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It took me a bit to figure out how to subscribe to only Gameday Audio with MLB so hopefully this saves others a few minutes. Most paths seem to want you to subscribe to the streaming television option. MlB customer support wasn’t overly helpful at understanding that not everyone hovers and uses a mouse.

 

The short version is that if you have an existing MLB.com account, using the link of https://secure.mlb.com/campaign/login_register.jsp?voucherCode=MLBTV_VOCHR&sku=ATBATPCSUBSEA2010&c_id=mlb&keepWfParams=true&flowId=commerce.cart.noUpfrontRegisPurchase&campaignCode=MLBTV_CMPGN should take you to a page that prompts for username and password and then takes you through the ordering process. There is also a Buy Now option on the page if you do not have an existing account that indicates it will allow you to create an account.

 

I reached this destination by:

 

1. Navigating to www.mlb.com.
2. Selecting the Audio/Video link.
3. Choosing accessible gameday audio from the resulting page.
4. Following the subscribe link on the next page.

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So, is MLB giving people who rely on alt text to understand the intent of images a real bonus or just not paying attention to what their alt tags convey? Check out the pricing according to alt tags for MLB.TV Premium.

 

The price is first indicated as $119.95 per year. But then alt text for the graphic of monthly subscription pricing of $24.95 indicates the rate is an annual rate as well. So MLB, do I get to pick my price for the annual subscription or are you going to correct your alt tags and pay better attention?

 

Alt text matters and my point here isn’t to be picky, although if MLB wants to let me pick the price of $24.95 for an annual subscription, which I could conclude based on current text, that sort of pickiness is just fine with me.

 

For the curious, here is how the alt text reads to a screen reader.

 

$119.95/year

$24.95/year

 

And here is the relevant section of the web page HTML. Note how the graphical names for the .png files go as far as indicating monthly and year for the images but that the alt text on the monthly pricing is incorrect.

 

            <td class=”feature_premium”>

                <div class=”link_purchase”><a href=”https://secure.mlb.com/enterworkflow.do?flowId=commerce.cart.noUpfrontRegisPurchase&campaignCode=MLBTV_CMPGN&voucherCode=MLBTV_VOCHR&keepWfParams=true&c_id=mlb&sku=MLBTVSUBPRSEA2010″ onclick=”bam.tracking.trackLaunchLink(‘https://secure.mlb.com/enterworkflow.do?flowId=commerce.cart.noUpfrontRegisPurchase&campaignCode=MLBTV_CMPGN&voucherCode=MLBTV_VOCHR&keepWfParams=true&c_id=mlb&sku=MLBTVSUBPRSEA2010′,{genericExternalLinkTracker:{tracked:’MLB: MLB.TV
Subscriptions: Premium
Yearly
Click‘}});”><img src=”/mlb/images/subscriptions/y2010/regseason/btn_119.95.png” border=”0″ class=”png” alt=”$119.95/year” /></a></div>

                <div class=”link_purchase”><a href=”https://secure.mlb.com/enterworkflow.do?flowId=commerce.cart.noUpfrontRegisPurchase&campaignCode=MLBTV_CMPGN&voucherCode=MLBTV_VOCHR&keepWfParams=true&c_id=mlb&sku=MLBTVSUBPRMON2010″ onclick=”bam.tracking.trackLaunchLink(‘https://secure.mlb.com/enterworkflow.do?flowId=commerce.cart.noUpfrontRegisPurchase&campaignCode=MLBTV_CMPGN&voucherCode=MLBTV_VOCHR&keepWfParams=true&c_id=mlb&sku=MLBTVSUBPRMON2010′,{genericExternalLinkTracker:{tracked:’MLB: MLB.TV
Subscriptions: Premium
Monthly
Click‘}});”><img src=”/mlb/images/subscriptions/y2010/regseason/btn_monthly_24.95.png” border=”0″ class=”png” alt=”$24.95/year” /></a></div>

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I have nothing but respect for the folks involved in helping to advocate that MLB.com improve accessibility of the web site. Lainey Feingold has been instrumental in moving accessibility on a number of issues to successful resolution. To learn more about the story here you can read a press release at http://lflegal.com/2010/02/mlb-press/. My comments are not meant to detract from the progress made.

 

Still I find it kind of ironic that when browsing to the MLB audio/video information page I find text telling me what follows is an advertisement and the same old nonsense of missing alt text on the ad itself. My money is as good as anyone else’s so come on advertisers and MLB, market to me too.

 

For the curious, here is how a screen reader presents the experience in question.

 

Below is an advertisement.

168544/r15_cm_b12_728x90

 

The string of gibberish is presented by the screen reader because the item is a link. Screen readers present some form of the underlying URL when links without text or proper alternative text for images are included in a web page. The screen reading user still needs to be able to take action on the link in question. The screen reader has no way to know whether the link is important or not.

 

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Yelp is one of the more popular web sites for restaurant reviews. I’ve recently started using it as one of my research tools when deciding where to dine.

 

I’m also a big fan of giving back to the information community on the web. My philosophy is that if you find the info on sites like Yelp of value, you should contribute by sharing your experiences.

 

Recently I wanted to write a review for a restaurant and started by trying to select the star rating. Sadly web site construction here leaves these rating selections very inaccessible to keyboard and screen reader users. Hint, most things that say “roll your mouse over” are a good sign that there’s likely to be an accessibility challenge unless more effort is made to make such a construction accessible. Yelp doesn’t appear to have made this effort.

 

I recognize that even today the vast majority of folks creating web sites do not know about accessibility. I’ve left the folks at Yelp feedback about the issue and suggestions on how to correct it. I’ll consider my first attempt to write a review the appetizer for using the web site and hope with feedback and action from Yelp the sour taste I have today can be replaced with something more palatable and accessible.

 

For those so inclined, feedback for the folks at Yelp can be left on their contact page.

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I’ve blogged several times about my desire to see improved accessibility with the All Access site from CBS Sports used by the University of Wisconsin to stream audio and video for Badger athletic events. Wisconsin is just one of dozens, if not hundreds, of universities that use this service.

 

Earlier today, contacts at the University of Wisconsin informed me that CBS indicated the accessibility issues with the All Access site were fixed with an update last week. While I have not had an opportunity to do extensive testing, I can say my preliminary explorations have yielded mixed results. I tried the site with a range of screen readers including JAWS, Window-Eyes, NVDA and System Access. I also tried accessibility verification tools such as Inspect and UI Spy that verify exposure of accessibility info, independent of a screen reader.

 

Perhaps the biggest issue thus far is that I was not able to successfully register for an account using any combination of the aforementioned tools. Some of the controls required to complete registration seem to either be missing necessary accessibility information or not read reliably by the various screen readers. Most notably were some combo boxes needed to complete details around birth date.

 

After further exploration, the real issue with the controls in question seems to be that for accessibility purposes the controls are reported as combo boxes. Traditionally alt+down arrow should expand such controls. However in this case it would seem that one must use space to expand the combo boxes. I am not certain if this is a limitation of the site or the control used at this point.

 

It is clear that CBS has done some work here. Many of the controls now provide names for accessibility. I am also able to launch content that does not require an account, that is the free content.

 

Although it is less than efficient, keyboard access also seems to have been addressed to at least provide some level of access. Still I found myself having to tab numerous times, sometimes 15 or 20, to reach a control after making a selection. And according to a sited colleague, visual focus when I was tabbing wasn’t obvious and at times appeared as if I was tabbing to items that were not visible.

 

Thus far my results seem mixed at best. Over the next few days I’ll try the site further and report here with more comprehensive and concrete details. From Twitter and e-mail comments I know others have tried to use All Access. You may want to try it again and see what mileage you have. If you do give it a try, leave a reply in the comments here so we can gather some collective experiences.

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Obviously one web site does not an accessibility statement make but an experience I had this morning still to me sums up the real state of web accessibility in 2010.

 

I kicked off the day reading an article from SFGate, the San Francisco Chronicle’s online site claiming the web was more accessible to people with disabilities. In my opinion this is both a poor article and a very misleading headline. There’s a world of difference between the utility offered by the web and the accessibility of that utility.

 

Articles like the one I’m talking about here always trot out people with disabilities and site how things like online shopping, recreation and the dozens of other things one can do on the web are such a boon to the population of people with disabilities. I won’t disagree with the benefits of an online world. I know firsthand that I do things online today that were at best tedious and in some circumstances all but impossible before introduction of various online offerings.

 

Still it is a mistake to equate this with real web accessibility. I think half the reason people with disabilities tolerate such a pathetic state of true accessibility is because the alternative to doing things online is that much more of a challenge.

 

Back to my experiences of today. I read an article from the Seattle Times talking about an interesting burger joint. I’m someone who enjoys a good burger from time to time so decided to check out the menu for the restaurant.

 

So I surfed on over to The Counter’s web site. I chose to view the online menu and selected the city of Seattle. I was perplexed when I still couldn’t find any meaningful menu and only alt text for a graphic that read, “Build Your Own Burger Menu”. It turns out the menu is just a graphical representation of the menu. There’s no real text to be read by a screen reader.

 

Again I recognize that one web site can hardly be used to measure the state of web accessibility at the debut of 2010. Still in my experience my experience with the burger joint is far more common than any improvements in web accessibility and in general I think the web is really not getting more accessible. How about you? What are your experiences?

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Queue the broken record theme and maestro, hit it!

 

Earlier I wrote about my hope to see improved accessibility from CBS College Sports All Access. As of that writing I was told the accessibility fixes were expected on November 30. That day came and went with no update.

 

I received a brief update today from the people I’ve been exchanging e-mail with at the University of Wisconsin about the accessibility issues.

 

What’s that you say? You’ve read this before. Yeah, that’s about how I felt when I received the latest update from contacts at the University of Wisconsin. I had been promised that accessibility issues with a streaming media site for Badger athletics would be corrected by the end of November. This was by my count at least the fifth promised deadline for such fixes to be missed, dating back to September.

 

I no longer have any meaningful date for improved accessibility beyond a promise to “hold CBS’s feet to the fire,” and to involve UW legal folks if there is no progress by the end of the year. Consider me confused because one would think UW legal officials were involved when any contract establishing the relationship between CBS and the UW was signed. One would think the dozens of other universities using this service would also be calling for accessibility fixes.

 

As I’ve said earlier, I will give the UW and CBS some credit for making arrangements for me to get access to the streaming links for broadcasts of interest. Basically at this point I e-mail some contacts at CBS prior to the start of a broadcast and I’m provided a direct link that launches the media stream. I will also say that the UW has not yet charged me the equivalent fees for the online service, although I’ve made it clear I’m willing to pay the appropriate fees.

 

Still, this policy is not documented anyplace on the UWBadgers.com site or CBS site. Further, meaningful accessibility should mean I and others get access to the full functionality of the web site in question without having to ask each time. For example I have no access to archived broadcasts which I believe is made available on the main site.

 

It is my contention that as a public institution, the UW and any other publicly funded institution is required by the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehab Act to make services accessible. This is my personal opinion and I’m not a lawyer. Still if you are trying to access online broadcasts of a similar institution and are having difficulty due to the accessibility issues with the All Access site, I’d encourage you to make your concerns known to the appropriate people at the institution in question.

 

As a graduate of the University of Wisconsin I am disappointed in the level of accessibility and attention this issue has received. The UW may not be responsible for developments from CBS, but the UW is certainly responsible for the accessibility of the resources they choose to use, no matter who creates those resources.

 

As a Badger fan who enjoys the entertainment college athletics offer, I am saddened to have the experience soured by this lingering accessibility issue that is no closer to resolution some three months after I first brought it to the UW’s attention.

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Web accessibility issues are certainly easy to find. Calling attention to each one any user encounters would quickly be overwhelming. But every once in a while you come across examples that are just so basic they need to be mentioned.

 

I’m sure just about everyone has heard of Morningstar, the financial research giant. The company’s star ratings pepper the financial world, with Morningstar ratings being used in any credible financial research source.

 

In addition to providing data to the financial industry, Morningstar offers research tools directly such as their mutual fund screener.

 

This screener is filled with examples of missing alt text. The one that caught my attention in particular is the missing alt text on a series of checkboxes for selecting the Morningstar ratings you want to include in your search. Graphics are used along with checkboxes to choose star ratings from 1 to 5. But without any alt text, anyone who is not able to use images, such as screen reading users, only gets to know that there are a series of checkboxes.

 

One would hope that the bread and butter for which a company is known would get a bit more accessibility attention at some point. Then again as I said web accessibility issues are widespread. No secret I know but this Morningstar example is yet another to add to the collection when trying to illustrate why accessibility, alt text in particular, matters.

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If you’ve not yet tried Walk Score, it is to me a web site worth having in your favorites list.  You enter an address and the site gives you what is termed a walkability score for the address.  This score is based on proximity of things like shops, restaurants and such.  You get not only the score, but the list of businesses.  Site accessibility needs some improvement but you can generally make it work.

 

Of note is that a couple days ago public transit info has been added to the info about an address.  In 40 markets you now get a list of the nearest public transit routes as well as other info that was previously provided.

 

Walk score can be found at http://www.walkscore.com.

 

An example address from an apartment I used to live in back when I lived in San Francisco can be found at http://www.walkscore.com/get-score.php?street=75+capra+way%2C+san+francisco%2C+ca&go=Go.

 

You can read a blog posting talking about the public transit info on Walk Score at http://blog.walkscore.com/?p=344.

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For the past several years, September has been the time for me to renew my subscription to the University of Wisconsin athletic broadcasts offered on Yahoo’s college sports broadcast services. This year I hunted and hunted but Badger broadcasts were not to be found. As it turned out, Bucky Badger decided to go with a different online partner for streaming media, namely CBS sports.

 

Well, the first football game day rolled around so I tried to sign up for the new offering only to find about zero accessibility of the site. A Silverlight player is the heart of the site and much like Flash there’s potential for accessibility or not, depending on what’s done.

 

I was disappointed to say the least. As a Wisconsin alum, I expected better from the UW. I recognize Wisconsin didn’t build the service but before making the switch I would have hoped to see more investigation of accessibility. To Wisconsin’s credit, once they were made aware of the accessibility challenges, they’ve been great about finding ways to allow me to listen to Badger broadcasts while the issues are resolved. I can only wonder what other universities who use this same service are doing.

 

The UW now tells me that CBS is supposed to be releasing an update to the site that fixes both keyboard and programmatic accessibility. Recent communication from the UW said in part:

 

Kelly: We truly appreciate your continued patience. CBS informed us last week: “Our release including the ADA fix is targeted for 10-Nov-09. We are exposing both accessibility info as well as making items reachable from the keyboard”, so expect that their site will be fully accessible.

 

I don’t know about “fully accessible” but I’m somewhat hopeful for improvements here. We’ll see next week about this time what I can say.

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