CD-ROM Access
Analysis Findings

Photosynthesis Explorer 3.0 Access Summary

Table of Contents
Product description
Screen magnification
Screen reader access
Recommendations for improvement
Details by assistive technology

Product description

This biology simulation illustrates the process of photosynthesis using a model whose variables can be manipulated and whose output can be graphed. It includes audio, video, text, and animation.

Publisher: LOGAL, Inc.
Platform (Windows, Macintosh, Multi): Multi
Copyright: 1996
Grade level: Secondary
Subject: Biology
Intended use (reference, interaction, tool): Interaction

Screen magnification

Photosynthesis Explorer 3.0 works quite well with screen magnification. The text quality is good and the simulation graphics enlarge clearly. Some of the text is available as recorded audio, which is helpful. More widespread use of audio could enhance the program further.

One difficulty in using the simulation with magnification is that when the user is changing the input controls, the value of the variable is displayed in a status bar rather than on the control. The status bar is too far away from the controls to be seen at the same time at some levels of magnification. When the user releases the control and moves to check the value, the number is no longer displayed. This makes it difficult to precisely adjust the input variable and to find out the numerical value of the variable.

Screen reader access

Photosynthesis Explorer 3.0 cannot be used with a screen reader. Although a standard menu bar provides some navigation, most choices must be made from on-screen buttons or a toolbar, none of which can be located or labeled except by screen coordinates. On the Macintosh, using the menu bar for navigation causes the program to end up in unintended states, and the product documentation recommends against using the menu controls.

The text that appears in each lesson can be read with a screen reader. However, the text is formatted on the screen in a variety of layouts which make it difficult to know which text belongs to which block. Information, buttons, graphs, and questions to be answered are mixed together without identification. The heart of the product is the simulation which cannot be used at all. The controls and output of the simulation cannot be read by the screen reader, making it impossible for a student to carry out work independently. In addition, the simulation is animated to show the flow of materials through the process. This animation is not fully described in text or audio.

One screen reader, ScreenPower, causes particular trouble when using this program. Exploring the screen with the keyboard navigation commands seems to trigger windows to open unexpectedly. And when a sighted assistant uses the mouse to navigate, the screen flickers and jumps. It appears that the screen is being constantly re-drawn.

Recommendations for improvement

Provide additional audio: Any additional recorded audio would enhance the product. A detailed description of the screen layout and the appearance of the simulation would be helpful. Buttons to play this audio should be made accessible to screen readers.

Expose controls: Create controls for the simulation and for navigation in the program that can be recognized by screen readers. Students must be able to choose lessons, scroll text blocks, check the values of simulation controls, change those values, and confirm their changes. For users with visual impairments who might use a mouse, it should be possible to adjust the value of a variable and see the changing variable near by, rather than on the status line of the model.

Provide standard navigation: Full navigation in the product could be provided through using the menus and/or with a keyboard interface, such as tabbing from button to button in the graphical menus.

Expose simulation output: Students need to have access to the output of the simulation, which is currently primarily in graphs. Access to the underlying numbers and to the graphs would be useful. This will require the use of a standard way of exposing graphs so that assistive technologies can interpret them in audio or in a tactile form.

Test with assistive technologies: The product should be tested with assistive technologies to determine the cause of some unexpected behavior.

Details by assistive technology

Click the links below for details on how a specific piece of access technology performed with Photosynthesis Explorer 3.0.
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

• Photosynthesis works quite well using screen magnification. All features are fairly accessible.
• Text quality is excellent.
• The models are well designed and their graphics stand up well when magnified. There is a problem with the model tools: when making adjustments under moderate to high magnification, it is not possible to see the resulting numeric display because of its location. And once the adjustment is complete the number disappears.
• Video quality is not great but given that it is a talking head lecture it is acceptable. The video is not enlarged by screen magnification, though it will run while magnification is loaded. It also appears in the wrong location and moves around if the mouse is moved.
• "First Look," a tutorial, includes human audio of on-screen text. It is unfortunate that more of the program does not offer this accessibility option.

inLARGE version 2.1

• Photosynthesis works quite well using screen magnification. All features are fairly accessible.
• Text quality is acceptable.
• The models are well designed and their graphics stand up well when magnified. There is a problem with the model tools: when making adjustments under moderate to high magnification, it is not possible to see the resulting numeric display because of its location. And once the adjustment is complete the number disappears.
• Video quality is not great but given that it is a talking head lecture it is acceptable.
• "First Look," a tutorial, includes human audio of on-screen text. It is unfortunate that more of the program does not offer this accessibility option.

JAWS for Windows95 version 2.0

• The Photosynthesis simulation cannot be manipulated from the keyboard, and JAWS cannot locate or identify the controls or their output displays.
• The text introducing and describing the activities can be read, but the buttons that scroll and display the text cannot be accessed with sighted assistance. Also, text for buttons, tables, graph titles and axes, and questions mix together because of the layout of the screen.
• The spreadsheet tool can speak cell contents and with some effort cell locations but is nonetheless difficult to use.
• Graphing the data results in an inaccessible graph.
• Use of standard menus provides partial navigation, but not all needed program elements are available from the menu bar. Many needed menus are only presented in screen-filling bitmaps that JAWS cannot use.
• Help is standard Windows Help which is easily accessed.

ScreenPower for Windows version 3.0 revision C

• This product is inaccessible to a visually impaired person using ScreenPower for Windows 95; they are not able to independently use any part of the program.
• Although the menu system allows the user to activate most of the applications modules, almost none of the many buttons and other controls on the content screens can be located or labeled by SPWin.
• The text is readable, but it is often formatted into blocks around visual objects or windows containing pictures or animations. It can be difficult to determine which text belongs in each block, especially when not using a Braille display.
• The ScreenPower software appears to interfere with the normal operation of this application. The screens "flicker" and "jump" while SPWin is loaded even when a sighted person attempts to interact with screen tools using a mouse. Exploring the screens using SPWin's navigation commands seems to inadvertently activate controls and open miscellaneous windows. It may be that many screen areas are "hot" in this application, or that the mere presence of the SPWin mouse causes a mouse click even when SPWin cannot recognize the control.

outSPOKEN for Macintosh version 1.7.5

• An inability to locate on-screen controls and manipulate them make the product unusable.
• More descriptive text is needed to help users understand the simulation and its output.
• Most on-screen text and button names could be read, however, more consistent screen layout and ability to recognize of the role of each object is needed for effective use. Text for buttons, tables, graph titles and axes, and questions all mix together.

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