I tried to make our SaaS accessible to the blind for two of our users.
I spend two months trying to understand the user agents for blind users and the HTML attributes: but ultimately I gave up without achieving anything noticeable. This was for a small business (6 employees and I was one of the 4 co-founders).
How were we to choose the right compromise between the cost in hours to me personally versus the cost in hours to our blind users?
Is a blind user's hour more valuable than an hour of mine?
What about the huge number of other users that missed out on usability improvements because I was trying to support our blind users?
This was for a custom framework because I started building it in 2006 (when jQuery was king and no component framework had much market). Therefore hiring outside help was not going to be simple for such an intersection of highly specialised skills. Moreover a similar compromise needs to be made. How many dollars should it cost us as owners? Resources are not endless.
I still struggle with trying to find the right answer to competing deserving needs.
I have a little appreciation for accessibility because I was constantly trying to find solutions for my elderly mother (she was very clued up, but physically limited).
This comment mentions basic Bosch microwaves in Germany with an interface that could work for the blind (one power knob, one timer knob): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41848689
I spend two months trying to understand the user agents for blind users and the HTML attributes: but ultimately I gave up without achieving anything noticeable. This was for a small business (6 employees and I was one of the 4 co-founders).
How were we to choose the right compromise between the cost in hours to me personally versus the cost in hours to our blind users?
Is a blind user's hour more valuable than an hour of mine?
What about the huge number of other users that missed out on usability improvements because I was trying to support our blind users?
This was for a custom framework because I started building it in 2006 (when jQuery was king and no component framework had much market). Therefore hiring outside help was not going to be simple for such an intersection of highly specialised skills. Moreover a similar compromise needs to be made. How many dollars should it cost us as owners? Resources are not endless.
I still struggle with trying to find the right answer to competing deserving needs.
I have a little appreciation for accessibility because I was constantly trying to find solutions for my elderly mother (she was very clued up, but physically limited).
This comment mentions basic Bosch microwaves in Germany with an interface that could work for the blind (one power knob, one timer knob): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41848689