Android Screen Reader Compatibility and Accessibility for Android app

[Zuglord 4]

Hello!

Thank you for making this software, and for the time and consideration that you have actively implemented towards making your program accessible for individuals with various disabilities.

I wanted to first mention that none of this is intended as a complaint, but rather my user experience and feedback based upon my surprisingly positive experience with your software and I was compelled to share my feelings. 

For these purposes I do not use touch screen at all and rely upon consistent linear navigation via a Bluetooth keyboard, on the Emby Android App. I have not spent any significant time using the Web application via PC. 

When I first load the program, I count to 35 in my head, and then I can start moving from element to element. If I try to navigate from element to element before this 35 second count down, it either freezes, or focus does not change from a target called “EMBY – Web View” – the behavior is unpredictable. I believe this is caused by no redirect of the screen readers focus to new screens from the loading screen and no lazy loading in AJAX. When I successfully navigate to the Next Element  (using ALT + RIGHT ARROW) from the “EMBY Webview” it puts me onto a “Home Button”. I currently have on my server a “Home” and a “Favorites”. I am unable to tell that Home is actively selected, or if it can be deselected, the same for the Favorites button. From there is a button to cast labeled “play on another device” Followed by a button labeled "Settings".

When I access Settings by pressing ALT + ENTER, it brings my focus directly to “Display – Link Display”, ALT + RIGHT ARROW brings me to the next element, which is is of unknown type and has no label for its name, but there is an associated sound to confirm i have navigated to a new element type, and APT + RIGHT ARROW again, now brings me to the third element which is just the word “Display”. Pressing ALT + ENTER on any of these 3 elements brings up the same menu. However, it should be noted that this is not intuitive, and at first appears to be three separate elements that presumably lead to three different areas of content. This also seems minorly redundant, as it takes me pressing ALT + RIGHT ARROW 29 times from the Settings Button to reach my Manage Downloads Link which in full reads “Cloud Underscore Download Manage Downloads Link Manage Downloads”. Pressing ALT + RIGHT ARROW again brings me to “Cloud Underscore Download” and again ALT + RIGHT ARROW brings me to “Mannage Downloads”. I now am aware that there are closer to 10 individual sets of 3 elements each within the Settings Menu including Display, going through "Manage Downloads" with some elements intricately labeled, and others with no label at all (inconsistent) all labeled differently. I believe all of these can be placed under a single ARIA label and be associated and read “Link Manage Downloads Link” or "Link Display Link".

Once within "Link - Display- Link" "Collapsed, auto popup button display language" is focused. ALT + RIGHT ARROW brings me to "translating Emby is an ongoing project." ALT + RIGHT ARROW to a Link to "Learn how you can contribute", ALT + RIGHT ARROW brings me to "...small pause...double tap and hold to long press" (which means nothing to me as i do not utilize a touch screen) but does not react to pressing ALT + ENTER. I am advised that the "Collapsed, Auto popup bottom display language" button and this unlabeled Element can be put into the same ARIA label as they are visually the same element. 

There are other inconstancies within the program that I am learning my way through, but they all follow this sort of pattern. So I wanted to bring these to your attention. However, I do want to commend you for coding this program in a way that at least allows for work arounds among screen reader users like myself. If the above patterns can be fixed, your program will be completely accessible and screen-reader user friendly. I would be happy to discuss this and provide more specifics via a Zoom demonstration if you would like. I can also provide recommendations for remediating the above issues.

Thank you for taking the time to make this program and for all of the accessibility minded details you have all implemented!

[ebr 16184]

Hi.  If you want to use linear navigation, try putting the app in "TV Mode" (display settings).

[Zuglord 4]

Thank you for this advice, I do have an Emby Premiere membership and will give this a shot and let you know how it works out, thank you! 

[Zuglord 4]

I tried the Display as TV mode and this does make the Home Screen easier to use, and provides immediate focus change to the first TV show (I went to Playlists - all I have are TV shows there) it still has 5 unlabeled elements for each ALT + LEFT ARROW,  followed by the familiar "Settings Button", ALT + LEFT ARROW continues to navigate to the Search Button, Cast to other device button, the word playlists which seems to have no function, and then finally to "Playlists Web View" which when i activate, seems to play a random video file from the playlist? It could also be the most recently downloaded or next up, but i am unsure. 

The Settings Link List is still subject to missing ARIA labels and treats each menu option element as separate as stated earlier

It does also help with the episode pairing of shows and the home screen "3 set pairings" are all associated correctly! 

The Buttons for "Download" may change to "Downloaded", but there is no indication as to if the Played box is Checked or unchecked, the same for the Favorites Button. There is no indication of any change when activating either button. 

However, once playing a show, there is a very limited time (3 seconds?)  for me to bring up the media player control buttons, (pause, rewind, fast forward etc.)  and then get to the (appropriate labeled) button. the media controls disappear and do not accept navigating between the elements as part of the reset timer to hide them again. Each time the Media Controls are displayed, it starts me on the Play/Pause button. All buttons on this screen I have been able to navigate to before they are hidden again appear to be labeled correctly, but disappear before I can actually use them. Is there a setting to adjust the time these exist before being re-hidden, or to allow navigation to refresh their display?  A sighted person advised that there is in fact a progress bar displayed, the show name displayed, but I am unable to navigate to it, let alone utilize its functionality before the menu disappears.

Most of this information was presented to me by a sighted individual, otherwise i would not be aware these features existed. 

Thank you for taking the time to respond, and pushing me in the right direction. Hopefully these navigational concerns are worthy of review and some tweaking to allow the intended functionality of said features. 

I also wanted to add, when I download a single video from a series, and having watched the entirety of it, I am then unable to "rewind" the video, and if not for my sighted assistance, I would just assume the link was broken. I am being told it is showing the very last second of my show, and then closes back to the menu I was at. Is there a "rewind" feature that can be used on video that is not actively playing? I was thinking an option to "Replay Video" or "Rewind Video" within the menus to "Play", "Play all from here" would be nice, unless there is already an easy to access function i am simply missing.  Thank you again! 

Edited November 23, 2020 by Zuglord

[Zuglord 4]

@ebr Last night i spent several hours searching for the Cast to Device Button. After changing to TV mode, my Emby Android App no longer offers me a "Cast to other Device" button, it appears to have been completely removed? Is this intentional and if so, is there a hotkey to bring the "Cast to Device" screen while in TV mode? 

Edited November 25, 2020 by Zuglord

[Carlo 4561]

Hi @Zuglord

Can you upload a screen pic of what you are seeing?

[Zuglord 4]

3 hours ago, cayars said:

Hi @Zuglord

Can you upload a screen pic of what you are seeing?

This will actually take a video recording - I will have to set something up later. 

[Zuglord 4]

here is an upload of the controls fading away while attempting to navigate to the appropriate button during video playback. I was able to double tap on the progress bar which reset the progress to zero, but the other times i must be so so quick in order to reach the button and activate it before all the controls fade. 

Thank you.

Edited November 28, 2020 by Zuglord

[Luke 42079]

Hi @Zuglord can you try the new 3.1.80 release? How does that compare?

[Zuglord 4]

Hi Luke!

confirmed update to 3.1.80 using Samsung Note 9. I used finger swipes, no bluetooth board for this instance.

Cycling between options (rewind, pause/play, fast forward, progress bar) does not change the fadeout of the controls and loss of focus after about 4 seconds. 

This issue remains unresolved for me at this time. 

I am being advised to say "Static on select through JAVA on that particular bar".

Thank you for reaching out and checking in!

Thank you for the great work!

 

[Luke 42079]

Quote

loss of focus after about 4 seconds. 

Hi @Zuglord doesn't the netflix OSD also go away in about the same amount of time?

By the way I've done some work to make sure that all of our buttons are tagged with the appropriate attributes for screen readers to utilize, so hopefully you'll notice improvement there.