Overview

The Access Challenge

Web Apps: Advantages

Hosted Web applications enable:

• Easy deployment

• Light-weight user interaction

• Ubiquitous access to data

• Easy upgrades

Today’s access technologies do not fit this model.

The Impedance Mismatch

Major shift in application deployment model

• Web Apps —The document is the interface

• Light-weight UI hosted in Web pages

• Current adaptive technologies assume desktop application model

App model shift requires shift in AT.

Consequences

When Web Apps And Desktop Screen-readers Collide

• Adaptive technology installed on client workstation

• Depends on native APIs

  • All of the disadvantages,

  • And none of the advantages!

Ubiquitous Access

The Access Challenge

• Web promises anytime, anywhere access

• Equal access for users with special needs:

  • Email access at airport?

  • Edit/share information from a kiosk?

What Does Accessible Mean?

Access Goals

• Retain present level of access to functionality

• Increase reach by enabling wider access

• Wider access:

  • Bring within reach of more users

  • Enable access in more user contexts

  • Improve user effectiveness by enabling rapid task completion

Important to go beyond the status-quo

Building Blocks

(Content, UA, AT)

• Together determine overall user experience

• Content: Capture adequate semantics

• UA: Degrade gracefully

• AT: Bridge the gap

Building Spoken Feedback

Building Speech Access

• Identify what to speak

• Determine how to speak it

• Decide when to speak

What To Speak

• Rich markup for Web content

• Separate content from presentation

• Structure content to reflect its intent

• Add content annotations to provide smart navigation

• Identify role of content particles

• Expose current state via DOM properties

How To Speak

• Enable rich spoken feedback

• Provide Web developers direct access to speech layer

• Enable rich auditory presentations of content

Treat spoken output as a first-class citizen.

When To Speak

Speech is silvern, but silence is golden!

• Event handlers implement web interaction

• Eventing determines when things change

• Attach handlers that produce relevant output

The Access Opportunity

Web Application Model

• Data resides on the network

• Interaction resides on the client

• Network operations to synchronize data

• Browser widgets to create UI

Shift away from monolithic applications

The Access Opportunity

Separation of interaction from data:

• Opens up opportunities for custom clients

• Specialize user interaction to user’s needs

• Multiple UIs can collaborate

One size no longer need fit everyone

New Adaptive Technologies

New opportunities for AT :

• A new market for consumer applications

• Custom services tailored to end-user needs

• Task-driven access tools

This generation of AT will be user-driven.

Mashing It Up With Web APIs

Web APIs

Separation of content from interaction:

• Leads to light-weight Web APIs

• Atom/RSS based syndication

• AJAX APIs for Web services

• Examples: Google Maps, Google Calendar

• Web mashups are an automatic follow-on

What is the access equivalent of a mashup?

Essence Of A Mashup

Syndicate data sources into a custom UI

• Add screen-enlargement (zooming)

• Augment Web UI with spoken output

• Overlay simplified skins

• Create custom aggregations of Web apps

Ubiquitous, Any Time Access

Mobile Access

User Interfaces that match User Needs!

• Brings a new perspective to accessibility

• Opens up new vistas for users with special needs

• Profoundly impacts how we work and play

Conclusion

Conclusion

• Web applications force separation of user-interface from core application

• Makes development of multiple user interfaces affordable

• Opens up new opportunities for meeting user needs

Watch Computing Take Off!