Directory needs for people with disabilities

Discussions about the Ward Directory and Map tool on churchofjesuschrist.org.
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briancragun
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Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Mar 11, 2012 5:30 pm

Directory needs for people with disabilities

#1

Post by briancragun »

I greatly appreciate the time and effort put into the Directory pages on http://www.lds.org. Most members can get great benefit from the directory. However, I believe it is impossible for a person who is blind or mobility impaired to use the Directory function. Although parts of the directory work with a screen reader and keyboard, there are some tasks that are impossible for those with such disabilities. Now that the old directory is gone, this is the only
option.

I think we would agree that *all* members should be able to get information from the church directory, regardless of their physical abilities.

Here are some of the accessibility problems I found for people with disabilities.

1. The button on the Search All LDS.org search field is not labeled.

2. The Ward/Branch selector button is not in the tab navigation ring. It cannot be reached without the mouse. It is totally inaccessible with the keyboard, and is never spoken by a the screen reader. The effect is this: the blind user may not even be able to findknow which ward/branch they are viewing, because the ward/branch is part of the dropdown widget, and it is not in the tab order. A mobility impaired or blind user cannot change the ward/branch; so they cannot find any information about people in other wards/branches in the stake, nor can they find phone numbers for their Stake Leaders. This widget does not appear in the form controls dialog (Ins+F5 JAWS), nor in list of links for the page. This is a showstopper problem and of highest priority for fixing.

3. There is no accessibility help in the help information. Accessible sites should provide information on accessibility features.

4. There is no indication for a blind user that a list element in the second column is selected. So, for example, there is no way to know that it is the Bishopric selected in the second column and is displayed in the third column.

5. The list elements in the second column are a series of individual single lists, they should be elements of a larger list.

6. The columns themselves have no headings or tabular organization, so there is no way to skip from column 1 to column 2 to column 3 without tabbing through the entire contents of the column. This is a usabilty problem for those that can only use a keyboard.

7. On the household dialog, in edit mode, the edit/change/remove links are not accessible with the keyboard. A person with disabilities should be able to change and manage their own information.

On the good side, :)
a. Thank you for putting an H3 for each letter of the alphabet, this is useful for navigation.
b. Thank you for using HTML regions for mark-up.
c. Thank you for putting the third column information in a proper table with table headings properly marked up. This is extremely valuable for those who use a screen reader.

Please add the items 1 through 7 as high priorities in your defect list.

Thanks again for your tireless efforts to bring us information.
jdlessley
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Re: Directory needs for people with disabilities

#2

Post by jdlessley »

We appreciate the input. We are fortunate this forum is frequented by those church employees who work on the Directory Tool. But that does not ensure this topic thread will be read or reach those who can act on the feedback. Please note the official feedback is through the LDS.org feedback link found near the bottom of the home page and any other LDS.org page with that link. I recommend you provide this feedback through that feedback link.
briancragun wrote:1. The button on the Search All LDS.org search field is not labeled.
This is not just a Directory issue. The search field is an LDS.org header for all the LDS.org tools.
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
briancragun
New Member
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Mar 11, 2012 5:30 pm

Re: Directory needs for people with disabilities

#3

Post by briancragun »

Thanks, JD. Will post that issue to the correct forum.
jdlessley
Community Moderators
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Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:30 am
Location: USA, TX

Re: Directory needs for people with disabilities

#4

Post by jdlessley »

I noticed you posted some of the issues in the Beta Directory. That is probably the best place for the feedback for the next release. That is assuming they are not close to finalizing the beta for production release. In any case posting there will get the issues to the development team.
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
briancragun
New Member
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Mar 11, 2012 5:30 pm

Re: Directory needs for people with disabilities

#5

Post by briancragun »

Hi JD.
Many of the problems are the same but some are different. I did cross post because I noticed the problems on the current release, first. Then noticed the invitation to try the Beta. Whereever the problems will get fixed is obviously the best place :-) Sounds like that will get the attention it needs. Thanks.
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