Microsoft Aims To Increase Web Accessibility

It now looks like the Accessibility Interoperability Alliance (AIA) now has its first “project” to jump start the intentions of the newly created organization. Formed just last December, the engineering working group consists of a coalition of information and assistive technology companies (Microsoft, Adobe, HP, Novell, and GW Micro among others) with a goal of creating a set of standards to make it easier for developers to create accessible software, hardware and web products.

On Thursday, Microsoft publicly announced that its first accessibility programming model in more than 10 years will be contributed to the AIA. The new developers tools, known as UI Automation, will help developers include advanced accessibility functionality, and will even be offered completely free of charge, so long as developers adhere to the requirement that the development works within any operating system.

“We want to do all we can to help advance the development of assistive technologies across all platforms and help a wider number of users access technology in their daily lives,” said Norm Hodne, Microsoft Windows Accessibility lead. “By making Microsoft UI Automation freely available we hope to increase the accessibility of many information and communication technologies and to drive cross-platform interoperability. We welcome the opportunity to work with other AIA members to extend the innovations we have built into UI Automation.”

The eventual purpose is to develop industry standards in accessibility for all types of assistive products such as text-to-speech software, screen readers, and even web-based services. “Microsoft UI Automation represents what the interface can do rather than how it is presented visually, making it easier for both the application developer and assistive technology developers to create rich experiences for their users, including people who are blind,” said Hodne, whose team develops UI Automation for Windows. “AT products built using UI Automation will require fewer updates and fewer customizations for specific applications, because they can intelligently interact with user interfaces and controls that have yet to be invented.”

It is good to see that Microsoft is working with so many major companies and seems so intent on increasing accessibility for the disable, especially considering that its last effort prior to UI Automation was released with Windows 95!

At the very least, the collaborative effort now underway with the AIA, should spread around useful ideas that one company may not be able to develop solely on its own. With hardware and software developers included, assistive technology should begin to get much more elaborate than the simple magnifier or narrator features some may have now become accustomed to.

The UI Automtion Community Promise page provides more information about the specification, which is now available for developers using Windows XP or Windows Vista.