accessibility_fail | Entries tagged with internet

2022-05-10: entry is now public.

( Summary )

( Personal background )

( Involvement in the FreeBSD contributor community )

( Code of Conduct, violation reporting procedure, and process for dealing with reports )

( Detailed timeline of events )

( My next steps )

pauamma

I had to yell to several of our senators earlier for unrelated reasons, and one has an email address hosted by an outside provider. Turns out the first time you email it, you get an autoreply using the Mailinblack service inviting you to type, in an image with several words, the one that's written in color. So in case you wondered whether someone would make captchas less accessible than they already were, the answer is yes.

(No advice needed - I'm not colorblind myself, it just infuriates me on behalf of any of their constituents who may be.)

jazzyjj

Hi everybody. Subject line pretty much sums it up. I'm wondering if anyone could test out the following website for accessibility: http://www.afb.org . I realize that this is probably a loaded request, especially given that accessibility means different things to different people. However, I've been having some issues with some parts of the website and am wondering if other people also experience these issues. I have been trying to purchase a free course from the AFB eLearning Center with no luck. It seems that this site is logging me out constantly, unless I tick the box that says "Remember My Username and Password." Even then, I am sometimes automatically logged out. Please see a prior entry of mine in this comm. I realize this is probably a security measure to protect against spammers and so forth, but the frequency with which it happens seems to be much greater than on other sites. The other issue I'm having is with the online store. It seems that, with VoiceOver at least, the navigation is somewhat off. It wraps around in a loop, but just a few days ago I was able to read a bit of information that was not accessible to me before. For the most part this website with its accompanying portals seems to work pretty well with VoiceOver and the latest version of Chromevox Classic, but I've not had good luck contacting the admins. Thanks in advance for anybody's assistance with this.

Current Mood: surprised
Current Location: bachelor pad, Illinois.

chordatesrock

I have no fail to report (unless you count the existence of a building with stairs and no elevator, but you've seen that a million times), but I do have a question about how to not fail. Actually, I have a few questions, and they're specifically about accessibility for blind and VI internet users.

I understand that image descriptions are necessary, and that links should have descriptive text or clarifying title text. If anyone here personally uses these accessibility features, could you clarify some things for me?

( Questions under the cut )

sophie

So, for a while now I've been trying to get in touch with the people behind Damn You Auto Correct! about the inaccessibility of their posts. The site exists to host particularly funny instances of the iPhone's "autocorrect" feature, when one person in a conversation had an iPhone which decided to substitute another word in place of the one they were *trying* to type. Normally the corrections submitted to the site are sexual in nature, but occurring within an otherwise normal conversation.

The trouble is, these *textual* conversations are all submitted in the form of screenshots, with no transcript supplied. Every screenshot featured on the site is pretty much the same from a visual point of view: It's a screenshot of the iPhone's text message conversation view, which shows text messages from both sides of the conversation with your texts appearing in green speech bubbles on the right and the other person's appearing in grey speech bubbles on the left, with the other person's name showing up at the top of the screen and a text entry box at the bottom. And with that, I have described 95% of the images on the site, except for the text - which of course is what everybody's there for in the first place.

So, I tried to see if I could contact them anywhere. Couldn't see a "Contact" or "Email" link *anywhere*. To make a long story short, it turned out that my zoom settings push the "Email" too far to the right and so it disappears from view. (I use NoSquint, a wonderful Firefox extension that saves your zoom settings per-site and lets you adjust the zoom and text sizes independently for your needs.)

So I sent an email about both of these problems, and offered to help with transcription. I gave an example transcription in my email, so that they knew the sort of thing I was thinking about doing. I emphasised that it wouldn't take long to transcribe each one.

No answer, even after I sent a followup email about a month later. :(

It irritates me, because some of these conversations are hilarious and I hate that not everybody can view them!

automaticdoor

So! DC has a neat festival going on downtown next weekend! But... the website, http://www.artsonfoot.org/, is completely, 100% inaccessible to anyone who can't use Flash or has a screen reader or anything. (Not to mention those who can't handle constant flashing animation, but I didn't even go there in my voice mail to the coordinator.) There's no text version, no HTML version, nothing. We'll see what kind of response I get back. Sadly, I'm not hopeful.

Current Mood: aggravated

delight

So I got really excited when I heard that Diaspora, an alternative social network, had gone live when

liv posted about it, and went to look at their site. This proved to be a mistake, because I could stay on their page for about two seconds before running and taking an anti-emetic and getting my eye patch and a cold compress. I think I'm only one of a few people in the world who has issues with straight white-on-black, but I can't be the only one.

The link is www.diasp.org, but I wouldn't advise clicking if you have ever in your life gotten a serious headache or have any vision problems. I can't even read words on that page.

( Here is a screenshot. )

I was completely shocked because it never seemed to me that Diaspora had this much fail about them, especially not in a) design or b) usability. I have since learned by a fluke of just trying it in another browser and leaving off the 'www' that just going to diasp.org produces a very nice and not ow website UNLESS you have issues with straight black-on-white (I don't except during a migraine attack; if you do don't click, it is VERY bright).

Seriously, Diaspora people, what is up with that, and why? I hope it's just a code glitch. I really, really hope. It makes no sense that anything remotely like this would be done on purpose, but not catching it is still accessibility_fail.

mathsnerd

So I am wishful of obtaining a second Gmail account, since my mail email is used for communicating with family, and for a myriad of reasons, I am forced to be permanently invisible on chat, and that makes me sad. Also, I'd like an email address that doesn't use my legal name in the handle for my internet stuff. So, I go to the sign-up page and try my usual options (mathsnerd, mathsie), only to find that they're both taken. Okay, no problem. I start trying logical workarounds to see which ones are available.

Oh, wait, what's that, Google? After trying more than three names, I have to go through CAPTCHA to prove I'm a real person? Okay, that's kind of soon, but whatever. Gee, you sure scrunch those letters together and make them all wavy so that I have a real hard time figuring out what the hell you want me to enter...

Huh, okay, I've tried eight times, Google, and I can't seem to read it well enough that you're satisfied that I'm a real person. And while you offer a "read-aloud" accessibility option for the CAPTCHA down below for submitting the form (which, incidentally, doesn't work in Chrome, yeah, you know, YOUR BROWSER!), for the CAPTCHA to keep trying different handles you conveniently don't offer any alternate options.

So, in conclusion, FUCK YOU, GOOGLE, AND FUCK YOUR UTTER LACK OF ACCESSIBILITY ON THIS PAGE. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Right now you're not living up to your usual standards. And I'm seriously wondering why I bother with Gmail accounts.

No love and a fuck-load of frustration,

mathsnerd

Current Mood: frustrated
Current Music: Big Roy and the Twigs - Snow Globe

starwatcher

I will soon be moving my fanfic to Archive of Our Own, and to a Dreamwidth fic-site. When moving the fics, I'd like to ensure that my code is accessible for screen-readers. I know some things, but have questions about others. I asked the questions in a post at my Studio, but have had no responses; apparently no one in my reading circle uses a screen-reader.

If you do, I'd appreciate it if you could drop by and educate me. Or perhaps point me toward a site that has the answers. Feel free to pass the link on to anyone who might know the answers. After I've learned what I need to know, I'll make a new post to share with my friends, and anyone else who needs or wants the information.

Thank you.

jesse_the_k

(x-posted from my personal journal)

You may have seen Google/YouTube announce the magic of auto-captioning last November.

Gee whiz, they even had a deaf programmer write the blog entry. Things are good, right?

Watch this Bill Moyers interview with David Simon on YouTube. It's got captions. They're automagically generated with voice recognition. Compare the audio tracks and the caption track and be stunned at the high level of errors. Notice that White speakers' words are around 80% correct and Black speakers' words more like 30% correct.

Yes, it takes time to make good on technology's promise. In the meantime, disabled people put up with sub-standard services—and often at premium prices. When they're perfected, they'll be generally available.

These bad captions are particularly frustrating because the original sources were already captioned! Since the 1980s all network PBS (US public television) has been captioned; the same has been true for all HBO (paid US cable network) productions since 1995.

Arghhh.

Current Mood: enraged

archersangel

i just came across this book, rick steves' easy access europe: a guide for travelers with limited mobility & thought it would be helpful to anyone planning to travel to europe.

from amazon;

Product Description
From train and rail pass skills to strategies for visiting open-air folk museums, who else but Rick Steves teaches travelers the skills they really need when traveling through Europe? Most guidebooks don't address the needs of travelers with limited mobility, but Rick Steves believes in comfortable and successful travel for everyone. Rick Steves’ Easy Access Europe focuses on Amsterdam, Bruges, London, Paris, and the Rhine. It provides tips on getting around easily whether you're in a wheelchair or just need to walk slowly. America’s top authority on travel to Europe, Rick Steves has done the legwork, discovered the secrets, and made the mistakes — so travelers don't have to. Completely revised and updated, Rick’s time-tested recommendations for safe and enjoyable travel in Europe have been used by millions of Americans in search of their own unique European travel experience. His tips include: accessibility ratings for all sights, hotels, and restaurants, dependable recommendations for traveling on a budget, roll or stroll tours of historic neighborhoods, and advice from other travelers with physical challenges. Smart ideas are offered on everything from social etiquette to booking a hotel and ordering food. This book is an essential item on any European traveler’s checklist.

codeman38

National Youth Leadership Network Teleconference on Independent Media

Riiight. I really don't think I want to get a relay operator involved in that, to be honest...that'd just end up being chaotic for everyone. (And no, I don't see anything on the page about captioning being available... if that were the case, it wouldn't be Accessibility Fail, now, would it?)

Edited to add: Oh, and to add insult to injury, their contact page doesn't work. Or at least it didn't when I tried to submit the form.

Edited further to add: I did find a contact e-mail address via the Events page. I'll let y'all know what reply I get (because I'm quite curious myself!).

Edited still further to add: Got a response back. There will in fact be captioning, so this turns out not to be a case of fail; still, I think it would definitely have been good to have this information on the web site from the beginning, so that nobody felt left out by the announcement. (And I'm leaving this post up as a testament to why it's important to give that information from the beginning...)

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You Fail At Accessibility

Entries tagged with internet

Anatomy of an ableism

Mailinblack's mail-blocking captcha thingy

Request For Accessibility Testing of a Website

Accessibility questions

Damn you, Damn You Auto Correct :(

grrrrrr DC Downtown BID

Disaspora website + visual impairment + migraines = WTF

FUCK YOU, GOOGLE!

Accessibility question

The Reality of YouTube Autocaptions

accessibility win (travel)

Well, it's accessible for some people...