CP Communications’ media releases

New innovative website specifically for the blind and vision impaired March 25, 2008

Posted by Catriona Pollard in Energetica.
Tags: blind, Energetica, Media Access, media accessibiity, vision impaired
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IT consultancy Energetica, specialist in the not-for profit sector, together with Media Access Australia, have developed an innovative website specifically for the blind and vision impaired community. www.audiodescription.com.au overcomes many of the challenges blind and vision impaired users face when accessing websites and will enable far greater access to audio description, a break-through technological solution to media accessibility.

Energetica’s Director Lisa Harvey said the launch of the new Audio Description website is a significant development in online accessibility that will have a significant impact on the blind and vision impaired community.

“I am hoping that the Audio Description website will encourage businesses to keep the accessibility of the blind and vision impaired community in mind when designing their online material,” said Ms Harvey.

Energetica was engaged by Media Access Australia to deliver all the technology for the project. The respected accessibility consultant, Tim Noonan helped develop a user experience for blind and vision impaired users which goes well beyond the outdated W3C standards. As a result of research Energetica recognised that, depending on the level of visual impairment, people approach a website in different ways. Blind people will use screen reader technology that says out loud what it reads on the screen, and low vision users may use screen magnifying technology resulting in sometimes competing design requirements which need to be carefully balanced.

“One common tool used for accessibility is the font resizer tool. All the low vision people we tested thought this tool was very useful, but they had never seen one before – on any website. The reason is that it is usually located on the top right of the web page, or in the footer, people using magnifiers rarely get to that part of the site,” said Ms Harvey.

“Providing accessible websites is, as well as good corporate citizenship, a good way to bring a larger audience to your site. Sites designed for accessibility will be easier to navigate, more consistent in content delivery and generally a better experience for all visitors”.

“The internet is a great resource for people with disabilities of all kinds. It can create communities, connect people and provide access to services and information that may otherwise be difficult to access”, says Ms Harvey.

Energetica developed the website by modifying the open source CMS Joomla! The site uses consistent and well explained clear topics, menus and navigation tools. This works equally well for the more linear experience of blind screen reader users, and the magnified browsing experience of vision impaired users. The website has been checked for extraneous characters, graphics and content to improve the screen reader experience. Energetica has developed the website to overcome the major barriers that face blind and vision impaired internet users

Notes – Audio description (AD) is a narrated explanation of the visual elements of a television program, movie, DVD, or live performance. Designed primarily for the benefit of blind or vision impaired people, AD guides the listener with concise, objective descriptions of new scenes, settings, costumes, body language, and ‘sight gags’, all spoken between existing portions of dialogue.

About Energetica
Energetica provides IT advice, strategy and web-based technology to the not-for-profit community and helps organisations build their IT capacity and manage it into the future. By understanding the unique requirements of not-for-profit community-based, member-based organisations and SMEs. Energetica works with SMEs, peak bodies, trade unions, charities, associations and community organisations.