[community] Another accessible PhET Simulation - Molecules and Light

[Taliesin Smith]

Hello Inclusive Community,

I have an exciting announcement about a new accessible PHET Simulation!

Molecules and Light <https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/molecules-and-light>, our second chemistry simulation, was published on August 12th. It is the first simulation we have published with Zoom and Magnification in addition to our other accessibility features.

The accessible features of this simulation include:
1. Alternative Input (Keyboard Accessibility) for all interested learners.
2. Sound and Sonification for all interested learners.
3. Interactive Description accessible to screen reader users using JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver on a desktop or laptop
4. Interactive Description accessible to VoiceOver users on iOS devices.
5. Zoom and Magnification for all interested learners. Students can use pinch to zoom and drag gestures to zoom in and pan around on touch devices. With the keyboard, students can zoom in using typical keyboard shortcuts (Mac: Command +/-, Windows: Ctrl +/-) or pan to an area for close examination using arrow keys. The sim auto pans to keep the focused item in view when using a keyboard.


Interestingly, while working on this accessible features for this simulation we made some general changes to the visual simulation and its interactive controls that improve the experience for all learners. 

Many people contributed to the design of accessible features of this sim! 

Please enjoy and share Molecules and Light <https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/molecules-and-light>!

Taliesin Smith

~.~.~
Also reachable at:
Taliesin.Smith at colorado.edu
Inclusive Design Researcher
PhET Interactive Simulations
https://phet.colorado.edu/en/accessibility
Physics Department
University of Colorado, Boulder