NYS Forum IT Accessibility Committee

March 2009 Newsletter

### Edited by Joel Obuchowski

Articles and ideas for future newsletters? Please e-mail them to Debi Orton dorton@goer.state.ny.us and Joel Obuchowski jobuchow@ins.state.ny.us

NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING

The next committee meeting will be held on Thursday, March 12 from 2:30 - 4:00 at the NEW Forum offices at 24 Aviation Road, Colonie, just off of Wolf Road. Among the items we'll discuss are a number of upcoming training opportunities, the status of the validation tool, and outreach efforts.

Coming from Central Avenue, take a right onto Wolf Road, and take the first right turn past Sand Creek Road. At the first four corners, take a left onto Aviation Road. Park behind #24 and take the back entrance.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Deaf Initiative in Technology (DiiT) 2009 Summer Workshops (From the DBTAC - Northeast ADA Center Newsletter)

DiiT is excited to introduce its 2009 Summer Workshop Schedule, which includes many new workshops! DiiT provides up-to-the-minute technical training in an all sign environment. Workshop participants get the benefit of direct interaction with the instructors without the need for interpreters. This year, DiiT is offering workshops in Graphic Communications, Information Technology, Engineering, English, and Business related topics. All workshops are held at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. For more information, or to register, please visit www.rit.edu/diit or call 585-475-7545 (Voice or TTY). DiiT encourages you to visit their Website to see new offerings or to add your name to the mailing list.

FEATURE ARTICLE

Good News about the Online Validation Tool

At the March 6 Webmasters' Guild meeting, Marilyn Cordell, Statewide Accessibility Coordinator from CIO/OFT announced that OFT had picked up the funding for the NYS Accessibility Validation Tool for this year. The Tool will be available sometime next week and agency CIOs will receive a notification from CIO/OFT when the Tool is ready.

The web address for the Tool and user log ins should remain the same as they were before.

Please note as well that the former policy, standard and best practice guidelines have been combined into one document under the number P08-005 and is posted on the CIO/OFT web site http://www.oft.state.ny.us/Policy/NYS-P08-005.pdf.

CIO/OFT may be doing a survey to determine agency interest in an Enterprise License Agreement that bundles the online tool, desktop tool and extra services, such as training. CIOs should be looking for a survey in the Spring. Keep in mind that although CIO/OFT has secured funding for this year, it may be up to agencies to keep the tool available moving forward.

RECENT NEWS

W3C News

Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA)

2009-02-24: ARIA defines a way to make Web content and Web applications more accessible to people with disabilities. It especially helps with dynamic content and advanced user interface controls developed with Ajax, HTML, JavaScript, and related technologies. The ARIA specification outlines a method and a set of technologies to assist in making content such accessible to individuals using assistive technologies, and has reached "Last Call" stage. This is typically the last chance for anyone concerned to comment. To review the latest specification, see: http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria. You can also find a Best Practices document which provides general and specific advice for making applications more usable. You'll find the most recent version of the Best Practices document at: http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/WD-wai-aria-practices-20090224.

Drafts of HTML 5, Differences from HTML 4 Published

2009-02-12: The HTML Working Group has published Working Drafts of HTML 5 http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/WD-html5-20090212 and HTML 5 differences from HTML 4 http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/WD-html5-diff-20090212. In this version of HTML5, new features are introduced to help Web application authors, new elements are introduced based on research into prevailing authoring practices, and special attention has been given to defining clear conformance criteria for user agents in an effort to improve interoperability.

Accessibility Probe (AccProbe) v0.4.3
(Mike Squillace - IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center)

I am pleased to announce the release of Accessibility Probe (AccProbe) v0.4.3. AccProbe is an Eclipse RCP-based stand-alone Java application that combines inspection, event-monitoring, and hierarchical viewing of accessible objects and their properties. It is currently only available for the Windows platform but does support both MSAA- and IAccessible2-enabled applications. It is, so far as I know, the only game in town for IAccessible2 inspection and event-monitoring, which also means that it can be used to verify ARIA-enabled web applications in Firefox 2.x and above.

You can learn more about AccProbe and download release v0.4.3 at: http://www.eclipse.org/actf/downloads/tools/accprobe

Department of Labor's (DOL) Recent Efforts to Increase Employment of Returning Veterans (From the DBTAC - Northeast ADA Center Newsletter:)

The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) has created a new fact sheet, "Supporting the Workplace Success of Wounded and Injured Service Members", which highlights the U.S. Department of Labor's recent employment-related outreach programs for returning service members and their employers-REALifelines and America's Heroes at Work. To access the fact sheet, go to: http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/publicat.htm#jobseeking.

HireVetsFirst, an initiative of the DOL, has identified the top 10 reasons employers should hire veterans with disabilities: http://www.earnworks.com/veterans/index.asp

US Business Leadership Network (USBLN) and GettingHired.com Partner to Promote Recruitment of Qualified Job Seekers with Disabilities: On February 6th, USBLN and GettingHired.com announced their partnership, designed to build upon the strengths of USBLN's national business-to-business network and GettingHired.com's innovative internet-based portal and accessible technologies designed to connect qualified job seekers with interested companies. USBLN Executive Director John D. Kemp stated, "This partnership is a win for everyone...most of all Americans with disabilities seeking employment". Read more at: http://sev.prnewswire.com/workforce-management/20090206/CLF02906022009-1.html

NEWS LINKS (Also of Interest)

Expedia's hotels.com settles lawsuit over wheelchair access
http://deseretnews.com/article/0,5143,705280421,00.html

Expedia and Hotels.com agree to provide information for disabled travelers
http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=29201

Blind Law student sues law school admissions council over accessibility
http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202428419045

Group, Blind Sue Law School Admissions Body for Inaccessible Web Site
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7014149757

RESOURCES

Accessibility & Degradation in Cappucino
http://rossboucher.com/2009/02/26/accessibility-degradation-in-cappuccino/

Accessibility Checking...With Just a Browser!
http://www.sitepoint.com/print/checking-just-browser/

Accessible Twitter
http://www.accessibletwitter.com/

Easy YouTube caption creator - a very rough first "build"
http://accessify.com/news/2009/02/easy-youtube-caption-creator-a-very-rough-first-build/.

Graceful degradation vs. progressive enhancement
http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/graceful-degradation-progressive-enhancement/

Headings in HTML5 and Accessibility
http://www.brucelawson.co.uk/2009/headings-in-html-5-and-accessibility/

Limitations of the WAI-ARIA
http://rossboucher.com/2009/03/01/limitations-of-the-wai-aria/

Improving Accessibility Through Focus Management
http://yuiblog.com/blog/2009/02/23/managing-focus/

The Cost of Accessibility
http://allinthehead.com/retro/337/the-cost-of-accessibility