Interview: Embedding better accessibility in software and websites | Computer Weekly
Summary
A graphical user interface (GUI) is the way many people interact with computing devices, ranging from smartphones and smart TVs, to laptops, desktops and website navigation. Along with his day job, Suleyman Gokyigit, CIO at Fire, a US organisation that defends the rights of free speech, spends some of his time testing accessibility in software and websites for crowd-testing firm Applause. One of the services Applause provides is the ability for companies that are developing new software or websites to check if they are meeting the design principles needed for accessibility. “You have to be able to use a keyboard to move around and there should be ways of providing all the functionality with a keyboard.” Discussing his personal journey with accessibility in software, Gokyigit, who is completely blind, says the technology has changed a lot over the years. • Listen to the full interview here • When he started using PCs in 1991, at the age of 12, Gokyigit used a program called JAWS (Job Access With Speech), a screen reader for the MS-DOS operating system.