I first became aware of the new version of this editor from the following news article: FCKEditor drops the F. This article mentioned that the editor was now ‘fully’ accessible to screen readers and keyboard only users. Even the main page for the CKeditor website (http://ckeditor.com/) makes the claim that it has full accessibility support.

This editor is open source and versatile when it comes to implementation so it is has a large install base. You may have used this editor yourself without even knowing it. With the growing attention to accessibility and the legal requirements around this topic an updated ‘accessible’ version of this editor is very timely.

I have done some testing in the past with the FCKEditor in regards to accessibility and was curious if this new version was really accessible. So I took a ‘quick’ peek to see for myself. My focus for this quick test was not if the editor created accessible content, but on if the editor itself was accessible.

Keyboard Only

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the CKEditor does in fact support the use of only a keyboard! Many of the past keyboard problems with the FCKEditor have been fix. I honestly did not expect the level of keyboard support that I found in the new version of this editor.

To say the least I was very pleased! The one drawback was finding the reference to the keyboard only commands. It wasn’t that hard to find but did take me a few minutes. What would be nice is to have a link or easily discoverable way to allow a user to get this information from within the editor itself.

You can find the reference for the most common supported keyboard commands and navigation shortcuts in the CKEditor Accessibility topics document.

Screen Reader

When it came to using a screen reader like JAWS with the CKEditor I was sure I would discover some major issues. Again, to my surprise JAWS and the CKEditor worked fairly well together. There is still a steep learning curve and at times JAWS got lost which required some screen refreshing and rediscovering of current focus to get my bearings. Compared to the way JAWS and the FCKEditor worked (or should I say did not work) together in the past this was a tremendous improvement.

To CKEditor’s credit most issues of using JAWS with this product are documented. This was in the CKEditor’s Accessibility document mentioned early or if you prefer jump directly to the JAWS section of that document here.

In case you are interested I used IE 7.0.6001.18000 and JAWS 10.0.1142 for my testing.

In Summary

There are still some areas that are problematic such as switching from WYSIWYG view to the Source view. When this switch occurs the focus jumps from the editor to the top of the page. This is not good for a screen reader user, screen magnifier user or a keyboard only user.

Also, I was not able to find a complete list of keyboard commands for ALL available tool bar options. It could be that those have been deprecated. The FCKEditor had a much larger list than that outlined in the current CKEditor Accessibility Document.

In all fairness I did not do an exhaustive search but I still feel a reference like that, if still applicable,   should be easily discoverable and even be referenced within the CKEditor Accessibility Document.

I should also mention that I did not do a complete test of the editor for accessibility but took a high level approach. Even so, that high level approach shows that the creators of CKEditor have put great effort in making this an accessible product.

This is very commendable because all too often the minimal effort is done so a product can be called accessible. I am not saying that the CKEditor does not have accessibility issues but compared to the previous versions of the FCKEditor the difference is night and day! This was a *real* effort to create an accessible product and so I offer a hearty ‘WOOT!’ to the CKEditor team!

If you have had a similar or different experience with the new CKEditor please post your comment here.

The fact that IE works is actually an old IE bug and some dumb luck.  You’ll notice in IE that if there is only a title attribute it will be read by JAWS, if there is a title attribute and alt-text the alt-text is read by JAWS.

2.  JAWS defaults to read alt and not Title attributes however this can be modified through the configuration manager…Set Options–>HTML Options–>Links–>Use Title; this will change your settings until you change them back which I don’t recommend but it is a good way to show that your code is working in this manner.

The real fix here would be to add alt-text which should be picked up by default with JAWS 10 in Firefox.

Just as another possibility you can do an about:config in Firefox and make sure browser.chrome.toolbar_tips is set to true or you won’t see the tool tips at all.

Long story short here is that we’ve all gotten so used to something not working right that we came to think of the behaviour as being correct.  Bad on us.

I’ve compiled a list of keyboard shortcuts that can apply to any Windows user for Outlook 2003 (most should still be the same for Outlook 2007).  In addition to the Windows keyboard shortcuts I also have a corresponding list for JAWS users that at the very least should be a quick reference for either user. 

If there are additional keyboard shortcuts you might be looking for just let us know and we’ll get something posted as we’d love any feedback and/or requests for more content.  Additional information for Outlook can be found at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HP030842231033.aspx and additional information for JAWS can be found at http://www.freedomscientific.com/jaws-hq.asp.

Windows Shortcuts:  Navigating Windows Outlook 2003 – Keyboard Shortcuts

Calendar Shortcuts

JAWS Shortcuts:  Navigating Windows Outlook 2003 – JAWS Keyboard Shortcuts

Note:  JAWS has no special installation or setup requirements for Outlook.  Start the program and use as normal.  Please refer to the following link for additional JAWS support.  http://www.freedomscientific.com/support.asp

“Simple!” we said.  “Just add alt text to the watermark.” Then our client asked, “How?”

That is when we discovered that there is no clear way to add alt text to a watermark in Microsoft Word.

I spent a great deal of effort and time searching the Word help topics, Microsoft’s KB articles and Googling every phrase combination I could think for watermarks and accessibility. I could not find anything that would tell me how to add alt text to a watermark in a Word document.

Even our contacts at Microsoft didn’t have an answer for us. Then just as I was about to give up I discovered the secret of the watermark alt text. The secret is revealed below. But before you head off to happily add alt text to the watermarks in your documents you should know that screen readers will not read them. At least the two major contenders in this market do not read them…JAWS and Window Eyes. I didn’t try any of the other screen readers yet and I figure it is a safe bet that other screen readers will not read the watermark’s alt text either.

Now you may ask, “Why bother telling me how to configure the alt text for a watermark if the screen readers don’t read them in the first place?” Well if you have to deal with Section 508 requirements or any other accessibility guidelines then you need to make the effort now to ensure that your documents are compliant in the future. Otherwise you may find yourself going back and retrofitting your documents and you don’t want to have to do that!

I also have it from a very good source that while JAWS v9.0 will not read these watermarks when released the ability to read the alt text for watermarks in Word will be addressed in the next update after v9.0. So it appears that JAWS will have this ability in the very near future. I also know that GW Micro has been informed of this issue and that they will be working on fixing that issue in their next major release.

One more thing I should mention before I let you in on the details of how to add alt text to your watermarks. The process is not totally keyboard accessible. At some point you will have to use your mouse to complete the process. Microsoft has been informed of this and will be apparently be addressing this issue in a future release of Office. With all these ‘future release promises’ you can be sure that we’ll be watching to see if they follow through! ?

So on with the show! The steps outlined below are for adding alt text to a watermark in Word 2003. If you have a need to add alt text to a watermark in Word 2007 the steps are a bit more convoluted and I just didn’t care to confuse the matter by trying to explain that process. If you have a need to add alt text to a watermark in Word 2007 and just can’t figure it out on your own, just post a comment here asking for it and I’ll be happy to guide you along the way.

How to add ALT TEXT to a Watermark in Office 2003 Word

1. Select ‘Format’ from the menu bar. (Alt + O)
2. Select ‘Background’ from the Format menu that appears. (K)
3. Select ‘Printed Watermark…’ from the Background menu that appears. (W)
4. When the ‘Printed Watermark’ dialog appears select the type of watermark you wish to use, a text or picture watermark.
5. Once you have added the watermark of your choice and closed out of the ‘Printed Watermark’ dialog you will need to add the ALT TEXT. Select ‘View’ from the menu bar. (Alt + V)
6. Select ‘Header and Footer’ from the View menu when it appears. (H)
7. If you added a picture watermark then:
   • Select the Watermark object on the page, right click on it and select ‘Format Picture…’. This will open the Format Picture dialog.
   • Select the ‘Web’ tab on the Format Picture dialog and add the Alternative Text you wish to be associated with your Watermark.
   • Close the Format Picture dialog and save your document.
8. If you added a text watermark then:
   • Select the Watermark object on the page, right click on it and select ‘Format WordArt…’. This will open the Format WordArt dialog.
   • Select the ‘Web’ tab on this dialog and add the Alternative Text you wish to be associated with your Watermark.
   • Close the Format WordArt dialog and save your document.