Sakai U-Camp: Sakai U-Camp: Accessibility Accessibility Colin Clark, Inclusive Software Architect, Adaptive Technology Resource Center, University of Toronto Mike Elledge, Assistant Director, Usability & Accessibility Center, Michigan State University
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Sakai U-Camp: Accessibility Colin Clark, Inclusive Software Architect, Adaptive Technology Resource Center, University of Toronto Mike Elledge, Assistant.
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Colin Clark, Inclusive Software Architect, Adaptive Technology Resource Center, University of Toronto
Mike Elledge, Assistant Director, Usability & Accessibility Center, Michigan State University
Topics
• What is disability?• What is accessibility?• What are Sakai accessibility objectives?• What is the state of Sakai accessibility?• What resources are available?• How do I design accessible interfaces?• What does the future hold for accessibility
and Sakai?
Defining Disability
• In context of a learning environment:
• Disability is artifact of a mismatched relationship between a learner and the education offered
• Not a personal trait
• Thus accessibility is the ability of learning environment to adjust to user needs
Defining Accessibility
• Flexibility of education environment, curriculum, and delivery of content
• Availability of alternative and equivalent content and activities
Accommodation Strategies
• Multiple versions
• Single component approach
• Adaptable components
Problem with Multiple Versions
• “Accessible” version not maintained and becomes outdated (eg. text-only version)
• Unequal access to resource• People with disabilities are not a homogenous group
Limitations of Single Component Approach
• Accessible for everyone but optimal for no one
• Design decisions often do not make the experience better for all users (breaks the “curbcut rule”)
• Time and expertise required of all resource creators
• Reluctance to use new or innovative technologies
• Valuable resources that are not compliant are often rejected
• From WCAG 2.0:– 1. Content must be perceivable– 2. Interface components should be operable– 3. Content must be understandable– 4. Content should be robust & forward-looking
Does this Sound Familiar?
• These are design principles!
• Design for consistency
• Design useful navigation schemes
• Design and test forms
• Make things readable and understandable to the user
Challenges for Designers
• The Web is a medium that should be plastic and highly adaptive
• Need to design multiple user experiences
• Design for less-than-ideal circumstances
Inclusive Design Techniques
• Understand users with disabilities
• Label everything clearly
• Design for separability and change
• Enable different control strategies
• Provide alternatives or augmentations for everything
Future Sakai Accessibility
• Frameless portal and integrated tools
• Dynamic content
• TransformAble
• Flexible UIs: the Fluid Design Project
TransformAble
• Web services to help with Web application accessibility
• PreferAble: allows users to specify personal display and control preferences
• StyleAble: restyles user interface• SenseAble: rearranges and augments content• Currently being integrated into Sakai• We’re behind schedule but moving along
Fluid Design
• Responding to the need to improve usability and accessibility in community source projects
• Create both technologies and processes
• Enable design contributions
• Share user interface components
• UI components as design patterns
Why Create a Flexible UI?
• To address unique institutional needs• To address needs of different disciplines• To address cultural differences• To simplify internationalization &
localization• To ensure accessibility• To accommodate diverse individual needs• To support device independence
Fluid Project Goals
• Make it easier for designers to get involved in community source software
• Enable pooling of UI resources
• Encourage loosely coupled UIs
• Facilitate wide-scale testing
• Enable transformable user interfaces
• Improve consistency of user experience
Provide Technical Supports
• Provides a consistent model for UI components across applications
• Establishes a single API for configuring components
• Provides a consistent way of specifying site-wide customizations such as skins
• Decouples UI from application logic• Enables easy switching of components to meet