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I don't understand the #blind anger toward# QRCodes.
I have to use them a lot at work and the only time I have difficulty is when there's more than one at a time and I am wanting to scan a specific one within the same screen.

Whenever I've had to scan one in public (such as at a restaurant or other venue) there's only been one and it's worked reliably and accurately every time, be that for tracking attendance during the pandemic, accessing a menu, paying a bill, reading a concert programme or so forth.

I've had to use them in place of OTP codes, to link apps (like WhatsApp etc), and never had an issue.

What am I missing, please?

#blind
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Sean Randall

@Shufei URLs aren't Human readable if you can't see, either. I was specifically asking as to why many blind people claim they are inaccessible.
I understand there are wider problems with them, but am struggling to see what specific issues people using screen readers have with them, other than the obvious point of physically finding them
in reply to Sean Randall

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Rachael L

Low vision and they are okay but it usually takes me a good 30 seconds to get my phone aligned / focused right. Frequently have issues with the little "open website" button appearing and disappearing. Sometimes what's on the other end isn't very accessible.

In a lot of contexts there should be regular print text AND a QR code. I would also say tactile something but so few folks would use it it's not a reasonable expectation.

in reply to Sean Randall

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Rachael L

For sure. My vision is up and down and when it was at its worst and I couldn't really read print at all, I couldn't ask for braille menus anyway since I wasn't good enough then (still not fast) and they likely wouldn't have one that was any good. Once the phone's text extraction got better, taking a picture and copying started to be a good option as well (sometimes the QR codes go to ... images of menus!)
in reply to Sean Randall

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Tyler Spivey

Nothing else on my computer needs one except scanning a QR code, and there are usually alternatives. OTP has a key I can type. WhatsApp now has an alternative. On my laptop, I still have to point the camera at the screen and slowly move it around until the code is picked up in whatever app I'm trying to scan it in. I can't be sure that it's scrolled into view in the browser, either. Mostly I've had no problems, it's just annoying.
in reply to Sean Randall

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James Scholes

Apps which let you save and load QR codes to/from files solve this problem, so more of them should let you do that.

E.g. Mexico has a payment system called KoDi: The person who wants paying generates a QR code and can save it, or e.g. share it on WhatsApp. The person sending the money saves the image, opens their banking app, and loads the file. The QR code is parsed just as though I'd taken a photo of it.

Having said that: For simpler cases like authenticating WhatsApp, a numeric code would do just as well, and so forcing people to scan something with their camera or save and transfer a file both feel like overkill. @tspivey

@Tyler Spivey
in reply to Sean Randall

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Baethyn

@tspivey It is a choice to not have a monitor, but when you take into account the fact that almost everything else we have to pay for is nearly twice or more as expensive, it is a choice some of us are almost forced to make. I personally don't have a problem with QR codes other than what has previously been pointed out in this conversation. There was also a time where getting to the tappable button on the IPhone was a pain when trying to use a QR code, but that has gotten better. I hope this helps shed some light on the subject as well.

Just as an example: Windows 10 for general purpose use, not multimedia suggests you have 4 gig RAM, Out of the 2 most popular screen readers NVDA is recommended to have 4 GB RAM. On top of just browsing the web and other simple tasks. You can easily be running at 10 GB RAM on an average day. Add to that some people who work with Reaper or Audacity or run memory intensive programs for other purposes and you are looking at a somewhat significant investment just in RAM alone on the computer that is as much or more than a simpel monitor.

@Tyler Spivey
in reply to Sean Randall

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Kieran L

I think the only 2 I've ever had trouble with are when I tried to add my e-sim from EE; the QR code was quite small in the email and wasn't presented as an image to the screenreader so it made it difficult to extract and make bigger on its own. And a similar one with the gov ID check thing I needed to do for work. Main problem with them out and about is knowing where they're going to be, e.g. in a restaurant for their order and pay etc, but mostly you can get it with trial and error.
in reply to Kieran L

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Sean Randall

@klittle667 same problem as anything else when you can't see though, the latter stuff.
And I'm always caught out by emails that have images which are so rarely displayed by default, but I think much of that is because of tracking pixcels so the clients don't show things unless you ask them to.
I don't thinkthe codes are the be all and end all or should be the only way of doing an OTP or anything, but what gets my goat are the collections of blind people who just shout 'Inaccessible!' and perpetuate the idea we can't deal with them, you know?
@Kieran L
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