From bellsu@mail.nih.gov Thu Jun 28 05:12:15 2001 Received: from mxu3.u.washington.edu (mxu3.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.7]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.11.2+UW01.01/8.11.2+UW01.04) with ESMTP id f5SCCD0109022 for ; Thu, 28 Jun 2001 05:12:14 -0700 Received: from ims.hub.nih.gov (ims.hub.nih.gov [128.231.90.111]) by mxu3.u.washington.edu (8.11.2+UW01.01/8.11.2+UW01.04) with ESMTP id f5SCC9X05179 for ; Thu, 28 Jun 2001 05:12:13 -0700 Received: by ims.hub.nih.gov with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) id ; Thu, 28 Jun 2001 08:12:08 -0400 Message-ID: <76D006EB9224D411B12B0008C7C59D96043DAA2E@nihexchange9.nih.gov> From: "Bell, B. Sue (NCI)" To: "'waphgis@u.washington.edu'" Subject: RE: Internet accessibility for disabled people Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 08:12:06 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" I am just now learning about this subject as part of defining the requirements for a website where we envision making the most of data visualization methods including maps and sophisticated graphics. I look forward to working together and to leveraging one anothers work to meet or exceed the Section 508 challenge particularly in the area of mapping. Here are a few websites I have in my bookmarks that talk about or provide tools. I have no personal experience with these so there is no implied recommendation. http://oc.nci.nih.gov/web508/ follow link to the Accessibility Workstation description that identifies tools that our web support staff are providing us for testing our websites. Among the tools being provided are JAWS, Lynx, InFocus and DreamWeaver. The site also includes checklists and tips. A 30-day trial download of Macromedia's Dreamweaver 4.0 is available at http://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver/trial/ and their latest extention for 508 is available from: http://dynamic.macromedia.com/bin/MM/exchange/extension_detail.jsp?product=d reamweaver&extOid=234570 The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) site includes: The Web Accessibility Initiative home page at http://www.w3.org/WAI/Resources/ The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/ has an appendix on validation. For Bobby approval which I understand is close but not quite in sync with 508 standards visit http://www.cast.org/bobby/ To see an example where a screen reader text file is created for a time series graph visit http://www.nci.nih.gov/atlasplus/ and follow links: 1. click on "Interactive Mortality Charts and Graphs" 2. click on "Link to a version of the Interactive Mortality Charts and Graphs section, which has been optimized for the visually-impaired" 3. click on 5-year rates (note that other graphs also work) 4. click on the [D] just above the graph and a text window will come up that has a textual description of the graph. CORDA Technology's (www.corda.com) PopChart software produced these graphs. Hope this helps. regards, Sue Bell, Ph.D. National Cancer Institute bellsu@mail.nih.gov -----Original Message----- From: Richard Hoskins [mailto:healthmaps@home.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2001 4:17 PM To: Susan Kinne; Maptitude; waphgis@u.washington.edu Subject: Internet accessibility for disabled people I am involved (with many others) in re-developing my agency's web site. This feature in Adobe (access for the blind - see below http://www.section508.gov/ ) is going to play a big role in our striving to develop our website to satisfy ADA standards (and exceed them) in making our site available for all folks. Somewhere there is a website that allows you to see your website in terms of the ADA standards, any ideas where it is? Other sites which address this problem - not just the rules - but tools to help developers? Dick Hoskins -----Original Message----- From: Marjorie Roswell [mailto:roswell@umbc.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2001 6:34 AM To: Maptitude Subject: [Maptitude] PDF / Accessibility Maptitude - http://research.umbc.edu/~roswell/maptitude.html Just a note that Adobe Acrobat Version 5 is accessible to the blind. Prior versions are not. Most of us probably think so visually that we don't think about the blind, but there is a role for GIS specialists in helping blind people. Several roles, actually: Make your web pages accessible: http://research.umbc.edu/~roswell/mipage.html Get to know the new accessibility laws: http://www.section508.gov/ Develop cool navigational products to help blind people get around. Compasses, tactile maps, GPS systems, talking palm pilots: all kinds of cool things you could do with your skills. Close your eyes, and think about how you would get your work done if you couldn't see. _________________________________________________________ Marjorie Roswell, Spatial Analyst UMBC Center for Health Program Development and Management 1000 Hilltop Circle Fx: (410)455-6850 Baltimore, MD 21250 E: roswell@umbc.edu Ph: (410)455-6802 http://umbc.edu/~roswell/mipage.html _________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to maptitude-unsubscribe@listbot.com .