Got a topic you'd like to discuss at this meeting? Let us know!

Or feel free to bring any web projects you’d like evaluated from an accessibility perspective or topics that are on your mind to the meeting! (Please send us URLs for web sites/applications in advance so we can be prepared to discuss any issues or questions.)

One topic has been submitted so far, but we'll still have time to discuss additional topics:

Infographics

Hadi Rangin would like to discuss how the use of infographics affects users with disabilities. He may share some examples he's come across recently, and would welcome others to share examples they've come across.

Topic 1: JavaScript Image Cropping

Jim Wilson would like feedback on the image cropping feature in WebTools. He put together an image cropping demo we can use as a basis for our discussion.

Topic 2: leveraging assistive listening systems for audio description transmission/reception

Bob Dignan would like to discuss leveraging assistive listening systems for audio description transmission/reception – for example, in performance venues like Krannert or a movie theater/auditorium. Campus Instructional Facility has a system installed from Listen Everywhere, and Wymer Hall is planning to use this system for its assistive listening solution across the building. These are promising developments for accessibility in these spaces, but Bob is interested in discussing additional considerations for these types of systems, and would like help teasing out even more dimensions to his inquiry into how these spaces can best support everyone.

A student group named incluSITE is working on a project to increase web accessibility for users with visual impairments. At the CodeAda hackathon hosted by Women in Computer Science (WCS) last October, they leveraged the WAVE API to identify web accessibility issues in high-traffic federal websites; in their research, they found 965 individual web accessibility issues over 224 federal websites. As they continue this project in the DevAda program, they are interested in learning more about web accessibility. Their current goals are to develop a database of website accessibility statistics and provide alternatives to inaccessible sites. In the long run, they hope to create a tool that can improve a website's accessibility by automating some tasks like adding captions and ARIA.

They will join Explore with Hadi this month to get some insight on their project and currently available technologies for making websites screen reader friendly. Join us for a chat with a group of students seeking to help make the web more accessible!

Got a topic you'd like to discuss at this meeting? Let us know!

Or feel free to bring any web projects you’d like evaluated from an accessibility perspective or topics that are on your mind to the meeting! (Please send us URLs for web sites/applications in advance so we can be prepared to discuss any issues or questions.)

One topic has been submitted so far, but we'll still have time to discuss additional topics:

Tooltip demo

Sydney Flowers would like to get feedback on the accessibility of this tooltip demo.

Amy Young brought us an interesting topic this month: join us for a discussion of Checkvist, a keyboard-driven task/list manager. The developers of this tool designed it for developers and anyone else who wants to avoid using the mouse for improved concentration, comfort, and productivity. They created Checkvist ~12 years ago as an experiment, inspired by aspects of Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) like VSCode and IntelliJ IDEA: for example, no reliance on the mouse, minimal UI, and immersive work. While they didn't design explicitly with accessibility in mind, they have incorporated rich keyboard support into their tool. They have heard anecdotally that this keyboard-only approach is helpful to people with ADHD, but haven't investigated the impact on visually impaired users. They are interested in receiving accessibility feedback so they can make Checkvist work for a wider variety of people who rely on keyboard support.

Join us to take a look at Checkvist and provide feedback about what it does well and how it could be made more accessible!