How do you guys find your experiences with restaurant menus and other documents handed to you where braille isn't available? And what do you do to resolve this and better the situation? (any particular apps or other solutions)(self.Blind)
submitted by shaystibelman
[deleted]1 points2y ago
I do use the online menu sometimes, or use my phone camera to zoom in on the menu. Another way is to usually order from places which I frequent and do know the menu.
shaystibelman [OP]2 points2y ago
oh my, that sounds so limiting... may I ask you to try out my digital menu solution and tell me about your experience after? https://siqr.it/damario
[deleted]1 points2y ago
The menu looks easy to read, but it would be helpful if the language for the menu to be translated into could be placed on top.
shaystibelman [OP]1 points2y ago
I've already moved it upwards, i guess you need it to be actually the first element of the page, otherwise you don't see it on top, huh... I'll try to move it even higher up. may I contact you again after I do it to give it another try?
[deleted]1 points2y ago
Of course.
Nandflash1 points2y ago
I use the online menu. If they don't have an online menu, I don't go there.
shaystibelman [OP]1 points2y ago
oh wow that's harsh! :) thanks for your answer. may I ask you to try out my digital menu solution and give me your feedback? https://siqr.it/damario
Superfreq21 points2y ago
I checked out your menu and I must say it's a very impressive variety of accessibility tools you've got their, though of course I can't test allot of them my self as I'm totally blind. I'm particularly interested by the built in screen reader option (chromevox?) as I didn't realize how full fledged it was.
Here are my thoughts. 1. I would put the language chooser at the top under accessibility, as it's very important and should be seen right away. 2. I noticed that you don't use level3 headings. I find that a bit strange especially when I saw that in the dessert section for instance, you grouped multiple items under the same sub category with no heading for each item, which would have been better. 3. I see that their is an unlabeled button above each item which reads as only a number and when pressed the state changes with no proper context. 4. There is an image link with no alt text above each item. If these can be hidden from a screen reader while still displaying the item pictures on screen, that would be great. 5. There is an unlabeled clickable element at the end of each section that doesn't seem to do much. 6. When I hit enter on the clickable labeled with the price, I'm taken to a quantity chooser. This should have a contextual label for the edit field and I would also make it so that hitting enter on the item heading only does this instead of the price as that is much less confusing. Also, you should know that most screen readers do not read - by default so you may wish to spell out minus for the - button, or rename them to add and subtract. 7. At the end of the page, their are a few fields that really need to be labeled, and especially those radio buttons. 8. I think that some of the accessibility options such as "cursor" and "tooltips" " could be given more explanatory labels, and that maybe "screen reader" should be changed to "have the menu read out loud" or something like that so that screen reader users know it isn't for changing to a screen reader accessible version of the menu, and so that low vision users who may want the menu read will know more what it means, as the word "screen reader" is still not in the public vocabulary. 9. I notice that most items don't have expanded descriptions of the dish, I assume this isn't an oversight but simply a lack of data for testing?
shaystibelman [OP]1 points2y ago
Hi again, I have corrected most of your suggestions adding aria-labels where they were missing and I have fixed the 3rd level title as you've suggested. I hope the interface will make more sense now, please let me know in case you have the time to check it out again. If not, I thank you for your earlier feedback.
Superfreq21 points2y ago
Sure!
So I notice that the language wigit is still at the bottom not the top, but I don't know if you can change that your self.
Some instructions at the top (maybe hidden behind a button or something that says "instructions for screen reader users" or similar, that explains the usage of the like buttons, the fact that you can press enter on the item headings to choose how many, what the view photo clickable is for ETC would be very helpful.
I also think that some of your labels could have more understandable English, but it isn't too bad. One part that does confuse me though is where it refers to the list of selected dishes as "article".
I notice that their are some stray = and × signs, usually at the tops or bottoms of sections. This isn't that big of a deal but it is somewhat distracting.
Nice job so far!
shaystibelman [OP]1 points2y ago
You are so awesome! thank you so much for your help! ok, I have moved the whole "footer" area above the "main" area and it is now defined as an "aside". visibly on the screen the result is the same, but your screen reader should see it first, before the main content. Let me know if this helps finding the translate feature, or if forces you to pass over all the "widgets" before getting to the main content. I have added a "skip to main content" above it so you can bypass it easily, but i've hidden it from normal viewers so tell me if you manage to click it anyway.
speaking of hiding things, I have added a section with instructions for screen reader users as you have suggested. please tell me if it's exhaustive enough or if you'd like to read something else in there.
what labels with bad english have you had issues with? keep in mind it's translated with google, so american menus won't have this issue, but the demo menu is in italian, so translation could mess things up.
I have added aria labels to all the buttons (unless i've missed something), so the = and x sinds should be explained by the aria labels. if it doesn't read the label for you, please tell me if you know of a better way to do it. otherwise i'll just add a "close" label to it or something.
thanks again!!!
shaystibelman [OP]1 points2y ago
by the way, please help me by asking restaurants you visit to get this menu for themselves so you can use it in your favorite restaurants.
shaystibelman [OP]1 points2y ago
wow thank you so much for your extremely exhaustive feedback! The accessibility tools are a 3rd party plugin by a group called "userway", who are experts in that area. I can't really modify anything on it, like the action names you suggested, but I will forward your suggestion to them. I will get to fixing all the labels at other items you have mentioned right away. May I message you when I'm done applying your suggestions so that you can test the fixes?
Thanks again so much!
Superfreq21 points2y ago
I always ask at chain restaurants if they have a braille menu, which they rarely do but unlike smaller ones who couldn't really afford it, it's at least a possibility... Then, if they do, I make sure to check the date of production on the menu as they are often out of date.
Otherwise I try to find it online before hand so that I don't have to scramble at the table, and if I can't find it my self I'll call and ask if they have a web address for one.
Failing that I use a good document reader app like Voice Dream Scanner and it usually works quite well as most restaurants have good lighting and large text on their menus.
And if none of that is working or isn't fast enough, I'll just ask for a quick rundown of categories from the server and ask for more info about the categories I most care about/what they suggest in them.
[deleted]1 points2y ago
[deleted]
retrolental_morose1 points2y ago
I tend to use Google Maps or the place's website. Granted small places are less likely to have a menu up, but a growing number do. Worst case, of course I take pictures and OCR but I've not had to do that this year at least.
shaystibelman [OP]1 points2y ago
any chance I could ask you to try out my demo menu and tell me about your experience? https://siqr.it/damario
shaystibelman [OP]1 points2y ago
I'm asking because I'm working on a digital menu and would like it to be the go-to solution vision impaired people would ask for.
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