Hi All, below is a note I just got back from Apple Accessibility
concerning an earlier note I'd sent them in regard to issues with VO
and Safari, including Flash content. I've included both the response
and original below and am wondering if I'm correct in my thoughts
about Flash elements within Safari?… I know it's been chatted about
here for a bit, but I really would appreciate your opinions on my
below points; Am I understanding it correctly?…
I do plan to correspond with Adobe, but I'd like to have all my ducks
in a row as it were. <smile>
Thanks so much for your time, and have a most wonderful evening!…
Smiles,
Cara :)
Begin forwarded message:
Hi Cara:
Thank you for notifying Apple about the issue you're having in
Safari. It's been forwarded to the engineers.
Regarding Flash, the solution is to have an accessible flash player
and for that, I encourage you to contact Adobe. Apple's been asking
them about this for a long time but I'm sure they would appreciate
hearing from you, the user, as well.
On Jan 27, 2008, at 3:47 PM, Cara Quinn wrote:
Hello, Thanks so much for your reply to my note, and for forwarding
my concerns along...
here is my second set of issues with VO which also centers around
Safari.
• When interacting with certain links, VO is unable to read the
entire text of the link. I.E. When searching in Google, if one
mistypes a search term or searches on something that Google doesn't
quite recognize, it may suggest an alternate spelling or different
term altogether. Unfortunately, with VO, I haven't found a way to
actually read the suggestion, so I don't know whether to click on
it or retype my query. As an example, say I search for leather
purses, and it comes out as 'leather pures.' Google may then come
back with a link which says 'Did you mean to search for' - 'leather
purses.'
'Leather purses' would be set apart as a link, however if I
interact with it, VO will only speak the first part of the link.
I.E. VO will only allow me to read up to 'leather' and not go any
further. So this unfortunately is a problem, especially when there
may only be subtle yet very important differences in spelling that
I may not be able to hear with speech, I.E. with double letters in
words or unfamiliar sounding names and such. So the practical
upshot is that I can't tell whether I should click on the link or
not, as I simply am stopped from reading all of it. It can be
especially difficult with longer sentences as well…
anyway, I do hope you can address this, as it is also important in
many other situations as well, including being able to spell out
words in long links or select text. This does happen in several
situations, but I thought I'd point you to Google as I can
reproduce this quite consistently...
• Flash in Safari with VO doesn't show up at all…
Well, the above says it all! :) I know that Flash content really
must be made accessible by the developer to a degree, however I
also know that even if a flash element isn't labeled, it does show
up to Safari as being present, so that it can be clicked on or
interacted with via the browser. Vo itself, can neither see the
Flash elements nor access them in any way. So it's as if Flash
buttons or links just don't exist at all. So what I'm wondering
is, -can these elements that Safari already can see, be shown to
VO? I.E. even if the author of the Flash content hasn't labeled
their buttons or such, can VO at least let the user know that a
flash button, link, movie, or some other Flash element is present
on the page?… Can Safari make these elements available to VO?…
This way, even if a visually impaired user doesn't know what a
Flash control does, they can at least click on it and find out.
And if it IS after-all, labeled properly by a Flash author, the
user would then be able to use the control...
I personally need this feature quite a lot, in my work, as the
sites that I frequent are really geared toward photogs / models and
have a lot of visual elements to them, including a lot of Flash
content. So I'll often need to be able to access a Flash button or
such, and regardless of whether I can read a buttons label, I need
to at least be able to click on it so that I can access the
content. Does this make sense?…
I do hope I've been clear enough and if not, please do feel free to
write me back with any questions and I'd be most happy to clarify…
Have a terrific rest of your weekend and please do keep up the
fabulous work!!!…
Smiles,
Cara :) - MacBook 13.3 - 2.16 ghz intel - 1 gb ram - OS 10.5.1 -
latest ver of Safari
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View my Online Portfolio at:
http://www.onemodelplace.com/CaraQuinn
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View my Online Portfolio at:
http://www.onemodelplace.com/CaraQuinn
