John and Others,

One consideration in using Excel spreadsheets is having the ability to read cell contents, as well as formulas in real time as they are recalculated or edited.  Hard-copy braille doesn't provide without re-embossing the spreadsheet.  The JAWS screen reader provides this capability on the fly when navigating Excel spreadsheets.  Its a very nice feature if you want to take advantage of the power of the spreadsheet.

Just something to consider...

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: John Gardner [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, October 11, 2002 9:00 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Accessibility of Excel files


Ross's finger is on the biggest problem of course.  We have wonderful
technologies such as Tiger and refreshable braille that can open up the
world of information to blind users.  Unfortunately it takes a great deal
of money to bring a technology to market and to run the companies that
manufacture and sell them.  (Guess how I know!)  Since the market is far
too small to take advantage of real economies of scale, the eventual price
is inevitably high.

In this country there is very limited government funding to provide those
technologies, so most blind people just don't have them.  In European
countries, social agencies are far better funded, and, depending on the
country, many or most blind people can get government grants to pay for the
majority of the costs.

My advice is that if you are an American and are blind, be rich.

John

At 10:24 AM 10/11/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>At 10:49 AM 10/10/02 , Richard Jones wrote:
>
> >
> > A refreshable braille display works well in reading a spreadsheet in
> > real-time.
>
>
>Ross writes:
>
>Money, money and more money.  Where do I get the money.
>
>At 10:49 AM 10/10/02 , you wrote:
>
> >
> > A refreshable braille display works well in reading a spreadsheet in
> > real-time.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: John Gardner
> > [<mailto:[log in to unmask]>mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> > Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2002 1:35 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: Accessibility of Excel files
> >
> > I can only give my personal experience, but frankly I find Excel very
> > difficult to use.  I can use it.  In fact as far as I know there isn't
> > anything I've needed to do that I could not do.  It is just that it takes
> > me all day to do something that sighted people do in seconds.  For example,
> > when I get a spreadsheet, people invariably leave lots of blank lines and
> > blank cells as visual separators.  I can search all day for simple
> > information.  This isn't a problem with my screen reader except that I
> > really need features like hot keys to read cells in the column or row so I
> > can know the titles, etc.
> >
> > Forgive me for a little advertising, but printing an Excel spread sheet
> > with Tiger is really easy and just solves all problems of reading
> > information, at least by people who are good braille readers.  Even though
> > I'm not a super braille reader, I am now using Tiger printouts for these
> > kinds of things in preference to the hassle of using a screen reader and
> > keeping track of where the devil I am.
> >
> > John
> >
> > At 02:54 PM 10/9/2002 -0400, you wrote:
> > >Hello EASI Colleagues,
> > >
> > >What are the practical considerations for ensuring that Excel files are
> > >screen reader accessible? Do certain screen readers deal better with Excel
> > >worksheets? Does the user need to customize Excel in certain ways? Are
> > >certain Excel features best avoided?
> > >
> > >Any hints would be greatly appreciated.
> > >
> > >Alan
> > >
> > >Alan Cantor
> > >Program Manager
> > >Strategic e-Government Implementation
> > >e-Government, OCCS
> > >416-212-1152
> > >[log in to unmask]
> >
> > John Gardner
> > Professor and Director, Science Access Project
> > Department of Physics
> > Oregon State University
> > Corvallis, OR 97331-6507
> > tel: (541) 737 3278
> > FAX: (541) 737 1683
> > e-mail: [log in to unmask]
> > URL: <http://dots.physics.orst.edu>http://dots.physics.orst.edu
>
>
>
>---
>Ross Eadie
>Voice:  (204) 339-5287

John Gardner
Professor and Director, Science Access Project
Department of Physics
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97331-6507
tel: (541) 737 3278
FAX: (541) 737 1683
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
URL: http://dots.physics.orst.edu