Introduction

1. Introduction
2. About Mitsue-Links
3. Our stance towards Web accessibility

Introduction (1)Introduction

• Introduction of presenters
• Presentation theme: “Improvement of Web Accessibility: What a Japanese Web Production Company Can Do”
• Today's agenda
  1. Introduction
  2. Services provided by Mitsue-Links
  3. Knowledge gained from work with developing guidelines
  4. Current conditions and issues with Japanese voice reading environment
  5. Raising more awareness about accessibility
  6. Acting as a bridge between the world and Japan
  7. Summary
• Slide URL: http://accessibility.mitsue.co.jp/resources/csun2008/

Introduction (2)About Mitsue-Links

• Founded in July of 1990
• Information integrator that guides the sustainable development of the client's business
• Currently as of March of 2008, 270 employees
• One of the largest companies of Web design/development in Japan
• Have obtained ISO9001 (Quality Management System) and ISO14001 (Environmental Management)
• http://www.mitsue.co.jp/english/

Introduction (3)Our stance towards Web accessibility

• Definition: A condition in which all users can access information and use the functions of a Web site, without dependency on any specific viewing environment
• Not only support for disabled people and the elderly
• Support not just for people but for machines/software as well is important
• Maximize the potential possibilities, taking in consideration the special characteristics of the Web medium

Services provided by Mitsue-Links

1. Web Accessibility Solution
2. Screen Reader Testing
3. Contents and price comparison of Web Construction Accessibility Support Service

Services provided by Mitsue-Links (1)Web Accessibility Solution

Maintenance and improvement of your site's accessibility with cost and time frame adaptable to the customer's situation

• Web Accessibility Evaluation Service
  • Screen Reader Testing
• Web Construction Accessibility Support Service
  • Light
  • Standard
  • Professional
• Web Operations Accessibility Support Service
• Web Accessibility Consulting
  • Guideline Development

Services provided by Mitsue-Links (2)Screen Reader Testing

Objectives

• Improve awareness of Web accessibility within the company that provide contents
• For content problems that are hard to understand with just a diagnosis report, the actual audio reading is introduced

Flow of the service

1. Define the tasks
2. Execute the tasks and record audio
3. Produce a report containing the problems found when tasks were executed

[Demo] Screen Reader Testing

Services provided by Mitsue-Links (3)Contents and price comparison of Web Construction Accessibility Support Service

Knowledge gained from work with developing guidelines

1. (X)HTML+CSS
2. PDF
3. Flash
4. Language
5. Audio
6. Avoid providing information that is dependent on visuals

Knowledge gained from work with developing guidelines (1)(X)HTML+CSS

• Conforming to (X)HTML+CSS standards (W3C specs) is a prerequisite
  • Stipulated by WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) of the W3C and Web contents JIS (JIS X 8341-3)
• Markup that is valid in meaning, structurally, and grammatically is crucial
• Select the optimal solution for specs, the implementation of user agents and best practices
• Implementations that have accessibility risks
  • display:none;
  • Image replacement

Knowledge gained from work with developing guidelines (2)PDF

• Express with (X)HTML+CSS information that doesn't necessarily have to be in PDF
• Produce accessible PDF
  • Structuring using tags
  • Provide alternative text for images
  • Give consideration to the reading order with the TouchUp Reading Order tool
• Provide links for getting plug-ins and installation instructions

Knowledge gained from work with developing guidelines (3)Flash

• Express with (X)HTML+CSS information that doesn't necessarily have to be in Flash
• Points for accessible Flash contents
  • Equivalent text
  • Reading order/tab index

Knowledge gained from work with developing guidelines (4)Language

• Specifying the language used allows for better reading
  • lang/hreflang attribute
• Precautions particular to Japanese
  • White space characters
  • Line break position

[Demo] Influence on the screen reader caused by the space between words

Knowledge gained from work with developing guidelines (5)Audio

• Avoid the auto play of audio
• In the case that the auto play of audio is unavoidable, clearly communicate this to the user (Hearing impaired people often don't notice auto play)
• Allow the user to control volume adjustment and stop the audio

Knowledge gained from work with developing guidelines (6)Avoid providing information that is dependent on visuals

• Dependency on color
  • Maintain contrast between foreground and background colors
• Dependency on shape and position

Current conditions and issues with Japanese voice reading environment

1. Environment of voicereaders used in Japan
2. Name, price, user share, developer, features
3. Availability of commands for Web viewing
4. Problems when handling Web contents with Japanese screen reader
5. Lack of user skills

Current conditions and issues with Japanese voice reading environment (1)Environment of voicereaders used in Japan

• There are 8 kinds of screen readers and 3 kinds of voice browsers
• Wide price range
• Large difference in functionality

Current conditions and issues with Japanese voice reading environment (2)Name, price, user share, developer, features

The source of user share information is a User Survey of Screen Readers, the Internet, and Mobile Phones 2007

Current conditions and issues with Japanese voice reading environment (3)Availability of commands for Web viewing

Current conditions and issues with Japanese voice reading environment (4)Problems when handling Web contents with Japanese screen reader

• Can't assess the document structure of headings and lists
• Operational methods aren't uniform
• Hard to assess the contents of large data tables

[Demo] Problems with a Japanese screen reader that can't read out tables

Current conditions and issues with Japanese voice reading environment (5)Lack of user skills

• Can only use the basic voice commands such as arrow and tab keys
• Are not very aware of and don't commonly use information such as headings, lists, and tables
• Operating based on their past experiences

Raising more awareness about accessibility

1. Accessibility Blog
2. Accessibility Podcast
3. Videocasting - Shawn Henry
4. Screen reader explanatory video

Raising more awareness about accessibility (1)Accessibility Blog

• Provide topics related to Web accessibility from various angles
  • http://accessibility.mitsue.co.jp/ (only in Japanese)
• Started in August of 2005
• Recently access is approximately 2,800 visits and over 50,000 page views per month

Raising more awareness about accessibility (2)Accessibility Podcast

• Joint Podcast by Mitsue-Links and Infoaxia Co., Ltd
  • http://accessibility.mitsue.co.jp/archives/podcast/ (only in Japanese)

  

• Since the start in September of 2007, 12 episodes have been broadcasted (currently as of March 2008)
• Transcript also provided every time
• Main contents
  • “Accessibility Headlines” foreign and domestic accessibility related topics
  • “Assistive Technology Tips” information for Web site producers, content providers, assistive technology users
• Future plans
  • Plan to continue broadcasting for the next half year
  • Podcast related events also planned

Raising more awareness about accessibility (3)Videocasting - Shawn Henry

• Videocasting: Promotion by the motion picture team
  • http://videocast.mitsue.co.jp/english/
• Meet the Professionals
  • Project of interviewing people active in the Web industry
  • In the 6th episode an interview with Shawn Henry of the W3C/WAI (recorded at CSUN 2007）
    • Transcript also provided
    • http://videocast.mitsue.co.jp/english/archives/2007/000056.html

Raising more awareness about accessibility (4)Screen reader explanatory video

• Inspired by Victor Tsaran: “An Introduction to Screen readers - Yahoo! Video”
• Video contents that introduce what a screen reader is (total of 5 episodes)
• Target listeners:
  • Contents providers
  • CSR representatives
  • Web designers/Web developers
  • Screen reader users
• Contents of each episode
  • Episode 1: What's a screen reader?
  • Episode 2: Basic Windows operations read by at a screen reader
  • Episode 3: Web contents read by JAWS (part 1)
  • Episode 4: Web contents read by JAWS (part 2)
  • Episode 5: Manipulating a form with JAWS

Acting as a bridge between Japan and the World

1. Participation in the W3C
2. Contribution to the WCAG2
3. Participation in CSUN
4. Participation in the UAI Research Group
5. Japanese version of “Web Accessibility”
6. Localizing the NVDA into Japanese

Acting as a bridge between Japan and the World (1)Participation in the W3C

• W3C: World Wide Web Consortium
• An international industrial consortium founded in 1994 with the purpose of maximizing the possibilities of the Web
• Worldwide over 400 companies and organizations participate for the development of Web standards
• Mitsue-Links has participated since April of 2004
• As of January 2008, are participating in HTML WG and XHTML2 WG

Acting as a bridge between Japan and the World (2)Contribution to the WCAG2

• The guidelines that W3C/WAI are currently developing: (WCAG: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)
• In December of 2007, the Last Call Working Draft was published and comments were received until February 1st of 2008
• Mitsue-Links also commented on the draft
  • Validity
  • Calculation of contrast
  • etc.

Acting as a bridge between Japan and the World (3)Participation in CSUN

• First attended and presented in 2007
  • Making Website Accessible - Futureproof Web Design with Standards
• Also participate this year as a sponsor
• In the future would like to commit as well to the world's largest accessibility related event

Acting as a bridge between Japan and the World (4)Participation in the UAI Research Group

• A sectional committee of the Internet Technology Research Committee (abbreviation：ITRC)
  • Objective is to promote interaction between the wide range of fields in the internet, industry and academia, and different generations
  • Currently as of January of 2008 32 universities, 10 organizations, and 28 companies are participating
• UAI: sectional committee for elderly and handicapped internet users
  • Every month meetings held for sharing information about surveys, research, and Web accessibility standards
  • UAI's activities include publishing of the translated version of “Web Accessibility” and the localization of NVDA into Japanese

Acting as a bridge between Japan and the World (5)Japanese version of “Web Accessibility”

• Webアクセシビリティ 〜標準準拠でアクセシブルなサイトを構築/管理するための考え方と実践〜
  • Publishing of the Japanese version of “Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance”
  • Translated and by supervised by members of the UAI Research Group
  • Released October 25th of 2007
  • “Latest trends in Web Accessibility in Japan” is also enclosed in the appendix
  • An electronic text is also provided as information assurance

Acting as a bridge between Japan and the World (6)Localizing the NVDA into Japanese

• NVDA：NonVisual Desktop Access
• Free, open source screen reader for the Microsoft Windows operating system
• Was developed in 1996 and already translated into more than 11 languages
• Conducting activities centering around the UAI Research Group with the goal of enabling input and output in a Japanese environment without problems
• The outcome is widely available to the public on the website of NVDAJp

[Demo] A demonstrative presentation of the Japanese version of NVDA

Summary

1. Equipping an access environment
2. Aiming to be a hub for accessibility

Summary (1)Equipping an access environment

• In English speaking countries there are highly functional screen readers like JAWS and Window-Eyes
• In Japan there are many screen readers that are low cost, but the functionality is not so high. There are also many users
• It is not enough to just use Web standards and produce contents that take into consideration accessibility
• In the future, through the Japanese version of NVDA, we will work on equipping an access environment

Summary (2)Aiming to be a hub for accessibility

• In January of 2001, Steve Jobs of Apple Computer (at that time) announced the “Digital Hub” concept
• The improvement of accessibility requires the cooperation of everyone involved:
  • Web designers and Web developers
  • User Agent vendors
  • Assistive Technology vendors
  • End users
  • etc.
• We would like to function as a hub to realize collaborations for the improvement of accessibility, regardless of not only different points of view, but also overcoming the walls between overseas and Japan, within and outside companies.

Q&A

Thank you!

We All Welcome Your Comments/Feedbacks
k-kidachi@mitsue.co.jp
tsuji-katsutoshi@mitsue.co.jp