© 2005 IBM Corporation IBM Printing Systems IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Evaluating the Accessibility of Laser Printers Michael A. Rodriguez IBM Printing Systems Division, Boulder, CO Ron Van Buskirk IBM Systems and Technology Group, Tucson, AZ Human Factors and Ergonomics Society – 49 th Annual Meeting September 29, 2005 – Orlando, Florida

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 2 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Why Make Accessible Products? According to the World Health Organization, more than 750 million people worldwide have a disability and more than 54 million of those are in the United States (U.S. Department of the Census, 1997; World Health Organization, n.d.). The primary reason to produce accessible products is to make them usable by millions of people with disabilities

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 3 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Other Reasons to Make Accessible Products  Almost everyone needs accessibility - Most people during their lifetime will experience some kind of temporary or permanent disability or limitation  Millions of people with disabilities are potential customers - Additionally, products designed for use by people with disabilities are more usable for people as they get older  Compliance with worldwide regulations and standards - Many countries are adopting regulations and standards to meet the needs of people with disabilities  Accessible products benefit everyone - Generally, products designed with accessibility in mind are easier to use for everyone, partly because they have a more consistent user interface and are easier to learn

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 4 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT  IBM is committed to supporting accessible technology. IBM Printing Systems Division and the IBM Accessibility Center have developed checklists, guidelines and methodologies for evaluating printers with respect to the Section 508 Accessibility Requirements  The US Rehabilitation Act was amended by Congress in 1998 to require Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities IBMs Commitment and The Law

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 5 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Typical Laser Printers

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 6 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Accessibility Tools There are general methodologies for evaluating hardware and specific software applications to evaluate the accessibility of software, web pages and PDF documents

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 7 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Methods and Tools Available ChecklistEvaluation tools availableTool type Hardware General ergonomic/human factors guidelines Wheelchair reach/clearance guidelines Force gauge General guidelines Standard guidelines Mechanical force­- measurement tool Software (printer drivers) JAWS ® (Freedom Scientific) Windows-Eyes ® (GW Micro) Inspect Objects (Microsoft ® ) ZoomText ® - optional (Al Squared™) MAGic ® - optional (Freedom Scientific) Screen reader Object inspector Magnifier Web pages Home Page Reader™ (IBM ® ) JAWS ® (Freedom Scientific) Windows-Eyes ® (GW Micro) WebKing™ (Parasoft ® ) HTML Screen reader Screen reader Web syntax analyzer Documentation Acrobat ® Reader ® for PDF (Adobe ® ) Home Page Reader™ (IBM ® ) JAWS ® (Freedom Scientific) Windows-Eyes ® (GW Micro) WebKing™ (Parasoft ® ) Inspect Objects (Microsoft ® ) PDF Screen reader HTML Screen reader Screen reader Web syntax analyzer Object inspector

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 8 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Accessibility Evaluations  In order to assist developers in meeting accessibility requirements IBM has developed checklists for evaluating accessibility in the following areas:  Hardware Peripherals Accessibility*  Software Accessibility*  Web Accessibility*  Documentation Accessibility*  Java Accessibility  Hardware Accessibility  Lotus Notes Accessibility * Applicable to laser printers

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 9 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Process for Evaluating Accessibility Determine which checklists are necessary for the product Evaluate each checklist item using the appropriate tools Repeat the evaluations for each additional checklist Combine and summarize the accessibility information

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 10 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Hardware Peripherals Accessibility Checklist  Controls and latches  Keys and Keypads  Color and Contrast  Audio  Timing

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 11 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Controls and Latches

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 12 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Software Accessibility Checklist (printer drivers)  Keyboard access  Object information  Sound and multimedia  Display  Timing  Verify accessibility

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 13 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Printer Driver Accessibility

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 14 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Web Accessibility Checklist  Images and animations  Image maps  Graphs and charts  Multimedia  Scripts  Applets, plug-ins and non-HTML content  Forms  Skip to main content  Frames  Table headers  Cascading style sheets  Color and contrast  Blinking  Timed responses  Text-only page  Verify accessibility

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 15 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Printer Web Page

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 16 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Documentation Accessibility Checklist  Provide documentation in an accessible format  Provide documentation on all accessibility features including keyboard access  Test for accessibility using available tools

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 17 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Page from User’s Guide File

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 18 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Accessibility and Usability  Meeting accessibility requirements and designing an easy-to-use product does not necessarily make the product easy to use for people with disabilities  Ease of use and ease of access efforts during product design should be performed concurrently  Usability studies and evaluations should include people with disabilities to improve overall ease of use

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 19 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Prioritizing Accessibility Fixes 1.Look at the target audience of your product. Your target audience may consist of more users with certain types of disabilities than others and those areas should be a higher priority 2.Fix all problems for a given barrier before fixing problems for another. For example, fix all of the problems that are a barrier for visually-impaired users, before fixing all of the barriers for mobility-impaired users 3.Fix all problems associated with a checkpoint before fixing other problems associated with other checkpoints. For example, remove all barriers to one-handed usage before removing reach limitation barriers

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 20 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Conclusion Although this information has specifically addressed laser printers similar methodologies can be employed to evaluate other types of hardware and software products. Products designed for accessibility enhance the ability for millions of people to participate in a world where they may not otherwise have the opportunity

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 21 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Acknowledgements We would like to acknowledge the work of IBM's Accessibility Center. Their creation of the IBM- customized checklists and evaluation techniques has provided education and guidance to all IBM usability professionals for conducting accessibility evaluations. Additionally, their continuous drive to make accessibility an integral part of IBM's culture has made our job as human factors practitioners much easier

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 22 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Resources  Section 508 Home Page:  IBM Accessibility Center Checklists: ibm.com/able/guidelines  ADA Accessibility Guidelines Drawings:

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 23 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Questions?

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 24 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Backup slides

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 25 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Checklist Application Web Use this checklist for: Web sites Web applications Portals and Portlets - For information on accessibility testing and development of portal applications, see the portal accessibility information page.portal accessibility information page Documentation Use this checklist for: Product and Web site documentation. Domino Web Application Use this checklist for: Web applications created with Domino Designer Hardware Use this checklist for: personal computers computer monitors server hardware

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 26 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Checklist Application (continued) Hardware Self Contained, Closed Product (formerly Peripherals) Use this checklist for: copiers printers fax machines similar types of products which are designed such that the user cannot attach or install assistive technology Java Use this checklist for: Java 2 or later applications Important: Do not use this checklist for an application written completely with Eclipse Controls. For such applications use the Software Accessibility ChecklistSoftware Accessibility Checklist Java based tools that create output that a user would interact with, such as a document, Web page, or application user interface. The output, as well as the tool's user interface, must also be accessible. For example, if a Java based Integrated Development Environment creates Java application widgets as output, those widgets must also be accessible. Lotus Notes Application Use this checklist for: Notes applications that will be deployed on the Notes Client Notes applications that will be deployed on both the Notes Client and the Web

OUTPUT SOLUTIONS FOR AN ON DEMAND WORLD 27 IBM OUTPUT ENVIRONMENT Checklist Application (continued) Software Use this checklist for: general software products and applications that have a user interface Software based tools that create output that a user would interact with, such as a document, Web page, or application user interface. The output, as well as the tool's user interface, must also be accessible. For example, if a Software based Integrated Development Environment creates Eclipse application widgets as output, those widgets must also be accessible. Java 1.1.x applications that use standard AWT components and are designed to run only on Windows platforms software used by system administrators to control and monitor servers or other remote equipment Eclipse applications written with Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT) controls. Note: SWT controls do not use the Java Access Bridge. software with a command line interface see Frequently Asked Questions #12 for additional guidance.Frequently Asked Questions #12