[SEC508] RE: SEC508 digest, Vol 1 #442 - 1 msg

["Roeder, Joe" <Jroeder@nib.org>]

Hi Don,

We are using the Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) on our own server,
not the one that comes installed on the Microsoft Office SharePoint
Server called MOSS.  They are similar but the MOSS has more
functionality.

The Accessibility SharePoint Kit, called ASK, by Microsoft and
HISOFTWARE are a collection of templates for the MOSS.  Because of the
aditional functionality on MOSS, the templates may not  work properly on
WSS, although you could modify and adapt them if you have the
programming skills.  You might want to join the ASK group blog which you
can find at

http://aks.hisoftware.com/index.html

As to your problems with the nested tables, I have run into them in some
places.  What I notice most is that with using the JAWS table navigation
keys you would wrap from the bottom to the top of the table and seem to
be going in circles, but you can arrow past the bottom to get out of the
table and generally using the arrow keys is better if the table is not
too complex.

We are just starting to use SharePoint and have only set up some
document libraries and group calendars.  For those of us who are
connected to SharePoint with our Office LAN, we found it easier to just
map the SharePoint site as a network drives and go through Windows
Explorer to work with SharePoint documents.  Also, the group calendars
can be synchronized with a SharePoint folder in Outlook which lets you
read them with an Outlook view.

If you need to reach your SharePoint site remotely, you can open the
Action menu and select to have the folders/files you need synchronized
with a SharePoint folder in Outlook where they are easier to find and
read.  I'm not sure if you can do collaborative editing this way but
there is a third party product that extends the power of Outlook to do
this.

I prefer these methods because the browser interface seems a bit
cluttered and more bothersome to navigate.  Also,the screen readers need
to catch up and deal with these new Web 2.0 elements.  I can say more on
this if you are interested or want to continue in greater depth off
line.

HTH.


Joe Roeder
Senior Access Technology specialist
phone: (703) 310-0524
 
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:58:11 -0400
From: "Barrett, Don" <Don.Barrett@ed.gov>
To: <sec508@trace.wisc.edu>
Subject: [SEC508] SharePoint Issues

Hi All,

Has anyone had success with using SharePoint-enabled applications?  Even
with the high Soft add-on which Microsoft recommends to increase
accessibility, we are encountering document libraries so complex that
screen readers are just plain choking.  A preliminary examination of the
code seems to reveal that each data cell is in itself a table which
can't be good.  Any thoughts please???

Don