Downloading Google Spreadsheets with a Screenreader

I got an email from someone not too long ago asking for more details on how to download a spreadsheet from Google Docs using a screenreader. (Not going to tell you who it is, since I don't have their permission, but it was someone I really rather admire in the accessibility field. Got all giddy about it and everything, 'cuz I'm just like that.) Thought I'd post it here in case anyone else needs it.

Keep in mind that Google is saying they will have Docs (and the other Edu apps) accessible by Fall 2011, so this may not necessarily be a necessary procedure for long. Also, the nature of webapps being what it is, Google may change everything around in the next 10 minutes and this technique may no longer work. Your mileage may vary, yada yada yada. I did test this procedure using NVDA and JAWS.

You'll need to be on the Documents page, which lists all the Google Docs to which you have access. Each of the files will show up as a link. Navigate to the link for the file you want (the link title is the name of the document) and then use the context menu key or right-click. (On Macs, you can use CTRL+click.) The Download option will be 6th in the list of 8 on that submenu.

A Convert and Download dialog box will open. In the table on that dialog box, you will have the option to change how it's downloaded (Excel, Open Office, or PDF) from a dropdown box. It's important to note that if the spreadsheet was compiled from data collected in a Google Form, there will be two parts to the download - the spreadsheet and the form. Google does not feed info to the screenreader to announce which is which. The spreadsheet is listed first. You can then tab to the Download button. If there is a form associated, the download will be in .zip format and include both the spreadsheet and the form itself. Another Google dialog window opens after you click Download, which gives you the option to manually start the download via a link if it didn't go automatically.

I've not been able to find an accessible way to download the spreadsheet once it's actually open within Google Docs. Docs has its own menu inside the browser window, but it's only accessible via the mouse and even when used with a screenreader, nothing beyond the menu title is read (no items in the menu).

If you find this helpful, have questions, or if you have other topics to suggest for future blog posts, shout 'em out in the comments.

Google Docs and Accessibility, Part 4: The Other Stuff

Other Stuff? What Other Stuff?
In the Google Docs app grouping at the time of this writing there are a few other capabilities: Drawings, Collections, and Forms. We're going to tackle all three today.
Drawings: Remember Microsoft Paint? Google has essentially brought a Paint-like basic image-creation tool to the web. Drawings currently exports in four formats: .png, .jpg, .svg, and .pdf.
Collections: Collections are a way of organizing all of your Google Docs into related groups. It's not quite the same as folders, as a Doc can exist in multiple collections. For example, a document with the recipe for your Great-Aunt Tillie's fruit cake could be both in "Family Recipes" and "Holiday Excitement" collections.
Forms: Create forms or surveys that can be emailed or embedded in a website. It's also possible to invite others to fill out the form by directing them (by email or link) to the specific forms page, if it's shared. On the other end, data entered into the form is automatically loaded into a Google Docs Spreadsheet for you to analyze, which is a pretty nifty function. An example of an embedded form is below.

Making the Switch

Yes indeed, Google has how-to documents for Drawings, Forms, and Collections. If you've been reading this blog so far, though, you've probably worked out that I'm a fan of multiple ways of getting information. What I'm running into, race fans, is that it's difficult to find instruction videos and other how-to sites that are actually accessibly created; that is, the videos are captioned, the site doesn't use mouse-only functions, etc. I'm also picky enough to want reasonably current information. ::big sigh:: Darn it, I was hoping to be done with the Goodle Apps stuff after this post. Instead, it looks like I may need to create these resources. If you have ideas about this, have located relatively up-to-date and reasonably accessible how-tos, or if (please?) you'd like to help in my efforts to create some, please wave your hand in the comments!

The Bottom Line: Accessibility

The NFB complaint I mentioned last time seems to be affecting Google already. When I went to the Google Accessibility pages today, they'd received a face lift and some new information. One of those changes, by the way, is a feedback form. Use it!

Perhasp this is a positive sign that Google will be putting in efforts to make their Apps offerings more accessible. Keep in mind that the information here is based on what I see in Google Apps today. Given the nature of software-as-a-service and cloud-based computing, there will be changes and they'll be released as we all use the product, rather than waiting for a specific release date. Just wanted to make that clear.

Drawings

This one is quick and dirty. Drawings is very much a visual application, with little support for either screenreader or keyboard users. Like other Google Docs apps, there are some keyboard shortcuts built into Drawings.

Collections

Collections is a mouse-dependent feature, which makes accessibility for keyboard users and screenreader users not workable.

Forms

I was actually a little surprised that Forms was more accessible than I thought it would be, both on the creation side and the respondent side. I use the Firefox extension Fangs to quickly emulate what a screenreader would process. I was pleasantly surprised to find more labeling of the form elements than I anticipated. Moving between questions and the responses possible for each question worked easily with the keyboard. Of course, we do run into the same problems with Google Spreadsheets that I've already discussed when handling the collected data. It might be workable, however, in the real world, to use Google Forms to collect the data and then download the results from Spreadsheets to a standard spreadsheet program to do the analysis.

Unique Ways Google Docs' Other Stuff Benefits Students with Disabilities

Simplicity and sharing. Said it before, and I'll probably say it again. These two issues alone make Google Docs worthwhile for students with learning or other cognitive disabilities. Forms, for example, certainly makes data collection simple and easy to put together (once you do the hard work of actually constructing appropriate questions in the first place).

Here is a fun way of explaining how beneficial the automatic saving and backup capabilities of Google Docs are. I'm particularly tickled that this video is nicely captioned. Though the video describes the benefits of the Chrome Notebook, the benefits of saving and backup are the same regardless of the hardware you're using.

Google Docs and Accessibility, Part 3: Presentations

Here we are again, looking at the accessibility of Google Apps (the Presentations section, this time) and how it can both be a benefit and a barrier for students with disabilities. This has become quite a hot topic since my last post, as the National Federation of the Blind has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice regarding the inaccessibility of Google Apps for users with vision impairments. I will leave you (and the DOJ) to make your own judgements about what should happen in this case, but thought I'd mention it as we move along. After all, looking for information on this complaint is how some of you landed here to read this post. Quite a few of you, actually, according to Google Analytics.

Meanwhile, back at the farm...

I'll be quite honest and say that I've not, before this post, played much with Google Presentations. I've never used it in an actual live setting, for instance, as I tend to go with Keynote, PowerPoint, or, increasingly, the nonlinear mindmapping & presentation tool VUE. But let's not let that stop us!

Making the Switch

Unsurprisingly, Google has a nice little how-to tutorial. Surprisingly, however, there are aren't many sites with a how-to, and even fewer that are more recent than 2007, when Presentations came out. There is a nice series from e-How that is dated and doesn't include many of the updates to Presentations, but does actually include transcripts of the videos. If you've used any type of presentation software in the past, you'll find Google Presentations is similar, though much more simplified. No transitions (either between bullets in a slide or between slides themselves). No fancy word arty-type options. You can insert images, either from your computer or as a hyperlinked image, videos, and drawings, and it supports speaker notes nicely.

The Bottom Line: Google Presentations' Accessibility

Again, a lovely review of Google Presentations' accessibility is available from the Accessible Digital Office Document Project. Again, they found that Google Presentations is unfriendly for people with visual and dexterity impairments. If you've been following this series in the blog so far, you know it's now time for me to tell you about barriers and workarounds.

• Screenreader users: Hmm. Well, I can say this; some parts of Presentations are accessible. Kind of. However, the inaccessible parts (e.g., consistent keyboard access, alt tags on images, the ability to actually get to all the menu functions, and actually saving the presentation) make the accessible parts pointless.
• Keyboard users: There are a few keyboard shortcuts built into Google Presentations. These are not particularly robust, applying generally to font characteristics rather than functional commands.
• Screen magnification: There is a Zoom feature built in to Presentations. It only enlarges the actual slide. I also found that, even though there is a keystroke combo to zoom, it doesn't work consistently. The (CTRL+) browser trick works fairly well to enlarge all of the elements, including the icons. Because there are far fewer icons in Presentations than Spreadsheets, there is less issue with pixellation. Even at high ratio magnification, the icons are distinguishable from one another.

However, we have to consider not only the creation tools, but also the usage tools. I invite you to try using the embedded Presentation below with keyboard access or a screenreader and report your results in the comments!

Unique Ways Google Spreadsheets Benefits Students with Disabilities

Like all of the other Google Docs apps, saving, sharing, and simplicity are the big draw points here for students with disabilities. In presentations, especially, that simplicity is important. How many people actually use all those umpity-bump number of menu items available in PowerPoint? More to the point, how many people are actually using them appropriately? Google Presentations has the distinct advantage of making the message more important than the glamorous package in which it's wrapped.

That simplicity plays out in another way when you start examining the "insert video" function. No longer do you have to have saved the URL for the specific video you wanted to include in your presentation; there is a search feature built into the embedding process.  That's helpful when memory issues or attention and concentration affect the process of putting things together.

Video search

Saying It Again: Self-Advocacy and Google Apps

It's very important that SOU students are able to use any tools that are required of them to complete coursework or obtain information about programs, courses, and activities at SOU. If you are in a class that requires the use of Google Apps and you find that there are disability-related barriers that the inaccessibility of Apps poses, please discuss this with your instructor and/or with Disability Resources right away. Don't wait until the night before the project is due!

Got something to say about Google Presentations? Say it in the comments!

Google Docs and Accessibility, Part 2: Spreadsheets

Google Spreadsheets has become much more feature-rich since its inception. It is now possible to do many of the things you'd do in Excel - including formulas and charts - with this free webapp. It has many of the same benefits and drawbacks that I highlighted last time about Google Documents. However, Spreadsheets does have some of its own unique benefits and barriers.

Making the Switch

There's a concise introduction article at WikiHow on the more common functions of Google Spreadsheets. There's also some good how-tos for formulas (About.com) and charts (Google Help).

One of the niftiest, and least known, advantages of Google Spreadsheets is an embedded LOOKUP function that searches for basic facts and plugs them right into your spreadsheet. Curious? Check out GoogleLookup here.

The Bottom Line: Google Spreadsheets Accessibility

A thorough and clearly written testing of Google Docs' accessibility has just been published by the Accessible Digital Office Document Project. You can find their review of Google Spreadsheets here. Essentially, they found that for users with visual impairments, Google Spreadsheets is fairly inoperable. Here's my roundup of the biggest accessibility problems, and any potential workarounds.

• Screenreader users: The number of barriers that exist, from inadequate keyboard controls to lack of information about elements, make using Google Spreadsheets with a screenreader nearly impossible for a person with vision impairments. Unlike Documents, Google has not provided a screenreader user's guide. Use Excel or another traditional spreadsheet program instead. You'll thank me later.
  
• Keyboard users: Not a whole lot more love here, I'm afraid. It's quite easy to move around within the spreadsheet itself with the keyboard, but not possible to navigate any of the interface controls with the keyboard alone. Mouse Keys (Windows Mac) is about the only workaround for this, though it's going to be a bit cumbersome.
• Screen magnification: The default view setting for Google Spreadsheets has small icons, small cells, and small print, and there is no way to change that in the interface. Fortunately, the (CTRL+) browser trick works fairly well to enlarge all of the elements, including the icons. Keep in mind that if you are using high-ratio screen magnification, the icons do pixelate a great deal and are difficult to read. Text seems to magnify smoothly, so it may be necessary to rely more on the alt-text that pops up on the icons when you hover the mouse over them.

Unique Ways Google Spreadsheets Benefits Students with Disabilities

Other than the saving, sharing, and simplicity features that I pointed out for Google Documents, Spreadsheets has no unique advantages for students with disabilities. These are, however, significant advantages. Whether they are enough to compensate for the above barriers is another question, and one I cannot answer for your individual situation.

A Note About Self-Advocacy and Google Apps

It's very important that SOU students are able to use any tools that are required of them to complete coursework or obtain information about programs, courses, and activities at SOU. If you are in a class that requires the use of Google Apps and you find that there are disability-related barriers that the inaccessibility of Apps poses, please discuss this with your instructor and/or with Disability Resources right away. Don't wait until the night before the project is due!

If you've got any further ideas for workarounds in Google Spreadsheets, or other suggestions I've not considered, please do shout 'em out in the comments!

Google Docs and Accessibility, Part 1: Documents

Here's the dealio. Google Docs, at this point, incorporates word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms, and drawings. It's a big chunk 'o stuff, and frankly, I doubt anyone's got the patience to read through a blog post that covers the accessibility of them all. Today's post will tackle just Documents, the word processing portion of Google Docs. I'll get to the others in turn. (If you have a burning desire to hear about one of them next, just drop me a note in the comments!)

First, let's chat a bit about Google Docs overall and how it's different from your standard word processing, spreadsheet, etc. applications.

• Access everywhere: You can get to your Google Docs items from any device that has web access, including smartphones. Access used to be limited on mobile devices to view-only, but you can now edit from mobile devices as well.
• Sharability: With Google Docs, you can easily allow others to view or edit your items, or not. Rather than emailing documents with different versions back and forth, changes are made in real time and there's only one document to keep track of.
  
• Limited functions: If you are accustomed to the bajillion formatting and functional options in Microsoft Office and expect to see the same in Google Docs, you'll be disappointed. Google Docs is simpler. This is both a good thing and a bad thing, as we'll see later.
• Free: The four-letter f word that is most welcome to a cash-strapped student's ears!

Need to understand more about Google Docs in general? Check out the tour.

Making the Switch

• Use the GAapps SOU page for some handy how-to-switch and how-to-use resources
• Google's Help feature is also, surprisingly, helpful and tends to be written in plain English rather than geekspeak

The Bottom Line: Google Documents Accessibility

Here's the highlights here of accessibility barriers and any recommended workarounds. Keep in mind that you will need to go to Google's Accessibility site for any information directly from Google on accessibility; for some unknown reason, they do not include accessibility concerns within their Help section. Why? Got me. For those who want the picky details, there's Google's evaluation of accessibility in Google Documents.

• Screenreader users: There's some gaps in accessibility for screenreader users, including the ability to detect text attributes, which are not passed through to the screenreader, and lack of row and header indications in document tables. Check out the guide to accessing Google Docs with a screenreader
  
• Keyboard users: I find Google's support for keyboard use rather lacking. In fact, it's not possible to create a new document with just the keyboard! You can use the bookmarklets on this page to create a toolbar shortcut to create new documents (and spreadsheets and presentations); for screenreader users and keyboard users I'd highly recommend this method. The by-now familiar keystrokes list is also helpful once you get a document actually created. I also recommend taking a look through the screenreader guide above, as screenreaders will be using many of the same navigation strategies you will.
• Color coding: Docs uses color coding to differentiate between different users' changes in a document. This doesn't appear to be a breaking issue, however.

Unique Ways Google Documents Benefits Students with Disabilities

• Never lose a document, never lose your changes: Because Documents is stored on the web, you can get to it from anywhere, and Google's autosave and revision history (under the File menu in the interface) functions mean that you don't have to remember to save and you can go back to previous versions any time you want. Beauty!
• Simple interface: If Word's multitudinous menu options make you want to pull out your hair, the simplicity of Google Documents will be a friendly change for you.
• Templates: There are thousands of user-created templates out there that can take much of the fuss out of setting up and formatting your documents.
  

Google Documents Settings & Labs for Accessibility

There's not much in the Settings for Documents, period, let alone much that would affect accessibility. However, if you're looking for ways to make life easier, you may want to consider turning on the following options in Labs:

• Apps Search: In Gmail, this lab allows you to search both your email and your Docs for a phrase or person. Any time you can search multiple places from one search bar, I'm totally for it.
• Create a Document: From Gmail, this lab allows you to quickly create a Document; either a new blank doc or one based on the email you've been reading or writing. More importantly, it also allows you to create a new Document from keyboard shortcuts; why this is in Gmail but not Documents itself rather boggles the imagination.

Questions? Think I missed something or got something completely wrong (or even a little wrong)? Let me know in the comments. Next time, I'll tackle Google Spreadsheets. See ya then.