Saqib Shaikh and Scott Hanselman: Designing for Accessibility

Posted By: Dan Fernandez | Aug 12th, 2008 @ 3:17 PM | 74,745 Views | 4 Comments
In this interview, Scott Hanselman and Dan Fernandez to to Saqib Shaikh, a developer for Microsoft Consulting Services in the UK who is also blind. Saqib talks about some of the key things to know when designing for accessibility, the Windows UI automation framework, Windows Mobile accessibility and more.

You can hear more about developing accessible applications in Scott's Hanselminutes podcast.

For more accessibility resources, visit:

- www.microsoft.com/enable/
- msdn.com/accessibility/ 
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#Aug 12th, 2008 @ 8:05 PM
Minh
Minh
WOOH! WOOH!
Unfortunately, accessibility has mostly been an afterthought on web sites I've seen. Unless you're a governmental site.

Even C9 has a poor accessibility record.

Devs definitely need to step up on this.
#Aug 13th, 2008 @ 6:55 AM
PerfectPhase
PerfectPhase
"This is not war, this is pest control!" - Dalek to Cyberman
What's Silverlight V2 like for accessibility? 
#Aug 13th, 2008 @ 9:24 AM
Sampy
Sampy
This will be the sixth time we have destroyed it and we have become exceedingly efficient at it
Looks like it uses UI Automation
#Aug 14th, 2008 @ 6:56 AM
nektar
nektar
               Can you ask your guest the following:
Does he like the Narrator in Vista? For me I find it extremely slow, very very basic and not improved from the year 2000. Even the free and open source NVDA screen reader is much much better. What is his opinion? Does he find Narrator attequate? Does he find the current prices for commercial screen readers compared to what they offer reasonable?
How does he find the accessibility of Vista and its interface? For me I find many small errors and inconsidencies in the Vista interface. How does he access the new split-button controls for example? Does he like the new Office 2007 ribbon or does he find it slow to navigate compared to the menus in previous versions? What is his opinion on what has to be done on future versions of those products to make them accessibble as much as possible?
What about the Live websites and Windows Live applications? What is his opinion? For me I find the sites too complicated, built with little accessibility thought compared to Google, full of links that are difficult to understand what they do when you first encounter them and generallly not very easy to figure out the design thoughts behind the websites. For me Windows Live application have many accessibility obstacles, for example the contacts list in Live Messenger. What is his experience and what does he do to work out these issues? What is his comments to Microsoft about this state of affairs?
What is his opinion about the increasing accessibility of other Operating systems and if he has used any of them?
Thanks.
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