Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Want to make an Alexa skill for my publications. (self.Blind)
submitted by rkingett
I actually have 2 questions because I have a few blind developers willing to help me out,
but I wanted to ask all the programmers on here if $1 is accessible to screen readers? I am a writer first so I didn't know how to answer their questions.
I'd like to have a skill that pulls from an RSS feed. Is there a limit to how much text she can read from an RSS feed?
Lastly, I had a markdown question. Someone explained how to do this in the ppast with markdown but I did not save his comment. If I have a link and wanted to give extra information to the screen reader so sighted people would not see, is this possible in Markdown? Or do I need to look for an accessible HTML generator? :)
but I wanted to ask all the programmers on here if $1 is accessible to screen readers? I am a writer first so I didn't know how to answer their questions.
I'd like to have a skill that pulls from an RSS feed. Is there a limit to how much text she can read from an RSS feed?
Lastly, I had a markdown question. Someone explained how to do this in the ppast with markdown but I did not save his comment. If I have a link and wanted to give extra information to the screen reader so sighted people would not see, is this possible in Markdown? Or do I need to look for an accessible HTML generator? :)
fastfinge 1 points 6y ago
If you ever get this skill developed, I'd be really interested in a blog post about the experiences of the blind developers you got to help you. I've been thinking about learning how to develop Alexa skills myself, because now that Amazon will let us put ads in our skills, I think there's finally some money to be made there. But Alexa isn't officially available in Canada, so finding local testers would be hard, so it's just something I keep pushing to the back burner. But if you wind up with some information about how accessible (or not) the process of developing a skill is, that'd make for a really good article.
rkingett [OP] 2 points 6y ago
Me too! I tried to look up how to do a skill but even the beginner stuff just confused me to no end. I'd be curious too but I would probably publish something like that on a news website, first. If no one takes my pitch then it goes to my blog. I actually wanted to ask if there is a list of AT companies somewhere, where I can reach out to offer sponsorship chances? I also wanted to know if you knew of any other blogs to read, other than Chris's blog?
fastfinge 1 points 6y ago
If you can find a news website that would take an article like that, I'm willing to push learning Alexa development to the front on my list of stuff to do. While I don't write professionally myself, I did go to university for journalism, so I'm familiar with the pressures/process of getting an article out. I run my own business these days, and have done freelance wordpress/drupal administration, and PHP programming. So I suspect I have the prerequisite skills needed to develop for Alexa. The only hold-up might be that maybe Amazon requires a US Amazon account to publish an Alexa skill, and I can't get one because I'm Canadian. But if you have a US dev already lined up to work with you, that's fine. I'm just offering on the off-chance you're still looking.
As for blindness blogs, the only people I read regularly are Chriss for tech insights, $1 and $1 for breaking tech news, and $1 and $1 for the political/social blindness issues. Otherwise, I get all my blindness info/discussion here on Reddit.
By the way, I know you're American, but have you thought about getting in touch with $1, the local blindness TV channel here in Canada? They often want guest speakers on various topics, articles written, etc. I don't know if they're required to employ Canadian only, though.
As for blindness blogs, the only people I read regularly are Chriss for tech insights, $1 and $1 for breaking tech news, and $1 and $1 for the political/social blindness issues. Otherwise, I get all my blindness info/discussion here on Reddit.
By the way, I know you're American, but have you thought about getting in touch with $1, the local blindness TV channel here in Canada? They often want guest speakers on various topics, articles written, etc. I don't know if they're required to employ Canadian only, though.
rkingett [OP] 1 points 6y ago
I would like to ask if you could contribute in some way but I wouldn't be able to pay you at all.
I will do some digging. They follow me on Twitter so I will reach out some time today.
They would be a nice pitching database. If they do take written work, broadcast is not good for me because of the stutter, I'd love to have another freelance pool to pitch to.
I actually always wanted to cover international disability and or politics issues. Not sure why, but I feel like I would be best at it since I don't live there. Make sense?
I did also actually want to do a disability travel series, either i Canada or the UK, comparing things like access and stuff. I will look at some of those blogs today!
I will do some digging. They follow me on Twitter so I will reach out some time today.
They would be a nice pitching database. If they do take written work, broadcast is not good for me because of the stutter, I'd love to have another freelance pool to pitch to.
I actually always wanted to cover international disability and or politics issues. Not sure why, but I feel like I would be best at it since I don't live there. Make sense?
I did also actually want to do a disability travel series, either i Canada or the UK, comparing things like access and stuff. I will look at some of those blogs today!
fastfinge 1 points 6y ago
> I would like to ask if you could contribute in some way but I wouldn't be able to pay you at all.
That's fine. I can spend some time on this; depending on if/how a published article comes out of it, I'd just want some sort of credit in the article text. However, I should be clear up front that time is all I've got. If there are any associated costs with developing an Alexa Skill, I can't afford to put any money down right now. To get an app in the Apple app store, for example, it's $99 a year, plus server hosting etc. I have no idea if Amazon has similar associated costs. But I don't have extra server space or extra money. Sorry if I come off as a bit of a jerk, but I've been involved in enough "free" projects that somehow expand into costing money, that I always feel the need to be up front.
The only other hold up, as I've said, is that Amazon may only allow US citizens to develop skills. I'm traveling over the weekend, but I can dive in on Monday morning and research the account requirements, and requirements for developing a skill (servers? money? etc) if you like.
That's fine. I can spend some time on this; depending on if/how a published article comes out of it, I'd just want some sort of credit in the article text. However, I should be clear up front that time is all I've got. If there are any associated costs with developing an Alexa Skill, I can't afford to put any money down right now. To get an app in the Apple app store, for example, it's $99 a year, plus server hosting etc. I have no idea if Amazon has similar associated costs. But I don't have extra server space or extra money. Sorry if I come off as a bit of a jerk, but I've been involved in enough "free" projects that somehow expand into costing money, that I always feel the need to be up front.
The only other hold up, as I've said, is that Amazon may only allow US citizens to develop skills. I'm traveling over the weekend, but I can dive in on Monday morning and research the account requirements, and requirements for developing a skill (servers? money? etc) if you like.
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