3 ms·

> I can't imagine a blind dev working exclusively on the front end That’s unfortunate! Clearly blind people are the most qualified to work on one specific fron

by thiht 5y ago

> I can't imagine a blind dev working exclusively on the front end That’s unfortunate! Clearly blind people are the most qualified to work on one specific frontend job: accessibility. The fact that it’s extremely hard to automate accessibility testing in a meaningful way would make it a full time job at most places that take accessibility seriously.

miki123211 5y ago
Yes and no. Screen reader testing is extremely important and that's something blind people do well. However, if there's a link on a website that the screen reader cannot see, a blind person won't report that as an accessibility issue because they won't even know it's there. Other things, such as testing with Zoom or high contrast mode, also require sight.
- monkeynotes 5y ago
  If your test is broken if the test script leaves out the button. Sighted developers and QEs will miss testing elements if they aren't aware they should be there.
  - dathinab 5y ago
    Most tooling and test sites are in practice at least slightly broken.
    - monkeynotes 5y ago
      I'm talking about a level playing field between sighted and blind QA, they are both subject to missing problems if the test is poorly designed. The fact that "most" tests are broken is related but tangential to my observation.
- jscholes 5y ago
  > if there's a link on a website that the screen reader cannot see, a blind person won't report that as an accessibility issue because they won't even know it's there. This is highly variable. As a screen reader user who works in accessibility with a software engineering focus, I don't consider a test to be complete if I've only evaluated what the page exposes to the accessibility API. Assessing the rendered DOM by hand, testing on different viewports where controls may be slightly or completely different, etc., are just as critical to the testing process as trying to simply use the page. But, I recognise that there are many accessibility testers out there without such a technical focus, and it is true to say that they may gloss over something if it is completely missing in the accessibility tree.

by thiht 5y ago

miki123211 5y ago

Yes and no. Screen reader testing is extremely important and that's something blind people do well. However, if there's a link on a website that the screen reader cannot see, a blind person won't report that as an accessibility issue because they won't even know it's there. Other things, such as testing with Zoom or high contrast mode, also require sight.

monkeynotes 5y ago
If your test is broken if the test script leaves out the button. Sighted developers and QEs will miss testing elements if they aren't aware they should be there.
- dathinab 5y ago
  Most tooling and test sites are in practice at least slightly broken.
  - monkeynotes 5y ago
    I'm talking about a level playing field between sighted and blind QA, they are both subject to missing problems if the test is poorly designed. The fact that "most" tests are broken is related but tangential to my observation.
jscholes 5y ago
> if there's a link on a website that the screen reader cannot see, a blind person won't report that as an accessibility issue because they won't even know it's there. This is highly variable. As a screen reader user who works in accessibility with a software engineering focus, I don't consider a test to be complete if I've only evaluated what the page exposes to the accessibility API. Assessing the rendered DOM by hand, testing on different viewports where controls may be slightly or completely different, etc., are just as critical to the testing process as trying to simply use the page. But, I recognise that there are many accessibility testers out there without such a technical focus, and it is true to say that they may gloss over something if it is completely missing in the accessibility tree.