Accessibility issues reading EBooks with Overdrive on iPhone with Voiceover - help to follow up

By Aine, 5 January, 2018

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi all,

I use the OverDrive app on my iPhone with voiceover to read e-books from my local library. As has been documented in another thread on here, the app does not remember your place within the chapter, if you stop reading one part way through, and I am also unable to change chapters unless I use the percentage slider, which is cumbersome and frustrating.

I got in touch with OverDrive about this, and they informed me that these issues have to do in fact with Adobe EPUB, so I wondered whether anyone may have any accessibility-related connections with Adobe or any other leads to resolving these issues? If mainstream apps like Kindle can do it, there is no excuse for Adobe. Thanks!

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Comments

By Jeff on Saturday, January 27, 2018 - 05:42

Perhaps you could check the book out in Kindle format. Then you could use the Kindle app to read the book, since you say it works better.

By Aine on Saturday, January 27, 2018 - 05:42

Thanks Jeff - could you explain how to do that, please? Do I need to go through the Kindle app instead? I've never seen the option on the OverDrive app, but I could be missing something.

By Jeff on Saturday, January 27, 2018 - 05:42

I've never actually checked out an ebook from the library, but I know my wife has. She's sighted and likes to read on her Voyage, so she's chosen the Kindle format. I'm pretty sure she does not initiate the checkout from the Kindle app, but she does get redirected to the app during the process at some point. If the option is not available in the Overdrive app, perhaps she uses the library's website. In fact, I think it is done from a web interface but it might be that the app displays the web page rather than redirecting to the browser. Hopefully, someone else who has actually done this will chime in and describe the steps for you.

Sorry I'm not more helpful, but I prefer to listen to audiobooks and my TBR list is long enough to keep me listening for a long time into the future.

I just looked it up and it's US only. Have just emailed someone at my library to see whether there's any chance it might get to other countries in the not-too-distant future ... I live in New Zealand. Thanks anyway.

By hamiltonthemus… on Saturday, January 27, 2018 - 05:42

Hello,
i live in canada, and use the overdrive app. while i admit overdrive doesn’t save voice over progress when you stop in the middle of a chapter, i’m not sure it does anything for sighted people, but i could be wrong with that. as for moving chapters, try double tapping on the thing that says how many pages remain in the chapter. the number should go down, and it should move you to the next chapter. i hope this helps.
sorry for no capitaal letters, i am using my braille display, and the dot six key appears not to be working unless it is pressed with other keys.

By Aine on Saturday, January 27, 2018 - 05:42

Cheers, I have actually discovered that method more recently too. It's good that it's at least usable, I just wish it were more user-friendly so I could point older people losing their sight there ... And also not have to waste time changing chapters and finding your place in bizarre ways. I think sighted people must have a way of turning the page, as there's no way a whole chapter could fit on a screen, but I'm not exactly sure what that is supposed to be. One of the unlabeled buttons I suppose.

And I appreciate the joys of faulty keys, by the way. My old laptop's g key decided it'd be fun to stop working periodically (like every 3-4 days and only start again if I restarted the computer, which was very slow). But it was happy enough to work if pressed with shift. Some things I'll never understand!