IBM Accessibility Research Authoring Tools Accessibility Newer US
IBM Accessibility Research Authoring Tools Accessibility Newer US and European requirements Wednesday September 26, 11 am Eastern Michael Gower, IBM, gowerm@ca. ibm. com © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Topics covered • What is an Authoring Tool? • Existing Authoring Tool considerations • New Requirements • Accessible output • Prompting authors • Preserving during conversion • Accessible templates • Ability to repair detected issues • New responsibilities/tasks by role 2 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research What is an Authoring Tool? • EN 301 594 Definition: • software that can be used to create or modify content • 508 Definition: • Any software, or collection of software components, that can be used by authors, alone or collaboratively, to create or modify content for use by others, including other authors. • Dev suites and environments (e. g. , local, cloud) • Content management systems (CMS) and courseware • Social or collaborative sites (e. g. , Facebook, Linked. In) • Anything with a mechanism which allows users to publish content 3 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research ATAG examples of web authoring tools • web page authoring tools (e. g. WYSIWYG HTML editors) • software for directly editing source code • • software for converting to web content technologies (e. g. "Save as HTML" features in office • applications) • integrated development • environments • • software that generates web content on the basis of templates, scripts, command-line input or "wizard"-type processes software for rapidly updating portions of web pages (e. g. blogging, wikis, online forums) email clients that send messages using web content technologies multimedia authoring tools software for creating mobile web applications 4 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Determining if it is an authoring tool • Is it a rich text editor? • Does it have controls formatting text? • Can you insert objects? • Is there a preview mode? • A form is not usually an authoring tool • Standard html inputs do not offer rich-text controls © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research HP’s Decision Tree Demo • Do Authoring Accessibility Requirements Apply? 6 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Questions? • Any questions or observations about what constitutes an authoring tool? • Next topic: Pre-existing requirements 7 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Pre-existing Authoring Tool Requirements • Authoring tool accessibility is not new • UI of editor should have been made accessible as part of existing requirements • Keyboard access to all controls • Proper labelling and/or text alternatives for all images/buttons • Contrast is met • Accessibility features documented • Authoring Tools Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) 2. 0 • Part A is about making the authoring tool itself accessible. • BUT, ATAG is not a requirement like WCAG 8 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Textbox. io UI considerations 9 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Textbox. io documentation considerations • Documentation exists but not accessible by keyboard • Includes ‘Accessible Code View’ 10 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Questions • Any questions about the UI of the editor? • Next topic: Newer authoring tool considerations 11 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research New authoring tool accessibility considerations • Revised US Section 508 adds: • Expansion of UI requirements to WCAG 2. 0 for all ICT • Measurement of output from tools for accessibility • Need to prompt user to create accessible content • Preservation during conversion • Templates that support accessibility • EN 301 549 in Europe adds ‘repair assistance’ • Authoring Tools Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) 2. 0 • Part B is about the authoring tool helping authors produce accessible content. 12 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research 504. 2 Content Creation or Editing • Is the output that is created via the authoring tool accessible? • Must provide a tool that can produce accessible content (to the extent possible by the output format) • Verify against all of WCAG, but some are better candidates in many circumstances • 1. 1. 1 Non-text Content • 1. 3. 1 Information and relationships • 1. 3. 2 Meaningful sequence • 1. 4. 1 Use of Color • 1. 4. 3 Contrast (Minimum) • 2. 1. 1 Keyboard • 2. 4. 2 Page Titled • 2. 4. 4 Link Purpose • 2. 4. 6 Headings and Labels • 3. 1. 1 Language of page • 3. 3. 2 Labels or Instructions 13 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Exception to 504. 2 • “Authoring tools shall not be required to conform to 504. 2 when used to directly edit plain text source code. ” • Essentially, ignore this exception • The exception exists so that a product like Notepad does not need to comply • It only applies “when” the tool is used to edit. It does not exempt the tool from conforming for other functions • Most editors offer the ability to parse the raw code, and so can color-code elements and provide features • Any editor that offers any kind of preview mode is not exempt 14 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Questions about 504. 2? • Are there any questions about Content Creation or Editing? 15 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research 504. 2. 1 Preservation of Information… • “Authoring tools shall, when converting content from one format to another or saving content in multiple formats, preserve the information required for accessibility to the extent that the information is supported by the destination format. ” • Especially relevant to CMS and learning systems • 504. 2. 2 PDF Export has specifics for PDF, requiring use of UA 1 specification when version 1. 7 PDFs are created 16 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Example of applicable CMS output variations 17 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research 504. 3 Prompts • Authoring tools shall provide a mode of operation that prompts authors to create content that conforms to…WCAG 2. 0 for supported features…. 18 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research What is a prompt? • Not enough just to provide the ability to be accessible • Requirement for an active UI role 19 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research What ways are there to prompt? • Persistent inputs and instructions • Dynamically, based on content type and function • Remove or de-emphasize problematic options 20 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Example of Prompt failure • Digging for table attributes 21 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Demo of prompts from Orion for Eclipse • “Authoring tools shall not be required to conform to 504. 2 when used to directly edit plain text source code. ” • What can a text-based editor do to offer prompts? 22 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Questions about prompts? • Prompts offer a real possibility for creativity and great design enhancements. Any questions, experiences or comments? 23 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research 504. 4 Templates • “Where templates are provided, templates allowing content creation that conforms to…WCAG 2. 0 shall be provided for a range of template uses for supported features. . . ” • “range”: not all, but more than one • Prepackaged templates • Author-created templates? • EU requirement to label them as accessible • Potential to provide prompts 24 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Activity templates in Connections • Example of authorsupplied • No packaged templates? 25 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Connections Activity templates example 26 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Connections Activity template options • If an application offers authors the ability to generate templates, what is the application responsibility? • ATAG “Developer control: only apply to the authoring tool as it is provided by the developer. This does not include subsequent modifications by parties other than the authoring tool developer (e. g. third-party plug-ins, user-defined templates, user modifications of default settings). ” 27 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research 11. 6. 4 Repair Assistance • “If the accessibility checking functionality of an authoring tool can detect that content does not meet a requirement of…Web content…or Documents…, then the authoring tool shall provide repair suggestion(s). ” • EU requirement, based on ability to “detect” • No context on what constitutes “repair suggestions” 28 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Textbox. io checker with repair suggestion 29 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Optional CKEditor Accessibility Checker 30 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Grackle Docs investigation 31 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Any questions? • For templates and repair, or anything covered to date? • Next up: considerations by role 32 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Designer considerations • Assessing ready-made editors • Assessing opportunities and techniques for prompting • Incorporating new authoring tool requirements into existing process for authoring tool/UI accessibility • Enable users to make accessible content (not enforce) • Automated tools: how to offer repair suggestions • Incorporation into documentation 33 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Developer considerations • What mechanisms might be useful for prompting? • Exposing prompts and repair suggestions accessibly • Pre-existing UI needs may need to be revisited • What is under the developer’s control (i. e. , Templates)? 34 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Tester considerations • Is it an authoring tool? • any input mechanism whose output is incorporated into the application’s content should be assessed as an authoring tool. • Testing the creation of content in tool • Prompts, Repair, Templates, Documentation of Features • Testing the output of authoring tool • ‘Default’ output, Preservation, Templates • Recommend testing default output of tool • But not a requirement: “mode of operation” 35 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Manager considerations • How can I control risk? • Architecture decisions (platform or tool choices) • Weigh expanded functionality value • Curtailing is an option to avoid Repair Assistance • Anticipate revisiting existing functionality • Likely to unearth issues with existing features • Plan around a lack of clarity • Possible churn discussing interpretation • Know your markets 36 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Conclusion • Newish requirements, so expect future clarity • Pre-existing requirements for UI, now qualified with WCAG, and broadened to output • Affects many roles, still very immature in understanding 37 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
IBM Accessibility Research Questions? Michael Gower gowerm@ca. ibm. com @IBMAccess IBM Accessibility Ageandability. com © Copyright IBM Corporation 2017
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