[stylist] Poem: Blue Button

Thu Mar 10 16:31:37 UTC 2016

Oh, my goodness, Jackie, and welcome back.  

You have had quite a time with your computer.  

The poem as I said was inspired by a friend, who is actually in the other
organization, who had a problem with a form with a blue button as I
described.  She wondered out loud where our advocates were on these issues.
Someone sighte might have told her the button was blue, even if the screen
reader couldn't find it.  It is possible in Jaws, thoug,h to read the colors
at a particular cursor location, but that wouldn't necessarily mean you were
sitting on a particular control.  This was also in the wake of the petition
that was put forward recently asking the Justice Department to promulgate
the promised web accessibility regulations.  I wonder what the final count
on that petition drive was.  I may have to call the national office and ask.

The part about feeling the colors refers to another potential means of
access that might, next to sight itself, be the holy grale of alternative
technology for us if it could be done practically and at reasonable cost.
That would be a full screen tactile display.  I know there have been some
experimental moves in that area but it hasn't come totally to fruition yet.

This is something I mentioned to a computer instructor I had at a
vocational/technical school about twenty years ago when I was having trouble
with an introductory course that was on a computer that I had to have
assistance with because some of it was in bit mapped graphics.  That meant
that even if something was in text it was a picture of dots rather than text
characters.  I said to him what the blind needed was a tactile display that
would render these pictures, having no earthly idea how we would or could
get there, or if I could be part of that process.  

Such a display could in my imagination have different textures for color
contrast.  One might be able to locate an element and route the cursor to it
in order to perform the needed action.  Perhaps the view could be zoomed in
like with a magnification program, and text could be output as Braille if
desired, which could in turn be adjusted in size and height for easier
reading.  

The combination of feeling blue and seeing red describes the simultaneous
feelings of depression and anger we sometimes feel with our technology,
which we have a love-hate relationship with sometimes.  

Bill Outman 

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jackie
Williams via stylist
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2016 9:48 AM
To: 'Writers' Division Mailing List'
Cc: Jackie Williams
Subject: Re: [stylist] Poem: Blue Button

Bill,
I have been inactive for months due to my computer crashing. It took months
which involved getting the hard drive replaced, getting an expert to
diagnose and retrieve what was possible from my external hard drive,
installing a new computer also, up-dated but still foreign to me with
Windows 10, JAWS 16, and My Word program with its many files and folders
still not transferred until I learn to use it.
But the good news, the first e-mail this day from the group is a poem that
could not be more pertinent. I have that experience so often, often not
stating a color, but just saying just clicking on the button, and I cannot
see or find it using the suggested hot key of B. 
There are so many things that JAWS does not read, like when your entire
screen goes black, so you have no idea what to do.
I am sure that more lessons at 80. Per hour would help, but after all this,
I just liberally delete things.
I call myself a poet, sometimes in question! But I love your content, and I
also like rhymed poetry.
Thanks so much for putting our experiences in a poetic form.
Now, I must try to keep up with the Stylist group once again I probably have
missed a great deal from all of my friends.. 

Jackie Lee

Time is the school in which we learn.
Computers are the fires in which we burn.
Delmore Schwartzand Jackie Lee	 

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bill Outman
via stylist
Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2016 7:17 PM
To: 'Writers' Division Mailing List'
Cc: Bill Outman
Subject: [stylist] Poem: Blue Button

Here is a poem I wrote tonight that was inspired by a blind friend's
experience with an inaccessible web form with a blue button that could not
be accessed in order to complete it.  I am writing as if in her voice, but
any of us without sufficient vision to interpret a computer screen would run
into this problem.  

Any comments are welcome.  

Bill Outman 

Blue Button 

When I came to a web form 

I wished only I had proper access.  

If to its requirements I could conform 

I could achieve full success.  

You tell me to click the button that's blue 

I reply I simply cannot see, what can I say?  

And without physical vision I see no hue 

No matter if green, orange or gray.  

I am left wondering what to do. 

For with the computer voice it cannot be read 

I'm left feeling very blue, 

And it's enough to make me see red 

If I could sense the color by touch, 

Or if it only had the proper tag 

It would help so very much

So that the job would be in the bag 

So to all I would implore 

To institute the correct fix. 

Such an act I would adore, 

For then I would be fully in the mix. 

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
_______________________________________________
Writers Division web site
http://writers.nfb.org/
stylist mailing list
stylist at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
stylist:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/jackieleepoet%40cox.net

_______________________________________________
Writers Division web site
http://writers.nfb.org/
stylist mailing list
stylist at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
stylist:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/woutman%40earthlink.net

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus