Disable Your Browser Exercise
No, we don't need to unplug the network connections!
Instead, we will selectively disable certain features in the
web browser. The purpose is to give you an
idea as to what it's like to have your access to the web
restricted. Will this exactly duplicate the experiences
of any specific person with disabilities? No, not exactly. But
it may help you to understand what it feels like, and hopefully
get you thinking about how these problems can be overcome.
Here are the exercise instructions:
I. Disable certain browser features
In Internet Explorer Select:
Tools Menu --> Internet Options...
-
A. Select the General Tab.
- 1. Select the "Accessibility..." button at the
bottom.
- 2. Check the ignore colors, font styles and font
sizes check boxes.
- 3. Select "OK"
-
B. Select the Security Tab.
- 1. Select the Internet Icon, (if it's not already
selected).
- 2. Select "Custom Level..." button at the
bottom.
- 3. Scroll down to the Scripting section and disable
Active Scripting.
- 4. Select "OK"
- 5. If prompted select "Yes" in the the warning
message dialog box.
-
C. Select the Advanced Tab.
-
1. Under "Accessibility"
enable:
- a). Always expand Alt text for images.
- b). Move system caret with caret with
focus/selection changes.
-
2. Scroll down to "Multimedia" and disable:
- a.) Animation
- b.) Sounds
- c.) Video
- d.) Pictures
- D. Select "OK".
The general intent is to turn off as much as you can.
II. Take the mouse and set it aside
You won't use the mouse for the purpose of this exercise.
You can peak at these few keyboard
shortcuts if you absolutely must. But then again people
with disabilities aren't magically born knowing how to run
computers either, and if the help system is not accessible,
they're in as much trouble as you are at this point!
III. Now with a "disabled" browsing system, go to and look
at different web sites
Attempt to use some web sites as you normally would. Some
ideas you might want to try:
- A site you have been to before.
- A site where you can actually do something and that
"something" is of interest to you.
- Different types of sites -- not all news, not all
e-commerce, all personal pages, etc.
- Maybe a "big name" web site; one of the big destinations
on the web, like Microsoft, Yahoo, CNN, Amazon, or the
like.
- At least one of the sites has to be a UMD site... one
that you created would be good :-)
Observe where you encounter difficulties with access, if
any.
IV. After you complete this exercise (10-15 minutes)
restore the default browser features
-
In Internet Explorer Select the Tools Menu -->
Internet Options
-
A. Select the General Tab.
- 1. Select the "Accessibility..." button at the
bottom.
- 2. Unchecked the ignore colors, font styles and font
sizes check boxes.
- 3. Select "OK"
-
B. Select the Security Tab.
- 1. Select the Internet Icon, (if it's not already
selected).
- 2. Select "Custom Level..." button at the
bottom.
- 3. Scroll down to the scripting section and enable
Active Scripting.
- 4. Select "OK"
- 5. If prompted select "Yes" in the the warning
message dialog box.
-
C. Select the Advanced Tab.
- 1. Select Restore
Defaults.
- D. Select "OK".
V. What was your experience like?
- Were you able to perform your normal tasks?
- What kind of obstacles, if any, did you encounter in
accessing those sites?
- In what ways was your experience similar to those of
people with disabilities, and in what ways was it
different?
- How do you think browser accessibility features or lack
of them affect people without disabilities?
- What is your definition of accessibility? Here are some
Accessibility Definitions from
that I've tried to put together and a few from others.
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