[Irl-dean] Some Comments on Accessibility of CHM Format Resources

[Henry Poskitt]

Hi all,

While we haven't undertaken user tests of Help software in combination with
JAWS, we have looked at several types of help during evaluations using JAWS
for sec508 and WAI compliance. While I'm not a trained JAWS user, I can use
at least well enough to work with web sites and web applications such as
online banking. We have also worked on help and electronic documentation for
printers, print drivers and installation software. From my very brief
experience I would say that the context help on windows apps (using "What's
This?") is relatively easy to use. However I found the two-pane Windows Help
(one pane for nav one for content) is much more challenging for novice
users. The interaction is similar to websites with the navigation in a
separate frame, it can be technically accessible but it's more difficult to
use than a normal web page. For this reason HP are starting publish all
general help content and technical documentation in XHTML using XML as a
basis for both print and web versions. If this is the format the .chm
advocates are proposing (I'm not sure exactly what a .chm is) I'd guess it
would test poorly against a normal well formatted web page.

Next question, what about Mac and Linux users. With OS level screen reading
software on the way Mac could become more of a viable option for users with
visual impairments, especially as the software comes free with the OS. Does
anyone know whether .chm  work with Macs?

Henry

-----Original Message-----
From: irl-dean-admin at list.eeng.dcu.ie
[mailto:irl-dean-admin at list.eeng.dcu.ie]On Behalf Of CFIT: Joshue O
Connor
Sent: 07 June 2005 11:36
To: irl-dean at list.eeng.dcu.ie
Subject: Re: [Irl-dean] Some Comments on Accessibility of CHM Format
Resources


Barry McMullin wrote:

>Hi Folks -
>
>Following some discussion at the Irl-DEAN seminar last week, I
>have now made available a short white paper providing "Some
>Comments on Accessibility of CHM Format Resources".  It is
>available at this URL:
>
>http://eaccess.rince.ie/white-papers/2005/chm-2005/
>
>I would appreciate any reactions, clarifications or
>corrections. Of course, per our discussion, do please feel free
>to refer to, or link to, this white paper if you receive further
>enquiries about this wonderful "new" format.
>
>Best wishes,
>
>- Barry.
>
>_______________________________________________
>Irl-dean mailing list
>Irl-dean at list.eeng.dcu.ie
>http://list.eeng.dcu.ie/mailman/listinfo/irl-dean
>
>
>
>
Hello All,

Thanks to Barry for the excellent resource on CHM files. It cleared up a
couple of things about the file format for me and apologies to Gerry -
as I originally thought that the .chm files were compressed HTML instead
of compiled help files.

Firstly - Has anyone done any screen readers/user Agent testing with
.chm files and if so how accessible is it?

> CHM is a Microsoft proprietary, closed, file format which is typically
> used to implement "help" for application programmes running on the
> Microsoft Windows platform.


Is .chm being sold as an accessible standard to rival HTML by third
party vendors or as a format with accessible features? I get the
impression its the former. Even seeing the words
"Microsoft","proprietary" and finally "closed" makes me nervous before I
hear the first thing about it.


In my opinion if we start to see a trend for vendors trying to establish
this as an "alternative or better" standard than HTML/XHTML then it
should be met head on with the kind of information Barry offered. It is
counter productive and confusing to people who are non-technical but are
looking for an accessible solution for their website etc to be getting
conflicting advice especially from people out for a quick buck.

    *

      The collection of "pages" are aggregated together into a single
      resource or file, which can be conveniently downloaded, emailed,
      backed up etc.

    *

      The CHM format incorporates data compression which means it would
      generally occupy less disk space and/or be faster to download than
      the corresponding collection of separate HTML resources.

Ok so the above could be seem as the "merits" of .chm.

I have a couple of questions:

    * Can .chm files be outputted as HTML with the rich media content
      again  "separated" from the .chm, placed in sub-directories and
      then linked from an outputted HTML file?
    * Are companies being sold the .chm document conversion tools with
      the idea that they can put their "converted" .chm files or
      automatically generated output online, and that it will be accessible?


Answers on a post card please

Joshue O Connor

_Web Accessibility Consultant _
*
**Centre for Inclusive Technology (CFIT)* *
National Council for the Blind of Ireland *

joshue.oconnor at ncbi.ie +353 1 8821915






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