[NFBCS] Tips on Reporting Accessibility Issues to App Developers

[Jim Denham]

Tina:

You are correct, it is always more powerful for developers to actually see someone struggling to use various aspects of an app compared to just reading an email. One technique I have used in the past is to make a short video of myself using an app with Voiceover. This video shows how I am unable to activate certain controls or what happens when I encounter an inaccessible portion of the app. If done properly, this can be a powerful tool to highlight accessibility issues. Also, the fact that you actually took the time to make a video speaks to your concern about these problems. One tip I will share. While YouTube is an easy way to share your video with a development team, do not make the video public. Making the video private and sending a link is a way to say that you want to share this information with the company without publicly bashing them. If they fail to respond to your email requests or tell you that accessibility is not important, then you can make the video public, but initially I have always sent a private video. I've talked to several companies who truly appreciate this and who have corrected issues displayed in a video.
Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Jim


-----Original Message-----
From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Tina Hansen via NFBCS
Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2022 6:42 PM
To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org
Cc: Tina Hansen <th404 at comcast.net>
Subject: [NFBCS] Tips on Reporting Accessibility Issues to App Developers

I'm not sure this is the right list, but I could use some advice on how to report accessibility issues to app developers. I get frustrated when I see an app that starts off strong, but accessibility faulters after an update.
In some apps, it's just the loss of clearly labeled buttons, but others take a real sharp hit in the accessibility department and the buttons don't work.

 

I get frustrated, since it's likely they've never seen a blind customer, but I sometimes fear that the only way to get these developers to take this seriously is for a blind user to be looking over their shoulder at all times, or for a user backed by automation, to hold these people accountable somehow.

 

I'd love to see accessibility features somehow carry over as an app gets updated, but short of some hard coding, how can that be done?

 

But I digress. I'm frustrated because I can see the problem, but I feel they need to see what's going on so they can do something. I can send an e-mail to report the problem, but I almost feel that graphics will do more than descriptions alone.

 

So does anyone have any suggestions on how I might address this issue? I'm stumped. Thanks.

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