Hello Dennis, I performed the same tests in Chrome that I performed in Firefox and was able to access the content in exactly the same way. Unfortunately, Audio Descriptions is the LAST link available in the links list instead of the first one (replacing the “Skip Content” link with the “Audio Description” link would be nice). The reason that you have better experiences in Chrome than Firefox is cause Chrome allows Microsoft Silverlight to run within the browser without confirmation, while Firefox requires you to activate Silverlight. I would like to state at this point that with Chrome, you can’t access the player controls while you can in Firefox (Play/Pause only though, attempting to access the other controls just pauses/plays the media). NETFLIX WORKFLOW WITH SCREENREADER:
- Pull up links list (Insert+F7) and type “AU” to quickly navigate to the Audio Descriptions link. If it doesn’t read audio descriptions aloud, tap up once and then down once, you’ll hear it read by JAWS then. o You can also just tap on the “A” key to jump between URL’s that start with “A”, but there could be A LOT of links that start with “A”. - Pull up links list (Insert+F7) and arrow down through the list of multimedia. o Press enter on the title you would like to view - Pull up the headers list (Insert+F6) and hit enter on the one displayed (There should only be one available, which is the title of the media you want to review) - Press Tab once to access “Play link” and press enter - Enjoy your content! Once the show has started, you will have access to the slider bar to fast forward and rewind the media (hit tab once or twice, you can only navigate between the address bar, a Netflix statement, and the slider bar), but you will not be able to access player controls. The only way to get back to the previous page is to hit Alt+Left Arrow. WORD OF WARNING: Not all media in the Audio Description links have audio descriptions applied. I tested the TV show “Black Mirrors” and “Going Blind” and found audio descriptions, with the “Going Blind” show having audio descriptions that cut off quickly sometimes. I tested the movie “Gladiator” and “National Treasure” and found very detailed audio descriptions available. I tested the TV shows “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation” and the audio descriptions are not available. Enjoy! Joshua From: Dennis Clark [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, November 30, 2015 11:39 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Netflix not accessible to blind people using a laptop and screen reading software. Hello Joshua, Your post is very helpful, since you are able to see what is actually occurring on the screen and how Jaws is handling the web page content and controls. If you have time, can you try accessing Netflix using the latest Chrome which should be 46.xx. Many of us have been finding that Chrome is giving us better access than IE or Firefox. Your help is greatly appreciated. Best, Dennis ----- Original Message ----- From: Joshua Hori<mailto:[email protected]> To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Monday, November 30, 2015 11:03 AM Subject: Re: Netflix not accessible to blind people using a laptop and screen reading software. Using Windows 7, JAWS 16 and Firefox. Full disclosure: I’m a sited user with screenreader experience. (I prefer Firefox since I get the best experience with a screenreader) It seems that Netflix isn’t providing “focus" on content once selected. For instance, I can navigate the site using a screenreader by headers and/or links, (I bring up the links list and look for “Audio Descriptions” and press enter, then I bring up the links list again and navigate the list of movies that are now available) but once I find a movie I would like to watch, I press enter, but can’t access the new menu that drops down to play the content, it just keeps navigating to the next movie. The work around is to immediately bring up the headers, navigate to the header that’s listed and press enter, which then allows me to access the content within the dropdown (press tab once to access the play link). TV shows are difficult to navigate as they all state “Play link” (instead of “play episode 8”) and do not announce the episode without using the arrow keys (press down a couple of times to hear more about the episode). For TV seasons there is a dropdown button to change seasons using the mouse, but I can’t locate the button with a screenreader without using the virtual cursor, and I can’t access the dropdown menu with a keyboard at all. You can access other episodes using the “see previous titles Button” and “see more titles Button” (bring up the form fields list to easily find these), but this is only for the season displayed. I hope this helps some. Best, Joshua From: Daniel McBride [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, November 30, 2015 9:37 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: Netflix not accessible to blind people using a laptop and screen reading software. Hello Tim: Can you please clarify the accessibility issue we need address with Netflix? On my Toshiba laptop, using Windows 8 and JAWS 14, I can get onto Netflix, manage to utilize the Search field, find the movie, documentary or television program I desire and get it to play. This is without Audio Description. And I am not able to select a specific season and episode of a television program, such as Star Trek Next Generation. I am simply stuck with playing whichever season and episode is next up in my account. I am going to email Netflix as requested in your email here. I just want to be clear about what our hurdles are as blind persons using Netflix. I will also add that I am a Rhapsody Music subscriber and the problems with Rhapsody are worse than Netflix, if anyone is interested. Thanks for your efforts. Dan McBride Fort Worth, Texas From: Tim Ford [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, November 30, 2015 11:05 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Netflix not accessible to blind people using a laptop and screen reading software. Hi All, For those out there who want to use Netflix, here is an email I received last evening that contains instructions on how to contact the right people. As mentioned in the note, Netflix is still not very interested in fixing things, and your continued emails to Netflix are encouraged to keep some pressure on them. Tim Ford From: Accessible Netflix Project team<mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2015 9:46 PM To: Tim Ford<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: Netflix not accessible to blind people using a laptop and screen reading software. This is kate! I am so sorry that your email has not been replied to yet but we get a ton, and I mean, a ton of email. Robert Kingett is the CEO and we are still trying to make them see what you highlighted as well as others. To be quite frank, they would rather not even bother with us, but we keep emailing and calling and bugging them, professionally, I may add. In our experience, we never hear a sincere, sorry! Let's work on these layout designs for JAWS OR NVDA users and I doubt we will unless we keep pushing them like we have been doing. Would you like to email Robert Kingett, He can give you more contacts than I can. I am just the email manager. :) Below is a message we just got that may help. Hi, Hope you're well and thanks for your e-mail. Going forward, can I suggest you contact Marlee Tart in the global PR team please (her e-mail address is: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>). From your recent queries it's clear that your questions are at global scale as opposed to regional/local, and this e-mail address reaches the Australian and New Zealand PR agency team (and we don't actually have visibility into a lot of the areas you're interested in). I've dropped Marlee a line to let her know you'll be in touch. Best, L. On 6/24/2015 5:32 PM, Tim Ford wrote: To Whom It May Concern, Below I have pasted in an email I sent Monday to what is supposedly the engineering group for Netflix; a Netflix telephone representative gave me the address. Today someone told me about your group, and I applaude you for your efforts that certainly seem to be the motivating factor for Netflix to start providing AD. Please let me know if you have any suggestions on any of the issues covered in my post below. Sincerely, Tim Ford From: Tim Ford<mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Monday, June 22, 2015 5:57 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Cc: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Netflix not accessible to blind people using a laptop and screen reading software. Dear Netflix, I am blind, and use a Windows 7 laptop. Up until a week or so ago, your web site was extremely hard to navigate, but at least I could start a video. Now, after your web page design changes implemented a few days ago, I cannot even start a video. I am using the latest update of JAWS version 16; JAWS is the world’s most widely used screen reading software for the blind. I tried accessing your service with IE, Firefox, and Chrome, but could not get a video to start. With IE, I cannot even activate my profile. I am a fairly experienced Internet user, and if there is a way to navigate your site with a screen reader, I have not figured it out. I am using the recommended common settings for JAWS, and I have no problems with some other video streaming services. Back a few weeks ago, Netflix announced the addition of audio description. That is a great move, and I applaud you for that. However, in a very ironic twist, it is not possible for a blind person to select the audio described version, even though one is on the part of your site that contains only audio described programs. Why add that extra step? If one is on the audio description page, the user obviously wants the audio described version, so why not make that the default? In general, there seems to be a huge gap between your marketing department and the technology group. Netflix marketing is advertising this new and wonderful audio description service, but a blind person simply cannot navigate the site, especially after the rollout of your new web page design. In closing, I am using a Windows laptop, and I do not have a smart phone. The issues I am asking you to please fix are just for us old-fashioned blind folks using a Windows computer. I know from experience that screen reader accessibility is a very narrow specialty and skill set, so if you do not have such an expert on staff, you could either hire one or contract with one of the accessibility consultant experts that will help you become and stay accessible. I am happy to volunteer by helping you test any changes; I have done that in the past for a number of web service companies. Please advise, and much thanks. Sincerely, Tim Ford Phone: 916-538-6415
