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Questions tagged [accessibility]

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Questions that discuss the usability of Stack Exchange sites by people with disabilities.

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46
votes
0answers
284 views

Who in the company is responsible for accessibility?

We've had a number of accessibility concerns/complaints lately: "The Loop #2" contains inaccessible images with no transcription (January 23, 2020) Low contrast text --- doesn't meet ...
61
votes
0answers
389 views

“The Loop #2” contains inaccessible images with no transcription

The latest blog post, "The Loop #2: Understanding Site Satisfaction, Summer 2019", contains a graph showing percentages of responses to the site satisfaction survey: Coded responses to "What ...
30
votes
0answers
216 views

Low contrast text — doesn't meet WCAG standards

WCAG standards for accessible text are massively ignored on SE: Placeholder text for the Textarea element: Inactive tabs: "Joined ..." notes: All these elements are poorly ...
10
votes
1answer
111 views

Visual focus on the comment flag icon seems to have vanished when tabbing

When I'm using tab to move the focus around on the page, most things have a visual indication of where the focus is (which is a relatively recent change; thank you). I often use this to flag comments -...
31
votes
2answers
246 views

Tag labels are hard to read, since the font color was changed. Should the change be reverted?

I was hesitating about posting this since it's a very minor thing, but here it goes. Something didn't look right about the SO design today, and after cheching with the Wayback Machine, my suspicions ...
17
votes
4answers
878 views

How can we mitigate the difficulties some autistic users have with pronouns?

A subset of autistic users has reported that they are not always able to use the pronouns that another user requests. The problem The current Code of Conduct is clear on this matter: Using stated ...
21
votes
2answers
314 views

Progress background of gold badges in profile is barely noticable

The difference between page background color and progress on golden badges is so miniscule that I find it hard to see it at all. I see progress on bronze and silver badges just fine, but the contrast ...
30
votes
2answers
399 views

Stack Exchange policy on images and the visually impaired

This question relates particularly to SE Biology, but has aspects that impinge on other Stack Exchange sites. It concerns insertion of images and their viewing by users who use screen readers. Is it, ...
3
votes
2answers
906 views

Since SE is US based, is the new CoC compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?

Since there are disabilities, such as autism, which may make compliance with the CoC difficult, what steps will SE take to make sure they are in compliance with the ADA, and what reasonable ...
88
votes
6answers
2k views

Did anyone consider the impact on autistics of recent Code of Conduct changes?

From the answers I see on Official FAQ on gender pronouns and Code of Conduct changes it seems like a lot of people are unhappy because they can't follow the grammar rules they learned back in English ...
72
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0answers
494 views
+50

Provide official podcast transcripts

There has been some level of effort to provide written transcripts of official Stack Exchange podcasts. Transcripts for the first four Unicorn Meta Zoo podcasts were posted on Github, and the ninth ...
24
votes
1answer
1k views

I have a mental health issue and it affects my participation on the site

I've been a regular on the site for some time now and am reluctant to come forward with this post, as I'm scared of the repercussions to my professional life. Suffice to say I'm well known, please do ...
56
votes
2answers
430 views

Usability issue: Comment voting policy negatively affects people with minor tremor

Like more than 1% of the American population, I have a tremor. It's minor enough that I don't have problems with any apps except for one: Stack Overflow. When I try to upvote a comment, my tap often ...
3
votes
0answers
37 views

Inconsistent accessibility support for gear icons

All gear icons highlighted in the screenshot above offer a similar experience: you can click on it and a "window" opens. However there are subtle differences that may have an impact for keyboard-only ...
7
votes
0answers
59 views

Reputation graph has color accessibility issues

The StackExchange reputation graph looks like it has potential color accessibility problems when showing multiple sites. When hovering over the graph, there are markers with distinct shapes. Great! ...
5
votes
1answer
69 views

Should transcriptions of text-based images be included (only) as alt-text?

Often on Skeptics.SE, we get questions about some viral meme taken from social media which is a graphic containing nothing but text. This makes it difficult for search engines to find the page when ...
16
votes
4answers
199 views

How can I write good alt text?

When editing Stack Exchange posts, a whole ton of them don't have alt text on images. Alt text is important so the visually impaired that have to rely on screen readers can experience and value Stack ...
10
votes
0answers
115 views

Can we have a little more accessibility with the stats below question titles?

The question stats (when asked, when last active, and views) were recently moved into the main part of the page from the right column, which is a big help for some use cases. I just have one small ...
24
votes
0answers
169 views

Does Stack Exchange have an Accessibility Policy?

I've seen several laudable posts on the network and associated blogs about SE's dedication to accessibility and how that informed the types of affiliate ads allowed: This blog post - "...our effort ...
29
votes
0answers
183 views

The privileges page uses problematic styling

Prompt. The things I can do are faded to the point of unreadability, while the things I cannot do are more legible. The hover effect is used to gain readability of faded items, but many devices have ...
-3
votes
1answer
121 views

Add a 1px outline to site logos

Would it be possible to add an outline to the logos of Stack Exchange websites? I am using the Stack Overflow Dark user style, and it makes the Super User logo mostly unreadable, and the text of the ...
0
votes
0answers
63 views

Does using code syntax for non-code content causes accessibility issues? [duplicate]

I ask because I was told it does when I was working as web developer. On the other hand, diamond moderator who posted this: https://russian.stackexchange.com/a/19767/12008 insists on using this syntax ...
19
votes
0answers
64 views

Is it possible to make the annotation and flag counters on profiles colorblind friendly?

I have a heck of a hard time identifying whether a user has annotations or flagged posts on their account when looking at the profile page and only one is present. There is an older post asking for a ...
4
votes
1answer
83 views

Color for new events in dropdown is too light

Whenever I get new reputation events, badges, or comments I end up scrolling too far because the highlight is too light. See for example in this image: The regular background is white (#FFFFFF) ...
6
votes
1answer
140 views

Search functionality is easy to miss on Stack Exchange sites

Came to the Parenting site and it took a while to find the search functionality. This blends into the top bar so much it would certainly take forever to find the search window being hidden in plain ...
16
votes
1answer
116 views

Deleted posts could create confusion for colour blind users; is there something to be done about it?

I'm a mod on Game Development and today, in chat, a user has asked me to delete something they mistakenly posted as an answer instead of a comment. And so I went ahead and deleted the answer. But ...
59
votes
1answer
4k views

What testing is done on 'April Fool' pranks?

So, we have just had an 'April Fools' jape that activated on 31st March for many people wan't capable of being disabled site-wide (although this has been fixed) isn't capable of being disabled ...
21
votes
0answers
110 views

Enabled/disabled mod menu options should be more visibly distinguished

Moderators get a menu of things we can do to questions. Some that aren't applicable will be disabled. There's a problem: depending on one's browser and OS it's nearly impossible to tell what's enabled ...
13
votes
1answer
144 views

Can't see that answer is accepted in screen reader

I've noticed that after accepting answers, e.g. this one, I have no indication that it is accepted, using a screen reader. This has been occurring on multiple SE sites. The screen reader reports the ...
21
votes
0answers
126 views

Vote buttons, stars, and moderator margin controls just got a lot lighter

The controls in the left margin of a post -- vote buttons, star, and moderator controls (timeline, flag count, deleted comments) are now a much lighter shade of gray than they used to be. Before (...
14
votes
1answer
228 views

Can't edit a comment without the mouse

If I write a comment, make a typo, submit the comment, and then notice the mistake and want to correct it by editing the comment, I can't do that as a keyboard-only user. If I try to tab to the "edit"...
14
votes
1answer
115 views

Can't view vote counts without the mouse

I can't tab to the space in between the vote buttons that shows the current score, that users with 1,000+ rep can click on to view up votes/downvotes. The focus goes right from the sort tabs to the "...
10
votes
0answers
103 views

Make sure that there's a visual indicator when something has keyboard focus

Not all keyboard-only users are blind. In light of this, one of the main things to focus on in keyboard accessibility is that you can tell when something has keyboard focus. I've noticed at least ...
7
votes
0answers
49 views

Can't access the mod dashboard without the mouse

While I can open up the mod inbox by pressing Q, I can't access /admin, which is linked at the top of that dropdown. While I can use the number keys to get to each item in the dropdown, tab moves the ...
21
votes
0answers
166 views

If someone is tabbing around the site, offer to turn on keyboard shortcuts

Turning on keyboard shortcuts... isn't the simplest thing to do. You have to either previously know about them, or happen to stumble upon them buried deep in your settings. This isn't really helpful ...
8
votes
0answers
57 views

Can't start a bounty without the mouse

It's currently impossible to start a bounty without the mouse. Trying to tab to the "start a bounty" skips right over it; going from "add a comment" to the link to the question in the "share a link" ...
9
votes
1answer
49 views

Allow me to use the standard keyboard shortcuts for closing a question in the review queues

It's almost impossible to review Close Votes from the review queues without a mouse. For accessibility purposes, it would be much better if the same keyboard shortcuts that you'd use from the ...
8
votes
0answers
61 views

Can't decline a flag without the mouse

While this is a fairly rare edge case, I found myself in a position where I was unable to decline a flag while not being able to use a mouse. Trying to tab to the "decline" button skips right over it....
5
votes
0answers
35 views

Can't add a watched tag without the mouse

Next installment in the keyboard accessibility series ;) As I've mentioned previously, keyboard accessibility is an important part of making sure that your site is accessible. Watched tags fail ...
17
votes
0answers
119 views

SE chat is completely inaccessible to keyboard-only users

Keyboard-only access is an important part of accessibility. In my case, it's simply because my mouse has stopped working, but there are many people who rely on webpages being keyboard-only friendly to ...
18
votes
1answer
335 views

Accessibility issue with some site themes

Since I haven't had success posting in the appropriate thread of Academia's meta, I've decided to try here. It's an appropriate place for this issue anyway since, although it's not quite as bad, I ...
3
votes
0answers
39 views

Why bounty messages cannot include line breaks? [duplicate]

I published this question in Unix & Linux StackExchange. I've added a bounty with quite a long bounty message. The original bounty message included 3 line breaks so to be comprised of three ...
30
votes
0answers
143 views

Stack Exchange's keyboard shortcuts are not accessible to visually impaired users

By keyboard shortcuts I mean these: Announcement: Keyboard shortcuts are now integrated into the site. We can switch them on in our preferences. When screen reader or keyboard accessibility issues ...
26
votes
0answers
206 views

Add accessible skip links

Skip links are a fairly common accessibility design pattern that help screen reader users navigate a page. Stack Exchange pages are large and complex enough that they should probably have skip links ...
6
votes
2answers
96 views

Add setting to change default link colors

Can there be a setting for users to change the color of links that they have not followed, the ones they have followed, and the ones they hover over? When I am on the active questions tab of a site, ...
15
votes
0answers
87 views

Keyboard-only users cannot flag questions or answers

One of the baseline principles of web accessibility is that all functionality of a site should be available via keyboard navigation alone. It's an important baseline to accommodate those with muscular ...
6
votes
1answer
88 views

Make the share, edit, close, flag, … buttons more obviously buttons, please?

The buttons for acting upon a question or answer — share, edit, close, flag, sometimes others — are presented as tiny gray words. Here's what you see reading this question right now, for instance: ...
28
votes
1answer
187 views

Keyboard-only users cannot upvote/downvote posts or comments

One of the baseline principles of web accessibility is that all functionality of a site should be available via keyboard navigation alone. It's an important baseline to accommodate those with muscular ...
21
votes
1answer
169 views

Keyboard-only users cannot flag comments in the new comment flag dialog

One of the baseline principles of web accessibility is that all functionality of a site should be available via keyboard navigation alone. (That's guideline 2.1 from WCAG 2.1.) The new comment flag ...
4
votes
0answers
20 views

Can't exit from comment mode using keyboard shortcuts

While browsing through the questions in a mouse and pointer free environment, if someone accidentally clicks on C instead of the intended V, they go to the comment mode on post itself. Intuitively, ...

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