Dear Access-Indians,
Here is a blog post by a colleague and a very close friend of mine, Bhavesh Patel which I am sharing with you all. Hope you will enjoy it as I did. <http://blog.barrierbreak.com/web-browsing-experience-with-supernova-13/> Web Browsing Experience With Supernova 13 Experience shared by Bhavesh Patel - a person with visual impairment I explored the newest version of Supernova recently. I am thrilled by its reliability and performance, and thought to share my views by writing a case study. Overview Web accessibility has always been a pointed issue and will continue to be one for as long as web page designers forget the needs of users with disabilities. For instance, the simple inclusion of alternate text for images, providing a structure to web pages using proper headings make the world of difference from the accessibility viewpoint but it remains in many, many cases a neglected task! Unfortunately, in India, not even one forth of the existing websites is accessible, which indeed is a disappointed factor. A good point to note is that some business and government sights are slowly coming around through pressure applied both legally under the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 and via organizations like <http://www.barrierbreak.com/> Barrierbreak Technologies. So, is there a way to access these in accessible or less accessible websites in an elegant and stress free manner? Or even suffice to say; is there a way to browse currently accessible websites in more than one way? Here comes an easy- to-use tool from Dolphin, which is more then a screen reader for windows application, which supports speech, Braille as well as Magnification, all in one, called Supernova access suite. How does Supernova help me? People who are blind also need to have fun on the web by searching, shopping, and social networking online as much as anyone else. Thanks to Supernova 13; this has helped me a lot to access the web in my daily as well as professional life. Dolphin has completely re-engineered the web support in Supernova 13, which has reduced my time significantly to access the websites as fast and efficient as never before. Supernova version 13 has introduced several new quick keys to jump to specific elements on a webpage, like particular level of headings, lists and block quotes. Supernova 13 implements initial support for Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) controls, such as landmarks. ARIA is a set of techniques being developed by WAI <file:///C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\MrComputer\My%20Documents\Downloads\~ $b%20Browsing%20Experience%20With%20Supernova%2013.docx> (Web Accessibility initiative), a group of W3C. I visit bbc.co.uk on a regular basis to know what's happening around the world. With the help of Supernova 13, I can jump to specific sections or headings of the website by pressing H. Once the article I want to read is loaded, I press '; '(semi colon) to go to main landmark to jump directly to the article of the page. Quick and easy! A great benefit of landmarks is, that they have a very short but enough to understand phrases which allows users to jump to a specific area of the page, such as search, main, and navigation etc. Visiting a new website? No fear, as supernova has an item finder keystroke which tells you the number of elements available on a webpage. No need to remember dozens of keystrokes to pull up specific list of elements! Not only this, Supernova also informs you, even if a particular element is not available on a webpage, which is good for web accessibility testers. While developing a website, web authors may provide links to external websites, which may or may not be secure. As a screen reader user, you do not know whether the website you are going to visit is external or not, unless the web author informs you about the same in link text. Supernova does it! If you press the item finder keystroke and select links from the list box that appears, you can arrow down or press the first navigation letter of the link you wish to visit, and Supernova will read out the link text along with the URL the link will point to. This will help you decide whether you wish to visit the website. This is my favorite keystroke. Every time I visit a new website, I always like to see how many element a webpage contains. Moreover, Supernova also allows you to find a particular text or phrase on a webpage. Just press the function key F3, type in the text, press enter and you are there! I use Google every time I need to search something. If you are a screen reader user, you might have noticed, that all the search results are on heading level 3. Previously I had to press the letter H approximately 3 times until I reach to a heading level 3. Now with the help of Supernova 13 I press figure 3 on the numeric row and I am there on the first search result! You can press the figure 1 to 6 to jump to any level of heading you wish to jump to, provided that the heading level you want exists on the webpage. Nowadays, almost everyone is on the twitter. Isn't it? I like to tweet anything new I discover on the web or around me. I use easy chirp, an accessible alternative client to access twitter. With the help of supernova, I can tweet faster by typing the text I need to tweet by pressing E to jump to a form control. I really like on screen highlight feature of Supernova. As a part of my profession, I have to test new websites every now and then to ensure how accessible they are for the people with disabilities. While testing the website with a screen reader, I have to see whether the screen reader is reading the webpage in a correct order. Thanks to the on screen highlight feature of Supernova. This feature, allows a sighted person to see the present focus on the webpage of Supernova, unlike other screen readers who leave in a virtual environment, where no buddy knows what are you reading and where your active focus is. Conclusion >From the day Supernova has been introduced to the world, it is getting better! You really need to use it and taste the water! I love the way Supernova 13 has changed the way I access the web. What about you? Once you start using Supernova 13, I am sure you will love it too! You can also read the above blog post at http://blog.barrierbreak.com/web-browsing-experience-with-supernova-13/ Thanks & Regards Amit Bagwe | Training & Support Executive BarrierBreak Technologies India: +91 (22) 2686 0485/86 Mob: +91 7303525520 Email: [email protected] Skype: barrierbreaksupport Web: <http://www.barrierbreak.com/> http://www.barrierbreak.com/ <http://twitter.com/#!/Barrierbreak> http://twitter.com/#!/Barrierbreak <http://www.barrierbreak.com/assistivetechnology.php> Assistive Technology | <http://techshare.barrierbreak.com/> Techshare India 2012 | <http://blog.barrierbreak.com/> Accessibility Blog BarrierBreak Technologies a subsidiary of <http://n-syst.com/> Net Systems Informatics Please don't print this email unless you really need to. 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