Social media is fast becoming the easiest and most effective way to share information and communicate with the rest of the world. Although a fantastic tool, it can fall short on accessibility. Let’s take a look at which of the leading social media sites have embraced the needs of the physically impaired.
Facebook has recently created their Accessibility for People with Disabilities page. This required the company to evolve their technology to work with screen readers and other technologies that aid the overall experience for the visually impaired. Today, Facebook provides an audio CAPTCHA, allowing a user with a screen reader to listen to the selected password and access the site. However, screen readers can’t always handle the advanced computing codes that make up the more complicated sites, which is why Facebook provides a full HTML version.
Twitter was once voted the worst interface for people with disabilities. Their downfall was an inconsistent layout, font sizing issues and a serious lack of keyboard navigation options. Eventually, Twitter offered an alternative web portal called Easy Chirp. Easy Chirp operates in a similar way to Twitter, but offers a more consistent layout, better keyboard navigation and support for technologies such as screen readers for the visually impaired.
YouTube
Virtually everyone connected to the Internet uses the online phenomenon that is YouTube; however, many of the videos don’t include closed captioning, so deaf or hard of hearing users can miss out. YouTube addressed this problem by enabling the support of automatic captions in Japanese, Korean and English. Now, these captions can be added in 155 languages and dialects. There are also new settings that enable users to change the colors of captions, allowing them to easily be read regardless of a video’s background colors. Additionally, the use of captions comes in handy when users are in noisy venues such as shopping centers or libraries.
As far as accessibility goes, LinkedIn has always been at the forefront. Recently, the platform improved its navigation, allowing better keyboard functionality that saves time when navigating through professional content and features. Functions, like sending messages and interacting with dialog boxes, are now even more simple for keyboard and screen reader users. LinkedIn also includes text alternatives in images, so that the visually impaired have more of a perspective when navigating news from their networks or checking out profiles of other users. The latest update the platform is working on is an in-page navigation tool to help keyboard and screen reader users navigate long pages more efficiently.
With the technological advancements in accessibility for the disabled constantly improving, it won’t be too long before it’s common practice among all sites.
About the Author: R. Hoyal is a technology writer, currently working for whoishostingthis.com. He has been writing about technology, culture and the environment for the past few years. Currently, he has a keen interest in social media and Nordic countries. Follow him on Twitter @HoyalR.
