Mobile app accessibility roundup for May 27, 2020

Last week, May 21, 2020 brought Global Accessibility Awareness Day. Google celebrated by releasing some new accessibility features for Android and some apps. This roundup covers those releases and more.

Accessibility affordances for disabled UI elements

The problems with greyed-out, disabled UI elements have been well-discussed in the past. And it gets worse when factoring in accessibility. What can you do instead? Hannah suggests some alternatives.

Title: Is it ok to ‘grey out’ disabled buttons?
Author: Hannah Locke
Published on: May 11, 2020
Note: Posted behind the Medium paywall

Accessibility problems with neumorphism, illustrated

Neumorphism is a modern reboot of skeumorphism, a UI design trend that looks to real-world counterparts for inspiration. While these designs are clever and attractive, they perform poorly for the visually impaired. Tammy illustrates with some simulations of what a neumorphic design can look like with various impairments. While the design might impress your capital venture firm, your users might be left out.

Title: Neumorphism, visual accessibility, and empathy
Author: Tammy Taabassum
Published on: May 13, 2020

Google celebrates Global Accessibility Awareness Day with software updates

On May 21, Google released some updates to Android and Google Maps that make the platform easier to use for everyone. On Android, there is now Action Blocks, which lets you make one-touch shortcuts that take any action that can be performed by the Android Assistant. Live Transcribe has new accessible features, and Sound Amplifier now works with Bluetooth headsets.

Title: Accessibility updates that help tech work for everyone
Author: Ajit Narayanan and Sharlene Yuan
Published on: May 21, 2020

Also, Google Maps has an update that lets you more easily search and discover accessible places.

Title: Find wheelchair accessible places with Google Maps
Author: Sasha Blair-Goldensohn
Published on: May 21, 2020