Activity 2b
C&I 335
Summer 1998

Tammy McLane
Argenta-Oreana Junior High School
Argenta, Illinois

 

Bobby gave me his four-star stamp of approval on all my pages! However, I took his suggestions and made a few modifications:

Personal_info.htm

I inserted text to separate two hyperlinks that were adjacent
I resized my two gifs so they would be smaller and load faster

Activity_summary_pages.htm

I inserted text to separate two hyperlinks that were adjacent

Curricular_hot_list.htm

I inserted text to separate two hyperlinks that were adjacent

If I have time, I would also like to add a text version button link to my index.html page

 

As Tech Coordinator, I had already planned to do some computer workshops with the staff including the Windows 95 operating system and the design of web pages. Now I will be sure in include in each of these (or maybe as a separate class) this issue of Accessibility. Windows 95 has an accessibility option in Settings, Control Panel. There are 4 areas available to use separately or in combination.

  1. Keyboard
    Sticky keys-for those who find it difficult to hold down combination keystrokes such as Alt-Tab. This allows the user to press one key and then the other while the program will translate the two keystrokes as one combo.
    Filter keys-for those who may unintentionally quickly hit a key or, vice versa, those who may unintentionally press a key too long. This allows the program to compensate by ignoring quickly hit keys and by setting a longer repeat delay.
    Toggle keys-for those who need extra help knowing when a "toggle key" is turned on/off. This provides a sound for the user to hear when the Caps Lock, Scroll Lock, or Num Lock key is pressed.
  2. Sound
    SoundSentry-for those who cannot hear system sounds. This provides a visual warning to alert the user.
    ShowSounds-for those who cannot hear system sounds. This provides captions for warnings and speech.
  3. Display
    High Contrast-for those who have difficulty seeing/reading the screen. This provides several different color and font settings such as large white text on a black background.
    Personal note: My mother is legally blind and this "white on black" is the best combination for her to see whether it is a computer screen, a clock face, a sign, etc.
  4. Mouse
    MouseKeys-for those who have difficulty using a mouse as a pointing device (or if you don't have a mouse). This allows the user to control the pointer movement with the keypad.

Since our district already uses licensed versions of Windows 95 on most of our computers, it would be easy (and free) for teachers to take advantage of these 4 accessibility options. Of course there are other hardware/software accessories that could be purchased, too. WebSpeak was one that was mentioned in the articles I researched. However, what the article didn't mention was that regular speakers could be a distraction to the other students in the classroom. It would be necessary to purchase headphones for each workstation that made use of the WebSpeak program or any other voice output device/software.

I really like the tutorial that Michelle Hinn wrote for the lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/access pages. However, I was rather surprised that most of the items mentioned were simply good design rules for "non-accessible" pages. If think this would be an excellent resource to use when teaching web page design and layout as well as when teaching about accessibility issues. I would also add one more suggestion to her list. Use ALL CAPITAL LETTERS judiciously. Maybe this is only a problem for teachers in my generation who learned to use ALL CAPS for emphasis when typing on a typewriter. However, I see this often and I don't think most people realize how difficult it is to read. Especially now that thousands of fonts are available, I hope we can get away from this habit and be creative with fonts and font sizes.

Also regarding the topic of accessibility, I would like to mention the need for different computer furniture. For example, Richland Community College has included one workstation in each computer classroom that uses a higher, wider desk for wheelchair accessibility. I can see the situation arising at a K-12 building where the classroom may have a computer with all the right tools but the student can't use it because he/she can't physically access the computer.