1May 2013
GradingKindleAccessibilityoniOS
SubmittedbycvangervenonFri,05/03/2013-16:35
BlogDate:Friday,May3,2013
HipHipHooray!Thereshallbejoyanddancinginthestreets. Itfinallyhappened! Withoutawordtoanyone,AmazonquietlyslippedanupdatetotheirKindleappintotheappstore. Thiswasnotleftunnoticedforlong. CNET,Engadget,andPCMagazine,haveallputintheirtwocents,butnow’stherealquestion. Consideringthe“Accessibility”featuresintheKindleFire,theAteamwasunderstandablyskepticalwhenweheardthisannouncement.Thatbeingthecase,what’sabetterwaytolearnaboutafreeappthantodownloadit,andplay?
GradingCriteria
Amazonhasbeenworkingveryhardlatelytogettheirbooksintotheclassroom. Therefore,itseemsespeciallyfittingtometogivethemabitofatest,andputthegradesupforalltosee.Therefore,IwillbegradingtheAmazonappaccordingtothefairlyrecognizablescalethatmanyofususedinschool. Pointswillbedeductedforfeaturesthatdonotworkastheyoughtto,orthosethathavenotbeenimplementedaccessiblyatall. Eachcategorywillstartat100%andgradeswillbeaveragedattheend. Doubleweightwillbeawardedtothemostimportantcategoriesforsuccessfuluseintheclassroom. Severityofimpactuponthereaderwilldeterminehowmanypointsarelostforanygivenfailing.
• F:0-59%
• D:60-69%
• C:70-79%
• B:80-89%
• A:90-100%
Solet’sgetstartedthen,shallwe? Wewillbegradingagainstwhatispossibleforsightedusers,aswellasagainstthecapabilitiesofotheraccessibleeReadingplatforms. Reallyeachgradewillonlybeabulletpoint,unlessofcoursefurtherexplanationisrequired. Onefurthernotebeforewegetstarted. Noneofthecurrentoptionswouldpassmytestbelowwithaperfectgrade. SeveraleReadingplatformswouldpass,butnoonehasalltheanswersyet.
GeneralLayout(Double):98%
Doestheapplayoutmakesense?
Yes.Fullmarks.Theappiseasytonavigate.
Areallbuttonsclearlylabeledandaccessibletotheuser?
Yes
Canausergettheinformationtheyneedinthelibrarytodownloadandaccessbooks?-2pts.
Blindusersarenotgiveninformationonhowfartheyareintoabook,whichisavailabletosightedKindleusers. Itdoesn’tterriblyaffecttheenjoymentorusefulnessoftheapp,andtheinformationcanbegleanedfromthemenusinsideofthebook,sothepointsremovedwillbeminimal,however,thisisinformationthatsomeusersmaywanttohave.
Howaboutusingmenustochangefontandotherreadingoptions?
FullMarks. Thismattersbecauseifauserisusingspeech,theymaywanttodecreasefontsizetohearpageturnnoisesaslittleaspossible,orincreasefontsizetohaveamoregranularBraillereadingexperience(moreonthislater).
BasicReading(Double):93%
Thesearetheminimumcriteriaforreadingabook,primarilyforpleasure.
Canausernavigatetexteasilyincludingreadcontinuously,movebypages,lines,charactersandwords?
Yes.
Movebackwardandforwardinthetext?
Yes
Bookmarktheirplaceandeasilyaccessbookmarksagain?
Yes
Jumpbetweenchapters?-7pts.
Auseroughttobeabletoattheveryminimumusethetableofcontentsinabooktomovefromonechaptertothenext,butmanyKindlebooksdonotofferatableofcontents,andinlinelinks(whichoftenreplaceaproperlycodedtableofcontents)arenotaccessibletoblindusers.
AcademicReading(Double):55%
Academicreadingismoreinvolvedandactive. Itrequiresamorestringentlevelofinteractionwiththetextthanregularreadingandthushasfurtherrequirementsthatmustbeconsidered.
Canauserselecttext?-30pts.
Amazonhasimplementedamethodforselectingtext,butitisextremelybuggy. Auserisexpectedtodouble-tapandholdtoselecttextonthepage,howeverthismethodisatbestdeeplyflawed,andatworstunusable. Whenauserattemptstodouble-tapandholdtoselecttext,aboutonethirdofthetime,thepagechanges,onethirdofthetimethemenusappear,andthefinalthirdawordisselected. ItisalmostneverthewordthattheVoiceOvercursorishighlighting. Itisusuallyawordonthesameline,butifauserhasapagefulloftext,itcanbedifficult,ifnotimpossibletothenfindtheactualwordtheywishedtoselect. Onceafirstwordisselected,usingselectionsishandledquitecleverlyinthatitispossibletomovethebeginningandendoftheselectiontoaddtoitorshrinkit,
Canausertakenotesinthetext?-10pts.
Yes,iftheyareabletoselectit. Thenotetakingfeatureworks,andleavesanoteinthelistofassociatedinformationinthe“GoTo”menu,however,ablinduserwhoislaterreadingthetextwillnotbeawarethenoteisactivelythere. Itisunderstandablethataheavilyannotatedtextmightbeannoyingtoread,butthiscouldbefixedforbothblindandsightedusersbyofferinga“clean”view,andan“annotated”viewwhichwouldincludeauser’snotesandhighlights,andspeakthemtotheblinduserastheycomeacrossthem.
Canauseraccessthedictionary?
Yes,butonlyiftheycanselectthewordtheywanttoview.
Canauserhighlightimportantorinterestingpassagesforeasylaterretrieval?-10pts.
Thehighlightsareavailabletoablinduserinthe“GoTo”menu,butnotannouncedinline.
Canauseraccessendnotesandfootnotes?-20pts.
No,thisisnotpossible,justlikeotherlinksinthetext;thisisunavailabletoblindusers.
Canauserjumptoacertainpageinthetext?
Yes,ifthebookincludespagenumbers. NotallKindlebooksdo.
CanauseraccessX-RayandBookExtras?+25Bonuspoints.
X-rayandBookExtrasarefeaturesthatareavailableonlyfromKindlebooks,andcanbeusedtogiveinformationonthebackgroundofabook.Theyincludeglossaryterms,majorcharacters,possiblymajorlocationsandotherimportantinformationaboutthebook. Thismakesuppartiallyfornoaccesstoendandfootnotes,andisafeaturethatispresentlynotavailablethroughothervendors. Becausethesefeaturesareaccessibleandveryusefultostudents,Amazonearnssomepointsbackhere.Disclaimer:thisfeaturewastestedwithtext-basedcontentonly,nographicsorinteractivecontentwereencountered
BrailleSupport(double):25%
Disclaimer:BraillewastestedontheiPad2withtheBrailleEDGE. Yourresultsmayvary,infact,Ihopetheydo.
Brailleisanimportantcriterionintheacademicenvironmentaswellasinleisurereading. Furthermore,itistheonlywaythatdeaf-blinduserswillhaveaccesstoKindlebooks,thereforeitreceivesdoubleweight.
CanthetextbereadwithBraille?-20pts.
Yes,sometimes. HoweveritisfullypossibleforaBrailleusertocrashtheaccesstoBrailleintheappbytryingtomovetothetoporbottomofapage. Ifthisisattempted,ausermayfindthattheBrailledisplaynolongerpans,andtheonlywaytheywillgetBraillefunctionbackintheKindleappistoclosethebooktheyarereading(usingthescreen)andopenanewbook. Turningpagesalsoseemstoremedythebehavior,thoughstrangelytheBrailleisaboutapagebehindthevoiceifspeechhasnotbeensilenced.
CanthetextbenavigatedwithBraillewiththesamegranularityaswithspeech?-15pts.
No. WhenaBrailledisplayispaired,itseestheentirepageasasinglechunkoftext. Therefore,aBrailleusercanturnpages,andbeginatthetopofeachpage,however,theyareunabletonavigatethroughthepageusingrotorcommandsavailabletospeechusers,andthuslosetheabilitytomovebywordsandlines.
CanappmenusbecontrolledusingonlyaBrailledisplay?-25pts.
No.Duringourtesting,theBrailledisplayandspeechwouldlockupwhentryingtonavigatethroughmenusonaniPad2. IfitispossibletousemenussuccessfullywithBraille,itisbuggyatleastonsomedevicesandcangetuserslockedintoastatetheycannotexitwithoutcrashingtheapp.Therefore,deaf-blindusersmaynotbeabletoaccesstheKindleapp.
CanusersselecttextwithBraille?-15pts.
No,thereisnoequivalentfordouble-tapandholdontheBrailledisplaysoallcommandsthatrequirethisgesturearenotgoingtowork.
Content:100%
Norequirementsherereally.Kindlehasthelargestlibraryoutthere.It’swhywe’veallbeenchampingatthebittogettoitforsoverylong.
Ecosystem:85%
Aresocialnetworkingfeaturessuchassharingquotesandratingsofbooksaccessible?
Yes.Thoughsomerequiretheabilitytoselecttextfirst.
IsWhispersyncandWhispersyncforVoiceaccessible?
Unknownasthishasnotbeenadequatelytested. (ItislikelythoughbecausethedialogthatofferstomoveausertothelatestpartofthebookintheinaccessibleversionsoftheappactuallywereaccessibleiOSdialogs.) Whispersyncallowsausertosynctheirbookmarks,notesandlocationinabooktootherdevicesandWhispersyncforVoicesyncsauser’slocationinanAudiblebookwiththeirlocationinatextbook.
Isbuyingbooksaccessible?-5pts.
BookbuyingisasaccessibleasbuyinganyotherproductonAmazon,sogenerallyusable,butnotfullyaccessiblewhenusingstandardwebaccessibilityguidelines. Theprocessmaybedifficultforsomewebusers.
Cross-platformuse:-10pts.
Amazonispromisingimprovementsinthisarea,however,untilmoreappsanddevicesarereleased,andfirmware forotherKindledevicesisupdated,iOSisreallyfarandaway,themostaccessibleAmazonKindleplatform.
Conclusions:
Amazonhasmadeagoodstart,butwithagradeof(…wait,letmepulloutmycalculatorhere…)73%(alowC)theystillhavesomeseriousworktodotocomeuptothestandardofaccessibilitywehopetoseeforourstudents. DoIrecommendusingit?Yes…mostly…ifyouaren’tdoinganythingtooseriouswithit,andiftheBrailleisnotgoingtobeamajorconcern.It’sgotapleasurereadinggradeof77%ahighC,andthatwouldbeafairbithigherifBraillewasworkingproperly.ThisputsitinasimilarclassastheNookappwhichI’veusedtoreadanovelortwo. (Nook’sBrailleislimited,butitislesslikelytocrackunderthepressurethantheKindleapp’s. WouldIwantmytextbooksonit,formynextclass,wellno,norwouldIwanttouseittoreadmyKindlebooksinBraille,withallthedifficultiesencounteredwhiletesting,butforpickingupanovelwithspeech,I’dsaygiveitago.