Category: Geeks r Us
I am noticing that a lot of updated websites and apps are becoming less and less accessible for the blind.
There are now a lot of buttons that has a lot of garble in with the name of the button. Instead of just saying (cart) it might say (no cuba juwu cart boo done) Ok so I made that up but that is how crazy it gets sometimes.
Craigslist now only is reading the city and the fees but not any of the details of what is being sold so I guess you have to click on it to find out what they are selling but that is time consuming.
Amazon.com has made a lot of changes online and on their app. i am really unhappy about that because I shop on it a lot and now I nearly can't do anything with a fight on it.
There are a few but can't think of them.
Are any of you dealing with this too?
/ I am contacting them and writing reviews on it all.
Really? Use Amazon's App and it works fine. Granted, you can't change payment options from here, but despite this, it still works fine. Never have had an issue with CraigsList. There's a link that says For Sale; click it, then use h for headings and down arrow for links. In VO for IOS, use the rotor. Skype is pretty bad now.
Cant say I noticed any problems either. Amazon website works well. haven't ever really used craigs list , but when I have took a look at it it worked wel.
I don't use aps for anything so cant comment on those.
I haven't noticed this with these sites, nor do I use apps. But I have seen it, in general, over the last two or three years. This is especially true for news sites. They used to just show the regular links on the page and then the article. But now, there are all sorts of frames and ridiculous buttons for one thing or another, sometimes in the middle of the article! Some are so bad that I have to paste the contents into Wordpad just to read them! I'm glad that someone else has mentioned this, because I was thinking of making a similar post. It's very very annoying!
While we're at it, what is this nonsense where Ebay occasionally changes the page of results and says "additional site navigation" making inaccessible until you refresh? Let's not even discussing the absolute mess that Youtube has become. It's a total nightmare!
these are changes i just seen changed in the last few days. not over a long time spand.
Hello Nicky
. Can you tell me what operating system you are using?
Do you use IE or Firefox?
Do you use Jaws or another screen reader?
I use these sight and have recently, like to day, and I don't have any issues.
I can even change the payment options on Amazon.
Tell me this and I'll have more of an idea.
Nicky,
If you're on a mobile device, like an iPhone, I can tell you why this happens in spurts.
It's not personal, and yes, blind apologists aside, it can be annoying. I've been there, I was trying to look something up very quickly for a sick family member and got thrown for a loop, it happens.
But developers often find that they can do things more efficiently when they move to a web-based interface inside their app. It's on the whole less code (if done right), and more platform-agnostic / browser-agnostic / device-agnostic. All that gobbledeegork just means it runs without incident on a whole wide range of devices.
Where that leave you, for accessibility, or someone who uses reading glasses, or any number of other groups of people, is often a compromised situation.
These things usually do straighten themselves out over time. Especially if you use several apps that use one common technology. There are things apps can do that rely on commonly shared space. Trying to be accurate without getting so far off into the weeds that people go 'hh?'
Anyway I'd say hold onto your pants and things will often straighten out. You can always contact the developer with some specifics. We do love specifics over generalizations, we can far more easily address problems that way. That's just how the development community gets it done, especially now when everything is so integrated.
Anyway you have my sympathies. Amazon was one. Foursquare broke badly that, when I really needed it to find something for the niece on the fly, it was totally useless to me, and to her who depended upon me.
I'd say do like Wayne says and post on here the situation you're dealing with. I notice some apps work better on the websites, some work betton on my phone and some better on the iPad.
And yes, cutesy nontechnical apologists notwithstanding, all sorts of interfaces do break when moving to a web-based device-agnostic platform-agnostic approach. Or even something as simple as a slice of the app's content now being served by a third party whose widgets don't do interfaces properly. You should see how hot and excited the pimply basement-dwelling gamers can get when something like this happens and their screen scaling for their favorite game goes askew. Way more excited than any blind group ever has.
Those changes in interface do affect us. And unlike the gamers whose fathers might tell them to get outside and catch a little fresh air, for us, it affects us and those who depend on us.
Yep, and Pandora is wierd now too. If you are moving through the various stations, VoiceOver will lose focus.
No, it doesn't actually. What you have to do is hold your finger still on station title until you hear the name.
It is actually pretty neat, because you get more detail.
For people that have trouble tabbing things, it gives them time to stay on it and tap it on better.
Just what I think anyway.
You definitely cannot use the flicking gesture; VO will lose focus if you do this; haven't tried dragging my finger, though.
Interesting. Mine doesn't seem to. When I want to hear the station titles, I pause on the line until it state it.
Dragging seems to work for me. Is their a way to get the older version of Skype?
If you saved a previous backup to your computer, you just restore your phone back.
Shucks; out of luck then.