Benjamin Levicek Lately, the App Store is dominated by the app club house. I joined this social network last week had relatively high hopes for accessibility, I learned from several sources that the accessibility of this application is not at a good level, and after I managed to get an invitation, the words of other visually impaired people were confirmed. Today we will analyze what is the most problematic in Clubhouse, how it is possible to work on it blindly, and how I currently look at the social network from the point of view of a blind person.
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The first look is impressive
Immediately after installing the app, I was hoping that blind registration would go smoothly, and I was quite surprised that everything was decently accessible with VoiceOver. When choosing my own interests and followers, I came across a few silent buttons, but this did not put me off in any way. However, I ran into the first major problems right away on the main page, and subsequently in the individual rooms.
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Silent buttons are the rule
Even after opening the software, I had a huge problem getting my bearings, mainly because many of the VoiceOver buttons read as unvoiced. Yes, it is possible to try to click on them one by one and find out what each of them means, but that is definitely not a comfortable solution. Especially when we are talking about a social network based only on audio content. Buttons such as clicking a profile or starting a room are accessible, but not for sending an invitation, for example.
Orientation in rooms is really a breeze with a screen reader
After connecting to the room, you can notice a list of all participants and a button to raise your hand, this can be operated relatively easily for the blind. But after calling up between the speakers, I noticed another problem - aside from the sound indicator, it's basically impossible to tell with VoiceOver. In order to accept the invitation to speak, I have to click on my profile in the call, but it is located somewhere between all the participants, which is quite uncomfortable, especially when there are a large number of them in the room. When it comes to moderating a blind room, you'll probably spend more time seeing who's logged in than actually talking. The developers don't deserve credit for this.
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Pavel Jelic There are also quite a few difficulties outside of accessibility
As much as I like the concept of Clubhouse, I sometimes feel like it's a bit of a beta version. The application seems quite counterintuitive to me, despite the fact that it fulfills its purpose. I also miss the customized software for iPad, the web interface, and according to my friends, the software for Android devices.
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I don't like the app, but I'll stick with Clubhouse
Although I basically only criticized in the whole article, both in the area of accessibility and in other aspects, I will continue to use the Clubhouse social network. I really enjoy communicating with people in this way, both with famous personalities and with someone I've never heard of. However, I still stand behind the criticism that I have towards the developers of this social network, and I strongly hope that they manage to improve the application not only in terms of accessibility for the visually impaired.
