DON@WVNRTC.BITNET (Don McLaughlin) (03/22/90)
Index Number: 7224 [This is from the BLIND-L mailing list] We develop software that is used largely by state government agencies, particularly state rehabilitation programs. We are interested in making software, intended for a general user audience, be considerate of and work well for blind and visually impaired computer users. Does anyone out there know of any standards, principles or guidelines that could instruct software developers in how to write software the meets this objective? We would find it very useful and we suspect that other software developers would like to know as well. Any information or opinions on this will be appreciated.
MAINT@UQAM.BITNET (Peter Jones) (03/23/90)
Index Number: 7253 [This is from the BLIND-L mailing list] On Mon, 19 Mar 90 17:26:00 EST Don McLaughlin said: >We develop software that is used largely by state government agencies, >particularly state rehabilitation programs. We are interested in making >software, intended for a general user audience, be considerate of and work >well for blind and visually impaired computer users. Does anyone out there >know of any standards, principles or guidelines that could instruct software >developers in how to write software the meets this objective? 1) Keep it simple. Often, the information sought is a relatively short text string, buried in a maze of graphics. 2) Beware of programs that do a lot of fancy work with the screen. It's often much simpler to ask questions of the user one by one in ASCII. 3) Provide hooks for attachment of auxiliary communication programs. Beware of messages that appear on the screen and then vanish. A visually-impaired user, using a braille or audio system to explore the screen might not notice the message before it disapears. Peter Jones MAINT@UQAM (514)-987-3542 "Let your flippers do the walking" :-)