Chromelessness in Engage 0.3 presents an issue for Voiceover use

[Sambhavi Chandrashekar]

Hi Colin,

> 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.

Your suggestion makes sense. It would also be easier for users to follow the
familiar mental model of web page interactions.

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

I tried the iTunes app. New pages are indeed not announced but I find that
the iTunes app provides explicit focus to one element when the new page
loads (and Voiceover announces that element). This can be checked out
without Voiceover because the focus is also visual. Perhaps some indication
like that will be the way to go (at the future time when this is moved
forward).

Thanks.

Sam

On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 4:02 PM, Colin Clark <colinbdclark at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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 ;))
>
> ---
> Colin Clark
> Technical Lead, Fluid Project
> http://fluidproject.org
>
>
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