I don't know if this issue is happening to me only because of some misconfiguration in my Mac, but for the last few years checking for apps in the app store of the Mac is a real pain for me. I can search for apps without problem, but then when I select one app to get more details about it, things get complicated. There are several containers with the details. First you have to interact with one called "Collection", and then inside it there are many other containers called "Section"/ You then have to go and interact with each individually to find out what is in each of them.
It doesn't made sense. it will be better to have an arragement similar to the iOS App Store where you can continue flicking within the same container and reading the text.
Any ideas or tips of how to handle this problem will be appreciated.
Cordially,
Carlos M Contreras
Comments
Works as currently designed
My understanding is that similar to other Apple apps, like music and TV, this is, unfortunately, by design. While changing VoiceOver's grouping behavior might work to reduce the amount of interaction needed to navigate the interface, it might also cause other unexpected behaviors, as has been my experience when changing this setting from the default.
My best advice when navigating app interfaces like this is to attempt to develop muscle memory, so you can anticipate when you will or won't need to interact before encountering and absorbing any information. For me, I navigate right past the first couple sections, which are usually screenshots, and only interact with the “Description” and “What’s New” sections.
You could try turning off grouping.
Hit VO-f8 to go into Voiceover Utility. Pick navigation. There's a grouping behavior popup that should be set to standard. Try the other options, see if any help. At least one person here recommended it, I don't like it much so I went back to standard.
The other thing you could do, if you found a grouping behavior that worked with the APp Store but you wanted standard everywhere else, is to set up a Voiceover activity to change that behavior when the App Store is loaded.
Good luck!
The sections should be named
From experience, sections are named, i.e, description, information, reviews etc so you shouldn't have to interact with each section to figure out what it is. At least on the latest version of mac OS that's the case.
Thanks for all the responses
The truth is that changing the grouping behavior didn't improve the problem. Also, I know that sections should be named, but many of them are not. I found several sections with names that only said: "Section" and then add the number of elements in that section.
I don't know why Apple is doing this since I don't think that this sections even improve the usability of the page for sighted people. I think sighted people don't need the sections since they can scan with their eyes the whole information to find what they are looking for. The only thing they need is to have good headings with the description of the section, but don't need separate sections. If Apple is doing this sections thing for us blind people, we should let them know that it is not good. For me is easier to navigate by headings, instead of using the physical sections. The iOS App Store doesn't have this problem.
Thanks for all the responses
The truth is that changing the grouping behavior didn't improve the problem. Also, I know that sections should be named, but many of them are not. I found several sections with names that only said: "Section" and then add the number of elements in that section.
I don't know why Apple is doing this since I don't think that this sections even improve the usability of the page for sighted people. I think sighted people don't need the sections since they can scan with their eyes the whole information to find what they are looking for. The only thing they need is to have good headings with the description of the section, but don't need separate sections. If Apple is doing this sections thing for us blind people, we should let them know that it is not good. For me is easier to navigate by headings, instead of using the physical sections. The iOS App Store doesn't have this problem.
Let them know
Don't be afraid to let them know.
I reported it just now
Devin: I just reported the issue to Apple. I asked here before to make sure is a general issue and not just a problem with my configuration of Voiceover. unfortunately now most of the times that you report an issue to Apple, their response is to ask for a copy of a log file of your Mac. I don't like sending them that file which is extremely large. I don't know what is in the file, which I suppose could even have passwords and other information that I had typed in the Mac for who knows how long. I like to protect my privacy and sending a file with my information for me is not an option.
It's a Catalyst Monstrosity
It's not you. It's Catalyst, and the awful accessibility bugs it's lumbered with. My brother is literally selling his MacBook Neo because of his dissatisfaction with the Mac App Store. I think that's a bit of an overreaction, but it can't be denied that the Microsoft Store does not have the same problem, so …
As to reports, sure, do that. But I suspect this one requires more fundamental changes that the team working on the Mac App Store app couldn't just fix themselves.