CD-ROM Access: Analysis Findings
ActivPhysics Access Summary
Table of Contents
Product description
Screen magnification
Screen reader access
Recommendations for improvement
Details by assistive technology
Product description
ActivPhysics 1 offers a variety of simulations designed to illustrate a broad range of physics concepts. The program is built as an HTML application, and it uses Netscape Navigator 3.01 for the primary interface. Internet Explorer can also be used if specified during installation. In addition, it comes with a hypertext editing notepad called ActivPad.
Product name: ActivPhysics
Publisher: Addison Wesley Interactive
Platform (Windows, Macintosh, Multi): Multi
Copyright: 1997
Grade level: Post-secondary
Subject: Physics
Intended use (reference, interaction, tool): Interaction
Screen magnification
This product performs reasonably well under magnification. The program's use of a mainstream web browser for the primary interface is helpful. A major drawback for magnifier users is the crowded screen layout. Once inside a simulation, text, usually an assignment or description, occupies roughly the right lower quarter of the screen. The simulation, usually graphical, and its controls (sliders, buttons, etc.) occupy the left lower three quarters of the screen. Although the majority of the simulations used during this analysis ran effectively, it is clear the low vision user will need more time to digest the educational content. The current screen design makes it difficult for the magnifier user to track all of the changing elements when a simulation is in progress. A preference to place the simulation on a screen apart from the text could vastly improve usability.
Text is generally readable. It is possible to increase font size using Netscape, but when increased to greater than 18 point, text becomes fragmented and very difficult to read. Product videos perform reasonably well, except when this product is operated with LPWindows. When LPWindows is running, product videos do not run. After talking with the developers of LPWindows, we believe this is a compatibility issue between the version of QuickTime employed in ActivPhysics and LPWindows.
Screen reader access
Even though ActivPhysics uses a mainstream web browser for its user interface, this program is not usable with a screen reader. Navigation is made difficult by the use of imagemaps. Frames arranged in columns make it harder to access the content because the user cannot immediately determine which part of the screen is active in order to scroll. Additionally, the majority of the physics content is presented primarily through simulations with graphical output. The simulations that present data as text on screen are also inaccessible because it is difficult to read the data in real time as the simulation progresses. Controls to manipulate the variables in a simulation are also not fully accessible. Product videos are not accessible. In some cases, videos that are directly related to content are not accompanied by any audio. The lack of description and regular audio makes these videos meaningless to blind students.
Recommendations for improvement
Use of standard text links: Today products built in HTML have the potential of being more usable out of the box than software built in other environments for several reasons. First, great strides have been made in terms of browser accessibility thanks to work by screen reader developers and browser developers such as Microsoft to address compatibility issues between a browser and a screen reader, and to build helpful features directly into the browser to aid in navigation (the use of the tab key to move from link to link for example). Second, HTML offers the developer the option to deliver functionality through a variety of means including text links or links on an imagemap. Unfortunately, ActivPhysics does not take full advantage of HTML's text capability. As a result, links to content and product help cannot be accessed with a screen reader. By including the link found on the imagemap as part of an alt text tag, or by providing the corresponding links as text at the bottom of the screen, the developers could make it possible for a screen reader user to navigate more freely through the product.
Expose all essential controls: Currently the screen reader user cannot manipulate the variables inside a simulation. There are some readily available solutions such as Microsoft's Active Accessibility, and work is now underway at Sun, IBM and elsewhere to improve access to applications written in Java.
Keyboard Access: More keyboard commands are needed for manipulating simulation controls. Currently the controls are heavily mouse dependent. A keyboard interface would make manipulating the variables much easier for blind and low vision students.
Details by assistive technology
Click the links below for details on how a specific piece of access technology performed with ActivPhysics.
LPWindows version 6.1
inLARGE version 2.1
JAWS for Windows95 version 2.0
ScreenPower for Windows version 3.0 revision C
outSPOKEN for Macintosh version 1.7.5
LPWindows version 6.1
ActivPhysics performs reasonably well with LPWindows. The product toolbar used to select a chapter is bitmapped text which does not stand up well under magnification with LPWindows. Product videos cannot be accessed. When the magnifier is shut down, the videos perform normally. This is most likely a compatibility issue between LPWindows and the version of QuickTime included with this product. Altering slider controls inside simulations is tricky and not very accurate under magnification. When the user clicks the slider button to move it, the mouse and image jumps to another part of the screen. Altering the magnifier's tracking feature does not appear to improve this problem. Aside from the slider problem, simulations can be explored effectively and all of the necessary tools can be located and used. The screen layout is cluttered which means the user may have to view the simulation several times to understand the content. ActivPad, the product's hypertext capable notepad, is usable with LPWindows.
inLARGE version 2.1
Please note that the Macintosh version of this program was tested primarily with Apple's CloseView and not inLARGE from Alva Access Group. We ran inLARGE briefly with this product and it appears that the simulations can be explored effectively.
ActivPhysics performs reasonably well under magnification with CloseView. Text is readable, but when increased to greater than 18 point, text becomes difficult to read. Simulations run fine. The current screen layout with text on the extreme right and the simulation and its controls on the left is crowded, so low vision users will probably need to run a simulation several times to absorb the content. Product videos can be played under magnification. ActivPad runs smoothly under magnification.
JAWS for Windows95 version 2.0
Independent use of ActivPhysics with JAWS is not possible even though the screen reader is equipped with macros to operate mainstream browsers such as Netscape and Internet Explorer. The product's toolbar (separate from the Netscape toolbar), which is necessary to choose a chapter and to access other features, is an imagemap and thus, is not accessible. The only available work around is to seek sighted assistance and build macros with JAWS for each toolbar item. Once inside a chapter, the bulk of the content is conveyed via simulations with graphical output. JAWS cannot access this data. Manipulation of simulation variables generally can't be accomplished effectively without sighted assistance. Some on-screen text is available however, the use of frames makes navigating the text difficult. ActivPad, the product's hypertext editing notepad works fine, but the user cannot find hypertext links he/she has added to their document because the links are indicated with a button that can't readily be identified.
ScreenPower for Windows version 3.0 revision C
Effective use of ActivPhysics with ScreenPower is not possible. Although the bulk of the on-screen text is accessible, special symbols and formulas cannot be interpreted with ScreenPower. Reviewing the text with the screen reader was sluggish on our test machine. The product toolbar, simulations and simulation controls cannot be accessed without labeling pixel location with sighted assistance. ActivPad can be run, but determining hypertext links is difficult.
outSPOKEN for Macintosh version 1.7.5
Independent use of this product is not possible. On-screen text is columnar but readable. Math equations are read in incorrect order, linearly from left to right with super- and sub-scripts read as if in a separate line. Restricting the screen reader to read down the column of content text may cause only the first half of an equation to be read, since the second half is interpreted as a separate column. Generally, content conveyed via simulations is inaccessible. outSPOKEN can locate some controls such as the "run" button, but true interaction is not possible due to the graphical nature of the simulation. The product toolbar is an imagemap, and sighted assistance is required to mark pixel locations.
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