Lmst

Two years ago at #CSUN I learned about what became my favorite browser extension, BeeLine Reader. I've been a subscriber ever since.

It's easy to set up on desktop, but has been some struggle to get working on Android. But this week I discovered it works with Microsoft's Edge Canary mobile browser, which has experimental support for extensions. Instructions are here: https://u.osu.edu/keck.60/2023/03/26/beeline-reader-android

#AndroidAccessibility #Accessibility #Readability #Legibility

A paragraph of text in black, red and blue. Each line ends with a particular color, and the next line starts with that same color, fading into a different color across the line.

The paragraph reads:

Suffering from screen fatigue? We’re here to help! BeeLine Reader makes reading on-screen easier, faster, and more enjoyable. We use a simple cognitive trick — an eye-guiding color gradient — to pull your eyes through long blocks of text. This helps you read more effectively and maintain your focus better.

When listening to an ebook with TalkBack, if I get a regular notification, the ebook resumes after the notification.

But if I get a charging notification, the reading does not resume. Sometimes when my phone is on the charger, it will announce the charging level at random times, and TalkBack just stops.

Does anyone have any experience with disabling charging notifications or getting the screen reader to resume automatically?

#TalkBack #Android #AndroidAccessibility #AndroidA11y

The @thunderbird team just released the first beta of their email client for Android. I've filed two accessibility bugs on GitHub, and within hours one is addressed and will be in the next beta release (with a pleasant thank you note to boot).

If you feel so inclined, please consider downloading the app and reporting accessibility problems. Especially if you're a native TalkBack user.

#a11y #Accessibility #AndroidAccessibility #Android #TalkBack #ScreenReader #Thunderbird

We’ve launched a comprehensive database to catalog TalkBack and Jieshuo (CSR) screen reader bugs affecting blind and low vision Android users. Our mission is to raise awareness of these issues and help developers address them more effectively and promptly. Join us in improving accessibility for all! Feel free to add your screen reader bugs to make the database more comprehensive. 🌍 https://accessibleandroid.com/bugs/ #Accessibility #TalkBack #Jieshuo #AndroidAccessibility

If you lock the screen orientation on your Android app to portrait (vertical), you're making the app hard to use for many users (1,6% based on Appt.org's data, in comparison, 0,01% for TalkBack).

In this blog post, I'll look into Compose and screen orientation, and how to support both portrait and landscape orientations.

https://eevis.codes/blog/2024-07-18/dont-lock-the-screen-orientation-handling-orientation-in-compose/

#AndroidDev #AndroidAccessibility #A11y #Android #AndroidDevelopment #JetpackCompose

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about adding accessibility-related tests for Compose components. The blog post gives three examples on how to test that a component has programmatically readable name, role, and value. Why these three? WCAG has a success criteria for them, so these tests are essential to ensure more accessible applications.

Check the post out in my blog: https://eevis.codes/blog/2024-06-03/accessibility-tests-in-compose-name-role-value/

#Android #AndroidDev #AndroidAccessibility #a11y

🌟 Excited to explore the 🌐 of Android accessibility features again with my new Pixel tablet arriving at the end of the week! 📱 It's been a journey of 4-5 years... Curious to see the transformations! 🔄 How much has evolved, I wonder? 🤔 #AndroidAccessibility #Blind #Disability #PixelTablet #TechJourney #AccessibilityMatters #BackToTech 🚀💡

Hey, I've talked before about the major thing slowing down Android screen readers: double taps! Just to recap: when you tap the screen, the screen reader waits for some time, just to see if you'll tap again to register a double tap. Only after that time does it register a single tap and tell you what's under your finger. This makes tapping slow! And in normal navigation, it's fine. But in typing, it slows us down a lot! Not only because we have to wait for a fraction of a second for it to register a single tap instead of a double tap, but we also can't touch type so fast because then it will start registering double taps!
The fix for that is really easy. Just make screen readers ignore the double-tap logic in the keyboard area when the keyboard is up (if you selected any typing mode other than double-tap typing). Because it doesn't need to handle double taps in that area; you just put your finger, and it instantly registers a single tap and tells you what's under your finger. When you lift, it types. That would be great, and I'm very sure it's easy to implement (Oh, how I wish I knew enough Java and Android API to implement that into TalkBack...)
Because Android itself is not slow at all! In fact, it's instant for all I can notice. And you can test that, even with your screen reader (just so you can notice the reader is artificially slowing itself down).
First, focus on an item. Now, double-tap. But you need to make your second tap pretty late, just before the timer ends but not much before it, nor after it. You will notice the double tap registers right after your second tap, instantly if you get the timing right, and this is frustrating. The screen reader is intentionally slowing itself down, without giving us an option to change the preset timer or implementing the easy fix for the keyboard to make touch typing possible and fast!
#Android #AndroidAccessibility #ScreenReader #UserExperience #AccessibilityIssues #Accessibility #Talkback

Anyone use Voice Access on Android?

I've been using it on and off during an RSI pain flare and can't tell if my issues are user error or bugs.

1) Sometimes it will repeat things. (Example: I'll say "tap back" once, yet it does it twice. Lost my place in several apps that way.)

2) Sometimes it doesn't understand me, and when I repeat myself it adds the new command onto the old one instead of starting a new one. (Example: "swipe left" is interpreted as "right left" and fails, and when I say "swipe left" again that's interpreted as "right left swipe left" which fails again.)

3) The "show labels" command doesn't seem to work as described. (For example, I know from testing with TalkBack that all the Mastodon menu icons have accessible names, like "Notifications" and "Live Feeds." However, the "show labels" command in Voice Access just shows me a ton of overlapping numbers, as if they don't have names... But it understands me if I say "tap notifications," so it obviously has access to the accessible names.)

#Accessibility #A11y #AssistiveTech #VoiceAccess #VoiceControl #AndroidAccessibility