XenForo accessibility - for Visually impaired

[BenD]

We are considering converting our forum from vbulletin to xenForo. One large hurdle remains and I was hoping to hear (ideally in a perfect world) from somebody with first hand experience. How does xenForo perform with text readers - particularly JAWS for blind and visually impaired? More specifically are there major issues on the back end- Admin CP and admin functions if using JAWS?

If there is nobody that is directly familiar with this question , then does anybody have an idea how we could test it before purchase? The very limited "free look" was not really useful due to the number of things that are turned off so it is impossible to tell if it is simply turned off or if there is an accessibility issue.

Thanks and I would appreciate any input on the accessibility issue for vision impaired/blind users lacking personal experience if you know of users as either members or staff and can provide ancedotal information I would appreciate it.

 

[Paul B]

The very limited "free look" was not really useful due to the number of things that are turned off

The online demo is fully featured.
The software is identical to that which you would download from your customer area if you own a license.

It even includes the optional add-ons such as the gallery and resource manager.

 

[Mike]

The demo is probably the best way to check. What issues did you have?

 

[BenD]

Thanks for the prompt reply !

I will have our forum owner look again and try with JAWS again on that, but it may imply there was an issue with compatibility in that case.

In the mean time, if anybody can answer directly about compatibility / accessibility with JAWS (that is the most popular reader) or any other common text reader based on first hand use or close anecdotal experience as an end user I would appreciate it.

 

[BenD]

I did walk her through the demo yesterday again. The issue is simply with a completely empty database the screen reader sees no change happening unless changing from one function to another so she had no way of knowing if it was "working" or not. Selecting a tile takes to a new set of functions but with nothing there she was not able to see if it is "doing" what she presumes the function to be based off the reader interpretation. Seeing a list of functions but having them all empty so they do nothing shows only a layout of the back end to a sighted person, and only a list of features to screen reader (little different than written list in text document).

 

[Paul B]

Have you considered adding some content?

 

[Louise Williams]

Just leaving a follow up in case it ever does come up again- We did purchase and have installed and JAWs text to speech for visually impaired does work quite well with the back end after had content inside except for an additional chat plug-in that has been trouble all of the xenforo parts have been compatible.

 

[Paul B]

Thanks for letting us know.

That will be useful feedback for anyone else enquiring.

 

[Louise Williams]

I know this is very old - however there was an update on jaws that allows to disable parts that has now made xenforo work exceptionally well with the JAWS accessibility reader program. It no longer tries to read everything on the page all the time- and allows it to only read commonly used/commonly updated information. It is hidden back in the JAWS system settings - but if there was ever a question about it coming up thta woudl be the first thing to have them check because it eliminated all issues our sight impaired admin had with using the platform as either user or Admin.

 

[Joe Kuhn]

I know this is very old - however there was an update on jaws that allows to disable parts that has now made xenforo work exceptionally well with the JAWS accessibility reader program. It no longer tries to read everything on the page all the time- and allows it to only read commonly used/commonly updated information. It is hidden back in the JAWS system settings - but if there was ever a question about it coming up thta woudl be the first thing to have them check because it eliminated all issues our sight impaired admin had with using the platform as either user or Admin.

Wow, I happen to be very interested in Braille and sight impairment issues after having done some sensitivity training on my own. What it's like to have no vision at all was quite difficult and noteworthy in terms of people willing to help with problems along the way. This is very re-assuring to hear of this interaction with JAWS. Thanks for this update.

 

[MesterPerfect]

I use jaws with xf2.1 which is very good
But I'm having some problems with writing posts and replies
Especially with nvda software

 

[leslie dow]

Thanks for the update. We did have a few users that used JAWS a couple of years ago with no problem. I have one now who is having issues. Does anyone know the exact setting in the JAWS settings that needs to be disabled to fix the issues? Thank you!