Accessibility for Visually Impaired Customers

[Little Lou]

Hi there

We've been emailed by an old customer who's blind and used to be able to access our website prior to us switching to Actinic.

She uses a screen reader program that won't read our Actinic Website.

Has anyone had experience of this before or any suggestions on how we can address this situation?

Any assistance would be greatfully received.

[pinbrook]

uses a screen reader program which screen reader program are they using? what problems are they experiencing?

and whats your website?

i know some reader programs read tables in columns rather then rows, but we really need more info here

[peblaco]

We've been emailed by an old customer who's blind and used to be able to access our website prior to us switching to Actinic.

You'd really need to know what the access problems were. Is this for Actinic version 7 and not version 8?. The main accessibility issues in version 7 might be that there were many tables used for overall layouts which put in a whole list of your section links in the left column before the screen reader would get to the main content on your page, with the lack of "skip links" to get to the main content which makes it more difficult for access by a screen reader.

You'll find if you upgraded to version 8 there are now many layouts built using CSS stylesheets which are easier for screen readers to read and there are various web designers who build Actinic sites with accessibility in mind and cater for these kind of situations.

[jont]

You'll find if you upgraded to version 8 there are now many layouts built using CSS stylesheets which are easier for screen readers to read

You can also create full CSS sites in v7 (if you are persistent. :rolleyes: )

Have you put your site through a screen reader and looked at what it says? You can install one from your original Windows installation disk or download one from the internet.

[pinbrook]

Have you put your site through a screen reader and looked at what it says? You can install one from your original Windows installation disk or download one from the internet. to be accurate you really need to use the same screen reader as your customer there are many free ones, but there are also many more sophisticated paid for packages too.

[Little Lou]

Thanks for all your help.

I've heard back from our customer who says .....

I use Voiceover on the Apple Mac, and none of the keyboard controls will take me on to the page after I call it up. On other websites I use either the Tab Key or control, option and the arrow keys for navigation.

I'll download a screen reader as suggested and take a look at the site through it.

We are running V7 still - so far it's been fine for our needs other than the regular bits on the wish list for future upgrades. I guess I'm one of those 'If it ain't broke don't fix it' kind of people.

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