Browsers and assistive technologies - what do you recommend?
We've been asked to help put together a basic IT infrastucture for a children's hospice. The users will include children with a range of disabilities plus their families. What would we need as a basic set of software to ensure that as many people as possible could use the system (mainly for web browsing and online learning)?
I'd thought of
Windows, because it's the system most people are familiar with. (Unless there are good accessibility reasons for preferring a Mac or Linux)
a "normal" browser. Are any of Firefox, Opera or IE inherently more or less accessible than any of the others?
a text-only browser, eg Lynx
a screenreader
alternatives to the mouse - trackballs etc.
Have I missed anything essential? The aim is to make it usable by people with a wide range of disabilities while keeping the cost as low as possible.
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Opera has a magnification feature, which is quite nice.
I'd include IE anyway as most people are familiar with it and unfortunately you still get many sites which are designed only for it.
Something that may not always be considered is to make sure that the PCs are at a height etc to be used by people in a wheelchair. I've seen "internet facilities" before where you need to sit on a tall stool, bolted to the floor, in order to use the PCs, so there's no way a wheelchair user could use them.
Allow users to change screen resolutions/ colour contrasts etc to suit themselves and show them how to do so.
And point people in the direction of whatever accessibility features are already built into the OS ...
Jack Pickard The Pickards Information Services| Blog | Twit
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| toms wrote: |
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a "normal" browser. Are any of Firefox, Opera or IE inherently more or less accessible than any of the others? |
my vote would go for Firefox, nicely customised to make it simple and obvious (e.g. set the buttons to be big, unclutter the toolbar by customising it, add things like - and yes, pimping my own cool-aid - the firefox text size toolbar extension)
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a text-only browser, eg Lynx |
you may not need lynx...you could set up a new profile for Firefox with a user stylesheet that does a similar job (incidentally, why would you need a text-only browser? which target audience benefits from using something like lynx in isolation? or are you planning to run it couple with a braille display or similar?)
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| Have I missed anything essential? |
magnifying software like ZoomText or Lunar (although basic functionality is already built into windows 2000/XP)
Patrick H. Lauke / splintered
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When I wrote a Review of Opera 8.5 I found it had acres of accessibility features just beneath the surface. It has especially good keyboard browsing support and is generally a first rate tool. The occassional site might smeg up in it but a friendly e-mail to their webmaster might prompt their next redesign to be more interoperable. For the most part it handles stuff fine.
I find the interface pretty difficult to customise but you can strip it down to a simple minumum fairly easily. Since v8.5 the menus are much, much simpler than older versions which make it easier to find common features. It features a kiosk mode which could suit your intended use perfectly.
Security is obviously a concern and IE is the most vulnerable in that regard. Resource consumption is another concern, particularly since the computers have to be bought from charity money. Firefox is extremely heavy on resources, so I would recommend against it for any use other than modern PCs at home. Opera is very lightweight - amazingly so considering its capabailities. It also has native support for some voice functionality, although I'm not sure quite how far that extends or whether it's any good.
Have a look around their site and you might get a better idea of whether it would suit your needs. With all the customisations you can do to it, plus the control you have over it in Kiosk Mode, I think it would be an excellent choice.
Last edited by Ben Millard on 02 Mar 2006 03:14 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| Cerbera wrote: |
| Firefox is extremely heavy on resources, so I would recommend against it for any use other than modern PCs at home. |
Off-topic, sorry, but you can alleviate some of Firefox's memory usage problems by going into 'about:config' and changing browser.cache.memory.enable from true to false.
If I remember correctly, that stops it from caching the content of open tabs in RAM.
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Interesting that no-one has mentioned screenreaders so far, as if you go with windows these will be a big part of the budget. Mac OS comes with Voiceover but I've not heard any comprehensive reviews of it, and if your patients are already experienced in a different screenreader they might find it difficult to adjust.Web Developer, Kyan
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| Robin wrote: |
| Interesting that no-one has mentioned screenreaders so far, as if you go with windows these will be a big part of the budget. |
Opera v8.5+ includes a very good voice utility -- for free. A screenreader is a tool that reads what's shown on the screen. Opera's voice is even better: it reads from the HTML itself, and some styling with CSS speech is possible.
Also in other respects I would recommend Opera for your situation. It is extremely customizable, it has a very useful "zoom" feature, it's very secure and it's very fast.
Should you also install IE? Tricky question. If you install it, many people will use that, rather than Opera/FF, simply because they know that the big blue e icon means "Internet". This way, they end up using a product that doesn't deliver half so much quality as Opera/FF. But, unfortunately, it's true that there are still some sites that are designed specifically for IE, although I must say I haven't had to use IE for years now. Some user CSS usually does the trick.
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| garmt wrote: |
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A screenreader is a tool that reads what's shown on the screen. Opera's voice is even better: it reads from the HTML itself, and some styling with CSS speech is possible. |
modern screen readers (as opposed to older "screen scrapers") do take advantage of the browser's DOM as well, so that's not 100% accurate any more.
and as good as opera's voicing capabilities are, they won't make the rest of the operating system accessible/usable.
Patrick H. Lauke / splintered
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Thanks. I used Opera quite a bit in the past but recently I've been using Firefox as my default browser (particularly since I discovered the web developer toolbar). I must try version 8.5 as it seems to have a lot of good new features.
JackP's point about desks and tables is one of these things which is obvious as soon as it is pointed out but would have been terribly easy to overlook.
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You might want to consider a headset for those with impaired hearing, it may improve the quality and listenability of sound.
A headset with microphone might also be useful with a programme like Via Voice so even if the user cannot type, they can still dictate messages.
You will find useful information at the Disabled Living Foundation and AbilityNet
Don't forget to include some 'fun' programmes
Mike Abbott
Accessible to everyone
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| JackP wrote: |
| ............I'd include IE anyway as most people are familiar with it and unfortunately you still get many sites which are designed only for it...... ... |
Very true, I am afraid. I use Firefox as standard - but quite apart form web designing, I could not manage without IE, occasionally.
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I can't remember the last time I actually had to use IE for a website. Only time I came close was checking my mum's Hotmail account for her, since the message links wouldn't respond to middle clicking and there were a few other annoyances. I just went message by message though, like you would in IE.
I havn't used Opera for prolonged browsing sessions but while I was reviewing I didn't find any sites which became unusuably broken. And let's not forget the sad fact that plenty of sites are slightly broken even in IE6, but it seems very rare now for a desktop browser to keel over from a website. Maybe that's an indication that standards compliant practises are very slowly permeating the web at large?
But anyway, of the mainstream browsers Opera v8.5 seems like the best bet for shared computers, imho. A screen reader which can speak regular dialogue windows, program menus and suchlike would be a good idea in addition to that. Checking if the people there already have software preferences would be a good idea, too.
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| Cerbera wrote: |
| I can't remember the last time I actually had to use IE for a website.......... |
Happened to me within the last year - and I must admit I can't remember where it was. There I was, sailing along in Firefox in calm seas, when I hit a rock: something like "You do not have the latest version of Internet Explorer installed, please update." That is very rare, these days, I accept. Of course, some sites render badly if not viewed in IE.
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