Recently, I contacted Draft2Digital via a phone,–explaining accessibility issues, but as I further explain, I experienced a timeout as I give more details to a problem. That’s when I decided to let other blind users who wanted to publish books know about a problem when using Draft2Digital. But using different browsers to find a suitable way to work around this problem is one common troubleshooting method for screen-reader users.
The Facts About This Problem What I experienced:
The moment you’re about to signup for Draft2Digital, you may experience accessibility issues when using TalkBack with Firefox on your Android device. Since I’m using a Nextbook 2-in-one android tablet that can be a laptop if I want it, and a tablet if I need it. Since I’m aren’t able to reproduce a problem when signing up for Draft2Digital for the first time; I think you may need a visual person who you trust to help you sign up for an account.
Here are the problems what I encountered, and I’ll show you these steps to reproduce these problems, along with some problems you may encounter:
Adding Your Book For The First Time
If you have trouble adding a book by using a Chrome browser via Android, use A Firefox Browser to upload your book. This browser can work with any website, but TalkBack can smoothly read content without any trouble! You can scroll through these controls, but you may need to be very careful when trying to publish your first book. If you’re just wondering, here’s what I just did to reproduce a problem:
- I edited my book, like usual… if I’m done editing my book, I go to my book in question, and attempt to go to the edit link, and activate it by pressing enter on my keyboard.
- I activated the uploader, and uploaded my file to update my book.
- I activated the continue button.
- I attempted to activate any of these optional pages, but I have trouble. I need to skip this step because, this page is not friendly for screen-readers.
- I reviewed my layout of my book, and attempted to fill the checkbox to confirm my ebook is ready.
- I stopped at the publishing step, so I can publish my work later.
The Results
Same Accessibility issues, just like what just happened when using Chromevox on a Chromebook. I had a 5 to 6 year-old Acer C7 Chromebook, I had this since I had it as a Christmas gift. This is sort of like a vintage Chromebook. And it has a PC-like feel. And it’s a cool Chromebook to use because, it can be customized by a customer.
I believe some of these webpages are not in static html, but I’m trying to get myself back to publishing business. And once I succeed, I’m back in business!
With uploading via Firefox… I’ll give it a passing grade because, I managed to upload my file. With Chrome… I’ll give it a fail because, Draft2Digital’s webpage didn’t render for TalkBack at all!
As I activate the first graphic link for editing my book, I’ll give this a passing grade because, it lead me to an edit page for my book. But I’ll give it a failing grade because, there’s no alt tags for these images to be read by screen-readers.
As I attempting to activate the checkbox to go to the next step, I gave it a failing grade because, a blind person isn’t able to go to the next page.
Firefox was a winner because, it can render content for TalkBack when using Draft2Digital.
Poking Around Draft2Digital Webpages Itself
I decided to do a test of jumping through each element to these pages when logged into my account. As I go to “My Books” section of this website, I can see the navigation links are readable by TalkBack, but the other links are still questionable, including other elements displayed.
As I go to “My Account section, the links are just fine, but these controls are still not accessible at all for certain pages.
I experimented with adding the another payment method to my account. But I encountered these problems when going through the interview section via a dialog box. And that gave me a headache, I have to set aside my secondary payment method for payouts for my earnings.
The Results
The “My Books” page has some links working right, and these navigation links are accessible to screen-readers like normal. But images displayed on this webpage has been left without alt tags. For the navigation links… I’ll give them a passing grade! However, these image links, and images are not screen-reader friendly, and that’s why I gave it a failing grade.
When using the interrview section for adding payout methods, I gave it a failing grade because, it’s not accessible for the blind. And these fields are only recognizable by TalkBack. So I’ll give these text fields a passing grade. But the combo box requires you to press a tab button on your hardware keyboard to select an option.
There’s no problem with logging into my account. I’ll give it a passing grade!
What You Should Do?
Always contact support when using Draft2Digital when using your Android Device with TalkBack enabled. Never threaten anyone under any circumstances!
Always document problems what you’ve encountered when using Draft2Digital with a screen-reader.