The usual problem with accessibility seem to fall in two buckets. First
is the developer uses standard controls which are accessible but forget
to label a button or leave out other tidbits of state/value information
which would make the control usable. The second bucket is that they made
custom controls which are either invisible or can't be controlled at all
by voiceover. So this is where it gets tricky. An app with a few buttons
lacking labels can be difficult, but it is usable. I can even add my own
labels to patch up things where the developer messed up. The impact of
issues in the second bucket depends on what the feature is. Hence the
rating system which, as a fallible human creation, will not be a perfect
scoring system, just like any other review. Still, it would be better
than nothing.
CB
On 9/13/13 7:42 AM, Ray Foret jr wrote:
Why not have Apple hire an accessibility team which would consist of all the
disabilities. This team would bear the responsibiility of determining
accessibility: thus, no ambiguity. After all, who knows better than we how to
test such things?
Sent from my mac, the only computer with full accessibility for the blind
built-in!
Sincerely,
The Constantly Barefooted Ray
Still a very proud and happy Mac and Iphone user!
On Sep 13, 2013, at 3:05 AM, Nicholas Parsons <mr.nicholas.pars...@gmail.com>
wrote:
If it's mandatory for some apps to be accessible, but not others, who will
determine which are to be accessible and which not? And if you talk about
feasibility, doesn't that start to become a little like inaccessible apps don't
need to be accessible, but accessible apps must be accessible? Who is going to
determine feasibility? I'm sure many developers would argue about this. Amazon
et al would of course argue that e-readers would fall into that category of not
feasible for blind people; they're designed for people who have eyes to see the
written words on the page. We, of course, believe this to be rubbish. It would
take too much time and effort to mediate all the disputes; I don't think Apple
would ever take such an approach. Something should be done, yes, but it must be
straight forward to implement.
I think some kind of information in the app store about whether the app is
built with Apple's UI elements or with custom UI elements could be useful and
feasible. This could be misleading though as the custom UI elements may
nevertheless be accessible. I agree, however, that Apple could be stricter on
ensuring apps at least had properly labeled buttons and alt text. This would
not necessarily make apps accessible, but it would be an improvement.
I"m a little unsure about the accessibility rating system. There's the problems
that Alex mentioned, and then there's also the issue that an app might become
accessible in a new update but no one will test it because the rating says it's
inaccessible, but I suppose this hasn't become a problem with AppleVis. Anyway, we
probably don't need a separate rating system for this anyway as we could just make
accessibility comments in the ordinary reviews section.
Indeed, I believe one of the best things is for more of us to leave reviews
with accessibility comments, both in the app store and on AppleVis. I must
confess, however, that I don't do much of this myself as I find the process a
little cumbersome and time consuming. This is both for AppleVis and the app
stores. I've been meaning to go through my vast collection of apps and rate
them all on AppleVis one day, but I never get around to it. I've been wishing
of late for an app which would help me rate my apps. Ever since using iOS I've
had less patients for websites; preferring instead the clean interface of
mobile or desktop apps. One which would list all my apps and let me rate them
for accessibility would be great. Sigh.
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