Big Blue Button Accessibility
--Under Construction; please feel free to contribute to this document--
Accessibility Project
Making BBB Client, JAWS compatible
- Acquiring JAWS license for testing the client against JAWS
- Test the client working with JAWS and identify the short-comes...
- Contact JAWS developers to identify how JAWS identifies the objects in a flash application running on a website and narrates them.
- Modify the client and make the object identifiable by JAWS
Modifications / additions to client
Modifications and additions needed to be applied to BBB client to make it accessible. Please feel free to add any suggestions or points you find necessary to this wiki page. (You can register here to be able to modify this wiki)
If you are visiting this page from within Seneca College (if you are a Senecan), please login to | Seneca Big Blue Button Demo Server and use it for your meetings and lectures and give us feed back .
If you are an outside visitor, please visit the BBB polling demo server and send us feed back.
To contact us, please email any of the project contributors by visiting This Page!
Suggested changes to the Big Blue Button client
- Add a drop-down-list with the title of all the open windows, so people with impaired vision can easily select and focus the opened windows.
- Label all of the elements on the screen so they can be processed by accessibility technologies.
- Create short cut keys for commonly used functions.
- Which functions need shortcuts? How best to present the list of shortcuts? Common standards for shortcuts?
- Add tab order for elements/windows on the screen. (Might not be needed)
- Recording webcam of sign language translator(s). (Planned for next main release)
- Change the presentation mx:SWFLoader to mx:Image (done)
- Extend mx:Image class to allow it be focused (done)
- Attach slide plain text to slide.accessibilityDescription (done)
- Add audio indicator for slide change and new chat message
- Add a timer so the user isn't spammed constantly (done)
- Only play ding if accessible device is being used (done)
- Add shortcut keys to navigate to chat messages (done)
- Key for last viewed message
- Key for newest message (done)
- Keys to navigate through chat messages (done)
- Key to change chat tab (done)
- Alter MDIWindow to allow it to be focused
- When an item in a window is focused bring the window to the front (done)
- Fix the content resize issue caused by altering a window's size by any means other then dragging an edge (done)
- Add a window to the client that lists all of the available shortcut keys
- Add shortcut keys to allow windows to be resized and moved about the screen (done)
Shortcut Keys
| Key Combo | Function |
|---|---|
| Shift+Ctrl+C | Focus chat input box |
| Shift+Ctrl+M | Mute/Unmute your microphone |
| Ctrl-Z | Undo the last whiteboard mark |
| Ctrl-ArrowKey | Resize currently focused window |
| Shift-ArrowKey | Move currently focused window |
| Ctrl-Shift-5 | Focus to chat tabs |
| Ctrl-Shift-Space | When chat box has focus, go to first message |
| Ctrl-Space | When chat box has focus, go to previous message |
| Ctrl-Alt-Space | When chat box has focus, repeat current message |
| Space | When chat box has focus, go to next message |
| Shift-Space | When chat box has focus, go to latest message |
| Escape | Will close the microphone settings window when open |
Limitations
Testing has revealed certain incompatibilities with various combinations of browser and screen reader. Neither JAWS nor NVDA read the application in Chrome, and JAWS will not read it in Firefox. JAWS will read the application, complete with accessible audio notifications for chat messages, in Internet Explorer and NVDA will do the same in Firefox; but while NVDA will read the application in Internet Explorer, it will not read notifications.
| Internet Explorer | Firefox | Chrome | |
| JAWS | Yes | No | No |
| NVDA | Yes, but no notifications | Yes | No |
For now, the workaround for Google Chrome is in the form of two pre-recorded soundclips, for new public and new private messages.