Chromelessness in Engage 0.3 presents an issue for Voiceover use

[Colin Clark]

Hi Sam,

This is a pretty interesting issue. I really don't know whether it represents a "serious issue" or just a different idiom. I'd be curious to hear Everett's opinion here.

Some thoughts:

It's my understanding that a home screen icon is intended to mimic App-style behaviour. I imagine that VoiceOver doesn't announce that the "Web page loaded" when a new screen appears in a native iPhone app, so in some sense the behaviour you're seeing is consistent with that style of interaction. On the other hand, I can see how it could also be a less awesome experience.

The issue of having to bring focus back to the page is a very interesting one, and more of a clear-cut problem.

Both of these issues are unlikely to be easily addressable. The good news is that Engage works equally well in Safari and as a home screen icon, so users of Voice Over can simply choose to not view it chromelessly.

Colin


On 2010-02-03, at 2:48 PM, Sambhavi Chandrashekar wrote:

> I started using Engage on iPhone through Safari to overcome the navigation problem. I have described below an  observation I made comparing this with the chromeless version, which might present a significant usability issue for Voiceover users:
> 
> On Safari, upon a successful page transition in Engage, Voiceover automatically announces 'Web page loaded' and speaks out the title of the new page (which is vital for Voiceover users to know whether (a) their action was successful (b) page load is complete and (c) the desired page has loaded (assuming page titles are given appropriately). On the chromeless version, there is no feedback through Voiceover that a new page has loaded although visually I can see the new page. More interestingly, I am required to tap on the screen to bring Voiceover focus to the new page. If, without tapping, I just flick one finger down to read element by element or two fingers down to read continuously, Voiceover reads the previous page. If I were not visually looking at the new page, I would have been led to believe that my action to load a new page has not succeeded.
> 
> The fact that Voiceover does automatically announce new Engage pages on Safari might provide clues to those who know how to address this issue (I don't ;))

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Colin Clark
Technical Lead, Fluid Project
http://fluidproject.org