Engineering Software for Accessibility eBook

Many corporations have to adhere to various standards when developing software and web sites, especially if they are dealing with government entities and agencies. For most others the thought of developing software and web sites that are accessible to people with disabilities usually doesn't even cross their minds. In order to reach the widest audience possible and produce the best service for people, perhaps they should take this into account. Engineering Software for Accessibility is a book dedicated to just this. The book is aimed towards project managers and architects and details what thought processes you should employ in making your software accessible to people with disabilities, be it color blindness, being totally blind, movement impaired etc. Starting with an overview of various practices that should be considered it guides the user through the lifecycle of software development aimed specifically at impaired users. How to create your initial plans, what you should be looking for when designing logical hierarchies of controls on a page or in a window, the callbacks necessary for automated programs to take advantage of like screen readers etc. through to testing and implementation of your software. The book is quite short and can easily be read in a day and there are numerous links provided for further information scattered through the book in logical places, for example, what exactly does section 508 compliance actually mean? What do you have to do to implement it? The book is fairly short weighing in at under 80 pages but this is a book you will find yourself coming back to time and time again. The book takes a fairly high level approach although there are sections that would benefit developers rather than project managers or architects. If you have to develop software according to accessibility standards then this book is a must read. Even if you don't I would still highly recommend reading this book and start thinking about ways that you can incorporate it's suggestions into the software that you are developing. Highly recommended. Cover 1 Copyright page 2 Table of Contents 3 About the Authors 6 Introduction 7 Who Should Read This Book 9 What This Book Covers 9 The Basics 10 Programmatic Access 10 Keyboard Access 11 Respect Your User 11 Visual UI Design Settings 12 How Accessibility Fits into the Development Cycle 13 Requirements Stage 15 Design Stage 15 Implementation Stage 16 Verification Stage 16 Release Stage 17 Ready, Set, Go! 18 Support for This Book 18 Questions and Comments 19 References 19 Chapter 1: The UI Automation Environment 21 Providers and Clients 21 Providers 22 Clients 22 Main Components 23 Automation Elements 23 The UIA Tree 23 Control Patterns 25 Control Types 25 Properties 26 Events 27 Custom Control Patterns, Properties, and Events 27 Planning Your Hierarchy 28 Chapter 2: Designing the Logical Hierarchy 29 The Logical Hierarchy 30 Mapping Basics 31 Elements and Controls 31 Element Relationships and Navigation 32 Getting Started 34 How to Do It 36 Example: Employee Timecard 37 Using the Logical Hierarchy for Planning Accessibility Settings 43 Keyboard Navigation 44 Graphics: Decorative vs. Contextual 44 Complex User Interfaces 44 Designing Element Functionality 45 Chapter 3: Designing Your Implementation 47 Product Example Continued: Employee Timecard 48 Prep Work: Creating the Implementation Table 49 Process A: Control Maps to a UIA Control Type 51 Step 1: Gathering Required Control Patterns 51 Step 2: Gathering Required Control Type Properties 52 Step 3: Gathering Requirements for Additional Control Functionality 56 Process B: Control Does Not Map to a UIA Control Type 61 Methods and Events 62 Framework-Dependent Decisions 63 Implementing Your Native UIA Solution 64 Rounding Up Native Solutions 64 Chapter 4: Testing and Delivery 65 Accessibility Testing and Test Automation 66 Tools 67 Investigation Tools 67 UIA Verify Test Automation Framework 68 Keyboard 69 Users and AT Devices 70 Delivery 70 Conclusion: 7 Steps to a Better Computing World 71 References 71 Appendix A: Windows Automation API: Overview 73 Microsoft Active Accessibility and UI Automation Compared 74 Architecture and Interoperability 74 Microsoft Active Accessibility Architecture 75 UI Automation Architecture 76 Interoperability Between Microsoft Active Accessibility-Based Applications and UI Automation-Based Applications 76 Limitations of Microsoft Active Accessibility 78 UI Automation Specification 78 UI Automation Elements 79 UI Automation Tree 80 UI Automation Properties 81 UI Automation Control Patterns 81 UI Automation Control Types 81 UI Automation Events 82 The IAccessibleEx Interface 82 Choosing Microsoft Active Accessibility, UI Automation, or IAccessibleEx 82 Appendix B: UI Automation Overview 85 UI Automation Components 86 UI Automation Header Files 86 UI Automation Model 87 UI Automation Providers 88 Glossary 89 Index 95

Create Web sites and software that meet the sensory, dexterity, and cognitive needs of your users. Whether you’re a developer or a project manager, this guide teaches you how to incorporate programmatic access and keyboard access into your interfaces-starting at the product planning and design stage.

• Follow a real-world example that integrates accessibility at each stage of the development cycle
• See how the components of the UI Automation architecture fit together to enable accessibility
• Deliver programmatic access through the API-and expose navigation, interactive controls, keyboard focus, and other important information about the UI
• Design a logical hierarchy for the UI that meets the programmatic and keyboard navigation needs of your users
• Know when to apply common controls and when it’s worth the expense to build custom controls
• Give users a variety of accessibility options-from font size and color contrast to screen readers and voice recognition
• Test your product’s accessibility features and document the implementation

Create Web sites and software that meet the sensory, dexterity, and cognitive needs of your users. Whether you're a developer or a project manager, this guide teaches you how to incorporate programmatic access and keyboard access into your interfaces—starting at the product planning and design stage. Follow a real-world example that integrates accessibility at each stage of the development cycle See how the components of the UI Automation architecture fit together to enable accessibility Deliver programmatic access through the API—and expose navigation, interactive controls, keyboard focus, and other important information about the UI Design a logical hierarchy for the UI that meets the programmatic and keyboard navigation needs of your users Know when to apply common controls and when it's worth the expense to build custom controls Give users a variety of accessibility options—from font size and color contrast to screen readers and voice recognition Test your product's accessibility features and document the implementation "Get Microsoft design guidelines for developing accessible Web sites and software. By mapping out your accessible tree and planning for implementation at the specification level, you'll learn to create products that work with assistive technologies"--Resource description page A guide to plan for accessibility from the start of the development cycle to create websites and software that meets the needs of users.