Gordon Anthony
To any #Voiceover users who are considering trying BlueSky, a word of warning.
It’s technicaly accessible, but presents a few problems. focus is never on a post, but on an element within a post. So you may find the Like button rather than the post itself, and you need to swipe through every element of each post. That’s a real pain. Also, some buttons either don’t work at all or do something unexpected.
I found navigation very difficult and was never quite sure where I was.
I haven’t found any images with Alt Text either.
The layout isn’t great.
All in all, it’s a bit of a trial to use. It’s almost as if they haven’t really bothered with #Accessibility. Fancy that!
Perhaps I should persevere with it, but, quite frankly, life’s too short, so I won’t be using it.
Nov 16, 2024 at 4:52pmWeb
Show threadTJ OlsenNov 16, 2024
@BlindGordon yeah and scroling doesn't follow focus, the user needs to 3 finger swipe up
Show threadGordon AnthonyNov 16, 2024
@tjolsen Yes, I forgot to mention that. It makes using the app cumbersome.
Show threadJames ScholesNov 16, 2024
@BlindGordon @menelion It's worth remembering that many people don't find the official interfaces of other social media services to be sufficiently accessible to them either, and that includes Mastodon. The only way I can see a significant blind community presence building up on Bluesky is via third-party apps, as is the case here and was also true for Twitter. That doesn't excuse Bluesky's pitiful accessibility efforts, just to state that explicitly.
Show threadAndré PolykanineNov 16, 2024
@jscholes @BlindGordon Thanks James, do you know about their API's possibilities? I.e., Is it possible to develop a fully-fledged app?
Show threadJames ScholesNov 16, 2024
@menelion @BlindGordon It seems to be, yes. There are already alternative native apps in the iOS App Store, and they list clients as an expected use case in their API documentation. They also claim that their own mobile app uses exactly the same API they make available to developers, although I'm not sure how true that is.
Show threadGordon AnthonyNov 16, 2024
@jscholes @menelion Yes, you are quite right. I sent a message to the developer of Mona to ask if he’s thinking of doing something similar for BlueSky. That would be ideal as Mona is a terrific app.
Show threadCristobalNov 16, 2024
@BlindGordon @alexhall Use Skeets instead of
Show threadDavid DunphyNov 16, 2024
@BlindGordon The good thing about people going over there is that if enough people find it useful, perhaps awareness of accessibility could be rraised and see how responsive the devs are
Show threadGordon AnthonyNov 17, 2024
@startrek2025 We can but hope. However, although the former Twitter did have an eccessibility team, very few people there ever added Alt Text to their photos. I doubt BlueSky will be much better.
As for accessing the site, I think 3rd party apps will be the best way. Having said that, I’m still not sure I want to make the move. Much will depend on whether it does become a source of live news and info we can be fairly sure is not fake news.
Show threadDavid DunphyNov 17, 2024
@BlindGordon If more mainstream music artists and stuff joined, might be tempted too, but for now staying here
Show threadGordon AnthonyNov 18, 2024
@startrek2025 Indeed. I’m going to wait & see. But even if I do join over there, I won’t be leaving Mastodon. This place is too nice to abandon.
Show threadBryce BelcherNov 16, 2024
@BlindGordon Mastodon is better when it comes to accessibility, with very little issues, most of them are miner anyway.
Show threadGordon AnthonyNov 17, 2024
@Blindy Agreed.
Show threadAllen SaleNov 17, 2024
@BlindGordon @robini71 Skeets provides a better app experience and many users do add alt text. Just depends on who you encounter.