@Sylvia Thank you for making the app so simple and fully accessible for #screenreader users. BTW I have installed from @F-Droid

Recently I've found a lightweight modern #opensource #audio #recorder app for #Android called #RecordYou. I like it that much so I've attempted to submit some #screenReader #accessibility improvements.
Let me know how do you like it once it's accepted.
https://github.com/Bnyro/RecordYou/pull/48
This is my first experience with #Jetpack #Compose so bear with me and try to suggest improvements if you can please.

Dear @Thunderbird ,
I know you are changing for the better. However while testing Thunderbird 111 daily I would like to see some gradual improvements so it becomes ready for most userf of Thunderbird 115 in terms of #screenreader #accessibility once it's declared stable.

Positive things I have noticed:

We have brand new message list that no longer renders all the messages in selected folder at once but only those that are visible on the screen and ready for the user interaction. From my point of view it looks similar to infinite lists on mobile platforms. Most importantly it almost fully elliminates enormous lag when browsing huge message lists on linux with #orca #screenreader running. I was curious enough and I have tested imap folder with up to 75000 messages inside.

It is still possible to use F6 and shift+F6 to move the keyboard focus from the folder tree to the message list and back.

Message list has headers that are used for sorting and a popup menu for setting up visible columns almost from the begining of Thunderbird existence. From now on these controls are finally accessible to screenreader users. And we are now able to configure sorting and show / hide individual columns.

We can still use ctrl+shift+k to show / hide the filter entry. Also there are accessible buttons alongside the filter entry that allow quick filtering the list such as labelled messages, messages with attachments, starred messages, messages from addressbook contacts, unread messages, even ability to keep the filter active when changing folders. Some of these features were already there earlier but now these are accessible to keyboard users including screenreader users.

Now features that need some polishing:

It appears we can now open individual message folders on a new tab / in a new window however this feature needs some fixes. For example when navigating using up and down arrow keys in the folder tree, pressing shift+F10 first moves focus to the parent folder and displays popup menu for that parent item instead of currently selected one.

When navigating in huge list new selection is not properly reported to assistive technologies while scrolling. For example press end to move to the last message. Now press up arrow key several times to navigate back a message and notice how screenreader is reporting new selection as it happens. Now press the page up key to move the selection by the larger increment. New message is highlighted but the selection changed event is not fired properly or it's getting mixed with some spurious focus event on an unlabelled pannel. Some screen readers are able to filter out these but I think it would be nice to address it at the source rather than working it around.

Now the main window has a lot of focusable controls and it is no longer comfortable to use tab and shift+tab to navigate. It would be nice if buttons were grouped in a toolbar like controls implementing toolbar pattern the way it's explained at
https://www.w3.org/WAI/ARIA/apg/patterns/toolbar/

It's nice that ability to reconfigure message list columns is now fully accessible to keyboard and screen reader users however accessible name of each item in the message list does not yet respect these settings. Subject is the only content that is communicated to assistive tools when navigating in the list using arrow keys. This is major issue and will likely be considered as a regression if it won't be addressed before releasing the stable version.

When navigating in the list of messages it is possible to select multiple messages for executing actions on them. I am afraid the fact multiple messages are selected or not selected is not properly communicated to assistive tools. This is major issue for screenreader users.

It is no longer possible to use applications key / shift+f10 to inwoke a popup menu in the message list.

I would say now we #screenReader users should step in and try to fill your github sponsors page with suitable amounts as best as we can.
https://github.com/sponsors/mwcampbell

#Storium is built with #accessibility in mind. One of our most active members is blind and (without checking with him beforehand) I'm sure he'll be happy to show you around. But yes, the site works well with a #ScreenReader!

Here's a podcast episode we did about how people with disabilities play on @storium :

http://storiumarc.com/episode/episode-70-storium-with-disabilities/

#writer #roleplaying #pbp #rpg

The Every Door app looks to be usefull to #screenReader users to an extend. It allows listing near by POIs fetching real data from #OSM and suggest edits. I like this.
Of course for real mapping eye sight is required but for suggesting fixes it's not. e.g. filling in opening and closing hours and similar.

"For the past couple of years, the Firefox accessibility team have been working on a major re-architecture of the Firefox accessibility engine to significantly improve its speed, reliability and maintainability."
— @jcsteh
#Firefox #Accessibility #Opensource #ScreenReader
https://www.jantrid.net/2022/12/22/Cache-the-World/?utm_source=pocket_mylist

Folks, I want to boost your lovely posts, I really do but I won’t if you don’t write image descriptions (alt text) so people who use screen readers can also experience them.

It doesn’t take long to write one.

And if you’re posting an image of text and you have an iPhone, you can select the text from the image with a long press and copy/paste it.

Even Linux has apps that do this (like Frog: https://tenderowl.com/work/frog/)

#accessibility #a11y #fediverse #altText #images #screenReader #mastodon

Dear folks, what do you use for #Matrix? I need a client with #screenReader #accessibility in mind. Better #Windows desktop software, but if not, web is also okayish. Thanks!

To all #blind #ScreenReader users on various platforms who use #Firefox: The project to speed up web page and screen reader interaction, code-named Cache-The-World, is now at a phase where in Nightly 109, it has been enabled for all users. So if you spot anything that is unusual or not working as before, please let the #accessibility team know. Next step is an experiment for 50% roll-out on Windows in the 111 beta.

The page where you can track the progress is here: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Accessibility/CacheTheWorld

In the next episode of my #podcast, Mosen at Large, I'm devoting an hour to Mastodon from a #blindness perspective. As well as discussing some important cultural issues, I'll provide an audio demonstration of using the #web interface and the Metatext #iOS client with a #ScreenReader. A transcript will be available too, for maximum #accessibility. It will be available everywhere you get podcasts. More details here. https://mosen.org/malppreview0206/

Likely this will not be an open source thing, but I want to mention this service anyway for those you using #screenreader software and have related #a11y #accessibility needs.

Project Naptha looks to be a service that can generate descriptive texts for any image.

https://projectnaptha.com/

It is discussed on Hacker News now at:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32051736