Internet Marketing - Matt Bailey [144]
www.w3.org/TR/2006/WD-WCAG20-20060427/appendixD.html
The bottom line is that search engines are the most disabled users that will ever come to your website. They can’t read images, view video, hear audio files, or understand the hierarchy of content without HTML markup being used. They are simply looking for text and rely upon the same technology as most assistive technology. Make your site accessible for all users, regardless of computer, operating system, browser type, and device or any assistive technology, and you have made a website that is clearly open for business for the search engines.
Tuesday: Learn the Intricacies of Accessibility
Accessibility is not a horizontal approach where one single technique is used on a sliding scale to meet the needs of a group of people, and the higher you move the slider, the more people are provided access. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. What does exist is an amazing testament to the human will to overcome a variety of unique factors.
Interestingly, most low-vision or assistive technology users prefer Google or Ask as their primary search engine. Overwhelmingly, it is because of the interface. Both Google and Ask feature a stripped-down interface rather than a portal-style interface, such as Yahoo! and MSN. Portal interfaces do not score well with low-vision, blind, or assistive technology users because of the “noise” it creates in the experience.
Google’s Accessible Search Project
In the summer of 2006, Google released an Accessible Search Beta through its Labs projects. The Accessible Search was the personal project of Dr. T.V. Raman, who came to Google about a year prior. The move by Google to release the project came on the heels of Google changing from the visual-based security device of the CAPTCHA, where users have to type the letters that they see in an image (Figure 13-4). Blind users were not able to access many Google services, such as Gmail, Blogger, Google Groups, and a Google account because the visual-based security kept them from participating in Google’s services. Google added an audio component as a response to online petitions and outcry from the visually impaired users.
Dr. Raman comes from a background of advocating standards-based programming and structured data on the Web. This made its way to the Accessible Search algorithm that favors WCAG standards-based websites. This was a natural method of creating the accessible focus of the search.
Figure 13-4: The CAPTCHA is designed as a test to screen out human visitors from undesired “bots.”
The Accessible Search was received positively by the blind community, yet many low-vision users took issue with the tagline used in the search interface of “Search for the Visually Impaired.” This was typical of larger issues faced by the accessibility community that many sites are accessible for blind users, yet the same amount of accessibility is not available to low-vision users, who require different methods in order to access the content. Low vision users require high levels of contrast and increased text size, while blind users do not require any contrast or text size controls or information.
Despite the contention among the different groups, Google is widely accepted as the search engine of choice for accessibility. The main reason is the uncluttered interface, which makes it easy for users using magnification interfaces, screen readers, or joystick interfaces. The reception to Accessible Search was positive overall. The end result was that users found this to be a useful tool. “And that’s our goal,” said Dr. Raman. See the “A Chat with Google’s T.V. Raman, Developer of Google’s Accessible