Day 34: TalkBack on Android

Published on 03 Jan 2019

• journal
• resources
• was
• assistive-tech
• screen-reader
• talkback
• testing

A diversion from my quality assurance research this week out of necessity of testing with an Android screen reader at work. Time spent today: 2 hours.

• Wrote a brief post on behalf of my full-time employer to educate people about getting started with testing websites with TalkBack.
• Watch Deque's webinar Intro to Talkback.
• Read through some Google's Getting Started with TalkBack documentation.
• Experimented using TalkBack on an old Samsung Galaxy S5, and referred often to Deque's quick reference to TalkBack.
• Reviewed WebAIM's recent Screen Reader User Survey Results.

• TalkBack wasn't too different from my experience with VoiceOver gestures. Some minor gesture differences.
• The equivalent functionality to VoiceOver's rotor is the Local Context Menu.
• TalkBack quick access can be updated to a triple-click of the Home button of my S5 to turn it on.
• TalkBack keyboard events are not the same as touch events. It can be hard to develop for all TalkBack users (some keyboard users, some touch users).
• 29.5% of respondents to WebAIM's screen reader survey said they use TalkBack.
• A two-finger or three-finger swipe navigates me through my multiple screens.
• The "explore by touch" feature reads focusable items as I drag my finger around the screen.
• Entering my PIN was easier for me to enter with TalkBack then it was with VoiceOver.