by Wilf O'Neill, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Love them or hate them (odi et amo?!) - and we all probably do both vicissim - computers and ICT are here to stay, in Classics as elsewhere. Classicists have by and large embraced the opportunities and possibilities, not only keeping abreast of developments but in some cases working at the cutting edge (I have in mind the e-learning resources for the Cambridge Latin Course in the creation of which I have had the privilege and pleasure of being involved).

But where does all this wonderful hardware and software leave those with poor sight? While it is true to say that it takes a bit of extra effort to make the technology friendly, I have to admit that without such tools as electronic magnifiers, voice recorders and assistive computer technology, I would probably have given up teaching long ago! This article is written from the perspective of a registered-blind teacher with enough residual vision to make use of enhanced screen display (although I have speech output I do not make all that much use of it).

I should like to describe how technology can be adapted to enable partially-sighted students (and teachers!) to access classical material, as well as thinking about how those who create such material can make it more accessible. Of course, there is nothing specifically classics related about all this and the problems and solutions are universal. But then so is Classics.

What follows derives from my own experience and research as a partially-sighted person: I have not myself had to deal with many students with such problems. I am also aware that everyone is different and the solution that best suits one person may not work for another. Altering settings to suit someone with a vision problem can have unfortunate consequences for other users. I myself find yellow text helpful and set Outlook to use this when replying to e-mails, quite forgetting (until a correspondent mentioned it) that this resulted in recipients being faced with an impossible yellow on white! The practical hints which follow relate to the software I am most familiar with (Microsoft Windows XP Pro, Office Pro and Internet Explorer 6) but the principles will no doubt be valid for other systems and applications. What is important is that as teachers we are aware of how the ICT resources we use can be adapted to the special needs of our pupils.

Using Computers - getting round the problems

The Operating System is the obvious place to start. Various settings can help make items on the screen easier to see and find. Be aware that features designed for 'normal' users or those with other disabilities might also help. The on-screen keyboard for example could be useful for learning the layout where keyboard legends cannot easily be seen. 

The overall appearance of the display can also be altered by setting a more congenial colour scheme such as High Contrast Black. (It's a good idea to use the keyboard shortcut for alternative schemes if others use the same machine so they can toggle to the default display. In any case one has to be able to check how webpages will appear to others and some software and web content is so arranged as to produce black text on a black ground when High Contrast is invoked!)

Hints

• use the Accessibility Wizard to configure text, scroll-bar and icon sizes as well as colour schemes (the latter is also available under Accessibility Options in Accessories)
• get rid of screen clutter such as rarely or never used icons or toolbars
• use tools such as the Magnifier and Narrator
• find a 'missing' mouse pointer by tracking to a corner of the screen

Software

Programs vary enormously in their ease of use. Applications software can usually be coaxed into a friendly state, while other types of program present huge difficulties unless they have been written with accessibility in mind.

Hints  

• use the Zoom feature in programs like Word and Excel to enlarge text while working on it
• use keyboard shortcuts
• use AutoText and AutoCorrect for frequently used 'boilerplate' text and words
• use macros to cut down on keystrokes for common operations

Internet
We all use the web constantly these days and a few browser tweaks can make all the difference.

Hints in Internet Options

• go to Accessibility to override fonts and colours set by web authors 
• employ user style sheets
• go to Colors and Fonts to set these to suit
• go to the Advanced tab for various tweaks to support screen readers
• turn off graphics if the user cannot access them                     
• use the Size button on the toolbar to alter text size

For all software try a search for Accessibility in help systems. Outlook Help has a useful article About creating accessible Office documents.

Creating programs and web content

What is of paramount importance here is that software developers and webpage authors are aware of the issues and of current legislation on disability and accessibility. The guiding principle is to ensure that programs and websites are compatible with assistive technologies and do not override special user settings. Having said that, it is unreasonable to expect programmers to ignore all the tricks at their disposal for making their creations attractive simply because some users may not be able to access them all - it would be like saying we cannot have graphics because some users are blind or sound because some are deaf. That said, it is reasonable to ask that software be compliant and that every effort be made to make it user-friendly. With most programs a little more work would allow for the inclusion of user-customisation of text and background colours which are perhaps the main concern of those with partial sight.

Programs

• incorporate user-customisation of fonts & colours
• test to see if a program conflicts with an alternative colour scheme: is all text still visible?

Webpages

• use alternative text (alt tags) for images
• employ straight line, non-serif fonts such as Arial, with a minimum size of at least 12pt
• use colour carefully - the watchword here is contrast
• make navigation as easy and intuitive as possible
• avoid transparent cascading menus
• take care over such things as pop-up windows and forms which can cause problems
• be aware of how screen readers work:
• make sure elements are marked as 'list', 'paragraph' etc
• remember that pages are read from top to bottom, tables from left to right a row at a time
• speech/Braille displays work better with text only content
• test your pages using a webpage tester such as Bobby (see below)

When all this isn't enough

So far this has all been about using built-in features in the OS and applications. For less severe problems (and for everyone as presbyopia sets in!) this may be enough. Many partially-sighted users however may need a more powerful solution in the form of screen-magnifier and/or reader software which allows for more control, with features such as the ability to invert colours at will (necessary when a program or webpage presents normal and inverse text in the same view). The Screen Magnifiers site listed below is a good place to find out about these.

Useful Links

Computer and software access

Screen Magnifiers homepage: http://www.magnifiers.org 
As well as screen magnifiers and readers, this has information about alternative mouse software and text-to-speech.

Microsoft Accessibility Resource Guide for People with Visual Impairments:
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/guides/vision.aspx
Articles on Assistive Technology and Adjusting Computers for Vision Needs (how to tweak Windows, Word and Outlook).

Macromedia Accessibility (validation of websites for accessibility):
http://www.macromedia.com/macromedia/accessibility/gettingstarted/validate.html

Irish National Disability Authority IT Accessibility Guidelines (web and application software): http://accessit.nda.ie/index.html 

IBM Software Accessibility:
http://www-3.ibm.com/able/guidelines/software/accesssoftware.html

Adobe and accessibility: http://access.adobe.com/

Software Accessibility: http://www.vi-access.com/

Accessibility of Windows-based applications to people with visual impairments.

Web access

World Wide Web Consortium Web Accessibility Initiative: http://www.w3.org/WAI/ 

RNIB Web Access Centre: http://www.rnib.org.uk/

Michigan State University Web Accessibility: http://www.msu.edu/webaccess/

University of Washington Accessible Web Design:
http://www.washington.edu/doit/Resources/web-design.html 

National Arts Disability Center Designing Accessible Webpages for the Internet:
http://nadc.ucla.edu/dawpi.htm

Making Educational Software and Websites Accessible: http://ncam.wgbh.org/cdrom/guideline/

Webpage tester: http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp

Colour blindness: http://www.vischeck.com or http://www.wave.webaim.org

My web My way - customising your own system and browsing options: http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/