Category: the Rant Board
I really and truly hate facebook at the moment! up until a few months ago it used to work okish with jaws but now it is just completely inaccessible! I can access facebook pretty well from my mobile phone but this can be limiting as you can't join groups or post links etc if you use this method. This morning all I wanted to do was update my status and post a link but every time I clicked on a form field and started typing it would randomly click on something like help or careers. and the times where I did manage to write something it was only to discover that the share box had completely disappeared! I would put my problems down to my poor technical ability but as I said it is only recently that I have had these problems. Ok, so it was never perfect in terms of screen reader accessibility but now it is just horrible and a complete waste of my time! has anyone else experienced similar troubles with jaws and facebook compatibility? and are there any solutions that I am missing? thanks!
I hate Facebook. I just find that site to be way too confusing. ANd I've tried it with both JAWS and Window-Eyes and had the same problems with each. I stick to Myspace, which granted isn't completely accessible either and probably will never be so but it makes more sense to me than Facebook. At least when I'd click on a link on Myspace I knew right away that it'd been done. It's not like Facebook where I had to refresh the screen each time I hit Enter on a link in order to see the result. And Facebook is just too damn cluttered for me. At least on Myspace in most cases I can navigate by Heading level but not happening on Facebook.
I use the mobile sight on my computer. and you can join groups on it. at least from the computer.
http://m.facebook.com
I don't bother with the big sight. I no people that can make it work but I don't bother with it. you have to do all these different things.
i use the mobile site a lot now myself, also can control my status updates with text messages with my phone. the main site is a pain in the neck, but if i have too use it i can manage it
More and more I use the Mobile site, since my wife got off Facebook I don't have to keep up with how it looks anymore to explain things to her, so no more main site for me except occasionally. However, for newer devices like iOS and Android devices, their Facebook apps are supposed to be pretty good. Tried putting Microsoft Facebook on my phone and MobileSpeak couldn't read it too well.
I, too, use the mobile version on my computer; it works great.
Not only do I use the mobile site, but I use it on Firefox. Have any of you tried using the main version of it with Firefox? I don't know whether I can do everything using the main site and Firefox. I just don't like it because it seems kind of heavy on the links, kind of like MySpace.
I have and your News Feed is by headings but you have to hunt around for the link that shows 'Most Recent' this isn't true of just us but sighted users as well, was a hard one for my wife. Anyway Mobile defaults to Most Recent and the main site defaults to most popular, not sure how they gauge that.
Thanks for the replies, I tried out the mobile sight on my computer and it works fine! this will make things a little easier as I was previously doing everything through my phone which meant I spent ages texting all of what I wanted to write. it is very poor though that as a result of all its upgrades and so on that facebook have pretty much neglected screen reader accessibility, for as I said I could use facebook's main sight pretty well up until fairly recently!
I like the mobile site, but for some reason, it won't let me upload photos which upload fine on the main site. does any one know a particular reason for this?
I, too, use the mobile site for most things. But I don't like how I can't read fora on groups or post to them. I have no idea why they decided to cut so many features out of the mobile version.
I also notice tht it doesn't read certinly things correctly. For instnce, I subscribed to a channel on Youtube, and while on the mobile site for Facebook, it just said my name, remove and comment. I tried the comment link and it gave me a bunch of html with some Youtube link. When I went to the main site, it clearly displayed that I'd subscribed to a channel.
I'm not on facebook because it isn't hard to do a search net on someone & find them if they're on facebook, particularly if they have an uncommon surname. Hey if a techno idiot like me can do it, imagine a technologically sophisticated person looking for someone. I have former boyfriends I'd rather not contact me or know where I am, but if someone wants to be on this social network, hey, that's great. I'm sorry it can be difficult to access.
It's not a law that you use your legal name on there. Besides, who wants to share their last name on the net anyway? I use the name that I wish to make legal one day.
I can see both sides of that coin. There's good and bad to being easily found. The bad, of course, is that you can get unwanted people, whether previously known or unknown, but it's also a really good way to get in contact with old friends. I'm still looking for a few people I hope to get in touch with.
I only use the moble site if I have to accept friend requests. as far as updating status goes, miranda. that main site for fb is a bitch.
I've heard Miranda is good for that. I should get set up.
haha, well said hun. Pretty much all of that Facebook, myspace, twitter shit is a bitch. I clearly don't worry about any of it. I'll admit, though, facebook is a good way to stay connected with old friends and an easy find for people you ain't seen in a while. Still, it's just stupid. This is in rants, so let's rant. I hate facebook because it's eating this sad, poor, codependent generation alive. Everyone's depended on it. Kids don't even know how to talk to people anymore because they're too busy updating they're status on facebook with they're iphones. Oh, and yes, it's horrible with Jaws. That's clear to me now after reading this, hahaha. Just some of my "I hate my generation" thoughts. But really, if facebook is your thing, keep it up. Nothing wrong with it, just a little stupid in my oppinion.
Jessie
I like LiveJournal. It's a nice text-based site that works beautiful with screen readers. You guys should check it out. Sure, it's a very different flavour from FaceBook, but it's got alot of groups and you can still meet new and old friends based on interests etc. I believe there's a feature to let you search for people by e-mail address as well.
You know wat's interesting about Facebook? Unlike Twitter or other places, many of us, speaking for at least 30s and up, got a Facebook because the rest of the family does, and it's easier to put it on Facebook, just like posting a post-it note on the refrigerator, only in this case, this blind bat can read the notes that get posted.
And another thing, if your male, Facebook is convenient: How many of us are way worse than our wives about remembering whose birthday, whose special event or whatever. But on Facebook you see it.
I don't think it makes people talk less, any more than posting notes on the bulletin or cork boards, or the refrigerator, or whatever, did.
And much as I hate to admit that the advertising is right, it really does 'connect' you with people you already know. Sure I've hooked up with a few hobbyists here and there, but even found an old friend from grade school who is now married and has a daughter, and they're all living in San Francisco.
It's just another medium. And if you're young an unencumbered, get ye a new device because the mobile or app platforms work so well on those things you ccan skip the main site.
Like anything, there's good and bad, and everything in moderation is okay, for most things at least.
fb is great for networking and m.facebook.com is better when used from a computer. I use the main fb when I have to share events or post links. I just plan a little extra time with refreshing the screen and clicking on things 5 or 6 times before anything happens. I heard that it works great with firefox.
oh it does. sure does. but yeah, with miranda, if you set it up to use fb chat, you can poast things out like what's on your mind and stuff. i've been told that if you wanna use fb chat you have to use jabber, hell no. that fb plug-in is still being developed and things, and it's a hell of a lot easier to set up then jabber. I tried to use jabber once for it and every time I launched miranda, crash. if help is needed in setting miranda up to use fb or help with just seting up miranda at all pm me
So, since the mac users haven't reported to us, I'll just ask: How is Facebook for you guys with Safari, using VoiceOver as the reader?
Well I couldn't even navigate the Mobile site. Granted I use Firefox since I hate IE so that could be the problem right there. Then again maybe not since I did attempt it several times with IE as well. Needless to say I never log in.
mack users can use aidium like us who use miranda.
I still say that Face book sucks.
I don't like it at all!
To each is own.
If you like it, so be it!@
I have Facebook and I can post to groups, set my status, comment on pages/statuses/walls/groups. I like it a lot. Feel free to add me m.facebook.com/brandibryant2
I use the mobile site to upload photos. Go look in your pictures. It doesn't always appear in your newsfeed for some reason.
I have some questions as long as Facebook is the topic. I found out the owner of a cafe we frequent took my picture w my daughter trick or treating and posted it. He told me when I was having coffee today. I've seen the photo and don't care for it. I don't have an account because I have at least one ex boyfriend (googled him out of curiosity) on it and I don't want to give him a means to establish contact, as well as others who've been estranged from me over the years, and it's very simple to see if someone does or doesn't have an account. I saw a "comment" space by the photos, and just out of curiosity what type of comments do people usually make about them?
For photos it's usually how cute they are, or comments about the event, from people who were there.
More people just click the 'Like' button than they do Comments, but comments generally relate to people who were there or knew the person.
Ok, I just discovered one more reason why I don't like Facebook. I was hoping to find some redeeming quality since I think I'll be deleting my Myspace due to the changes they've made to the site. Oh I can still send messages and probably post blogs but they've made the status box inaccessible over the last few days apparently. Well I went over to Facebook because I was thinking of reactivating the account i created with my new Email address. Problem is I've forgotten my password. Fine, just enter the Email address and whatnot. Well then they have a Captcha which despite my best efforts I can't seem to solve with WebVisum. I've never had problems with that before where no matter how many times I refreshed the image no solution could be found. Wel the Audio Captcha makes no sense whatsoever. First it tells you to enter both words you hear, then it plays what I presume is a clip from a movie or radio program or whatever. Both words? There's more than two. And how the hell are you supposed to know which ones to enter? I have better things to do than trying to enter various pairs of words from the clip I hear. So in short I don't find the audio captcha all that helpful. It's even less helpful than the usual distorted, garbled efforts a lot of sites employ and which Facebok in fact used to use when I initially joined only to find even the mobile site far too cluttered for me to make sense of it.
If you're using a recent version of Jaws and you want to update your status, update it from your profile. I don't have any problems accessing anything on Facebook, even though I am a totally blind Jaws user.
Another helpful tip is to update the screen by pressing insert and escape, because Jaws doesn't always read what you've typed.
on the mac the mobile facebook site is actually very simple to use, haven't had any issues with it here. haven't messed with the main site, but don't plan too
Well I'm not using JAWS. I'm sing WIndow-Eyes which works for just about everything else.
it is so weird for the people who say the main site is to cluttered. I have had no probs ever with it.
While I do prefer the mobile site for some things, the main site is better for searches and stuf.
If you want to find your classmates - for those old enough to have forgotten / become curious about bygone high school mates you can't use the down arrow next to the search button with a Windows reader, but they say click Friends at the top, then Find Friends and search for Classmates at the bottom.
Or just google the following and get the eHow article which has the direct link:
find my classmates on Facebook
I went and saw a ton of people I didn't remember but some I did, some who were labeled mutual friends so I friend requested them.
I've been on Facebook almost a year now, got on expressly to help my wife with her account which she got rid of in frustration after a few months. She didn't quite acclimate to the new online culture with a totally different set of boundaries.
Dunno if I have either, but I'm finding it more an adventure / trying to learn what enough of it means to get along.
I find it interesting how people claim it's making us more disconnected: my daughter clained this to me the other day. I told her in the 1980s, people were still mobile, still moved all over the country in search of work, but now at least with Facebook you can see what old friends and family are up to: something you didn't useed to be able to do that well.
Meh...I agree with jessie. Facebook sucks. My friend Don calls it Vague Book. Lol. I just think it's kinda stupid, and yes,it's pretty cluttered. I have an account, but I hardly ever use it. I'll probably delete it soon.
to whoever said you can post to groups and stuf on the mobile site. I was able to see the group if I searched but I couldn't see a way to join a group on the mobile site. someone correct me if there is a way to do it?
I have reconnected with a poster I chatted with on other forums on facebook. I really only keep in touch on private mail, though. You get too few characters to post truly intelligent conversation, and doesn't there have to be more to keeping in touch than posting every photo you have and a thumbs up "_____" likes this? I'll stick with the private mail. Anyone who seriously enjoys facebook, great, but IMO it's overrated.
nothing wrong with the regular facebook site. I'm not sure why so many blind people are having problems with it and I am using jaws
I used to hate Facebook. But that was before Myspace sucked.
Its odd!, I used to not care if fadebook existed or not, but now that I can post on walls, upload videos with my phone very easily I love it. I even met a friend or X who I have not seen in ages. :)
I ment facebook above in my last post. I am a wake I think my fingers want to sleep more lol.
I use my phone on Facebook a lot as well, mostly for the chat.
disable chat on the main site and fb works much better with jaws.
I wonder if the same applies to Window-Eyes, seeing as I don't use JAWS.
I have a friend who keeps asking me why I don't go on Face book. I cannot get it through her head that it isn't accessible or I have a hard time with it.
I guess that is why I like being on the zone because I have no trouble getting around on the Web site.
I really like reading the boards and posting if I can think of something to write about.
Have fun on Face book if you like it!
Grin!
Um, I don't see anything inaccessible about the mobile site. I did notice one odd quirk recently though. Once you block someone, you can't unblock them from the mobile site. I tried hitting enter on the link, the space bar, even routed my jaws to pc cursor and single and double clicked the stupid thing, but it won't go. I haven't tried it with NVDA although I do have it installed on this machine, maybe it works, I'm not sure. Another gripe I have right now with the mobile site is how they changed the inbox. Instead of clicking on the message that the person sent, you click on their name which opens the message. That's backwards to me, but as I said, these are minor annoyances, and certainly not enough to chase me away from Facebook. And I agree, Myspace sucks now.
has anyone else been having trouble sending messages on facebook? when I hit the "reply" button, it gives an error message saying, "you don't have permission to perform this action".
My gripe with FB these days is I'm suddenly seeing status updates and things from people who aren't on my friends list. Myspace started doing that not long before I deleted my page.
Are the people whose status updates you're seeing people who you added, but did not accept the riend request? I've noticed that I'll see updates from people if they never replied to my friend request. I'm assuming if they declined it they wouldn't show up. Or, maybe your privacy settings allow random people to show up somehow, I don't know. I set mine so that I can't be searched for through Google, and that only friends can see my status updates, wall posts, etc.
No they aren't. I haven't even heard of these people but nor are they on my friends list.
Probably they are friends of some of your friends, and their privacy settings for their wall posts are set to 'Friends of Friends', but that is just a guess.
Then they must have changed those settings only within the last few days because that's how long it's been going on. Personally I think it's got more to do with the new changes FB has made. And I haven't met anyone yet who actually likes said changes.