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Yesterday, I learned that my sixty-year old mother uses a screen reader on her tablet. Her vision is fine but she never knows what icons mean so the screen read
by AdamTReineke 8y ago
Yesterday, I learned that my sixty-year old mother uses a screen reader on her tablet. Her vision is fine but she never knows what icons mean so the screen reader is able to read out the describing text and decipher them for her.
- notimetorelax 8y agoThis is a perfect example of why accessibility features are not only for visually impaired! Accessibility done right can bring value for a wider audience.
- dingo_bat 8y agoOnly if your icons are bad. Otherwise this problem wouldn't exist.
- gowld 8y agoDo you know what the universally comprehensible icons are for every software function? If so, you could make great money (or other forms of wealth) by licensing them to software developers.
- sevensor 8y agoI think the problem is that icons are categorically bad for people who are unable to interpret their visual language. I switched my preference to text as soon as the icons were rolled out, and forgot about them. I resented that the designers were imposing a new metaphorical scheme and expecting us all to adapt to it, to suit their own needs. It's the pinnacle of arrogance.
- bigiain 8y agoGoogle imposes a version of "a new metaphorical scheme" on every website owner and expects them all to adapt to it - it's hardly surprising they also expect human brains to adapt to suit them... I mean it's not like anyone ever met an arrogant Googler, right?
- paulryanrogers 8y agoJust curious, what do you think of emojis?
- sevensor 8y agoAll the ambiguity of body language with none of the advantages of context. I'm not the first and surely not the last person to confuse crying-tears-of-mirth with crying-tears-of-sadness. And what am I to make of an aubergine or a bicycle?
- bigiain 8y ago"The street finds its own uses for things." -- William Gibson, Burning Chrome, 1982 I'd be curious to know if she worked this "trick" out on her own, or if there's hidden shared knowledge out there where she learned this from her peers?