Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Quiller, a distraction-free writing platform for writers and readers in open beta (self.Blind)
submitted by flameborn
I am happy to announce that the same team who brought you $1 and $1 is now here with the biggest project to date> a distraction/free writing platform for writers and readers, with the blind and visually impaired in mind. Because your stories are meant to live!
Here's more information about the project, in open beta: https://en.quiller.ml/@erion/2
Happy writing!
Here's more information about the project, in open beta: https://en.quiller.ml/@erion/2
Happy writing!
fastfinge 2 points 4y ago
Interesting! Would it be possible to use the API of less accessible, but more popular, websites to help blind folks publish there? I'm thinking especially of medium. Everyone publishes there, and the website is horrible. But the network effect means a serious longform writer needs to have work there.
Secondly, I wonder if Quiller could start a stock photo collection where all the photos already have alt-text? That way fully blind people could pick photos to go along with our articles (thumbnails, cover art, etc) and thus compete on a more level field with sighted authors. In the current environment, if you're publishing on any mainstream platform and your article doesn't open with a photo, you might as well just not bother writing at all. This is true for anything from freelance journalism (thumbnail images are required to get clicks on facebook or twitter) to fanfic (without cover art nobody will even bother opening your fic). It's the primary reason I don't bother writing for public consumption.
Secondly, I wonder if Quiller could start a stock photo collection where all the photos already have alt-text? That way fully blind people could pick photos to go along with our articles (thumbnails, cover art, etc) and thus compete on a more level field with sighted authors. In the current environment, if you're publishing on any mainstream platform and your article doesn't open with a photo, you might as well just not bother writing at all. This is true for anything from freelance journalism (thumbnail images are required to get clicks on facebook or twitter) to fanfic (without cover art nobody will even bother opening your fic). It's the primary reason I don't bother writing for public consumption.
flameborn [OP] 1 points 4y ago
We could definitely use other APIs to publish to medium, Telegram, etc, however, I think at the moment this is out of scope for Quiller, as the site is not designed to be a bridge.
I am not sure where it is at the moment, but I know that there are command/line scripts to publish directly to Medium from Markdown. I could look them up if you are interested.
The photo collection is a great idea, and it could certainly help. Unfortunately, we would need volunteers who are willing to categorize existing, possibly public domain images. It's certainly a possibility, even if it is a huge commitment.
I am not sure where it is at the moment, but I know that there are command/line scripts to publish directly to Medium from Markdown. I could look them up if you are interested.
The photo collection is a great idea, and it could certainly help. Unfortunately, we would need volunteers who are willing to categorize existing, possibly public domain images. It's certainly a possibility, even if it is a huge commitment.
fastfinge 1 points 4y ago
> moment this is out of scope for Quiller, as the site is not designed to be a bridge.
The problem you're going to have is that sighted folks already have websites that do exactly what Quiller does. It's just that none of them are accessible to us. So I suspect sighted people won't move to Quiller, leaving it as an exclusively blindness oriented website. I guess that's fine if those are your goals, but it's not something that interests me. I spend all my time on Reddit for exactly that reason; I'd rather be on a mainstream website whenever possible.
> I am not sure where it is at the moment, but I know that there are command/line scripts to publish directly to Medium from Markdown. I could look them up if you are interested.
There sort of are. But they don't support a bunch of features last I checked, and are really awkward to use for anything but the extreme basics.
> volunteers who are willing to categorize existing, possibly public domain images.
I wonder if you could work with someone like the internet archive on a project like this? They already collect a lot of metadata about the images they host. Also, machine learning (like Microsoft's tools) could help a lot. Then you'd just need to crowdsource sighted help to go from metadata and machine generated tags to real descriptions. Or at least check that the machine generated tags are accurate; if I'm writing an article about, say, Christmas, an image tagged "christmas tree, children, gifts" is probably just something I could go ahead and use.
However, this only really becomes interesting if you're bridging Quiller articles to other websites. If Quiller is a website only popular in the blindness community, photos don't matter.
The problem you're going to have is that sighted folks already have websites that do exactly what Quiller does. It's just that none of them are accessible to us. So I suspect sighted people won't move to Quiller, leaving it as an exclusively blindness oriented website. I guess that's fine if those are your goals, but it's not something that interests me. I spend all my time on Reddit for exactly that reason; I'd rather be on a mainstream website whenever possible.
> I am not sure where it is at the moment, but I know that there are command/line scripts to publish directly to Medium from Markdown. I could look them up if you are interested.
There sort of are. But they don't support a bunch of features last I checked, and are really awkward to use for anything but the extreme basics.
> volunteers who are willing to categorize existing, possibly public domain images.
I wonder if you could work with someone like the internet archive on a project like this? They already collect a lot of metadata about the images they host. Also, machine learning (like Microsoft's tools) could help a lot. Then you'd just need to crowdsource sighted help to go from metadata and machine generated tags to real descriptions. Or at least check that the machine generated tags are accurate; if I'm writing an article about, say, Christmas, an image tagged "christmas tree, children, gifts" is probably just something I could go ahead and use.
However, this only really becomes interesting if you're bridging Quiller articles to other websites. If Quiller is a website only popular in the blindness community, photos don't matter.
flameborn [OP] 2 points 4y ago
Yes and no. True, there are writing-oriented websites already, such as Reddit, Medium, Tumblr, etc, but if you look closely, each one is meant for a specific audience. For example, I would not publish a book or a blog on Reddit.
Quiller is meant for an audience who wishes to mainly focus on creating content and receiving feedback, all while remaining as minimalistic as possible. In this sense, minimalistic just means simple and distraction-free, which is not quite true for any of the mentioned websites. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, some people do love a horde of features that they are never going to use, simply because they just feel safe, should they need it, it's there.
In other words, we are not meant to overtake any of the existing websites, I guess the closest would be Telegram, we are meant to be an alternative.
Consequently, if you are happy with the mainstream websites you are using, Quiller is not going to be for you. Just like the self-hosted Wordpress, Serendipity, Grav, or other existing alternatives.
I will have to investigate the possibilities of tagging images the way you suggested, I think it could work, in a way, this is what Apple is doing with VoiceOver's image descriptions via neural networks.
Quiller is meant for an audience who wishes to mainly focus on creating content and receiving feedback, all while remaining as minimalistic as possible. In this sense, minimalistic just means simple and distraction-free, which is not quite true for any of the mentioned websites. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, some people do love a horde of features that they are never going to use, simply because they just feel safe, should they need it, it's there.
In other words, we are not meant to overtake any of the existing websites, I guess the closest would be Telegram, we are meant to be an alternative.
Consequently, if you are happy with the mainstream websites you are using, Quiller is not going to be for you. Just like the self-hosted Wordpress, Serendipity, Grav, or other existing alternatives.
I will have to investigate the possibilities of tagging images the way you suggested, I think it could work, in a way, this is what Apple is doing with VoiceOver's image descriptions via neural networks.
fastfinge 1 points 4y ago
My lack of interest isn't really because I'm so happy with the websites I'm already using. It's because of the network effect. If I post on reddit, fanfiction.net, medium, tumblr, etc, the network effect means millions of people have a chance to stumble on and read my work. If I post on Quiller, that's far far less likely. And personally, I write to be read, rather than for my own pleasure.
However, I wish you guys success! Perhaps Quiller will become the primary publishing platform for blind folks. With the recent wordpress issue (the new post editor is not going to be accessible in the next version of wordpress) we're starting to need one.
However, I wish you guys success! Perhaps Quiller will become the primary publishing platform for blind folks. With the recent wordpress issue (the new post editor is not going to be accessible in the next version of wordpress) we're starting to need one.
multi-instrumental 1 points 4y ago
What makes this a better site for blind/visually impaired people?
flameborn [OP] 1 points 4y ago
There are a few things.
One, which is also true for sighted people is that there are a lot of distractions when it comes to writing, on most sites. You have to focus on wysiwyg editors, for example.
Quiller is minimalistic, and is designed to provide what writers need most: a not bloated and quick interface, feedback and readership. This is also a reason why we don't have, for example, means to search for a specific title. You can publish your work in a matter of minutes and share via social networks, or be discovered through the very simple ratings system.
When it comes to writing, one of the most important elements you will use on the site is the editor itself. We made sure that the editor we use has specific ARIA tags where it is needed, so screen reader users should not have issues using what matters most. Should you not like the editor, we provide the means to disable javascript, which will provide even better compatibility with screen readers, and it is probably the quickest way to use the site. Having said that, there will be certain missing features, for example the ability to open a txt or MD file automagically in the editor, or to have statistics about your article as you write, which we are planning to add in the near future.
One, which is also true for sighted people is that there are a lot of distractions when it comes to writing, on most sites. You have to focus on wysiwyg editors, for example.
Quiller is minimalistic, and is designed to provide what writers need most: a not bloated and quick interface, feedback and readership. This is also a reason why we don't have, for example, means to search for a specific title. You can publish your work in a matter of minutes and share via social networks, or be discovered through the very simple ratings system.
When it comes to writing, one of the most important elements you will use on the site is the editor itself. We made sure that the editor we use has specific ARIA tags where it is needed, so screen reader users should not have issues using what matters most. Should you not like the editor, we provide the means to disable javascript, which will provide even better compatibility with screen readers, and it is probably the quickest way to use the site. Having said that, there will be certain missing features, for example the ability to open a txt or MD file automagically in the editor, or to have statistics about your article as you write, which we are planning to add in the near future.
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