# Amazon.com no longer works with JAWS!

Category: Geeks r Us

## Post 1 by Toonhead71 (move over school!) on Sunday, 06-Nov-2005 0:27:33

Hi Folks
Subject line basically says it. I'm using JAWS 7.0, so I'd be interested if other folks using other versions of JAWS, or other screenreaders have the same problem. It looks as if the folks at Amazon have made some kind of visual change to their site, and it really messes up JAWS's ability to navigate the site in a big way. You think you're clicking on one link and you actually land on another. For example I clicked on a link for a Rush album, and got taken to a link to purchase a gift certificate. The silly part of my mind wonders if they aren't doing this on purpose. Seriously though, this is extremely annoying! I looked for 15 minutes to try and find the link to contact them and write a note, but I couldn't. and I've been using JAWS and the net since 1997. I think I know my way around. But the site is so screwed up that just about the only link I can get to is my account, and see what i've recently purchased. Not very good for me, especially since I was planning on buying a few things there. If anyone has had a similar problem, I'd be very interested to know. This seriously sucks, especially since Amazon, up until now has been my favorite site to do shopping on the net with.
Thanks!

## Post 2 by yankee g wolverine (Account disabled) on Sunday, 06-Nov-2005 1:55:13

haven't noticed it. and I'm on the site all the time

## Post 3 by Toonhead71 (move over school!) on Sunday, 06-Nov-2005 15:23:12

Amazon.com has definitely been made aware of the problem. Aparently, it's only effecting users of JAWS, so you Window-eyes folks have nothing to worry about, lucky! It has to do with a gift Central site that they implemented yesterday. Aparently they made a change to it, and it effects the rest of the site, at least the way JAWS presents it on the screen. It's a high priority matter now and the ddevelopers are actually looking at fixing it, so i'll report back when it's fixed. Hopefully soon!

## Post 4 by Big Pawed Bear (letting his paws be his guide.) on Sunday, 06-Nov-2005 16:07:54

i thought amazone was alwways a pest with jaws, I never got on with their site at all.

## Post 5 by PorkInCider (Wind assisted.) on Sunday, 06-Nov-2005 18:34:51

Just goes to show that if you use a decent screen reader you don't need to worry.

## Post 6 by Toonhead71 (move over school!) on Sunday, 06-Nov-2005 20:16:41

I am going to remain civil in my response...I find JAWS to be a decent screenreader for my particular needs. That is all.

## Post 7 by rdfreak (THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE-BLUE KANGA-KICKIN AUSIE) on Sunday, 06-Nov-2005 22:14:16

every screne reader has its fault unfortunately. :(

## Post 8 by CallMeAl (Veteran Zoner) on Sunday, 06-Nov-2005 22:35:48

Hi,
I just tried Amazon myself and didn't notice any issues. Admittedly , I didn't spend a lot of time there, but the main page seemed pretty usable.
I've seen the symptoms you describe before though and in my experience, this sort of thing usually happens when a flash movie gets in the way and messes up how Jaws deals with the page.
If you haven't done this already, as a test you might try turning flash movies off for that page. To do so:
1. open the page that is causing the problem.
2. After the page loads, press control+insert+v.
3. The At this point, you'll be in a list of options. The one you want is near the bottom and is called "allow flash movies." If it's set to on, press space to turn it off, and then press enter to save your changes.
--Al

## Post 9 by Brooke (I just keep on posting!) on Monday, 07-Nov-2005 1:01:47

That's weird; I just went to Amazon.com and browsed through the site just to see how it worked. I didn't have any problems, but then again, I only clicked on a few links.

## Post 10 by Godzilla-On-Toast (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Monday, 07-Nov-2005 2:09:03

I'm using version 6.0 of JFW and I seem to be having the same problem. I can't seeem to, for example, get results when I search for something, and when I do, I'll click on the item I se and I end up not seeing the description but some fairly basic page. I'm using the text-only link that I found years ago so at least I'm not getting all those immage map links that are a bunch of nonsense at the top. I also wish they ahd a clear link on the main graphical page where you can go to the text-only page like they used to.

## Post 11 by laced-unlaced (Account disabled) on Monday, 07-Nov-2005 5:15:43

never knew that toonhead! i go on amazon to listen to album samples quite a lot but i guess no more! shame

## Post 12 by Toonhead71 (move over school!) on Monday, 07-Nov-2005 10:17:26

Just to clarify a bit guys, the initial search goes fine. You *can* search for things. But when you get your results that's where the problems come in. Let's give a short example. You do a search for the band, Pink Floyd let's say. The search results come up and you see a link for Dark Side of The Moon. Ok, so you click on the link for Dark Side of the moon, in hopes you can get more information about it, e.g. track listing, album information reviews, and so on. But when you click on that link you are taken to another page that has absolutely nothing to do with the album. This has nothing to do with flash movies as an earlier post has suggested. The problem is in the html code they're using. For some reason the page displays fine, but JAWS, for whaever silly reason, does not accurately track things properly. No matter wwhere you click, you seem to land on the first link at he top of the page. You're drawn to that area for some reasono even though you're much further down. and it's not just JAWS. I've also heard that some Hal/Supernova uses are also experiencing this issue too. The best thing we can do is to call Amazon and let them know. The number in the US is 1-800-201-7575. Not sure about numbers outside the US, but that's the US number anyways.

## Post 13 by chocolab (move over school!) on Monday, 07-Nov-2005 13:54:30

it irks me when people have little problems with amazon. I realize this one's due to html but I'm getting sick of hearing amazon's not accessible for us blind folks who can't sue our round gellatenous orbs to read the screen. I'll keep shopping there and fiht my way though it. If the problem is sixed, though I haven't ahd one,t hat's good if not, I certainly won't care.

## Post 14 by chocolab (move over school!) on Monday, 07-Nov-2005 13:57:04

I take that back there's an easy around this click on top of page, and you're fine.

## Post 15 by blink183 (I can't call it a day til I enter the zone BBS) on Monday, 07-Nov-2005 19:45:23

Have you guys tried disabling the feature to automatically refresh the page? And as far as I'm concerned, Amazon has met their accessibility requirements by providing an accessible interface available at www.amazon.com/access

## Post 16 by Toonhead71 (move over school!) on Monday, 07-Nov-2005 22:52:50

Actually, I had heard from lots of people that the text only site wasn't updated as often with the most recent infoormation, but it looks as if Amazon has kept it updated. I did searches for things I knew had just been released and they were there. The layout is a bit different and it does take some getting used to especially for someone like me who got used to using the regular site, but it's a whole lot faster and it's usable. I do wish they would place a link to your shopping cart on the main page but other than that, it's a good alternative to use. I think it's still very important for them to fix the main site though, because a lot of people may not know about the text only page. I like to advocate for accessibility whenever possible.

## Post 17 by Godzilla-On-Toast (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Tuesday, 08-Nov-2005 1:15:46

I knew about the accessible site, although I forget the URL for it. Thanks for that. However, what I'm using is the text-only version of the main site, which I doubt there's even a direct link to on the page although it's still there. I'm having the same problems as Toonhead, though, but if they're working on it I'll take their word for it.

## Post 18 by loudguitar (Newborn Zoner) on Tuesday, 08-Nov-2005 11:50:01

Hi, the amazon.com/access page works fine, however, it is important to note that as far as I can tell, when you make a purchase, your information is not being sent through a secure server.

## Post 19 by JH_Radio (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Saturday, 19-Nov-2005 10:42:28

I didn't know there was a text poonly page. How long has that been in existance for? I have not had your problem with the main ite a and am using Jaws 7.0 here.

## Post 20 by changedheart421 (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Monday, 21-Nov-2005 0:17:43

i have spent hundreds of dollars ever since i was 13 buying stuff off there. hope it gets fixed soon. Ug

## Post 21 by rat (star trek rules!) on Monday, 21-Nov-2005 12:08:44

could some one try to wite scripts for the site?

## Post 22 by Cristobal (Veteran Zoner) on Tuesday, 22-Nov-2005 15:06:30

It's not a solution to the problem, but go through borders.com and you shouldn't have any difficulty wiht Amazon.

## Post 23 by The Shuck Fitter (My name is Liam) on Tuesday, 22-Nov-2005 16:51:58

to add to it. it seems that IE has the problem, and not firefox.

## Post 24 by DHSHolly (Generic Zoner) on Wednesday, 23-Nov-2005 20:46:17

If you route your jaws cursor to your pc cursor use your jaws cursor to find the option you want and click with your left mouse button. Problem solved.

## Post 25 by changedheart421 (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Wednesday, 23-Nov-2005 20:54:09

ok run that by me again

## Post 26 by ArtRock1224 (move over school!) on Wednesday, 23-Nov-2005 23:22:24

## Post 27 by Batman413 (Zone BBS is my Life) on Thursday, 24-Nov-2005 10:39:23

She's right, but it definitely could of been said more clearly..
If you route your jaws to your PC curser, and then look around with the arrows to find the link you want.. Even the first word of the link you're looking for, then hit your left mouse button. It will bring you to the page.
Example, you are looking for something by uh, I don't know.. Eminem. You can search like normal, but when all his results come up, say you want the Eminem Show CD.. Route your Jaws to your PC curser, and use control right and left arrows to line it on the CD Title.. Then, hit left mouse button.
Ryan/Goldberg