3 ms·

is the touch bar accessible to folks using screen readers?

developer2 10y ago
I can't see how they would even begin to make that possible. For the next couple of years, the majority of MacBook users will not have a Touch Bar. This means developers will only use it to duplicate functionality that is already accessible in applications. You will not see features that are exclusively found on the Touch Bar. It is encouraging to read this in Apple's documentation[1]: "There is no need, and no API, for your app to know whether or not there is a Touch Bar available. Whether your app is running on a machine that supports the Touch Bar or not, your app's onscreen user interface (UI) appears and behaves the same way." Skip forward 5 years to a time when software developers assume that every Mac user has a Touch Bar. We will get to see just how poorly they make use of the feature. Even as someone without any disabilities, I sincerely hope I am never absolutely required to use the Touch Bar for features that cannot be found elsewhere in an application. [1] https://developer.apple.com/reference/appkit/nstouchbar https://developer.apple.com/reference/appkit/nstouchbar
- madeofpalk 10y ago
  I would be shocked and surprised that it doesn't have the same VoiceOver APIs available to make it accessible just like iOS.
callalex 10y ago
Didn't you see? Their marketing department made a video with someone in a chair so it's obvious that they super duper care about teh disables
- sctb 10y ago
  Please don't comment like this here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
TheCoreh 10y ago
From the documentation: > Because the Touch Bar is designed to work with AppKit, it is fully accessible. > Be sure to use the customizationLabel property on every NSTouchBarItem instance that you designate as customizable (as described in NSTouchBar Customization). The accessibility system in macOS makes use of these labels. So, yes.

I can't see how they would even begin to make that possible. For the next couple of years, the majority of MacBook users will not have a Touch Bar. This means developers will only use it to duplicate functionality that is already accessible in applications. You will not see features that are exclusively found on the Touch Bar. It is encouraging to read this in Apple's documentation[1]: "There is no need, and no API, for your app to know whether or not there is a Touch Bar available. Whether your app is running on a machine that supports the Touch Bar or not, your app's onscreen user interface (UI) appears and behaves the same way." Skip forward 5 years to a time when software developers assume that every Mac user has a Touch Bar. We will get to see just how poorly they make use of the feature. Even as someone without any disabilities, I sincerely hope I am never absolutely required to use the Touch Bar for features that cannot be found elsewhere in an application. [1] https://developer.apple.com/reference/appkit/nstouchbar https://developer.apple.com/reference/appkit/nstouchbar

madeofpalk 10y ago
I would be shocked and surprised that it doesn't have the same VoiceOver APIs available to make it accessible just like iOS.

callalex 10y ago

Didn't you see? Their marketing department made a video with someone in a chair so it's obvious that they super duper care about teh disables

sctb 10y ago
Please don't comment like this here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

TheCoreh 10y ago

From the documentation: > Because the Touch Bar is designed to work with AppKit, it is fully accessible. > Be sure to use the customizationLabel property on every NSTouchBarItem instance that you designate as customizable (as described in NSTouchBar Customization). The accessibility system in macOS makes use of these labels. So, yes.