Accessibility refers to the coding you must do to make your application usable by people who have disabilities.
According to an 2003 accessibility study commissioned by Microsoft, sixty percent (101.4 million) of US working-age adults (18-64 years old) are likely or very likely to benefit from the use of accessible technology. Obviously, the percentage of the population that would benefit from assistive technology goes way up as one looks at the over 64 population.
Visual disabilities are most often addressed in making computer software accessible, and indeed it was the most common type of impairment or difficulty among computer users
While many mainstream Microsoft products are designed with accessibility features provided, making software accessible to users with disabilities is still ignored by most developers.
In recent years, making software accessible has become more of an issue, especially with Web sites, due to Section 508 legislation that requires Federal agencies and their contractors to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities.
Online courses on software accessibility and guidelines for writing accessible applications are becoming available and interest is spreading. Java has included in their Swing library support for assistive technologies.
Microsoft's Accessibility for Everybody is an example of a strong commitment to making products accessible. As part of their commitment, Visual Studio.NET is designed to allow developers to integrate accessibility features into their Visual Studio applications without too much extra effort
Microsoft has identified five basic principles related to accessible design:
Accessible design is a requirement of the Certified for Windows logo. Specifically, in order to qualify for the certification, an application must
In addition, Microsoft has published its Accessibility Design Guidelines for Software
Microsoft makes available a tutorial on Creating an Accessible Windows Application. We will create a simplified version of this tutorial to create an user interface for an application that takes pizza orders.
Activity: Create a Windows application
Almost all Form controls have properties for providing accessibility information. The properties are used by specialized programs and devices that help people with disabilities use computers more effectively. Examples include screen readers for people who are blind and voice input utilities for people who provide verbal commands instead of using the mouse or keyboard.
Many assistive devices are designed to simulate keystrokes. Switch devices, when mapped to the keyboard, enable users using sip-and-puff or eyeblink input devices to operate a software application - as long as the application is keyboard accessible.
To be considered accessible, a user interface should be functional by using just the keyboard.
Activity: Keyboard Accessibility
Go to Control Panel - Accessibility Options - Display Tab and select Use High Contrast.
Guidelines for testing whether the application is responding correctly to High Contrast are posted on the Microsoft site
Checking font size
To design your site to be accessible in high-contrast mode, you should
It is possible to test, in the constructor method, if the user in High Contrast mode and reset colors to system colors if necessary.
![CWU [Access key = 0 ]](http://www.cwu.edu/~gellenbe/images/logo.gif){kind=logo}
Central Washington University
if (SystemInformation.HighContrast) {
label1.BackColor = SystemColors.Window;
label1.ForeColor = SystemColors.WindowText;
}
Even if the software provides keyboard access so users can navigate the software, that isn't enough if you don't know where you are. Keyboard users must be able to see the current focus point to know what to do. Imagine typing if you could not see the caret (insertion bar). Assistive technology (e.g., screen reader, screen magnifier) needs to know the position and contents of the visual focus indicator, so it can describe, magnify or manipulate the object for the user.
Activity: Testing Screen Magnification
press R type magnify press <enter>Narrator is a screen reader that ships with Windows XP. It isn't a full-version or industry-standard, but it's great for learning the basics of how screen readers work.
Activity: Narrator
press R type narrator press <enter>+U)