Your weekly frequent11y newsletter, brought to you by @ChrisBAshton:

iPhones can now automatically recognize and label buttons and UI features for blind users

• iOS 14 has a new feature, “Screen Recognition”, which is built into VoiceOver. It uses AI to detect interactable elements on the screen, even when such elements aren’t properly labelled / exposed to assistive technology. It has the potential to allow blind users to use apps that are otherwise inaccessible.
• I highly recommend this GadgetHacks article which goes into more detail on the feature and includes screenshots demonstrating how to enable it.
• I haven’t had a chance to try out the feature myself yet, but it looks as though you first enable the feature, then ‘opt in’ to the feature on individual apps. I don’t yet know whether that means it would work on browsers such as Safari and Chrome. If it does, this could be a game changer, as it might allow the user to navigate previously inaccessible websites.

Are your Anchor Links Accessible?

• Amber Wilson describes the HTML structure she came up with for turning headings into ‘linkable headings’, whose links can be used as anchor links to that specific part of the page. It can be tricky to implement these without making it a noisy or confusing experience for screen reader users. Here is the markup she ended up with:
• <h2 id="introduction">Introduction</h2><a href="#introduction"><span aria-hidden="true">#</span><span class="hidden">Section titled introduction</span></a>
• You could also wrap your link inside your heading, which is simpler but arguably has usability issues (e.g. makes it harder to select heading text):
• <h2 id="introduction"><a href="#introduction">Introduction</a></h2>

A placeholder is not a label

• This is your regular reminder from HTMHell that <input type="text" placeholder="First name"> is not accessible and requires an associated <label>. Some screen readers will fall back to using the placeholder if a label is missing, but it can’t be relied upon.
• There are various UI issues with a placeholder-only approach. Contrast is often too low to read the text easily (though this can be tweaked by styling with the ::placeholder rule, at the risk of making the user think the input is already filled in). Placeholders get cut off if the input is too small, and get removed as soon as you start typing, straining your short term memory.

Alexa Makes Shopping Lists Sharable as Accessibility Feature

• Alexa allows you to create lists such as shopping lists and todo lists, adding and removing items with your voice. And now, users can ask Alexa to send a given list to a specific contact. Once Alexa confirms it has identified the right person, the recipient gets a message on their Alexa account through the app. This feature is designed to help those with limited access to a grocery store connect with those who can help get them supplies in the ongoing COVID-19 situation.

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