Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts (by drewdomkus)

This post is a follow up to an earlier posting about Google Apps, in which the poor accessibility of Google Apps was mentioned as an issue.  Google recently announced a set of accessibility improvements for Google Apps (and also for Android phones and Chrome browsers), and it is worth checking out what they might mean for students.

As Jarret Cummings writes in Google Apps Accessibility: A Light at the End of the Tunnel?, some of these improvements are impressive:  Most Google Apps such as Google Docs and Google Sites now support keyboard shortcuts and also screen readers (particularly JAWS and ChromeVox). See for example the help guidance for Google Docs for keyboard shortcuts and screen readers. These improvements should really help visually impaired users to interact with Google Apps.

However, keyboard support in Google Calendars remains limited.  The browsing experience for visually impaired users who are using Internet Explorer is much worse than in Chrome.  Also there is still limited support for other kinds of disability, e.g. for those who use speech recognition software.

So remain alert for possible accessibility problems, and of course, for other issues with Google Apps that have already been highlighted, but celebrate the news that possibilities for collaborative working have just become more inclusive.