Hi, all. I love this website. I'm currently using IOS8.1 and an iphone 6. I went to look for a book on the BARD Mobile app which I've had since it first came out. While I could read everything just fine, I couldn't activate any of the text fields or pop-up buttons. It was as if I'd activated nothing. Anyone else having this trouble? I didn't see any posts about this particular problem, so I'm sorry if I missed something. Thanks to everyone!
Comments
It's a VO Problem
Look for the list of bugs in iOS 8 or put "focus bug" in the Applevis search box. You'll get several screens-full of articles.
In a nutshell, the problem is not a BARD Mobiel problem but an iOS 8/VoiceOver problem. When you flick left and right, screen focus doesn't always end up where you think it is or according to what you hear. If you actually touch the screen and look for the text fields or buttons you wish to activate and *then* double-tap, you can often activate the buttons.
As I say, do a bit of sleuthing. You'll get an earful!
Scrolling bug
This is the infamous scrolling bug, or focus bug, introduced in iOS 8. It causes some elements to be off screen while VoiceOver is focused on them, making interaction impossible. BARD Mobile is affected by this, as well as the built-in Mail app when trying to open email attachments. I've also observed it in Team Stream and other apps with embedded web content. Safari can also have the problem, but it appears to be less prevalent there.
The way to get around the bug is to scroll the element onto the screen manually, using three-finger swipes to scroll the screen, then locate the element by touch. You can then interact with the element normally. Note, however, that once you start flicking left or right to other elements, the screen will scroll back to the top, causing the elements to end up off screen again.
The curious thing about the bug is that links are not affected. When you swipe to a link, it always scrolls into view, even if you're in an area where the scrolling bug is prevalent. Once you move off the link, though, the screen jumps back to the top again. So, you should never have trouble activating links, regardless of this bug. Other elements, like text fields and buttons, are a different matter.
The Dreaded Scrolling bug, and what can be done
Right. I thought sojme of this problem had gone away with the latest update, but still it lives. Thank you all for your good instructions for this workaround. Besides emailing the accessibility folks at Apple, is there anything else we can do as users?