Towards Accessible Human-Computer Interaction
Eric Bergman and Earl Johnson
Introduction by Earl Johnson
This paper identifies accessibility related factors to consider when designing the user
interface of a software product. It gives user interaction designers and product developers
an overview of the following topics:
- The software interaction issues faced by users with disabilities
- The types of tools used by people with disabilities to access information technology
- Design considerations that improve a product's accessibility
- The market value of providing accessibility in a product
This paper was one deliverable of the Enabling Technologies project, which began in 1991 with two main goals: designing and delivering support for accessibility into the technologies that developers use to build products; and infusing accessibility design markers into the DNA of the overall product development process. In addition to this paper, the project's accomplishments included the first screen reader providing blind access to the UNIX® environment (Mercator), the delivery of keyboard enhancements into the Solaris(TM) Operating Environment to enable system access by people with a variety of physical disabilities (AccessX), and the design and partial implementation of an accessibility architecture in the X11 R6 Window server. This last achievement provided the philosophical design basis for key developer technologies delivered by Sun today.
In 1995, after four years of incubation during which accessibility to UNIX® was shown to be
achievable, the Enabling Technologies project moved from the Labs to the Solaris OE product
development organization, so that the effort could be more effective at influencing the
design and development of Sun products. Some notable events that have occurred since the
project graduated from the Labs include:
- The creation of the Accessibility Program Office, which is chartered with driving the
development of a coherent cross-SMI accessibility strategy
- The definition and implementation of accessibility support directly into Java's JFC/Swing UI
toolkit, making it easy for mainstream developers (without any expertise in accessibility) to
build accessible applications almost by default
- Recognition from the American Foundation for the Blind -- the 2001 Access Award, citing Sun's
Java Accessibility work and commitment to universal design
- Collaboration with Sun's GNOME team and the open source community to design and implement an accessibility architecture that is a direct descendant of the vision born in the Labs and fully proven in the Java platform.
REFERENCE:
- "Towards Accessible Human-Computer Interaction", Eric Bergman and Earl Johnson, Advances in Human-Computer Interaction, Volume 5, Jakob Nielsen, Editor, Copyright 1995.