I couldn't get past the over usage of a11y
Oh shit, my app is successful and I didn't think about accessibility
81–90 of 302 posts
Re: Oh shit, my app is successful and I didn't think about accessibility
#82It's amazing how many people in this thread are seriously suggesting that these a11y features are not important. Do HN readers not understand that someday they will grow old, and their eyesight will fail, and they will find themselves increasing the font size on their devices?
> readers not understand that someday they will grow old, and their eyesight will fail, and they will find themselves increasing the font size on their devices?
let's reverse that, did you as a youth give much thought to what the olds went through on a daily? obviously, depending on age, the olds might not have been using computers to the extent we are today, but it still holds. the hubris of youth is part of growing up. until you personally experience something, it is hard to fully grok it. sure, we can know somethings without experience like not drinking bleach is a good idea. there are other things that are just so outside of the normal experience, it is hard to fathom. for a lighter example, have you ever tried walking in a pair of high heels even if not stilettos? it's painful, and i was on platform heels. i would fall down in 3 seconds flat with stilettos. after several hours, i was complaining about my feet hurting in the shoes. so after walking a mile in another person's shoes, I will never be frustrated if someone in my group needs a break from their shoes during a long night out ever again.
Re: Oh shit, my app is successful and I didn't think about accessibility
#83I would never agree with this statement of the author: "You won’t stop until everybody is using your app." Why ? All the apps I ever build (or participate in their development) where targeted to the fit the most, without sacrificing the business requirements or other important/critical aspects of the app. Otherwise will end-up with an unusable product.
I guess if you're growing for the sake of growth you would do exactly that: not stop until everybody is using your app, because # of users (or rather, delta-# of users) is the most important metric. I agree it's a terrible metric, but isn't it the only VC-money-fuelled metric that counts in many cases (at least nowadays?)
Re: Oh shit, my app is successful and I didn't think about accessibility
#84I would never agree with this statement of the author: "You won’t stop until everybody is using your app." Why ? All the apps I ever build (or participate in their development) where targeted to the fit the most, without sacrificing the business requirements or other important/critical aspects of the app. Otherwise will end-up with an unusable product.
It’s part of founders pitch repertoire to dumb VCs. Sadly it’s made its way into mainstream content
Re: Oh shit, my app is successful and I didn't think about accessibility
#85Isn't it quite ironic to use a numeronym like a11y for the word accessibility?
Wasn't it chosen because it reads "ally" in leetspeak? Agree it's not incredibly accessible.
Re: Oh shit, my app is successful and I didn't think about accessibility
#86For the last 12 years of his life, my father was in an electric wheelchair as a result of a stroke. Prior to that, I was vaguely aware of ADA compliance - basically because there were posted signs everywhere about parking spaces and restroom stalls. It was only after seeing the ease with which he could navigate the world in spite of his chair that I appreciated how important that law was, because I also saw so many t…
Tangentially related, but it's a bit interesting to see how many men get "radicalized" after being on paternity leave and pushing a stroller around. I'm volunteering on a board for an organization that (among other things) works for more accessible streets (more from an angle of less car dependence though), and we get lots of new members with this revelation. Suddenly they hate getting from point A to B; "It's just a short distance, why is everything making it so hard? Why are there curbs everywhere? Why isn't it wide enough for my stroller to pass? Why are there no big toilets where I can bring the kid with me? Why do I have to go a long way extra for an elevator?".
Re: Oh shit, my app is successful and I didn't think about accessibility
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think eventually we're heading to website as data with clients remixing the data in a way you don't expect; i.e., the final output will be a mishmash of sources.
Sounds like "the semantic web", which has been a great idea just about to take for about 20 years now.
The problem is that the web isn't semantic enough; I mean, when considering the use case of reading documents, we don't even have a table of contents element.
Re: Oh shit, my app is successful and I didn't think about accessibility
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s fair; I might have been a little gung-ho with this introductory flavour text
Moreover, the target "audience" of an app is always specified before the design phase, in the Business Requirements Document and such and it's a defining element for the development. I've read/wrote hundreds of such documents in my career, yet I've never seen one that sets its target audience as 'everybody'.
If your startup has a Business Requirements Document, you launched too late
Re: Oh shit, my app is successful and I didn't think about accessibility
#89Isn't it quite ironic to use a numeronym like a11y for the word accessibility?
It reminds me of the MAD Magazine parody claiming that "Hooked on Phonics" used the phone number "1-800-ABCDEFG" as a means to filter out the really difficult to teach people.
Re: Oh shit, my app is successful and I didn't think about accessibility
#90I do my best to make all of my apps at least vision-impaired accessible. The last app, I figured a way to make that easier to manage, and reward use by non-disabled folks. I have a long-press help feature. If you long-press on any element in the UI, up pops a popover, with a header, and body text, pointing at the element. The popover explains that element. It's fairly easy to have a long-press gesture recognizer appl…
Say what you want about Apple, they hit the nail on the head when it comes to A11y APIs