give your head a wobble

July 29, 2024 12:27 PM

After 14 years AppleVis is shutting down. A major online forum and news blog for the disabled community AppleVis featured a massive app directory that primarily provided reviews on how accessible or functional an app was for VoiceOver users. AppleVis was a critical resource, as approximately 70% of the disabled community primarily use iOS and Voiceover for their mobile assistive tech.

AppleVis also regularly put out an Accessibility Report Card which was built out of a comprehensive survey of from their communities experience using Voiceover and other low vision features on Apple devices.

The all-volunteer project has been set to read-only, and is totally shutting down at the end of August. The founder is burnt out and there is "no exit ramp" as they were the sole person running the site, from handling all technical development work to forum moderation. Their primary goal is to reset their work-life balance. A major factor has also been moderating the increasingly negative forum environment as well as the growing demands for more advanced features and technical improvements.

AppleVis's accessibility guide for developers has always served as a great introduction for improving the accessibility experience on the device primarily used by so many people. AppleVis previously on mefi.

posted by zenon (7 comments total)

Damn. I hope someone else can assemble a team and do as well.
posted by sotonohito at 12:37 PM on July 29

I work in IT and just last week I helped someone find a link on a website. It prompted me to think hard about dog-fooding assistive tech in the platforms that I maintain: out of professional interest, yes, but also out of empathy.

If I can learn what's difficult for some visitors to our applications and web sites, then I know how best to help out (both when someone has a problem, and for making structural improvements).

It's embarrassing to major software vendors that someone else has to maintain this for them.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:23 PM on July 29

Arg, I totally understand where he's coming from - that schedule sounds brutal. I just hope that something similar arises somewhere else - before my wife passed, she relied heavily on AppleVis on a weekly basis. It was invaluable.
posted by Mogur at 1:36 PM on July 29 [4 favorites]

Wow, I couldn't help thinking about MetaFilter while reading that End of an Era post:

While personal circumstances are the primary reason for this decision, I must also acknowledge other contributing factors. The increasingly negative environment fostered by a small but vocal minority within our community has taken its toll. Over time, the constant barrage of criticism, unfounded accusations, and toxic interactions has become a significant source of stress and exhaustion. This situation has been exacerbated by the growing necessity for intervention and moderation on the site. Contrary to what some might claim, I do not enjoy this aspect of operating AppleVis, nor do I possess the skillset necessary to do it well. The process of moderating discussions, along with the frequent pushback it generates, has become increasingly draining. Waking each day to face these challenges has gradually eroded my enthusiasm and energy for AppleVis. After much reflection, I've come to realise that life is too short to voluntarily continue to subject myself to such an environment. While I remain proud of our achievements and grateful for the positive aspects of our community, I believe it's time to prioritise my well-being.

Another significant factor in my decision is my lack of formal training or background in web development. Even referring to myself as a hobbyist in this field would be a stretch. Despite this, I have been extremely proud of the website that I created and maintained. I believe that it has offered a good set of features, performed well, and remained stable throughout the years. I've also strived to deliver a solid user experience for the majority in our community who use screen readers. However, it's become increasingly clear that for some in our community, this is not enough.

I wish I could find contact information for Goodwin or others on the editorial team. If they can't find a good home for the site by the end of August, I would be happy to see if I could at least host it in read-only mode for the community. I hate to see wonderful community resources disappear.

Thank you for sharing this, zenon. I'm so glad to know AppleVis has served the world for 14 years, and I hope the site can find a new home, somehow, somewhere.
posted by kristi at 1:40 PM on July 29 [3 favorites]

Wow. It seems like the kind of project hat could be transferred to a university applied research center for human computing or some such.

But it seems like this guy was doing the work of about 10 people, this seems like a million dollar a year project at least to transfer it over

I know the post doesn't appreciate the grar, but it also seems like the ADA may require Apple, etc to fund a project such as this? should representation be around, there would seem to be litigants available
posted by eustatic at 1:47 PM on July 29 [3 favorites]

I was thinking about GA Tech
https://cidi.gatech.edu/
posted by eustatic at 1:50 PM on July 29 [1 favorite]

well fuck. I use AppleVis as a reader regularly and when my vision started going (since forestalled and partly improved) it was critical to me understanding how to use the tools available to me.

I hope they find some way to at least keep the existing content up in some form. :(


As for the comment about Apple funding it, well, yes they could. But my experience is that Apple does a remarkably good job compared to every other platform at accessibility ... at least compared to other medium to large tech companies which is an incredibly low bar. They've responded to every email I've sent to their accesibility email address. Other platforms or services entirely ignore accessibility feedback or treat them as feature requests (I have a fairly depressing list of times I've contacted other major tech companies and gotten nothing). AppleVis partly exists because Apple has been so responsive to accessibility needs, which encourages people to keep track of what they are doing and not doing. So yes Apple could help. But also we need more resources like this funded by organizations that aren't part of the companies offering the computer hardware and software.
posted by R343L at 9:23 PM on July 29