Issue List: Issue: HTML-based Chat Client

Currently, this client is inaccessible to screen readers users. With the auto-refresh disabled (can it be?), the user is not notified of changes unless he submits a message. Additionally, messages are added to the bottom of the listing, which makes the most sense for sighted users but makes it very inconvenient for screen reader users, who must skim through the entire conversation to get to the newly added message. Also, their is no programmatic way for a screen reader to skip straight to the conversation. Instead, the screen reader user must navigate the entire D2L interface on a refresh to hunt for the conversation pane.

The most accessible HTML-based chat we have seen is SNOW’s A-Chat. But even it is quite cumbersome for screen reader users, who have to toggle between conversation and message. HTML chat pales in comparison to the simple, intuitive interfaces provided by MSN Messenger with JAWS on Windows and iChat with VoiceOver and iChatter on Mac. If communication with these commercial products is impossible, a Java or possibibly even Flash-based solution is preferable. Or, as in the last issue, making the D2L client capable of communication with other chat clients/servers.

This issue has been revised on 7/21/08. A variation of it appears either in global issues or in the resolved issues section.