I’m #Deafblind and using #VoiceOver, the iOS screenreader #blind people use. Mastodon’s button labeled Compose doesn’t work, but if I swipe right three times and double tap a button labeled “square.and chart,” then the publishing field appears! There’s a lot of visual content that’s not accessible here, too. What kind of world have I just entered?! #Accessibility #a11y
@HabenGirma hi I tried replying to the mastodon CEO with a link to your Toot about the VoiceOver screen reader issue with the hope that it can get attention. I also found a relevant GitHub issue for the iOS app code that is about VoiceOver and added your note there too. Sorry this doesn’t help now but hopefully it might start things moving.
Link to Reply to CEO: https://mastodon.social/@ahundt/109259771727471307
Link to GitHub issue: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon-ios/issues/378
@ahundt @HabenGirma I sent a link to Haben's toot to another admin who I've always found to be very knowledgeable and helpful. I also boosted (like a retweet) your toot in case anyone else can help.
Unfortunately the admins are all slammed now with all the new people joining. But somebody pointed out on Twitter that Mastodon has some accessibility issues and it's going to have to address that in order to be a true "replacement" for Twitter.
Hope you find a solution.
@HabenGirma Seriously?! How did you even figure that out? It sounds like some kind of magical incantation.
Well, if Mastodon doesn't work out for you I think you can click your heels together three times while saying "There's no place like home."
@HabenGirma Opened a PR for that specific bug and will look into more problems as I have free time. Let me know if there’s anything I should prioritize :) https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon-ios/pull/488
@jedfox @HabenGirma Nice work Jed. Went looking to see if I might be able to help with this and saw your fix in the repo already!
@jedfox this is awesome! Will your fix also fix the Compose button on iPad? It sounds different from the one on iPhone in the current version, that is why I am wondering. @HabenGirma
@Marco I don’t think so, don’t have an iPad to test on but will do my best with the Simulator and open another PR.
@jedfox Cool thanks! it sounds different than the iPhone one with VoiceOver, so may just need to receive the button trait.
@Marco I did my best to take a look (it keeps crashing on my end) and everything seems fine except that the buttons in the sidebar, including compose, aren’t marked as buttons. Aside from that are you still able to activate them or do I need to go deeper?
@jedfox I can activate them just fine. So giving them the proper traits should be enough.
Also, thanks for the PR that adds custom actions for links etc., that will be hugely helpful once merged and hopefully released. Wonder when they are going to restart the TestFlight builds.
Awesome! I opened a PR to add that trait: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon-ios/pull/516. Thanks for the info! And I’m hopeful the actions will be useful — I’m gonna try to add a few more when I have a chance :)
@HabenGirma hi Haben — there are several iOS apps so it’s worth trying a few, I stopped using the one just named Mastodon for several reasons. Metatext reportedly has good VoiceOver support and is clear in other ways too. https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/metatext/id1523996615
@HabenGirma mind if I boost this? Maybe some tech-minded people would step up...
@HabenGirma Uh-oh, that's not great!