We discuss a toolkit that provides a fully-accessible block environment, for multiple languages. The toolkit generates (1) a block editor that uses standard drag-and-drop conventions familiar to sighted users while also (2) using keyboard navigation and spoken feedback that is familiar to visually-impaired users. The mechanism used creates unique opportunities for (3) separating the description of a block from the visual or textual syntax of that block. This effectively provides a third representation (beyond text and blocks), which is spoken aloud and can be tailored to a specific audience. The toolkit lives entirely in the browser and relies on web standards, needing no plugins or server support. Finally, this toolkit is implemented as a wrapper for the widely-used CodeMirror library, which is used to display source code using syntax highlighting, bracket matching, and indentation. Any project that already uses CodeMirror can use our toolkit with minimal effort. By providing an appropriate parser that implements our interface, these projects can quickly implement a block editor on top of their text editor, while also getting a fully accessible programming environment that goes far beyond the reading of code.

Sun 4 Nov

Displayed time zone: Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey change

14:10 - 15:00
Accessibility & Language Construction ToolsBLOCKS+ at Beacon Hill
14:10
10m
Talk
Building an Accessible Block Environment
BLOCKS+
Emmanuel Schanzer Brown University, Sina Bahram Prime Access Consulting, Shriram Krishnamurthi Brown University, USA
Pre-print
14:20
5m
Talk
Language Workbench Support for Block-Based DSLs
BLOCKS+
Mauricio Verano Merino Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Tijs van der Storm CWI & University of Groningen
Pre-print
14:25
5m
Talk
Rapid Prototyping for Blocks-based Languages and Environments
BLOCKS+
Josh Caldwell Code.org, Josh Lory Code.org
Pre-print
14:30
5m
Talk
TypeScript: From JavaScript to Blockly and Back
BLOCKS+
Thomas Ball Microsoft Research, Peli de Halleux Microsoft Research, Sam El-Husseini Microsoft, Richard Knoll Microsoft, Michal Moskal Microsoft Research
Pre-print
14:35
25m
Other
Themed Session 3: Break-out discussions and demos/posters
BLOCKS+