Thread

Hi all!

I’ve said before that I am *very* impressed with the usability of EE (I switched from WordPress because of it). I rely on a screen reader frequently and so far have encountered no problems with accessing everything in the Core licence.

When I do obtain a Personal licence, though, I’d like to know how easy are the MetaWeblog API and Blacklist modules are to use with a screenreader? How is the Blacklist module updated (i.e., from ExpressionEngine.com)?

Also, if I have accessibility issues re: my Personal licence, may I contact the Support team?

-bobby

EE Personal is basically the same as Core, plus a few additional modules. The Metaweblog API is just that, an API, ie nothing that you directly work with. I don’t see why there should be any problems with a screen reader. The same goes for Blacklist module: you use it to ban malicious IP-addressess automatically, but that is all done via the same interface your are familiar with already.

All support, and that would include accessibility issues, in my opinion, is handled in these forums.

And it’s worth noting, Bobby, that the current version of Core includes the MetaWeblog API, so you could try it out if you upgrade to version 1.6.  We try our best to make sure our control panel markup is accessible / screen reader friendly, but please let us know if there are areas that need improvement.

-scratches head- I’ve not upgraded EE on my site just yet, but I’ll be sure to before I hit the sack tonight.

Like I said, I love how accessible the EE admin panel is…I tried it and I’m hooked…I can still use WordPress but it’s getting harder and harder to use with a screenreader, and it used to be OK. I will definitely let you know if there are problems, but there really hasn’t been any for me.

Oh, yes, I think the only thing I had troubles with was the blogger API module. I couldn’t get into the form for some reason with ZoomText so I had to get the API URL from the source. A label would fix that, because if a form is blank, it will completely ignore the form. It’s pretty obvious most of the time, like if it’s a blog interface or forum box, but I usually have to dig through the source of a page if a form has something in it. Gah. I’m wondering if I’m making any sense to you?

What I mean by labels, are…

<label title="MetaWeblog API URL" for="metaurl"><input type="text" value="http://yourdomain.com/ACT.cgi?=365" id="metaurl" /></label>

Let me know if you need a more verbose explanation.

OK I am updated to 1.6! It’s still super accessible, though I had to dig in the source for the meta weblog API url. You should think about putting labels on your forms, Derek—it’s not only accessible, but also looks neat! 😉

Thank you Bobby, we try to use labels where we can, but there are some places where they may have gone forgotten.  I’ll see about getting them added to both of the areas you mentioned.

I hope you aren’t offended by me pointing out difficulties. Like I said, EE and the EllisLab sites are really, really accessible, it’s great that you’re a small company and really do listen to your customers.

Oh, and Derek, I think you should know that I am a teenager—sixteen. How I dream of having my school’s site elegantly run by ExpressionEngine (they can afford a licence)—but they insist on using Blackboard. *frowns*

Forgive me for being redundant, but I really want to hammer this compliment: you listen to your customers. I know a few blind friends that use WordPress that tried to contact the WP team or someone adept with WP to make it more accessible for JAWS, but they couldn’t. I’ve gotten one to switch over to EE and they absolutely love its flexibility as well as its accessibility.

EE forever!

I hope you aren’t offended by me pointing out difficulties.

Absolutely not, Bobby.  Accessibility is important to us, and I do not own an aural assistive browser.  Nor do I think that as a person with 20/20 eyesight that I would be able to accurately assess usability by testing with one myself, as I do not use them on a daily basis.  So feedback from users such as yourself is quite welcome, and we’re happy that we’re able to meet your needs.

20/20, eh? I remember those days, however brief they were. *grins*