NewsBlur | AppleVis

Description of App

NewsBlur is a personal news reader bringing people together to talk about the world. A new sound of an old instrument.

Features:

Import directly from GReader
Read all of your news subscriptions
Share and comment on the news with friends
Meet new people who share the same interests
Built for iOS 6 and the new iPhone 5
Collapsible folders
Saved stories
Mark stories as unread
Read by oldest/newest first
Filter by unread/all stories
Send to Instapaper/email/etc

Version

2.1

Free or Paid

Free

Apple Watch Support

Not Known

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

Accessibility Comments

Not very accessible.

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads most page elements.

Button Labeling

Most buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

There are some accessibility issues with this app, but it can still be used if you are willing to tolerate these issues and learn how to work around them.

Other Comments

Please read my Comments below for the latest observations.

App Store Link

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/newsblur/id463981119?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Developer's Website

http://www.newsblur.com/

Developer's Twitter Username

@NewsBlur

Options

Comments

Version 2.1

Well, not sure if this was done on purpose but there has been some improvements with this app. In v2.0 I was unable to even get through the initial set-up and now I could. The interface is somewhat manageable. There are still quite a few buttons that are not label or not clearly label. It still has a long way to go before I would make this useable. In v2.0 it was just about borderline inaccessible and where in this version it is not like that anymore. It has some difficulties areas but it could be used. With a good deal of replacement of the label names.

So would love to see more improvements coming from the developers of this app.

What's New in Version 2.1
◎ New Text View - extracts the story from the original site, giving you access beyond the RSS feed
◎ Numerous bug fixes for both iPad and iPhone

My experiences with 2.1

This has the potential to be a viable option for VoiceOver users, but for now it feels some way short. When browsing your list of feeds, VoiceOver does not read folder names. Beside each of these is a control that visually shows or hides the feeds in the folder. Unfortunately, VoiceOver reads feed names regardless of whether they are being displayed, which can make things confusing, particularly when double-tapping on a feed doesn't do what you expect. List of feed articles and articles themselves are accessible. However, the biggest problem is the way that settings, actions and controls are implemented in this app - they are displayed as some form of pop-up, which VoiceOver does locate, but which you cannot then exit without disabling VoiceOver. This alone is going to rule this app out for VoiceOVer users.