Web Accessibility 2.0: A Holistic Approach What About Interoperability

1
Web Accessibility 2.0 A Holistic Approach What
About Interoperability?
http//www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conference
s/ili-2006/masterclass/
Talk 4

• Brian Kelly
• UKOLN
• University of Bath
• Bath
• Email B.Kelly_at_ukoln.ac.uk

The talk in which we describe how usability and
accessibility are only a part of providing
effective Web services.
ili-2006-masterclass-kelly tag used in
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2
Background

• Where Are We?
• So far we have
• Identified the potential and limitations of tools
• Recognised the importance of user testing to
  ensure usable accessible Web site
• Is this sufficient? What about
• Supporting new devices e.g. mobile devices in an
  environment with pervasive WiFi networks?
• Access by robots, etc. (e.g. search engines,
  transformation engines, )
• Repurposing resources
• Preserving digital resources
• In addition to usability and accessibility we
  should also be addressing interoperability

3
Supporting New Devices

• Greater use is being made of devices other than
  PCs
• PDAs ? Mobile phones
• Digital TVs ?

4
Repurposing Resources

• Lessons from the past
• We use a great technology (e.g. BBC micro, PC, )
  and develop materials for it
• Something better comes along and our resources
  are trapped in an obsolete technology
• We develop a great resource but others only
  want to make use of part of the resources
• What is needed?
• Device and application independence
• Ability to
• Make use of resources 'chunks'
• Integrate chunks from disparate resources
• Find relevant chunks (e.g. relevant content,
  appropriate technologies, appropriate rights
  permissions, )

5
Preserving Resources

• Will our Web sites be able to be preserved
• To enrich future generations
• To ensure support for FoI, etc.

• Internet Archive's Wayback Machine
• Can show what Web site looked like previously
• Can help spot problems
• Can images be captured?
• Are technologies being used which may cause
  problems for preservation?
• Are obsolete file formats used?

6
Addressing Interoperability

• How can we address such interoperability
  challenges?
• Use of open standards can help to
• Provide application device independence
• Future-proof resources and services
• Use of open standards can help to minimise
  migration costs
• But need to consider such issues from the start
• However there may be conflicts with other
  requirements
• Proprietary formats (e.g. Flash, PDF) may be easy
  to use and satisfy user needs
• There may be cost and resource implications
• Open standards may fail to take off
• The future may not be as expected!

7
Case Study
http//www.weetwood.co.uk/weetwood.html

• Weetwood Hall
• Web site for good conference venue
• Web site is attractive and easy to use
• But
• Requires Flash plugin
• Can't bookmark pages
• Not HTML text to index
• One Flash file so individual resources can't be
  reused
• Text not resizable

8
Need For Clean URLs
http//www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/docume
nts/code/InternetHome.hcsp
http//www.mla.gov.uk/webdav/harmonise?Page/_at_id82
Section5B _at_stateId_eq_left_hand_root5D/_at_id4289
Document/_at_id24343

• What are the problems with these URLs?
• Usability Problems
• Difficult to type
• May be difficult to find (can Google index it?)
• Accessibility Problems
• Difficult to remember
• Difficult to use if have problems with keyboard
• Interoperability Problems
• Dependent on specific CMS
• Difficult to annotate

See Guidelines For URI Naming Policies, B. Kelly,
Ariadne 31
9
Conclusions

• To conclude
• We need to consider interoperability issues
• Such issues can help
• Service providers
• Users of new devices
• Users of assistive technologies
• But
• There may be cost implications
• Planning will be important
• End users may seem happy with an
  non-interoperable site

10
Questions

• Any questions?