[LINK] Fwd: vip-l: Visual Verification Boxes: The Obnoxious Obstacles

[Jan Whitaker]

for linkers concerned with accessibility issues. Interesting analysis 
of various well-known websites.

>Visual Verification Boxes: The Obnoxious Obstacles
>
>By Wes Derby
>AssociatedContent.com, February 13, 2007
>
>The Internet and the Blind II
>
>Visual Verifications are an obstacle for blind computer users
>
>We've all encountered them. You're trying to register for a site or service,
>or trying to make a purchase, and it hits you; "Please enter the text you
>see in the box". I understand site owners claim to use these to prevent
>automated sign-ups to their sites, but as a blind computer user, I have to
>say that they're a huge disservice to the blind and visually impaired
>community. The problem isn't so much the graphical text boxes themselves,
>which our screenreaders will not read, but the lack of assistance provided
>by some sites.
>
>Some sites genuinely do offer assistance to blind and visually impaired
>individuals in signing up for their sites. Some examples of these include:
>
>Yahoo.com: They provide a link so that, if you can't see the text, you can
>hear it through your computer's speaker system, and then type what you hear.
>
>Opieanthony.net: You can email the site administrator and he will assist you
>in the sign-up.
>
>Wahm.com: They don't officially offer an alternative, but I e-mailed the
>administrator, and she took care of my sign-up.
>
>Garageband.com: They require you to enter the text from the box each time
>you review a song. I contacted them and explained that I am blind, and they
>were able to turn this feature off permanently for me.
>
>Thos are some of the good sites. Now, however, I will focus on some of the
>not-so-good sites. I'm not trying to imply that these sites are
>intentionally trying to make it difficult for the blind; they simply may not
>know they're doing so. Some of them, however, seem unteachable.
>
>The site I have the biggest beef with in this regard is Earthlink.net. In my
>day job, part of my job is to handle the incoming email to our library's
>general account. Earthlink has a set-up which allows users to only receive
>email from senders they approve. The approval process is pretty
>straightforward. I reply to the message, and Earthlink sends a message back
>to me, telling me to click a link and fill in the form with my name, email
>address, and if I want, my reason for emailing the person. They provide a
>text box with some letters and/or numbers, and you have to enter those in
>the edit box. They offer a link for the visually impaired to click on for
>assistance, but the assistance you get is nonexistent. The link takes you to
>a live chat session with Earthlink tech support. In the two times I chatted
>with someone, instead of receiving help, I was told by the reps that I
>should just call the person instead of emailing, to let the person know I
>was replying to their email. This is bad advice for two reasons. First, I
>didn't have phone numbers for either person. Second, even if I did,
>Earthlink should not offer the link for assistance if they do not plan to
>provide such assistance. In these cases, I've had to call a sighted coworker
>over to read me the text. Earthlink gets an F- in my book.
>
>Next is Ticketmaster. In my ticket buying experiences, their site requires
>this same visual verification of entering the text from the box. Their
>advice for assisting the blind? Buy your tickets at a Ticketmaster outlet or
>by phone. This is great for general ticket-buying, but is not feasible for
>buying through internet presales offered by some of our local radio
>stations. In those cases, again, I have to ask a sighted friend or family
>member to assist by reading the box. Since Ticketmaster offers a solution
>that is workable in most situations, I give them a D; slightly better than
>Earthlink, but not much.
>
>The final site I'll mention here is Myspace. They have one of these visual
>verifications during the sign-up process, and no link for the visually
>impaired or anyone else who can't see the text. I've contacted Myspace about
>this a couple of times, and have never received a response. Again, I call a
>sighted person over to help me. Once signed up, however, Myspace is mostly
>accessible, though in my follow-up article on the internet and the blind, I
>plan to discuss an accessibility issue at Myspace. Though the sign-up
>process is inaccessible in that particular step, the rest of the site works
>pretty well with a screenreader. I give them a C+.
>
>I could go on and on for pages with sites who use these visual text boxes,
>but I think you, the intelligent reader, get the picture. This is a problem
>which can be solved, as I've mentioned above; site owners simply have to
>want to assist in this process. We may be a minority in the population, but
>blind and visually impaired people in general tend to be very tech savvy
>people, and use the internet as much as our sighted counterparts, and our
>issues need to be taken seriously by site owners/administrators. If anyone
>from any of the sites I mentioned above, or any other website administrator
>who uses these visual verification systems, read this article, I would
>implore you to consider your blind visitors when setting up your sites.
>
>
>http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/139895/visual_verification_boxes_th
>e_obnoxious.html

Jan Whitaker
JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/
commentary: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/

'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, 
there is no plant.' - JW, April 2005
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