CD-ROM Access
Findings by Type of Software

Reference software
Interactive software
Tool software

Reference software

Reference software contains large amounts of information and ways to search through it for topics you are interested in learning about. The most important features for accessibility, therefore, are the information itself and the tools for sorting and searching it. We tested four popular multimedia encyclopedias. In all cases the text of articles can be read by screen readers, but the simpler the layout of the screen, the easier it is to use with either a magnifier or a screen reader. For example, layouts which place too many pieces of information on the screen at one time are more confusing than layouts where the user sees only the article they have selected. Even though article text in products with a complex screen layout can be read with a screen reader, the effort required to navigate the screen is too time consuming for efficient use.

Accessibility of the tools for locating and searching for articles varies. The most usable program, Encyclopaedia Britannica CD 97, has a simple HTML interface which can be used relatively easily. The more complicated search tools have multiple buttons, panes, or dialog boxes and can be more difficult to navigate. If they can be used, however, these complicated search tools can offer powerful features for finding just the information you want. Use of these features can be improved by implementing a keyboard interface to provide access without a mouse, and exposing the buttons and other controls to assistive technologies so that screen readers can identify them and screen magnifiers can properly track the control which has focus.

Making the visual content of reference software accessible is a separate problem. Many of these products include photos, diagrams, and videos in addition to text. Providing access for blind and visually impaired users requires insuring that text or audio descriptions are available that convey the information contained in the graphic. This could be done by adding descriptive text to the photo captions which all users read or by providing descriptions separately for users of assistive technology only. For educational products, including math and science software, it is important that descriptions be written to convey the educational content of images. They must enable the blind or visually impaired student to learn from the software as effectively as their sighted classmates do.

Reference titles tested:
Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia 1997 Edition for Windows (The Learning Company)
Encarta '97 Encyclopedia (Microsoft)
Encyclopaedia Britannica CD '97 (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
1997 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia (Grolier Interactive Inc..

Interactive software

Most software for children can be described as highly interactive. This includes programs for young children, which often encourage them to move objects around the screen and explore an animated environment, and simulations for older students, which allow them to perform experiments or manipulate objects and observe the effects. These programs can be tricky to use for students with some visual impairments because a narrower field of view makes it difficult to take in the entire scene or because poorly contrasting colors make it hard to distinguish objects from their backgrounds.

For students who are blind and use a screen reader, interactive programs are generally completely inaccessible as currently written. This is because the many objects, buttons, sliders, and other controls are not exposed to the screen reader at all and therefore cannot be located or manipulated by the student. Making these programs accessible will primarily consist of ensuring that all interactions can take place using the keyboard and that all objects and controls can be located and manipulated by assistive technologies.

Many interactive programs do include quite a bit of audio. They may have audio help files, a spoken introduction to each scene, or sound effects that make the program lively and give students feedback as they work. Building from this base (and ensuring that all audio has a visual equivalent for the benefit of deaf and hard-of-hearing students) it is possible to greatly enhance an interactive product with sound to make it more useful for blind and visually impaired students. The usefulness of the audio will of course depend on the extent to which the student can access the activities that the audio accompanies.

Some interactive programs, particularly those for young children, rely heavily on visual media, using visual metaphors to teach concepts. Unless the same skills can be taught using audio alone, some of these programs may not be suitable for adaptation for visually impaired students. Blind students, particularly, will need tactile experiences while learning some concepts and may not benefit greatly from audio-only experiences. For this reason it makes sense to focus on improving accessibility in software for older children and only in carefully selected instances considering products for younger children.

Interactive titles tested:
ActivPhysics (Addison Wesley Interactive)
Astro Algebra (Edmark)
Explorations in Cell Biology and Genetics (Wm. C. Brown Publishers)
How the West Was One + Three x Four (Sunburst Communications)
Infinity City (Headbone Interactive)
Photosynthesis Explorer 3.0 (LOGAL Software, Inc.)
SimAnt (Maxis Multimedia)
The Way Things Work 2.0 (Dorling Kindersley.

Tool software

Tool software generally does not focus on teaching educational content, though some lessons or reference material may be included. Instead, the most important function of a math or science tool is to enable students to explore their own material, work on concepts they are learning, and create reports, homework, and other projects. Most tools include use of equations and graphs as appropriate to the age of the expected users. As in other types of software, basic navigation and keyboard interface are important to using these programs; when there is reference information included the same concerns apply as with software used purely for reference.

Of overriding concern, however, is the accessibility of the tools used to create new material, manipulate and explore it, and understand the results. Most of the tools we tested were not usable with screen readers, and mostly for the same reason: screen readers cannot interpret equations or graphs in standard software. Equations are sometimes read with characters missing and sometimes with characters out of order since superscripts may appear to be on a different line than the rest of the equation. In other cases the equations are not read at all. Graphs, of course, cannot simply be read in any way. Research and initiatives to make it possible for screen reader users to interact with equations and graphs is underway. Read more about it in our page on solutions.

Tool titles tested:
The Cruncher (Davidson & Associates)
MathView (Waterloo Maple, Inc.)
Minitab Release 10 Xtra (for Mac) and Release 11 (for Windows) (Minitab, Inc.)
StudyWorks for Schools (MathSoft, Inc.)

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