Office Application Accessibility Review: Google docs: Presentation | Accessible Digital Office Document (ADOD) Project

Version
Date of Current Version: 16 February 2011
Latest Version (HTML): http://inclusivedesign.ca/accessible-office-documents/googlepresentation-review

Contents
Usage Notes
Review Results
Screen Reader Test 1. Accessing an Existing Test Document
Screen Reader Test 2. Creating a New Document
Acknowledgments

Usage Notes

Overview

At the time of testing (February, 2011), Google docs: Presentation was found not to be very accessible using keyboard navigation. In addition, screen reader testing appeared to show important limitations.

Testing Details

Screen reader testing was performed on Firefox 3.6.13 using two popular screen readers for Windows 7, JAWS 11 and NVDA 2010.2.
Keyboard navigation testing was performed on Windows 7 using Opera 11.01.

Disclaimer

This document is provided for information purposes only and is neither a recommendation nor a guarantee of results.
If errors are found, please report them to: adod-comments@idrc.ocad.ca.

Review Results

This table summarizes the result of our reviews using the “ADOD Assessment Framework: Success criteria for assessing the accessibility of office application user interfaces”

ADOD Assessment Framework: Success criteria for assessing the accessibility of office application user interfaces	Result
[ADOD-Office-Applications-UI 7.1] Use all applicable operating system and accessibility standards and conventions that are important or essential to accessibility. The techniques for this checkpoint include references to checklists and guidelines for a number of platforms and to general guidelines for accessible applications. ADOD Note: The Checkpoint is very general, and includes: Supporting relevant accessibility API(s); Web-based tools conforming to WCAG; Keyboard access; Providing keyboard shortcuts where recommended for a platform; Respecting platform settings (such as “high contrast” modes); and Providing documentation.	No. Screen reader support is confirmed by testing (see below). Only select features are keyboard accessible. Does not respect platform settings including Windows “high contrast” mode.
[ADOD-Office-Applications-UI 7.2] Allow the author to change the presentation within editing views without affecting the [office document]. This allows the author to edit the document according to personal requirements, without changing the way the document is rendered when published.	Yes. “Zoom” feature.
[ADOD-Office-Applications-UI 7.3] Allow the author to edit all properties of each element and object in an accessible fashion.	No. Only select features are keyboard accessible, not all menu options are keyboard accessible. Keyboard shortcuts do exist for some of the menu commands, but not for many others.
[ADOD-Office-Applications-UI 7.4] Ensure that the editing view allows navigation via the structure of the document in an accessible fashion.	Mostly. Can navigate presentation structure in the slide outline pane via keyboard, but requires mouse to navigate contents of slide.
[ADOD-Office-Applications-UI 7.5] Enable editing of the structure of the document in an accessible fashion.	Yes. Can edit presentation structure in the slide outline pane via keyboard, but requires mouse to edit slide contents.
[ADOD-Office-Applications-UI 7.6] Allow the author to search within editing views.	No. No “Find and Replace” feature.

Screen Reader Test 1. Accessing an Existing Test Document

In this test, the evaluator used a screen reader to explore a pre-existing test document that had been created by a sighted colleague, following the “Authoring Techniques for Accessible Office Documents: Google docs: Presentation”. The test document included the elements in the left-hand column (i.e., heading, table of contents, etc.).

Able to Access?	JAWS 11
Title slide	Yes.
Bulleted list with formatted text along with a misspelled word	Yes. There is a semantic list, however JAWS does not announce the bullets. The JAWS text attributes command (JAWS key + f) does not recognize the formatting.
Image with “alt”	No.
Table	No. The contents of the table are available, but it is not structured as a table.
Flowchart created from grouping shapes	No. There is no indication of a flowchart, however the text “Take order Make pizza Deliver pizza” is present.
Search function	Yes. Using the standard JAWS search (control + f).

Screen Reader Test 2. Creating a New Document

In this test, the evaluator used a screen reader to create a new test document which was to include the elements in the left-hand column (i.e., two levels of heading, an image, etc.).

Able to accomplish?	JAWS 11
Add and then edit paragraph text (e.g. do a select-cut-paste)	Yes. Text can be added by selecting the “Insert a text shape into the current slide” button. After clicking the button, an edit field is available in which text can be entered. With multiple text shapes there are multiple edit fields from which text can be cut and paste. None of the edit fields were accessibly labeled.
Insert an image	No. Using the Insert Image button appeared to have no effect. There was definitely no apparent method or set of controls to be used for inserting an image.
Insert a 3-by-3 table and fill it with content	No. There did not appear to be a button on the toolbar to insert a table and the menu bar was not accessible.
Create a bullet list	No. There did not appear to be a button on the toolbar to insert a list and the menu bar was not accessible. Entering multiple lines of text in a text shape did not appear to be accessible, as pressing enter in the edit field forced JAWS to exit forms mode.
Use text formatting (bold, text colour)	No. There did not appear to be a button on the toolbar to insert a formatting such as bold or color and the menu bar was not accessible.
Save document	No. There was a button to Save Presentation, but attempting to activate it had no effect. The menu bar was not accessible.
Other Comments by the Screen Reader Tester:	When opening the presentation ARIA application mode was not enabled. This was attempted more than once with the same results, thus at this time Presentation does not make use of ARIA in its editor in the same fashion as Document and Spreadsheet. All three slides of the presentation were available in the window at the same time. All reporting in section 1 is based on this content. See also Google Apps accessibility documentation at http://www.google.com/accessibility/resources.html Worth noting is that unlike Document, there is no screen-reader documentation for Spreadsheet.

Acknowledgments

This document was produced as part of the Accessible Digital Office Document (ADOD) Project (http://inclusivedesign.ca/accessible-office-documents).
This project has been developed by the Inclusive Design Research Centre, OCAD University as part of an EnAbling Change Partnership project with the Government of Ontario and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

Partner logos: UNESCO-United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Government of Ontario and the Inclusive Design Research Centre (OCAD University)

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