[Iabs-talk] Kindle app for iPhone

Sat May 4 14:47:55 UTC 2013

Hi all.  I just wanted to let everyone that I downloaded and used the Kindle
app for the first time last night with voiceover and it's totally awesome!
Below is an article that discusses the accessibility features of the app in
more detail.  I am very pleased with this majore improvement in
accessibility.  Please see article below.

Leslie

BREAKING: Amazon's Kindle for iOS Updated with Accessibility

Posted under: <http://www.fedoraoutlier.com/category/accessibility/>
Accessibilityby  <mailto:j at ontempoideas.com> Justin Romack

I remember the feeling quite vividly-sitting in my college courses on the
first day of class, staring at a syllabus with books I knew I'd never be
able to obtain in an accessible format before we were to review them. I
attended a great university and had access to a fabulous disability services
office, but far too many books were simply out of reach in a timely fashion.

I'd talk to peers who would download their books onto a Kindle, and as time
progressed, soon they'd load them on their iPhones and iPads to tote around
wherever they went. But, sadly, Amazon seemed to stubbornly push
inaccessible Kindle products onto the market without any regard to the
blindness community.

That all changed yesterday morning, though, and many have voiced their
excitement for the
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kindle-read-books-ebooks-magazines/id302584
613?mt=8> newly accessible Kindle for iOS application (available now through
Apple's App Store). That's right-the blind, visually impaired and dyslexic
now have full access to Amazon's catalog of over one million books,
magazines and newspapers, all at the touch of a button in the
<http://kindle.amazon.com/> Kindle Store.

After playing around with the app, connecting my braille display and
exploring tactilely and buying (more than) a few books to try out, I want to
share some initial impressions and a general breakdown of what you can
expect from the app.

The Interface

Amazon's Kindle for iOS has a simple interface upon startup. If you have
purchased books already, you'll be taken to your cloud bookshelf with an
option to download each title. If you've already downloaded these texts, you
can click and launch them with a single-finger double tap gesture, or a
split-tap gesture.

While in the book of your choice, Amazon has made the interface incredibly
simple, boasting no buttons, labels or other controls you may expect to see
in an app like this. You are presented with the book's text-and that's all.
This is nice because the text fills the entirety of the screen, making it
much easier to scroll line by line with your finger.

The Reading Experience

I'm not a huge fan of audiobooks. The dramatization of text by some readers
tends to be a turnoff for me, and it's important that I have access to the
text in a way that I can read character by character if need be. Solid,
intuitive and flexible navigation is imperative for any reading app or
device-and it's why I've really enjoyed using Apple's iBooks app the past
year or two.

In terms of navigation, Kindle for iOS is absolutely on-par with the iBooks
experience. I can navigate character by character, word by word, and line by
line, which is excellent. In one word-it's "flawless".

Since there are no on-screen controls while in the reading view, you can
either interact with the text by a read all from top gesture (which is a
two-finger swipe downward), navigate via a rotor gesture (use the rotor to
select whether you'll move by character, word or line), move your finger
through the text or move between pages (with a three-finger swipe left or
right), which prompts the app to automatically start reading content on the
new page. It's simple, easy and very effective.

Making Highlights and Creating Notes

This is easily one of the most exciting features I've found in the Kindle
for iOS app-and best of all, it's very accessible. To highlight a section of
text, or to create a note about something you've read, perform a
single-finger, double-tap and hold around the general area in which you'd
like to make your annotations. Hold your finger in this spot for a moment,
and then lift it. If you've done it correctly, VoiceOver will announce "pink
highlighter", which represents the color used to mark your selected
section.but we're not done yet.

If you were to flick around the screen at this point, you'd see options to
change the highlighter color, share the selection and various other options,
but here's the kicker-you can actually adjust the selection (from edge to
edge) using the flick gesture up and down. Flick until you find "left most
edge" and "right most edge". By flicking up and down while focusing on
either edge, you'll move the edge of your mark forward and backward. If you
pause for a moment after adjusting your selection, voiceOver will announce
the contents of your highlighted section. Wow!

After selecting the text you'd like to mark, you can save it as a mark,
create a note or look up a word in the dictionary. You can also Google your
selection and search for it on Wikipedia, as well. I think this is leaps and
bounds ahead of anything else out there-and I've already used it to annotate
several of the books I'm currently reading.

Accessing the Menu While Reading a Book

Since there are no controls found on-screen while reading your book, you're
probably wondering how to perform basic features like bookmarking a page,
navigating to a specific page or location, etc etc. All of this (and much
more) can be found in the menu, which is accessible by performing a
single-finger double tap (or a split-tap gesture) anywhere on-screen while
in the reading view. VoiceOver will announce "menu On", and you're now able
to explore the options for your book.

Basic Controls inside the Menu

After opening the menu, you will be presented with several options
pertaining to your book. In the top-lefthand corner, you will find a button
labeled "Home", which will take you back to your bookshelf. At the center
and top of the screen is a text label which states the name and author of
the book you are currently reading.. Single-finger flicking to the right (or
navigating to the upper-righthand corner of the screen), you'll find a
"Bookmark" button. This will bookmark the current page (the page visible
when you opened the menu).

One Note about Bookmarks

If Amazon could make one improvement about this menu, it would be the
ability to see whether a bookmark is currently present for the page. I
believe they could accomplish this by having VoiceOver announce "Bookmark
selected button) if a bookmark has already been set for the current page.
The trick here is-if a bookmark IS already present, pressing this button
will remove it without any indication to the VoiceOver user.

"Return to Book" Option

In the very middle of the screen, there is an option to jump back into your
book. This option remains present in some subpages of the menu-but not
always.

The Bottom Row of Controls

The bottom row of controls holds most of the nitty-gritty details most users
will want to access. From left to right, these controls include:

*	Back: This option appears to always be "dimmed". Not sure what it
does. 
*	View Options: This menu controls various aspects of the visual
presentation of your book, including font style, font size and brightness. 
*	Go To: This menu offers a wide variety of locations in which you can
be taken to throughout your book. I'll discuss this menu in greater detail
in a moment. 
*	Search: The Kindle for iOS app comes with an insanely powerful
search tool, which allows you to comb the entire contents of your book for a
word or phrase. I'll cover this one, too, in a bit more depth a little
later. 
*	Sync: This option will sync the reading position of your current
Kindle device with the furthest point reached on any other device. This
could be quite handy if you use Kindle for iOS on an iPhone AND an iPad. 
*	The Progress Slider: The progress slider is located just below this
row of five buttons, and represents your current location as a percentage.
You can adjust this slider with the flicking gesture up or down, or you can
do a single-finger, double-tap and hold to adjust more precisely. 

The "Go To" Menu

This menu allows you to jump through your book at varying navigation levels,
such as by page, by bookmark or back to the beginning. Some "go to" options
include:

*	Cover: This option will place you on the cover of your current book.

*	Table of Contents: Choosing this option will take you directly to
the table of contents, allowing you to navigate by chapter or section.
(NOTE: The table of contents DOES work with VoiceOver, but you'll have to
navigate slowly with your finger because these are not visible as links.) 
*	Beginning: Selecting this option will take you to the very beginning
of your book, past the cover, table of contents and most introductory
content. 
*	Location: Pressing the "Location" button will allow you to navigate
directly to the page of your choice. Use the keypad to type the page number,
and then locate an "OK" button toward the middle-right section of the
screen. 
*	Book Extras: Here's where Kindle shines over most any other options
you've likely tried-this section contains crowdsourced selections taken from
the book, which means other readers took the time to select portions of the
book that stood out to them, highlights and memorable moments, and favorite
quotes. There is also a section which includes notes for parents. One other
interesting thing about this menu is the ability to toggle "spoilers" on and
off, which will help you avoid any revealing content as you dig through the
extra features of your book. 
*	My Notes and Marks: This section lists all of the bookmarks and
highlights you've made throughout the book. Note that you can remove these
by using the "Edit" button at the top-lefthand corner of the screen. 
*	Popular Highlights: Keeping with the notion of crowdsourcing, Amazon
pulls in the most popular highlights from all other users reading the
currently selected book. This is one feature I absolutely love! Kindle for
iOS tells you the location of the highlighted section, as well as how many
people have highlighted it. 
*	X-Ray: X-Ray allows readers to explore "the bones of a book." Tap on
any page as you read to find chapters and locations that mention ideas,
characters, and important places, as well as background info, biographies,
and more from Shelfari and Wikipedia. 
*	Before You Go: This section contains options for you to rate, review
and share the currently selected book. The selections made here will no
doubt factor into the recommendations Amazon makes to you for future
reading. 

The Search Feature

The search functionality in Kindle for iOS is by far one of the most
powerful I've seen in a reading option. But as impressive as its ability to
search through your text, I'm in love with the way it displays your results.

After selecting the "Search" option, you'll be presented with a standard
search/edit field and the iOS keyboard. Type your query and press "Go". The
app will process the text and present you with a list of results, with the
page number listed to the left of the section where your word or phrase is
present. You'll also notice a count at the bottom of the screen for the
tonal number of instances the app found for your search.

Where Amazon Did It Right

I think it's often easy for us to assume companies aren't listening to our
accessibility concerns, or the timetable for accessibility isn't moving fast
enough, but the Kindle for iOS app is a classic example of patience paying
off. There are no flaws I've found in the app's accessibility, with only one
minor preference issue. There has been extensive beta testing for the
accessibility improvements, as is obvious by the flawless execution made by
Amazon.

The standout feature, and one which Apple can take cues, is the highlighter
found in the reading view. The granularity at which your highlighted
selection can be edited is remarkable. If you flick around the screen,
you'll notice VoiceOver report "left most edge" and "right most edge".
Performing a flick gesture up or down will reposition the respective edges
of your highlighted section (before you approve it). This is highly
impressive,a and not present in iBooks.

Summing It All Up

My allegiance rarely sways between two products. I tend to stay loyal to
solutions that have worked well for me in the past-and I'd assume many
reading this can relate to that idea. But, given Amazon's impressive
offering and the affordability of many selections, I could see myself using
Kindle for iOS more often than the iBooks offering from Apple. It will be
intriguing to see if Amazon continues this stance on accessibility, and
extends it to their other software and hardware offerings.