Apple’s iPad and iOS come with several built-in accessibility features that make the iPad relatively easy for disabled people to use. Unfortunately, many news applications were not built to take advantage of these accessibility features, rendering the apps ultimately useless for people who are disabled.
VoiceOver is the crown jewel of the iOS accessibility features (the operating system behind the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch), and it gives the entire operating system and every application access to screen-reading technology.
Gregg Vanderheiden, director of the Trace R&D Center at the University of Wisconson-Madison, said in a phone call that iOS is the only mobile operating system to come with a built-in screen reader, and that this technology often costs hundreds of dollars or more on other computing platforms.
Testing out apps for accessibility
For this technology to work, apps must be built with accessibility in mind. I downloaded and tested several news apps with this and other accessibility features turned on and found The Daily, The Economist, The New York Times, Wired and USA Today apps to be unusable, and incapable of reading everything that their applications present with these features turned on.
VoiceOver allows users to tap the screen and a voice will let them know what they have selected. Tap a folder, and a voice reads the name of the folder. Tap an application and the same happens. Tap a button in an application or a text box, and theoretically the same should happen. Once users have found what they want, they double tap to select it. In VoiceOver mode, double tap functions as a single tap normally does.
In my testing, some of the icons and text were selectable, while others were not. I was unable to get any of the news apps to select and read the body of the text for me. The Economist does have audio versions of its articles that can be selected by tapping a button, and they work well. But they don’t follow the normal pattern of accessibility. Nonetheless, The Economist iPad app has built-in text-zooming and audio versions of articles, which is more than a lot of other news apps offer.
Oscar Grut, managing director of digital editions, said The Economist is beginning an accessibility review of its iPad and iPhone applications. As part of its review, it’s bringing in qualified consultants who can help identify accessibility issues for different types of impairment. The end goal is to make the iPad and iPhone applications more accessible to wider audiences., Grut told me.
Need for a back button, bigger text
In the course of my testing with VoiceOver on, I was completely disoriented several times and had to tap the home key to go back to the home screen and start over. And I could see what I was doing the whole time. One of the issues that causes disorientation is the lack of a back button or searchability within some of these apps (Wired’s app is the prime offender of this).
Imagine using a news website. You click a few links. Now you want to get back to where you were before, but there’s no back button. Clicking something and being shot to a different section into the Wired app without the ability to go back can be disorienting for someone with perfect eyesight. Using the VoiceOver technology on apps without a back button or breadcrumb trail when you’re blind? Forget about it.
“The lack of a back button is pretty egregious, as is the lack of search,” Raluca Budiu, user experience specialist at the Nielsen Norman Group, said via email. “Especially since the iPad screen is so much bigger than the screens of mobile phones and there’s plenty of space for incorporating these in the interface.”
There are some users who are visually impaired, but not so much that they need everything read to them. For these users, the ability to enlarge text sizes is critical. Some applications, such as Wired’s, do not allow text to be enlarged at all, while others, such as The New York Times’, USA Today’s and The Economist’s, offer a variety of text sizes.
“That is just plain not a good idea,” Vanderheiden said about not allowing text to be enlarged. “There is a huge portion of your readership that is going to have issues with that small text.”
Budiu said one issue that many applications have is that even when they allow the article body text to be enlarged, they don’t enlarge the headline, captions or navigational pages. The New York Times and Economist apps suffer from this issue, while the USA Today app enlarges all text on a page. None of the applications, however, allowed the navigational pages to be enlarged.
All of these applications also work with iOS’s built-in zooming feature, which magnifies everything on screen up to five times. After a certain point, though, the text starts to look pixelated.
iOS also has pinch to zoom, which is a feature built not just for accessibility; it does allow users to use two fingers to zoom in on text, photos and interface items. While this works beautifully on nytimes.com, it doesn’t work at all in The Times’ iPad app and worked in The Economist app for article text only.
One of the biggest accessibility issues with The Daily — something that able-bodied people would struggle with, too — is the need to rotate the orientation of The Daily to discover new features and content. It’s not intuitive, and it requires that a user hold the iPad in order for it to work properly. (I often rest the iPad on my lap while reading). People aren’t accustomed to rotating their computer screens or newspapers to discover new features.
“Often companies think that their app needs to have some cool, unique design element in order to be successful and are ready to sacrifice usability or accessibility for that,” Budiu said. “Unfortunately, fun depletes — that fancy carousel or that unique widget is going be less fun the second time the app is used, and even annoying by the fifth time.”
Grut said the carousel used in The Economist iPhone app has proved to be an accessibility issue, and it’s being rethought.
“It doesn’t work for the visually impaired,” he said. “We’re trying to make sure it works for everyone.”
Developing best practices to make apps more accessible
Vanderheiden said content creators may be intentionally creating applications with inaccessible text because of copyright infringement fears. Some content creators hope that by making it harder to select and access text they’ll be able to cut down on piracy. But will making a product harder to use really make a company more money?
“I really think they’re doing a lot of things out of fear, and if they would just slip over to another model they could thrive,” Vanderheiden said. “I mean iTunes doesn’t copy protect its songs anymore, but it’s just so damn convenient to just buy them.”
Budiu, however, says he doesn’t think these accessibility and usability issues were a conscious oversight. Rather, he believes that many companies and developers are not aware of best practices for usability. Vanderheiden thinks this is part of the issue, too, and said print-driven companies and developers may not think about making products for the disabled.
The good news for users is that all of these organizations, with the exception of the iPad-only The Daily, have websites that work great with the iPad’s accessible, built-in browser Safari. Budiu said her ideal news app would be “an app that is not about the app but about the news.”
An app all about the news, she said, would enable as many people as possible to use it and enjoy it.
Source: Poynter.org
Showing posts with label apps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label apps. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Friday, November 12, 2010
The most successful newspaper and magazine iPad apps
Top five free/part-free iPad apps (newspapers and magazines)
1) The Times
Publisher: News International
Price: Free for the first 30 days, then £9.99 per month (if bought via Apple). The iPad app is also available as part of a digital-only subscription (£2 per week/£8.66 per month) and is complimentary (as are the websites) to readers with a seven-day subscription to the print paper.
2) Wired (UK edition)
Publisher: Conde Nast
Price: Free to download the library, then £2.39 for the issue.
What you get: The December issue with exclusive interactive content.
3) The Telegraph
Publisher: Telegraph Media Group
Price: Free for a limited time, due to sponsorship by Audi.
What you get: The "best of the Telegraph", including breaking news, sport, business and a daily cartoon.
4) Financial Times
Price: Free to download, but you must be an FT.com subscriber for full access.
What you get: The full FT every day, including exclusive video and interactive features.
5) Monkey
Publisher: Dennis Publishing
Price: Free
What you get: The iPad version of the men’s e-magazine includes videos, games and music previews.
Top three fully paid-for apps (newspapers and magazines)
1) Eureka
Publisher: News International
Price: £0.59
What you get: A special iPad edition of the Times’ monthly science magazine.
2) The Sun
Publisher: News International
Price: £4.99 for a 28-day subscription.
What you get: The entire paper, Monday to Saturday, with breaking news and interactive elements.
3) Esquire (US edition)
Publisher: Hearst
Price: £2.99
What you get: The app includes a "moving cover" featuring actor Javier Bardem, videos and other exclusive content.
Source: iTunes App Store, November 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
3 strategies emerge for charging for iPad publications
Apple has been talking to publishers about launching enhanced subscription tools for the iPad, but simply allowing subscriptions is not enough. The iPad needs a digital newsstand for newspaper and magazine sales and subscriptions.
Right now there are a number of obstacles separating the needs of publishers and the expectations of consumers regarding iPad-based publications. Apple is right in the middle of the problem and the solution.
To start, until recently it was not possible to purchase a subscription to a magazine, such as Newsweek, through iTunes. Even now, consumers can't automatically renew subscriptions; they must manually re-purchase at the end of each term.
For publishers, allowing Apple to process their iPad subscriptions means giving up 30 percent of the revenue and losing access to customer data for those readers. That makes it difficult for publications to provide free access or discounts to their current print subscribers.
And with publishers experimenting with subscription approaches, consumers face a confusing array of options. Some publications are paid downloads, some are not. Some offer subscriptions, some don't. Some sell individual issues through Apple's iTunes store, and others circumvent iTunes partially or entirely.
And, for many of these apps, it is nearly impossible to decipher what you'll pay for -- and how -- until you download and install the app.
In the last six months -- accelerating recently -- I've seen the emergence of three general subscription options for the iPad:
For instance, the New York Post app is a paid download that includes a 30-day subscription. Renewals are handled within iTunes.
The Columbus Dispatch can be downloaded for free, but users must register to get access to a 14-day trial. Past that, users need a subscription, which is handled by the publisher.
The Wall Street Journal is a free download but full access is restricted to print subscribers, also handled directly by the publisher.
And of course some publications, like USA Today, are entirely free.
What publishers and consumers need from Apple is a real digital newsstand, which would allow:
It is easy to forget that only a year ago tablets were still a distant vision for most publishers. But 4 million iPad sales later, it is time for Apple, and the publishing industry, to figure this thing out to everyone's benefit.
Right now there are a number of obstacles separating the needs of publishers and the expectations of consumers regarding iPad-based publications. Apple is right in the middle of the problem and the solution.
To start, until recently it was not possible to purchase a subscription to a magazine, such as Newsweek, through iTunes. Even now, consumers can't automatically renew subscriptions; they must manually re-purchase at the end of each term.
For publishers, allowing Apple to process their iPad subscriptions means giving up 30 percent of the revenue and losing access to customer data for those readers. That makes it difficult for publications to provide free access or discounts to their current print subscribers.
And with publishers experimenting with subscription approaches, consumers face a confusing array of options. Some publications are paid downloads, some are not. Some offer subscriptions, some don't. Some sell individual issues through Apple's iTunes store, and others circumvent iTunes partially or entirely.
And, for many of these apps, it is nearly impossible to decipher what you'll pay for -- and how -- until you download and install the app.
In the last six months -- accelerating recently -- I've seen the emergence of three general subscription options for the iPad:
- App downloads and subscriptions handled through iTunes. Newsweek has taken this approach.
- App downloads via iTunes, with single copy sales handled by iTunes and subscriptions handled by the publisher. People was one of the first to offer such hybrid print/tablet access. Each issue costs $3.99 in iTunes, but People enables print subscribers to log in to the app for free access.
- App downloads via ITunes, with subscriptions and single-issue sales handled by the publisher. The Oklahoman has taken this approach, which means Apple does not get a percentage of sales.
For instance, the New York Post app is a paid download that includes a 30-day subscription. Renewals are handled within iTunes.
The Columbus Dispatch can be downloaded for free, but users must register to get access to a 14-day trial. Past that, users need a subscription, which is handled by the publisher.
The Wall Street Journal is a free download but full access is restricted to print subscribers, also handled directly by the publisher.
And of course some publications, like USA Today, are entirely free.
What publishers and consumers need from Apple is a real digital newsstand, which would allow:
- One-stop shopping for multiple publications
- The ability to buy a single issue or subscribe
- Capability to connect print and tablet subscriptions, including any package discounts
- A central location to access purchased or downloaded publications
- Sales via iTunes or a publisher's own circulation system, with royalties adjusted appropriately
It is easy to forget that only a year ago tablets were still a distant vision for most publishers. But 4 million iPad sales later, it is time for Apple, and the publishing industry, to figure this thing out to everyone's benefit.
Source: Poynter.org
Monday, October 25, 2010
iPad users most likely to engage with ads
iPad users are more willing to engage with advertising and pay for content than users of other devices, according to a study by Nielsen. More than two thirds of the 452 iPad owners surveyed have bought a chargeable app for their device, with games being the most popular purchase. Some 57% say they would engage with advertising if it led to free content and 49% claim they are more likely to look at an ad if it displays video content. More than a third are interested in what ads can do on their tablet, but only 8% have actually made a purchase through their device.
The cheapest iPad retails at USD499 but despite its hefty price tag Nielsen claims owners of Amazon’s Kindle e-reader are wealthier. The research firm says 28% of Kindle owners earn more than USD100,000 a year compared with just a 25% of iPad owners.
The results should prove useful for mobile app advertisers and developers as the availability of tablet devices rockets. A recent report predicts Apple will sell as many as 120m iPads globally by the end of 2012 while developers such as Samsung and LG are launching their own tablets in the coming months.
Source: strategyeye.com
Monday, July 19, 2010
Gannett CEO Dubow: iPad App Will Remain Free, Ad Supported Through Q3
With advertiser interest in Gannett’s USA Today iPad app still running high, CEO Craig Dubow said that the app will remain free and ad supported at least through Q3. USAT has a set of free news and travel apps available across Apple’s portable devices, including the iPhone and iPod touch as well as on Google’s Android mobile system. In the year and a half since the first app was released, the various USAT apps have been downloaded 5 million times, Dubow told listeners on the company’s Q2 earnings call.
During the Q1 earnings, Dubow had said that the company planned to introduce a paid subscription plan for the iPad app by July 5th. But that was said three weeks after the iPad first went on sale and Gannett (NYSE: GCI) hadn’t anticipated that ad inventory on the app would be sold out so quickly and that demand would only rise. So, as we reported last month, plans for paid subscription format for the iPad app was put on hold, at least for the time being.
Among the blue chip advertisers Gannett has lined up, Coca-Cola, Chrysler, Barnes & Noble have signed on as sponsors for the USAT iPad app.
Earlier this month, Gannett announced it would begin testing paywalls at a number of its papers as it seeks to find a model that can benefit all its properties. Gannett is now charging $9.95 per month for full online access to The Tallahassee Democrat, The Greenville News, and The Spectrum. Print subscribers will continue to get free online access.
During the Q&A part of the call, Gracia Martore, president and COO, said that Gannett should have a better sense of what works within three to six months. In terms of examples of ways of attracting paying online readers, Martore offered an example being prepared at The Tallahassee Democrat around sports coverage, which has generally been considered one of the few areas that consumers would pay to receive online news (finance is the other area generally considered unique and essential enough to charge for content).
Source: paidContent.org
During the Q1 earnings, Dubow had said that the company planned to introduce a paid subscription plan for the iPad app by July 5th. But that was said three weeks after the iPad first went on sale and Gannett (NYSE: GCI) hadn’t anticipated that ad inventory on the app would be sold out so quickly and that demand would only rise. So, as we reported last month, plans for paid subscription format for the iPad app was put on hold, at least for the time being.
Among the blue chip advertisers Gannett has lined up, Coca-Cola, Chrysler, Barnes & Noble have signed on as sponsors for the USAT iPad app.
Earlier this month, Gannett announced it would begin testing paywalls at a number of its papers as it seeks to find a model that can benefit all its properties. Gannett is now charging $9.95 per month for full online access to The Tallahassee Democrat, The Greenville News, and The Spectrum. Print subscribers will continue to get free online access.
During the Q&A part of the call, Gracia Martore, president and COO, said that Gannett should have a better sense of what works within three to six months. In terms of examples of ways of attracting paying online readers, Martore offered an example being prepared at The Tallahassee Democrat around sports coverage, which has generally been considered one of the few areas that consumers would pay to receive online news (finance is the other area generally considered unique and essential enough to charge for content).
Source: paidContent.org
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Big names reach out to grab iPad opportunities
Stephen Fry, BMW, The FT and Ministry of Sound are among the first major publishers and brands to roll out UK iPad apps ahead of the device’s much-anticipated European launch tomorrow.
Stephen Fry, BMW, The FT and Ministry of Sound are among the first major publishers and brands to roll out UK iPad apps ahead of the device’s much-anticipated European launch tomorrow.
Apple, which shifted 1m iPads in its first month on sale in the US, has garnered support from key publishers looking at the tablet media player as the next evolution in online content distribution.
Publishers are preparing to experiment with a number of business models including launching ad-funded, sponsored and premium iPad apps. But they also say app developers have upped their prices as they become inundated with short-deadline work as brands rush to create content for the platform.
Broadcaster and technophile Stephen Fry has launched a series of iPad apps, including one for his blog, a tie-up with Harper Collins and Framestore CFC for animated readings of Oscar Wilde short stories, and another featuring quotations from Fry himself.
SamFry, the company that manages Stephen Fry’s website, is working with The Digital Tribe to sell ad spots around his content.
Andrew Sampson, joint-MD of SamFry, said, “The iPad presents a great opportunity. With these apps we’re looking to push the boundaries with the Apple API and show where you can go with it.”
The Financial Times hopes to win younger readers by making its premium content free for two months via its iPad app after signing a sponsorship deal with luxury Swiss watch-maker Hublot.
Steve Pinches, FT’s lead product development manager, said, “We’ve been live for a few days now and have seen a fair number of downloads from the US [where the app has also launched]. The sponsorship model slots quite nicely into our paid content strategy.”
The Telegraph is also looking to launch on the iPad but is wary of simply migrating its iPhone app to the device. Head of mobile Maani Safa said, “The business model should take into account that people are more likely to spend more time on the iPad than iPhones, and advertisers are willing to pay for that.
“The sponsorship model on the iPad is definitely something we’re looking at, but I don’t know whether or not we’ll go for it,” he added. “I think a lot of publishers have simply tried to replicate the newspaper experience on the iPad. This gives you less content in a less intuitive manner, so we’re trying to provide a completely new experience that has nothing to do with the web.”
Magazine publishers are also looking to launch on the iPad. Dennis Publishing has appointed digital agency PixelMags to launch an iPad app for its Apple-specialist title Mac User. Paul Lomax, chief technology officer at Dennis, said, “We’re looking at doing something for most of our titles. With some we’ll go into more depth, so there might be more than one app for some brands.”
He added, however, that because publishers have been rushing to launch apps, “Finding people to work on iPad apps at a reasonable rate has been a bit of a challenge.”
This Friday’s nma Live will focus on new content and ad opportunities for brands brought about by the iPad. See nmalive.co.uk for details.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
More publishers launch iPad apps: Financial Times and La Repubblica
As the iPad's European debut nears, more publishers are preparing their applications for Apple's much anticipated tablet computing device.
Italian daily La Repubblica announced that it is launching its "very first version" of its iPad application in advance of the device's release in Italy, "for the sake of the many Repubblica readers in the US and elsewhere who already have an iPad." The application is free to download for this first phase. Later versions will contain "many new elements and functions" on an interface which will provide "still more important surprises." The paper already has a subscription-based iPhone app.
Italian daily La Repubblica announced that it is launching its "very first version" of its iPad application in advance of the device's release in Italy, "for the sake of the many Repubblica readers in the US and elsewhere who already have an iPad." The application is free to download for this first phase. Later versions will contain "many new elements and functions" on an interface which will provide "still more important surprises." The paper already has a subscription-based iPhone app.
The Financial Times is planning an imminent app launch, Journalism.co.uk reported last week. The app will be free to download, said Journalism.co.uk, but the same subscription tiers that exist online and for its other mobile apps will be in place for access to content. It will be customizable by region.
The app is designed to look like the newspaper, and has horizontally scrolling columns. It will also have an HD video section. There will be no links out or comments, according to Journalism.co.uk. The iPad will reach parts of Europe, Asia and Australia on May 28, and has been selling well in the US so far, according to reports in recent weeks. Several news organisations have rushed to create applications, although as Alan Mutter recently noted, user rankings of the apps have so far been "middling" and there seems to be room for improvement.
Source: La Repubblica, Journalism.co.uk
The app is designed to look like the newspaper, and has horizontally scrolling columns. It will also have an HD video section. There will be no links out or comments, according to Journalism.co.uk. The iPad will reach parts of Europe, Asia and Australia on May 28, and has been selling well in the US so far, according to reports in recent weeks. Several news organisations have rushed to create applications, although as Alan Mutter recently noted, user rankings of the apps have so far been "middling" and there seems to be room for improvement.
Source: La Repubblica, Journalism.co.uk
FT.com launches free iPad app
The Financial Times has today launched a free iPad app to provide access to video, markets data, investment portfolios, news and analysis.
The launch follows the FT rolling out an iPhone app, last year, which has so far been downloaded 300,000 times.
The new app integrates with the FT.com limited access model, the company said today, giving unregistered users access to a limited number of articles each month.
The iPad app allows readers to download a daily digital version of FT for offline reading and for the first time offers video on an FT mobile product. It also features a Markets Data section with macromaps highlighting markets across the world.
Watchmaker Hublot is sponsoring the app until the end of July.
Source: The Wire
The launch follows the FT rolling out an iPhone app, last year, which has so far been downloaded 300,000 times.
The new app integrates with the FT.com limited access model, the company said today, giving unregistered users access to a limited number of articles each month.
The iPad app allows readers to download a daily digital version of FT for offline reading and for the first time offers video on an FT mobile product. It also features a Markets Data section with macromaps highlighting markets across the world.
Watchmaker Hublot is sponsoring the app until the end of July.
Source: The Wire
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