Cody B. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
codeman38) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
accessibility_fail2009-10-22 02:16 pm
codeman38) wrote in accessibility_fail2009-10-22 02:16 pm
A special kind of accessibility fail
So there's this site called Ning that allows people to create subject-specific social networking sites in a flash.
For the longest time, they had a visual-only CAPTCHA with no audio alternative and no obvious contact form by which users with vision impairments could contact someone to be signed up.
Recently, in order to improve their security, they changed their CAPTCHA system from a home-grown one to ReCAPTCHA, which has accessibility features built in.
So, naturally, in incorporating the ReCAPTCHA into their page layout... they removed the link for the audio version. Despite the fact that it would not have been much effort to include it, and despite the fact that it's a whole lot easier than rolling one's own audio CAPTCHA.
No, really. See for yourself. (It does, incidentally, show the audio link with JavaScript turned off-- but some Ning forums, naturally, require JavaScript to be turned on in order for the site to work at all, which makes this a very klugy workaround indeed.)
And of course, there's still nothing in the FAQ about what to do if you can't see the CAPTCHA. This is the closest thing, and honestly, I don't think opening firewall connections to *.ning.com will make the image any more readable to a screen reader.
For the longest time, they had a visual-only CAPTCHA with no audio alternative and no obvious contact form by which users with vision impairments could contact someone to be signed up.
Recently, in order to improve their security, they changed their CAPTCHA system from a home-grown one to ReCAPTCHA, which has accessibility features built in.
So, naturally, in incorporating the ReCAPTCHA into their page layout... they removed the link for the audio version. Despite the fact that it would not have been much effort to include it, and despite the fact that it's a whole lot easier than rolling one's own audio CAPTCHA.
No, really. See for yourself. (It does, incidentally, show the audio link with JavaScript turned off-- but some Ning forums, naturally, require JavaScript to be turned on in order for the site to work at all, which makes this a very klugy workaround indeed.)
And of course, there's still nothing in the FAQ about what to do if you can't see the CAPTCHA. This is the closest thing, and honestly, I don't think opening firewall connections to *.ning.com will make the image any more readable to a screen reader.
no subject
no subject
But when you're using a CAPTCHA system that has accessibility features built in, and people have been complaining about this basic accessibility issue for two years? That's just FAIL.
no subject
no subject
no subject
The question of accessibility is such a hard one for some people to engage with and I don't know why. I wonder whether part of it is a defense mechanism ("But I'm a good person! I didn't mean to make this inaccessible. So I'm in the wrong now and - AUGH!") which is really unhelpful to everyone involved. If something is inaccessible, and you really didn't think of it, the best response is to feel bad for a brief moment and then do whatever you can to fix it, in conversation with the person who pointed the problem out. At least, that's what I've discovered.
Sigh.
no subject
Response from the Ning team!
"You suffer from what is called an accessibility fail. Seeing that approx 25% of all internet users suffer from some kind of handicap (ref. WAI) it amazes me to see that you actually have DISABLED THE AUDIO CAPTCHA from ReCaptcha. See the linked discussion at the Accessibility Fail forum. Disabling the audio version due to layout is just evil and badly thought out."
Response from the Ning team:
"I'm glad you contacted us about this issue, as it's something we hope to change in the future. We did not disable the audio Captcha, but rather our platform does not yet support this option. While we hope to offer an audio captcha soon, in the mean time we are happy to help future members sign up if they contact the Help Center directly. Let me know if you have any other questions."
So this means the only way for handicapped web users is to go through the Help Center. I'm not visually handicapped, and even I had trouble finding a way to contact them directly, being sent back and forth between the various help sections. But at least they seem to be working on something ...
Re: Response from the Ning team!
I responded to them with the following:
There's no need to develop one-- it is literally *built in* to ReCAPTCHA, which you're now using. You just have to add a link to it.
According to http://recaptcha.net/apidocs/captcha/client.html all you need to do is add a single JavaScript link to "javascript:Recaptcha.switch_type('audio')", and then clicking/following that link that will switch the CAPTCHA to the audio version.
(And I totally agree on your last paragraph; I'm sighted as well, and it was quite difficult to find a contact link starting from the registration page.)
Re: Response from the Ning team!
Re: Response from the Ning team!
There's still an open bug on their bug tracker about it too which is still garnering comments from practically everyone but Ning themselves. (Including a rather insightful comment about a disability-related social network that requires quick turnaround time.)