How Does One Explain To A Developer About Making An App More Accessible With No Knowledge Of How To Fix The Problem?

By Zoe Victoria, 8 December, 2019

Forum
Accessibility Advocacy

Hello everyone. I'm asking this question because I'm thinking about contacting the deves of Dyrii Journal https://www.applevis.com/apps/ios/lifestyle/dyrii-journal about its accessibility issues. I have no knowledge of code or how to fix the problems however, and I doubt they have any knowledge about voiceover or anything else regarding accessibility. Does anyone have any advice?

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By Siobhan on Saturday, December 21, 2019 - 21:10

Hi Zoe, I'm glad you want to explain accessibility. Here's my take. I explain briefly what Voice over is, a program that reads what's on the screen. I then offer explanations of what doesn't work and how to fix it. Such as let's say it's a problem with an unlabeled button, edit field, or my favorite the "hamburger menu button. It's true we could label those, however I always like to give the developer a chance to at least listen to how I may help them. I would explain that the "back button" only is said as"button, or icon normal gray, or however it is read out. I explain that this is unhelpful and if they could please use their own app by turning on voice over, they might understand a little better. I explain how to turn on voice over, how they will have to touch something then tap to make something activate, like a opening a menu. Just to give you the other side of the coin, here is what i do not do. i don't link to anything on Apple's website. i never want to come off as "I know better then you do, ha ha ha. That type of attitude will never get you anywhere in my opinion. I also never request to become a beta tester with my first interaction to the developers. again, though you in general want to help, I feel that's being a bit overzealous and looks bad. My opinion only. Above all else, politeness, and if you get a genuine "We'll pass this along" response? I'd email again and ask that if there is anything you can do please don't hesitate to follow up. That way, you are still putting yourself out there but in the sincerest way possible. Hope that helps. Again, please don't think i am saying you would do any of the above suggestions I said about I know better than you attitude, that was an example of how i perceive that way of contact. I hope I gave you some insight and if I can help, please let me know. Oh and as I discovered, spelling helps if you don't write like a toddler like I just did. Lol.

By Lydia Alverson on Saturday, December 21, 2019 - 21:10

I was wondering the same thing as well. My sister showed me a game called One Night Werewolf. You have the option to play with the companion One Night app. I want to try it out. However, I'm worried that it isn't accessible with voiceOver.

By Dawn 👩🏻‍🦯 on Saturday, December 21, 2019 - 21:10

Hi. I explain what voiceover is, & then I tell them something like: If you'd like more info, you can contact me, or go to www.applevis.com
where they have information on hor voiceover works, & how to make apps accessible. I also give the basic explanation of how it works. I know nothing about coding myself also. I've found myself many time explaining to tech support by email & phone about Vo. & have gotten the reaction of knowing a bit about how it works & asking when they need to & also running like scared mice. lol But I also think telling them to contact you & giving the best way to get ahold of you like email is great too. I've never gotten asked to be a beta tester after such responses, but if they seem sincere, then maybe I'd try.
I didn't think about suggesting that devs use their apps with Vo. before & tell them how to turn it on & such. Also, something else to suggest to the person who said they do this: maybe also tell the dev to turn on his screen curtain & tell him how to do it with Vo. on. That way he can have a better understanding & even if they have sight, they still cannot see the screen. I think Scott says he does this with Weather Gods.

By KE7ZUM on Saturday, December 21, 2019 - 21:10

I do the same. I do explain hat voiceover is etc. I also say if you want more information look at apple.com as they have code snippets etc. I also explain I cannot cide, and give demos on what is not working in their app. Most devs like that, some email back and say it's too hard to make the app accessible or "We have no plans to do this now." (diget I'm looking at you for changing the date on goals) or they just tell me We will forward it to our team. Who knows of these devs do. Most of the time though I get very good experiences, or I talk about it on the app store. I had one dev say to watch for updates as they were pissed off their app was not accessible on the mac.

By Nickie Coby on Saturday, December 21, 2019 - 21:10

I explain the problems, then admit that I don’t know how to code. I usually give them the apple.com/accessibility link and say “this will probably give you better explanations of solutions than I can, but I’d love to keep talking with you as you release new updates “.
I always begin the email with the ways I was hoping to use the app because it gives the human perspective and I often get better connections with them that way.

By KE7ZUM on Saturday, December 21, 2019 - 21:10

I've actually tried that approatch, it works some times, most of the time though it does not, or I just get the response from support that we will look into this, years go by and nothing happens, in some cases, and in others I don't hear back at all, and sometimes the devs just don't get it. They just keep saying I can drag this or that, and don't want to understand. That last one is rare.

Maybe I’ve been lucky. Also, many times, I have been using appss which have direct contact with the developer of the app and a lot of my apps are health related, especially chronic illness.