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UK government changes website guidelines due to buggy screen readers

insidegovuk.blog.gov.uk

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Re: UK government changes website guidelines due to buggy screen readers

#31

Post by robin_reala »

aaron695 wrote: post #11

FFS can we stop spending billions on designing around screen readers and fucking spend billions on good screen readers.

Even if that happened it would be years before people upgraded. People using assistive technology tend to be more resistant to changing their setup than one would expect as it can be difficult to debug failed upgrades. It can also be extremely expensive, for example the leading Windows screenreader JAWS costs $900 per install.

And, like the article says, even leaving aside screenreader users this has a practical benefit for many users. If your prose is complex enough that you have to use a Latin abbreviation for precision you’re probably in need of a content designer to simplify it.

Re: UK government changes website guidelines due to buggy screen readers

#32

Post by robin_reala »

FLUX-YOU wrote: post #28
aaron695 wrote: post #11

FFS can we stop spending billions on designing around screen readers and fucking spend billions on good screen readers.

This would be my concern -- potentially half-assed engineered products significantly influencing nationwide (worldwide?) standards that suddenly many developers must now accompany. It'll be like supporting IE 7-9 all over again.

On GOV.UK we have high six figures of each of IE8 and IE9 per month, so we do support them already. It’s about user needs.

Re: UK government changes website guidelines due to buggy screen readers

#34

Post by timthorn »

kitd wrote: post #3
lmm wrote: post #2

> And while ‘e.g.’ gets read correctly by screen readers, there are better, clearer ways of introducing examples for all users. Strongly disagree. "e.g." has its place; it is often clearer than any alternative. Likewise "i.e.". "eg" is unpleasantly confusing even as an ordinary reader and should never have been allowed, but to remove "e.g." too is to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Could you explain why it is better than, say, "say"? (neat, huh?)

Because e.g. is formal and "say" is informal.

Re: UK government changes website guidelines due to buggy screen readers

#36

Post by MLR »

cmsd2 wrote: post #23
akavel wrote: post #8

Is it actually officially correct to use "eg" instead of "e.g.", and "ie" instead of "i.e." in English? (UK, US, AU, or whichever else?) Both http://dictionary.cambridge.org and http://dictionary.com seem to show only "e.g." and "i.e." for me?

The Guardian style guide is the only one of the newspapers for which I could find an entry on this. https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-e It recommends dropping the dots. I know we were taught in school to treat them as abbreviations and therefore include the dots so I'm not sure where this new fashion comes from.

Just the current trend I think, hyphenation of words seems to have gone out of fashion too.

Re: UK government changes website guidelines due to buggy screen readers

#37

Post by bigblind »

robin_reala wrote: post #27
franciscop wrote: post #7

I love what UK Gov is doing, they actually sound like the kind of business that I'd love to work with (I'm totally surprised because it's a Government) and I'm learning a lot just with these articles. I'd also love to see other governments to take a similar approach, but that seems highly unlikely for most countries including Spain (where I am from).

We’re hiring back-end developers and web-ops currently, maybe you should apply?

How is this relevant to the conversation?

Re: UK government changes website guidelines due to buggy screen readers

#38

Post by hobs »

bigblind wrote: post #37
robin_reala wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We’re hiring back-end developers and web-ops currently, maybe you should apply?

How is this relevant to the conversation?

Because they are working on UK Government projects, check the profile :)

Re: UK government changes website guidelines due to buggy screen readers

#40

Post by kminehart »

marktangotango wrote: post #20

A lot of developers aren't familiar with ADA compliance, it could become something we're (edit all US based developers) all talking about in the near future. http://www.technologylawsource.com/2015/06/articles/informat...

This is only a requirement for government entities and non-profits at the moment. For those who didn't read the article, in April of 2016 the Department of Justice, the organization responsible for the Americans with Disabilities Act, has proposed an amendment, which will "require public entities and public accommodations that provide products or services to the public through websites on the Internet to make their sites accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities.". Immediately after, the article says that they were careful not to suggest that currently inaccessible websites are exempt.

So if you have a website currently up and you're providing a product or service, similar to having a wheelchair accessible entrance, you may be required to provide a more accessible website, or an accessible alternative.

For those of you who aren't familiar with website accessibility, you might want to brush up on the ADA guidelines. https://www.ada.gov/pcatoolkit/chap5toolkit.htm

I tend to test run my websites through Lynx to make sure it works fine without JavaScript, try to navigate with only a keyboard in Chrome and Firefox, and try it out with a cheap or free screenreader like Chromevox.

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