Review of SoundCloud for the iPad using a Screen Reader From: Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) Sent: Friday, October 11, 2013 5:10 AM To: tahahaa...@gmail.com Subject: Review of SoundCloud for the iPad using a Screen Reader
Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page. You are subscribed to TechKnowMore blog for Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). Review of SoundCloud for the iPad using a Screen Reader 10-10-2013 01:20 PM BST Body: This App was analysed on 14 March 2013 on an iPad 2 running iOS 6. At the time of testing the app version was 2.4.7 Background I am in my early twenties and I have no light perception, I therefore rely on speech and Braille output when accessing gadgets such as the iPhone and iPad. I have been using iOS devices for around 18 months and I have really enjoyed keeping up with the way the devices have enhanced the lives of blind and partially sighted people. One example being the ability to access social networking Apps, such as Facebook, twitter and SoundCloud. I chose to review the accessibility of the SoundCloud App with VoiceOver because I found it an interesting way of sharing messages with my friends and followers. Information about the App The SoundCloud App is free to download from the App store and is a useful tool for sharing your favourite music, podcasts and any other audio clips you have. Users can connect with their friends on Facebook, twitter and tumbler. When downloading the App, I was able to access the App store using VoiceOver with no problems. Setting up When I opened the App for the first time, I found that as I did not have a SoundCloud account, I needed to register with the service provider. I was able to do this with no problem. In order to get set up with followers SoundCloud wanted access to my Facebook account, however, I was able to skip this step and proceed onto setting up my profile. Once this was done, I was able to go ahead and explore the App. Although there was a help section, I found that I did not need to refer to it, as everything on screen was easy to follow. Using the App Once the App was all set up the way I wanted it, I began to explore what was around me on the screen. I found that the screen was split in two, on the left hand side, I had the various pages of the App and on the right hand side I was able to view my selected page. The first section was a ‘you’ page, in this section, I was able to view all my information, any content that I had posted and saved as drafts. I was able to edit my user profile as I wished. However, I was disappointed to discover that the buttons were not labelled correctly, in that no item was labelled as a button. The only way for me to find out if they were buttons was to double tap the item and see if anything happened. The second page was a stream page, on this page, I was able to see what my followers had posted. Unfortunately, I was not able to explore this area in detail as I had no followers at the time of testing. Then there was an activity section, which gave me the option to view what other people had said about my clips and posted content. Unfortunately I was not able to test the accessibility of this as I had not posted any content. Finally there was a search section, this enabled me to search for any content on SoundCloud, such as people or clips. I was also able to filter the results to show just clips, just people or both. This part of the App was not as accessible as it could have been. When I got a list of profiles, double tapping the name of the profile actually opened the person’s profile, but this was not labelled as a button or gave me any indication that it was a button. However, the ‘follow’ button was labelled correctly, so I was able to follow a person with no difficulty. On every page on the bottom right corner there was a record button which was labelled as ‘rec iPad button’. This initially confused me, but I quickly learned what it was. The process of recording a clip was straight forward, and I was able to pause my recording with a 2 finger double tap, which is the typical gesture to start/stop an action using VoiceOver. On the bottom left hand side of the screen, there were the play back controls, ‘previous, ‘play/pause’ and ‘next’. Advantages and disadvantages I really liked the simplicity of the App and the fact that everything was really easy to follow and find. However, as a VoiceOver user, I did find it slightly confusing when trying to find buttons, this was mainly as a result of the inconsistency of button labelling. For example, some items which were buttons were not labelled as buttons, but then others were. Also, if a person was new to an Apple product, they may not be familiar with VoiceOver, so it may not have even occurred to them to try and double tap the item under their finger. Also, the layout of the App was a bit strange. On the majority of Apps that I’ve used, the different tabs or pages of the App are shown horizontally across the bottom of the screen. However in this case they were displayed vertically on the left hand side of the screen, which did throw me a little bit. However, generally this is a really good App and I am extremely pleased the developers of the App have made this App mostly accessible for VoiceOver users. As this is a free App to download, I would definitely recommend other VoiceOver users to download the App and see if it works for them as well as it worked for me. Audioboo is another App that enables users to share audio content, but unlike SoundCloud, you cannot share music videos by other users or clips posted by your followers. Any other comments In order to make the user experience more efficient, I would recommend that the developers make sure that their button labelling is consistent and if possible, they should try and change the layout to mirror other Apps currently on the market. Conclusion The SoundCloud App enables a user to share their favourite music and audio clips with their followers and they are also able to follow other users who share content that interests them. It is free to download from the App store and it is mostly accessible. Despite the inconsistency in button labelling, the App is extremely easy to use and follow. As a blind user, I would like to see all buttons labelled correctly, which would make my user experience more efficient and I'm positive that new VoiceOver users would really benefit from this change as well. Category: Radio shows and music Published: 14/03/2013 09:07 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Questions? 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