Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Short questions in relation to a bachelor project about Website Acessibility (self.Blind)
submitted by Marclar_
Hello lovely people! My girlfriend is a Web Development student working on her bachelor project and currently an intern at a software company where she is being tasked with implementing a lot of accessibility to the websites they build. This is also why she has made “Building with accessibility in mind” the topic of her bachelor thesis.
The idea behind her thesis is to make a business case for companies to build with accessibility and raise awareness to other developers of why and how to do it. We would like to learn a bit more about the challenges blind people face when browsing the internet, however we didn’t want to bother you with a large survey form or long question lists so I have boiled it down to only two somewhat open questions. I would appreciate it very much if you have a minute to answer in the comments and it would help a great deal.Question one:
What are some common issues that you run into when browsing websites and wish that more developers would start paying attention to?
Question two:
If a website is not accessible, what would you do ? Ask a friend for help, contact the company or look for an alternative website?
​
EDIT: Of course if you are not comfortable writing in the comments, a PM is just as good.
The idea behind her thesis is to make a business case for companies to build with accessibility and raise awareness to other developers of why and how to do it. We would like to learn a bit more about the challenges blind people face when browsing the internet, however we didn’t want to bother you with a large survey form or long question lists so I have boiled it down to only two somewhat open questions. I would appreciate it very much if you have a minute to answer in the comments and it would help a great deal.Question one:
What are some common issues that you run into when browsing websites and wish that more developers would start paying attention to?
Question two:
If a website is not accessible, what would you do ? Ask a friend for help, contact the company or look for an alternative website?
​
EDIT: Of course if you are not comfortable writing in the comments, a PM is just as good.
bradley22 2 points 2y ago
I’ve been using screen readers for a long time and honestly just get on with it.
It’s the same as usual, label buttons, headings, follow web accessibility guidelines.
It’s the same as usual, label buttons, headings, follow web accessibility guidelines.
CloudyBeep 2 points 2y ago
For more answers:
1. See the WebAim screen reader user surveys. They are very highly regarded and used by everybody who's anybody in the web accessibility world for decision-making.
2. It depends on the website—how bad the accessibility is, how much I want to access it and how necessary it is to access it (the latter two aren't the same). In general, studies show that people will leave if they have no-one on hand to help them.
1. See the WebAim screen reader user surveys. They are very highly regarded and used by everybody who's anybody in the web accessibility world for decision-making.
2. It depends on the website—how bad the accessibility is, how much I want to access it and how necessary it is to access it (the latter two aren't the same). In general, studies show that people will leave if they have no-one on hand to help them.
Marclar_ [OP] 2 points 2y ago
Thank you for the reply. Its very helpful, just a quick glance at the WebAIM survey give me a lot of answers. As for the second question - that is what I've gathered as well, but wanted to get a bit of first hand data. Again, thank you!
siriuslylupin6 1 points 2y ago
Are you still looking for answers?
1. I would say that unlabled buttons and clunkiness is the biggest issue. Sometime the screen changes and moves. Pop ups and different layers like frames inside frames can be difficult. Sometimes this pop up thing will come up and it requires closing and it keeps popping up and you can. Not avoid it unless you find a way to skip it.
2. Depends how accessible it is and how responsive. If it’s something I can find an alternative for I will do that, use another service. If it is something I am required to use or must use I will contact the company if not I will try to find another solution or not do it if I don’t have to or ask for an alternative.
1. I would say that unlabled buttons and clunkiness is the biggest issue. Sometime the screen changes and moves. Pop ups and different layers like frames inside frames can be difficult. Sometimes this pop up thing will come up and it requires closing and it keeps popping up and you can. Not avoid it unless you find a way to skip it.
2. Depends how accessible it is and how responsive. If it’s something I can find an alternative for I will do that, use another service. If it is something I am required to use or must use I will contact the company if not I will try to find another solution or not do it if I don’t have to or ask for an alternative.
Fridux 1 points 2y ago
1. The thing that bothers me the most, and this is both a website and a screen-reader problem, is that in forums, the kind of website that I visit the most, there's no quick way to skip over comment replies. In theory HTML already provides a structured hierarchical solution that can be used to address this kind of issue: lists, but neither websites use them for comment threads nor screen-readers support specific commands to step into and step over hierarchical content.
2. If I really need the site I just ask a sighted person for assistance, which isn't a problem to me since I live with, and am regularly visited by, sighted people.
2. If I really need the site I just ask a sighted person for assistance, which isn't a problem to me since I live with, and am regularly visited by, sighted people.
Marclar_ [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Hi, thank you for your reply. It is really helpful, makes us think more in-depth about how different types of websites might be having different accessibility issues. Again, thank you for your input.
CloudyBeep 1 points 2y ago
Using JAWS, you can move to the beginning and end of sections with the < and > keys. It won't help if comments aren't formatted hierarchically, but you might find it useful in certain situations.
Fridux 2 points 2y ago
What do you mean by sections? Does it allow you to, for example, quickly navigate between replies on StackOverflow? Or even comments on reddit?
Anyway I'm on MacOS and don't have access to Windows, and much less to JAWS. The screen-reader that I use on Windows is NVDA, and I don't think it has the kind of functionality that I'm talking about.
Anyway I'm on MacOS and don't have access to Windows, and much less to JAWS. The screen-reader that I use on Windows is NVDA, and I don't think it has the kind of functionality that I'm talking about.
CloudyBeep 1 points 2y ago
It can allow you to move quickly to the end of a list, table, region, etc.
[deleted] 1 points 2y ago
[deleted]
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