Conclusion
When comparisons are made between a standard implementation of the AJAX and accessible alternatives the advantages of AJAX become apparent. The advantages of AJAX are-:
- Reducing bandwidth
- Loading times are reduced
- Time to perform actions is reduced
When using non AJAX versions the advantages are taken away and implementing alternative can give large overheads when initially loading the page. Users on slow connections are likely to find the services tedious to use.
The balance of usability and accessibility has to be weighed up by the systems designers. Increasing the usability for one user can quite quickly reduce the usability of the next. If there is an awareness of the issues then usually some middle ground could be reached. However in the experience of this report the middle ground is hard to find without creating a second alternative that uses basic HTML. Because of this the uses of AJAX implemented in an accessible way are limited.
As the law is demanding that all business should have a level of accessibility for disabled users companies also find that they have to apply the same thinking to the virtual world of the internet. It is noted that the legal battles have encouraged companies to become more accessible but it is still a choice of the company to implement it.
The implementation of accessible AJAX could be seen as unnecessary as there is little a designer can do to make it accessible. It is the companies who translate web pages through accessibility software that need to update it to incorporate methods of working with AJAX. To keep making alternative pages for every AJAX function is time consuming as many designs will end up with two sites splitting off disabled users from the rest of the internet.
The benefits of AJAX are easily seen as sites that use it become very popular amongst the public. Users now expect to see more creative and interactive content. As a user browses the internet they get used to basic layout styles and instinctively look for certain features in certain places as it is common across the internet. As a user interacts with a text box that displays a list of options as they type they become use to it and as more sites implement the technology will come to expect it.
Creating an accessible AJAX page has proven to be impossible without standards to inform screen readers of page updates. However there are design considerations that can be thought about to increase the usability of the AJAX calls. As the movement coined web 2.0 is set to increase the amount of dynamic content that users expect from the internet there is a necessity to build upon accessible techniques that aid the open ideals of the movement.
User friendly design should think about all users and more accessible alternatives must be implemented.