E XPLORING M ICROSOFT S HARE P OINT Streamlining AltText Processes while Investigating Accessibility PattiLou Lester ([email protected]) &[email protected]

EXPLORING MICROSOFT SHAREPOINTStreamlining AltText Processes while Investigating Accessibility

PattiLou Lester ([email protected]) & KimBoo York ([email protected] / [email protected])

Florida State University

SHAREPOINT – WHAT IS IT?

“Microsoft SharePoint is a web application platform. First launched in 2001, SharePoint is typically associated with web content management and document management systems, but it is actually a much broader platform of web technologies, capable of being configured to suit a wide range of solution areas.”~ Wikipedia (emphasis added)

ALTTEXT ROAD TO SHAREPOINT

What it offers Scalability Centralization of data Automation of certain tasks Security Collaboration


Considerations: Accessibility and Learning Curve

For students For administrators/staff For development team

Security designed for people working in groups, not to service

individual students AD group set up Specialized permission levels


Obstacles Learning curve (that concern was valid)

System is not intuitive Very powerful but very confusing Very customizable if you know what you’re doing

Lack of accessibility reviews Few comprehensive overviews of accessibility issues Few discussions in regards to accessibility issues for

site administrators/owners/creators (step by step how-to

Time/Staff investment Initial set up – time – investment heavy Scheduling training


Flowchart

Paper Forms

Mind Map

Road Map

Final Site



Current “ALT Text” mind map

ALTTEXT ROAD TO SHAREPOINT Current site: Student View (in FireFox)

ALTTEXT ROAD TO SHAREPOINT Current site: Staff View (in IE)


Components to site design/use: Security Services

Sign up and requests Resources Text download/reading

Libraries Form libraries Document libraries Tasks

Workflows (macros) FSU SDRC Manual for users/developers:

http://www.disabilitycenter.fsu.edu/SharepointManual2010.html

SO YOU WANT TO CREATE ASHAREPOINT SITE?

SHAREPOINT – WHAT DO YOU NEED?

Server space to house Sharepoint Server (SPS) and necessary infrastructure

A SharePoint 2010 site SharePoint Designer – Free download

Microsoft InfoPath 2007 or 2010 – Form Creation)

Resources – text, web resources, and IT SharePoint support

LOTS OF PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE!

THE CRITICAL ISSUES:

Functionality: how can we…? Security: what it offers, and what it doesn’t Accessibility: 508, W3C – WCAG compliant? Usability: Universal Design – are we there

yet?

FUNCTIONALITY

Functionality comes first; decide what you need and how you will use it.

Four major components: Documents Forms Tasks Users

How do these elements fit together? Which documents are needed by which users? What are forms being used for? By whom? Are tasks tied to documents, forms, users, or all

three?

SECURITY & PERMISSIONS

Levels of permissions Very granular: possible to control what any user

can access and use Adapting SharePoint features for security

Moving forms from initial, public library to secure library via automatic workflow

Active directory student “group” to hide students from each other while giving access to site

EVALUATING ACCESSIBILITY:

Standards: SP 2010 was built targeting 508 and WCAG 2, and

relies on WIA ARIA to implement accessibility What does that mean? Standards test script for evaluation

Accessibility Kit for SharePoint (AKS) HI Software Compliance Sheriff – intended to scan for

accessibility and repair issues with SharePoint, includes an accessible Rich Text Editor.

ACCESSIBILITY:SharePoint Elements to Consider: Accessibility Mode – what exactly does this do?Accessing it – where you can find itEach page instance has to be enabled. Ugh! Web Parts versus Wiki Pages Calendar view in SharePoint versus syncing

with Outlook Issues with creating libraries using browser

features versus SharePoint Designer.

ACCESSIBILITY:

Tweaking the Monster• What does that mean? A powerful tool with a lot of

options is never what you need “out of the box”; tweaking means fine-tuning elements to your needs. SharePoint does not always make this easy.

• Tools to use – Firefox: FANG and Firebug

• Functional limitations – SharePoint is not kind to site developers

• Cheat sheets – finding help online by looking at the solutions others have come up with.

ACCESSIBILITY:

Editing the CSS• Accessing it – learn your master pages• Examples of code hacks:

Commenting out code that shows “page has been altered” bar

Changing code to hide ribbon bar from student users.

ACCESSIBILITY

Alternative ways to Navigate:Mapping SharePoint as a Network Drive

Easy to do on Windows 7 An alternative way to negotiate/manage site and move and copy

data around. Displays file structure of all the list and documents, all the libraries….

Can use this to manage data between parent and sub sites Functional limitations-

Mobile Device Mode• How to set it up

• Functional Limitations

ACCESSIBILITY: An example of what can be done

Screen shot of OTAP site Oregon Technology Access Program:

http://www.otap-oregon.org/Pages/Default.aspx

ACCESSIBILITY: An example of what can be done

Screen shot of CNIB site Canada National Institute for the Blind: http://www.cnib.ca/en/

USABIILTY ISSUES

For Student using the site• Learning curve adjusting to SP features/layout• Default layout not friendly• Features (some) not accessible, not usable

For Staff developing the site• Application not friendly• Steep learning curve

For Staff using the site• Documents other than MS have to be edited

outside SharePoint (proprietary issues-i.e. PDF)• Learning curve

WRAP UP

Functionality: SharePoint 2010 is a very powerful and flexible program, but those very aspects also make it complex and confusing. Trying to customize it without coders and web designers on staff is not advised. Designed to be used in a collaborative environment, it needs tweaking in order to maintain privacy standards. Once everything is set up, though, it should keep chugging along efficiently for as long as you need it.

Accessibility: Unfortunately, Microsoft is not there yet. While not completely accessible out of the box, the SharePoint site instances can be customized using web guidelines/standards, validation tools and re-coding. A lot is accessible; however, there are major flaws in other areas. Fixing those flaws is doable, but requires the expertise of a programmer.

ACCESSIBILITY RESOURCES Blogs and Websites

http://alastairc.ac/2009/11/sharepoint-2010-accessibility-event/ Alastair Campbell- SharePoint Accessibility Event

http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/Blogs/GetThePoint/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=517- Building an accessible site

http://www.aiim.org/community/blogs/expert/SharePoint-2010-Web-Standards-Accessibility-and-Usability-Quick-Reference-Guide -SharePoint 2010 Web Standards, Accessibility, and Usability Quick Reference Guide

http://www.slideshare.net/mavention/sharepoint-2010-web-standards-accessibility -Web Standards and Accessibility -Mavention

http://www.brucelawson.co.uk/2008/sharepoint-and-web-accessibility/

FANG- Firefox Add on https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/fangs-screen-reader-emulator/

Third Party Addon/Plugins http://www.hisoftware.com/solutions/SharePoint-Solutions/hisoftware-policy-sheriff-for-

SharePoint/accessibility-compliance/accessibility-foundation-module.aspx HiSoftware Compliance Sheriff® SP Accessibility Foundation Module (AFM)