I am a blind gamer, and I’ve been getting into this new system to test it out. So far there’s a lot that is accessible, and what isn’t seems like it would be easy to fix. In both the Pathfinder Nexus reader and the Demiplane tabletop, a lot of the buttons do not have labels, so my screen reader cannot identify what they are. I’m not sure which buttons they are for obvious reasons. In addition, on the Demiplane tabletop there are several controls that my screen reader identifies as clickable elements that are likewise unlabeled, so I don’t know what they are either. If these controls were labeled I’m pretty sure both the PF Nexus reader and the tabletop would be completely accessible with screenreaders.
If you want advice for a completely free way to test for screen reader accessibility, I would recommend downloading the completely free screen reader NVDA from nvaccess.org and using it to test the web site in both Chrome and Firefox. If you only test one browser, test it in Chrome. If it’s accessible with that set-up, I think it likely that it’ll work fine in other browsers with other screen readers as well. If you do any testing on Mac, you can turn on the VoiceOver screen reader under Accessibility in System Preferences, but usually if it’s accessible with one it’s at least reasonably accessible with all of them.
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We want to make our platform as accessible as we can, and we have the things you mention here already on our radar to address as soon as we can. Early Access is not only about polishing digital toolset features, but site accessibility as well.
We value your feedback as we undertake that quest - we’ll provide updates (and you’ll be able to experience the improvements) as we are able to implement them.
Thanks again!
Hello, I unfortunately have not had as much time to experiment with Demiplane as I would like, but I have found an accessibility issue for blind players that needs to be fixed in order for the compendium content to be remotely useful. I am assuming the compendium uses the graphics Paizo uses to indicate things like the number of actions something takes or if it’s a reaction and things like that. Screen readers cannot identify these at all, but I believe there are ways to label the graphics in a way that screen readers can read, but that has no visual effect on the site. I recommend looking at the Archives of Nethys site 2e.aonprd.com for an example on how this can be done. I need to verify whether this is a problem in the reader or if it’s just the compendium, but this is a huge problem for any players using a screen reader as it is impossible to identify how many actions something is. Hopefully this is a relatively straightforward fix.
Update: This is also an issue in the reader. I also have looked at the previous issues I reported almost 8 months ago and it looks as though nothing has been done to fix them. Labeling things on a web site is not a complicated thing to fix as I understand it, but it can make the difference between having a fully accessible platform and one that is not accessible at all. I would love to invest in the compendium content for my players and myself, but I can’t justify a $700 plus bundle purchase for something I can’t use properly.
Hello @baelorthebard, I appreciate you checking in - we have identified the issues you mention and they are on the list to address. The fix requires a change to our framework that is a bit more complicated than it might seem, but we are committed to make it happen. I’m sorry it has taken this long, but we will share an update as soon as we are able to do so.
Thanks!