With more and more movies having audio descriptions, I’m watching more and more. And I’m… not satisfied. What are audio descriptions? A short explanation for readers who are not familiar with a term “audio description”: audio description is a narration that provides information about visual elements so that the element can be perceived by a
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The trouble with blind dates: screen readers and date formatting
Date, time and description – these are the data most frequently checked while learning about an event, meeting or institution opening hours. In many cases you will even skip the description in favour of the date, time and title. As a user, you expect the calendar data to be provided clearly, so that you
Shopping for a smart device as a blind person
How would you go about buying a new washing machine? You would probably count your money and buy the best one you can afford. Or, if you hate reading specifications and reviews and comparing parameters, you just choose the first one that seems suitable for your needs. Forget about these methods if you are blind.
“Meet our team” or “Go to event” – a problem with headings
Headings matter Heading is an extremely important element for screen reader users. Each screen reader allows you to jump from heading to heading on a webpage, making it easier and quicker to find specific content. Imagine that instead of scanning the page for the content you need, you must read it line by line, including
The Importance of Captioning
Why captions? Whenever I mention at conferences or meetups that accessible video for blind watchers should have audio descriptions, I am asked a lot of questions: How precise should the audio descriptions be? What should be omitted? Should colors be mentioned (yes, they should)? What video players play audio descriptions? Et cetera. In other words,
HTML5 sectioning elements and screen readers
(Please note that the Edge browser has been updated since this testing was conducted.) HTML5 offers a number of sectioning elements, which might be perceived as equivalent to Aria roles. Actually only some of these elements are fully equivalent to ARIA roles, so they should be used very carefully. Attention should even be paid
Social media and alternative text features by a blind person
Social awareness I have a friend who manufactures braille plates. These plates usually contain room numbers and basic information about offices and the other places in which they are located. Once, I asked my friend, “Mark, why are your plates so huge and so visible? Blind people do not need this.” He answered: “Visible plates
Accessibility Issues with Firefox Quantum and screen readers
Popularity in browsers Firefox popularity among screen reader users has been consistently increasing for the last few years. In a 2015 WebAIM survey, 34.9% of participants answered “Internet Explorer 10” to a question “When using your primary screen reader, which browser do you use most often?”, whereas 31% answered “Firefox”. However, in a 2017 survey,