screen reader will read them.

Alternatively, you can use an accessibility checker called The Wave to determine the order in which the text will be read.

You can also hear your Web pages read by a screen reader. Contact the Accessibility Institute to make an appointment.

Question 14: How do screen readers indicate text formatting?

By default, Window-Eyes and JAWS will raise the pitch of capital letters when spelling a word or moving the cursor over a capitalized letter. Users can select to have the screen reader announce “cap” and “all caps” before capitalized words when reading by line, sentence, or document. Some speech synthesizers may provide different options, such as raising the pitch of capitalized or all-caps words when reading by line.

Users can also select to hear specifics of font face, font size, and attributes such as bold or underlining, plus foreground and background colors. Colors are more complex, since there are 16,581,375 possible color combinations available to Web authors. Colors may be announced as RGB numeric values or as standard named colors. These options are turned off by default and only a few very proficient users will turn them on, and then only when they want to check something specific. For example, when a form field with invalid input is distinguished only by the color red, people who use screen readers will probably not be able to submit the form successfully.

Question 15: How are JAWS and Window-Eyes different?

The most basic distinction between JAWS For Windows and Window-Eyes is that JAWS is programmable using its own scripting language. This means that advanced users can precisely control what JAWS says, when, and how it interacts with the user in any application.

Window-Eyes, on the other hand, does not use scripting, but provides comparatively quick ways to customize how it behaves in applications. Window-Eyes is sometimes considered to be more stable and responsive than JAWS, and can sometimes access screen information that JAWS does not detect. JAWS remains the “industry standard,” in part because scripting enables much greater functionality in commonly-used programs such as Microsoft Office.

Although both screen readers allow users to map all their commands to any key combinations, the default keystrokes are generally different. Users familiar with one program will have to frequently look up commands (or remap them to familiar keys). The differences can make it difficult for JAWS users to use Window-Eyes or vice-versa, since issuing particular keyboard commands becomes second nature.

Question 16: What is the difference between a screen reader and a talking Web browser?

Screen readers are designed to provide access to the computer’s operating system and any software the user might install. A talking Web browser has built-in text to speech function that gives the user spoken feedback to interact with Web content. Talking Web browsers such as IBM’s HomePage Reader are stand-alone “self-voicing” applications.

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