"From our own point of view, we'll
not being winding net-guide up any time soon," he added. "We
still think that there are some things we provide to differentiate
ourselves from Google – such as the accessibility rating – and the
more choice users have, the better."
Web accessibility is not only for those with visual impairments.
Users with hearing, mobility or cognitive disabilities have
accessibility requirements too. But for now, Accessible Search is
focusing on blind users, largely because Raman is one of them.
"Given (a) what I needed and (b) what I knew best, I did it from my
perspective," he said. "But the idea isn't to limit it to blind
users." In the longer term, he hopes other user communities will
rally around the service based on different needs. "One size
doesn’t fit all and we've build one size. If there is enough
interest, my hope is there will be other instances." Perhaps in
future, Google will offer a version that can be tailored to users
with dyslexia, for example.
Raman acknowledges the limitations of the automated tests and is
not suggesting they are a substitute for user testing. He also
knows that some developers may try to hoodwink clients that their
sites are accessible solely by virtue of a good ranking in Google
Accessible Search. With such practices, "there's a positive and a
negative," said Raman. "A lot of people spend money on search
engine optimisation. If someone starts optimising for our
accessibility measure, it's a positive."
Howell suggested that Google could highlight the added benefits
of user testing in its accompanying FAQ,
where it already talks about how sites can make their content more
accessible to the blind. We put this to Raman. He liked the idea
and said he'll put that in.
Another possibility is for users to contribute to the ranking of
sites. "We want to do that," said Raman when asked if this had been
considered. "But building the interface is a challenge."
Raman explained that there are two problems: building an
accessible interface to take feedback – which necessitates a form
of registration and sign-in, he says; and fighting spam – i.e.
people seeking to abuse the system. He believes the latter battle
is easier to win: "We can fight that algorithmically," he
said. But a sign-in process "adds one more step for the
user," he said. "I haven't come up with a solution that's pleasant
enough and smooth enough yet."
The AFB's Leventhal is also blind and a regular Google user. He
suggested that Google Accessible Search would best suit the novice
screen-reader user. He has no problems using its main search
service and is used to results that direct him to inaccessible
sites. Leventhal is hopeful that Google will put a link on its
homepage to the new service. "I hope they go on and make other
tools accessible," he added, noting that complaints have been made
about its book search service. A technical barrier that stopped
blind users opening Gmail email accounts was lifted in April, he
said.
Raman said he does hope to influence other changes in Google and
Leventhal noted that the company has recently recruited for more
accessibility engineers.
Howell pointed out that when Google introduced ads in 2001 –
effecting the business model that made it rich – some problems were
reported to her. It wasn't the presence of advertising that was the
problem; it was the way they were displayed that caused some
difficulty for blind users (although she says it remains
"overwhelmingly the search engine of choice" for this community).
"I thought of [the ads] as a positive," said Raman of their
introduction. That might sound like he's toeing the party line; but
he explains: "One thing that happens when you're visually impaired,
you don’t have much exposure to ads. You don't see ads in
magazines."
Most banner ads on websites are not accessible; but simple
text-based ads are accessible. There are changes he wants to make,
however.
The lack of navigational support for blind users of Google, to
help them jump over ads, is an issue, he says. "You can do that if
you know how your access technology works," he said. "You just jump
over the ads by jumping over the first table."
"We should be offering a skip link," he said. He hopes this will
come. He would also like Google to offer more guidance for blind
users. He hopes to help with that – but points out that he has been
rather busy of late.
