Making accessible blog posts

[sasha_feather]

Nerdy PSA at hope's journal is a great post on how to make your website or blog more accessible using basic HTML.

One of my big pet peeves that I see people do quite frequently, is hyperlink to things without describing what they are linking to.

For example,
BAD:

I am reading this right now!

GOOD:

I am reading The Ear, The Eye, and The Arm by Nancy Farmer right now.

I don't want to have to click on your link just to find out what the heck you are talking about. It's irritating. And I'm not trying to pick on any one person here, because I have seen at least two dozen people do variations of this problem. Sometimes for creative reasons, like using "ZOMG" as their hyperlink label when they are excited. But that is just as bad. As hope points out, for someone using a screen reader, when they hear "ZOMG" or "here" that is not very helpful for knowing where the link goes. I TOO FIND IT ANNOYING. (And I'm not holding this against you personally! It's just a part of blogging culture that I want to shift.)

[eta: I lay this out some more in comments at LJ.]

----

Also Access related, bibliofile, goblingirl and I were talking about con-related access things the other day, and bibliofile had this idea of making a Con Access Wiki. Something that everyone could read, with centralized information for how to do access at a con. Probably it would have to have restricted editing privileges. But the centralization would be nice, so that each con did not have to re-invent the wheel. And it would reduce barriers because you wouldn't have to know who to talk to to find things out, or get over your social anxiety to do so.

What do you guys think? Just an idea I'm pondering. Cons in this case means both conventions and conferences.

Comments

[wrdnrd]

Ooh! A Con Access Wiki is a *brilliant* idea!!

[sasha_feather]

bibliofile is pretty smart, huh? :D I'm glad there is some interest in it!

[trouble]

I agree. You should keep Bibliofile. :)

[mystickeeper.livejournal.com]

Regarding the first point - I definitely understand why it's annoying/a pet peeve, but I don't really see what's more accessible about it. You still have to click the link to find out WTF is going on. Like, you can describe it as "The Ear, The Eye, and The Arm by Nancy Farmer," but I still don't know what that means until I click on the link anyway.

***
I think that a Con Access Wiki would be good. After my first WisCon, I tried to ask a Geek.Kon co-chair to put blue tape on the floors in various rooms so there would always be space/a way to get in for people in wheelchairs/whatever. The person said, "Well, if they need to get in, they can just ask someone to move the chairs for them."
FAILSAUCE.

[sasha-feather.livejournal.com]

I am going to argue very hard with you on first point, after I eat my lunch.

Yes, major fail sauce on Geek.Kon. >:(

[sasha-feather.livejournal.com]

First of all, having never used a screen reader, I have a certain faith that when someone says, "here's how to make your website more accessible for screen reader users", they know what they are talking about. So there is a certain amount of that here, where I don't know all the intricacies but I trust that Hope does. Do you see how there is a little box of text that appears when you hover your mouse over the second link? That is because I changed the HTML according to her directions, to give it a 'title' tag which is good for screen readers. That's a subtle detail that I hope to learn and incorporate more and more in my blog posts.

For my own pet peevishness--
the first link tells you: I am reading something made up of words that has a link somewhere on the internet. That thing could be a fanfic, a magazine, a newspaper, one of many millions of books, a blog, wikipedia article, or who even knows what else. It gives me no information at all and I need to click the link to find out. Often I'm irritated when I do click the link, because, why didn't the blogger just say she was reading that book that I've read 3 times already?! I didn't need to look at the website, or click over to Amazon. I didn't need the link at all, in many cases-- I know how to use Mr. google.

The second link tells me that the blogger (me) is reading something titled The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm by Nancy Farmer, which is exactly what I would have written in text had the link not been there; I've just provided a link to Wikipedia as a courtesy if you are interested in reading more about it. I've also included a "title tag" for screen readers that labels the link.

[mystickeeper.livejournal.com]

Huh, I didn't know that Screen Readers were involved in the accessibility discussion - you only mentioned blog posts. I guess I would have had to click your link to know that?


I totally get your pet peevish notes - and agree with them.


ETA: It's a TV show called, Failsauce With Mystickeeper!

I see your reference to screen readers now, in your original post. Is it bad that I don't know what a screen reader is?

[sasha-feather.livejournal.com]

I was going to say "OH SNAP" and laugh at myself, but then I thought, "I did mention screen readers!"

Hahah! I could have said what they are, though, true. They are what blind people/sight-impaired people use to read the internets. I believe kestrell uses one. I admit I don't know much about them, perhaps I will now consult Mr. Google.

[mystickeeper.livejournal.com]

How do you know that Google is a man!?

[sasha-feather.livejournal.com]

You know, I picked that phrase up from sparkymonster, who used it here (http://sparkymonster.livejournal.com/346624.html#cutid1). I also saw the term "Saint Google" used snarkily in comments at jonquil's journal today. Hmmm.

[troubleinchina.livejournal.com]

I think we can all forgive you for not knowing everything. *smile*

There are some other interesting things I've been learning about screenreaders this month as part of my link-gathering for Disability (http://disability.dreamwidth.org). And a lot of it makes me go "D'oh, of course", whenever I read it.

Like, you know how in a lot of forms they'll put the "instructions for filling this box out" underneath? Which means the screen reader won't tell you how to fill out the box until after the box. Less than effective.

(Of course, the same resource also informed me very firmly that all people with mobility issues are incapable of using a mouse. Which was news to Don.)

[j00j.livejournal.com]

OMG, a Con Access Wiki would be amazing. We avoided some wheel-reinventing by adapting Wiscon's procedures, but some of those didn't work so well for our space and less static room setups, so ideas suited to smaller cons or unconferences where rooms may get rearranged would be incredibly helpful, as would tips for maybe evaluating venues/surrounding neighborhoods for accessibility problems and maybe tips on making accessible electronic program books and probably a bunch of other stuff I'm not thinking about because I am able-bodied, but yes, this would be really good. I probably can't contribute a ton content-wise (see previous sentence), but I would be happy to contribute what I could in terms of organizational skills/editing/general wiki maintenance. I would totally want such a resource if I'm involved in con/conference organizing again.

[sasha-feather.livejournal.com]

Yay! I am glad to get some interest in this. I think, the idea of a wiki is well-suited because people can contribute at their own pace, and it's collaborative, and like you say, it can have ideas for smaller and larger spaces etc.

[jesse_the_k]

A collectively created resource is a wonderful thing, and I look forward to contributing to it!

[sophy.livejournal.com]

That's a pet peeve of mine as well. I'm just not going to click on a link unless I have a reasonable idea what's on the other side. Same with watching embedded youtube videos and such. I've opened the link in another tab to read later, as I know I need to be more access friendly in my postings and that'll probably be a good starting point for me.

The wiki sounds like a great idea. Reading about other con access fails makes me think it would be beneficial to have that info out that for everyone to read and use for sure.

[sasha-feather.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the idea definitely came out of the posts about ReaderCon-- as in, how do we make all conventions more acessible? How do we gets this information out there? It seems like there is some interest in it, which is exciting. :)

[dersteinkauz.livejournal.com]

I actually just turned in a report for my Information Architecture class on how we're going to make our website redesign accessible to people with disabilities. The DoIT site that I'm linking to is a helpful starting point for folks and talks a lot about coding, using alt-text, and other descriptors when creating a site.

http://www.doit.wisc.edu/accessibility/online-course/start.htm