Day 172

Accessibility is caring, not just APIs

6 Nov 2022

It is not just about applying accessibility APIs, but about caring, and thinking of features that can make your app more accessible and inclusive to everyone. Twitter's alt-text feature is a great example. Thanks, @TwitterA11y! You'll be missed.

When composing a tweet, and adding an image, there is a button that lets you add some alt text to it. On a separate screen, you'll be able to write up to 1000 characters. There is a link to find some help on how to write alt text. After publishing a tweet with an image with alt text, an ALT badge will be shown at the bottom left corner of the image and tapping it, it opens a modal view with the alt text configured.

Some of you have asked me how you can support what I do. This would really help, and would be hugely appreciated:

  • Find these posts useful? Share them at work, on social media, or with anyone that might find them interesting. Let's spread the word!

  • Check out any of my apps or games: Xarra!, RetroRapid!, or Mestre!.

    • A download and a review go a long way. They're free by default. On the App Store, ratings and reviews really help more people discover them.

    • Finding any of them useful? If so, and if you can afford it, purchasing lifetime access to all features or subscribing lets me buy the coffee that keeps me caffeinated. Caffeine keeps me going to maintain the apps, bring in new features that I hope you'll love, and keep writing.

You may also find interesting...

Today I want to share something I use a lot. You can convert any article into a “podcast” by enabling Speak Screen in Accessibility Settings, switching to Safari’s Reader Mode and swiping down with two fingers from the top of the screen. I think it is a good example of how if we all knew more about how to use the assistive tech available in iOS, we would find ourselves using more of them, more often, exemplifying quite well that accessibility benefits everyone.

"We have one job, and that's to make our apps work. And if you are not implementing accessibility features, you are forgetting about making it work for a lot of people" @NovallSwift Couldn't have said it better! https://x.com/novallswift/status/1328387659744505856

All the accessibility capabilities you can check for, have counterpart notification names you can observe in case the user changes its preferences while using your app. https://x.com/dadederk/status/1577435144129892352


Content © Daniel Devesa Derksen-Staats on Accessibility up to 11! is licensed under CC BY 4.0. License details