Accessibility

  • 28 April 2020
  • 12 replies
  • 1866 views
Joakim Larsson
Userlevel 2

Have been using Miro for a while and love the possibilities it brings to be able to collaborate with a remote team. However, when using these kind of visual tools I wonder how you try to empower users with disabilities? I.e. what’s your status when it comes to improve the accessibility overall of your services?

As an example, when testing using a screen reader (What is a screen reader?) I encountered a few issues emidiatly with the onboarding experience:

  • Modals not putting focus on the content
  • Not being able to access the visual information within the board 
  • etc.
     

This is just one aspect of accessibility and would be interesting to hear how Miro is working with accessibility?

12 replies

R
Userlevel 1

I’m also interested in learning more about the accessibility of Miro. I work at a public institution of higher education and we are obligated to evaluate tech tools from an accessibility standpoint before recommending adoption or use for teaching or use among staff. Would love to be able to speak to these questions of accessibility for the MIRO tools. Thanks! 

 

Kyle.C
Userlevel 5

Super interesting!

Miro is an “infinite canvas” tool. At a basic level the necessity grew from the need to take ideas in our minds, and display them visually. It was once a “virtual whiteboard,” a digital way to record what is written by our hands with markers.

 

:grey_question: So for the visually impaired, how are whiteboards used to be more accessible?

:grey_question: Can those same methods be applied digitally?

 

A digital platform definitely opens up the opportunity to give access to what was once not accessible. At the very least, I bet this community can think of some ways to create our boards so that they are better accessible to the visually impaired.

 

@Joakim Larsson @Renee Phoenix are there ways that you place content in your boards that is beneficial to the visually impaired?

B

On this topic of accesiblity, one thing I was surprised not to find were visual “high contrast” options, including for those with poor eyesight or who see colours differently. 

Studying how Microsoft provides accessibility with their new Whiteboard app would be helpful in your app development. 
 

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/microsoft-365/microsoft-whiteboard/digital-whiteboard-app

S

It’s great the amount of features the dev team are putting into Miro, and I love it as a diagramming tool, however there could really be more in terms of accessibility support.  It’s lack in these areas is making it harder for us to communicate equally with all members of our team, to the extent that we are going back to more conventional tools to provide documentation.  Even simple improvements - like allowing Ctrl+C to copy the text from an element to clipboard when in view mode - would go a long way to helping people who rely on screen-readers, for example.

Thanks,

R

This is a real shame, it basically means Miro can’t yet be used as a main facilitation / training tool - accessibility needs to an integral part of solution design, just as you wouldn’t build a physical meeting room that only a proportion of any given team could actually use.  

G

Agree, it would be great to know what is the roadmap for introducing accessibilities features and tools?

Brittni
Userlevel 5

Over the last couple of weeks, we have seen more customers trying to understand the accessibility of our platform. Unfortunately, we don’t have a policy or roadmap in place yet for such improvements. We are aware of the situation and are currently researching/working on this subject. We want to thank all of you for joining in on this important conversation and we hope to come back soon with updates. 

- Brittni
F

Hi Brittni

Just to flag up that it’s not just people who use screen readers you need to cater for - also those who cannot use a mouse and might need to be able to use a keyboard or voice commands to interact with the application.

Fiona

K
Userlevel 1

I posted an idea request here: https://community.miro.com/wish-list-32/accessibility-screen-reader-friendly-high-contrast-mode-short-cut-keys-1947 

 

Please up vote!

 

We are trying Miro out for both design ideation and workshop facilitation. However, not having accessibility functions for participants will be a deal breaker. I’m hoping a resolution comes quickly and we don’t have to switch to another tool.

R

Miro is, essentially, an infinite canvas powerpoint slide. So, I would hope that the features that make powerpoint accessible could be applied to miro. Specifically -- content on the board should be organized into a traversible hierarchy. Some of this could be automated, but much of it would be the responsibility of the board owner.

Miro elements should already be very easy to implement alt-text for. Any text on an element is obviously the text to read. And any arrows/connectors can be read as well…

We use miro extensively in our program, but as a disability activist this greatly upsets me. I would be grateful if miro wanted to consult with me about how to make this platform accessible.

K

I’m just learning Miro but I am struggling with the lack of universal design and accessibility. I am visually impaired and use screen magnification software. What Rua mentions, is exactly what I’m really struggling with today.

Miro is, essentially, an infinite canvas powerpoint slide. So, I would hope that the features that make powerpoint accessible could be applied to miro. Specifically -- content on the board should be organized into a traversible hierarchy.

Being able to tab through elements, drop landmarks with names so I can get back to my place via a text list would be really helpful.

L

We are doing strategic planning work with a seeing eye dog foundation, and many of the workshop participants are visually impaired.  We would love to use Miro because it can simulate our in-person workshops, but are challenged by its lack of accessibility features.  I am putting in a strong vote here to please please put this on your roadmap  now.  Cheers.  

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