Accessibility is an essential part of a good user experience. Streaming services must provide equal access to content for people with diverse needs, including those with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive disabilities. Beyond compliance with regulations such as WCAG, ADA, and the European Accessibility Act, accessible video services are about inclusivity and expanding reach.
Accedo One has made embedding accessibility features a priority, and has been moving forward with several platform-specific improvements.
Recent accessibility improvements for Accedo One
Web
- Status messages, including confirmations and errors, are now more effectively announced to assistive technologies, allowing screen reader users to stay informed without losing focus.
- Labels have been enhanced to be more accurate and descriptive for both screen readers and voice control, while error messages now provide clearer, more consistent text along with visual feedback.
- All interactive elements are accessible via keyboard, supported by more visible focus indicators that make navigation without a mouse easier.
- The structure of headings, labels, lists, and groups has also been improved, ensuring greater clarity and consistency for users of assistive technologies.
- Additionally, the header logo now always includes alt text, and the video player’s controls have been updated with improved text-to-speech labels and descriptors to strengthen compatibility with screen readers.
Apple
- On iOS, users can now scale text up to 200%, giving greater flexibility to those who need larger text for readability.
- We’ve improved how the platform interacts with screen readers. For example, the Hero carousel no longer auto-scrolls when VoiceOver is enabled, preventing the automatic movement from disrupting the reading experience.
- In addition, we focused on making navigation clearer with proper accessibility labels. On Apple TV, VoiceOver now provides meaningful callouts for key actions, including the Search button, the More menu, and the actions triggered within it.
Smart TV
- Text-to-speech support now extends to every part of the purchase flow experience. When users open the plan picker, the page is read from top to bottom, and each focusable item is announced as it receives focus.
- Returning from the Samsung native purchase screen, the system now reads out “Processing your purchase”, and both the success and error screens are automatically announced as they appear.
- Beyond the purchase flow, we’ve also made improvements to how non-actionable items behave. For example, user information displayed in the menu now provides feedback when tapped, ensuring that even static elements communicate clearly to the user.
Stay tuned in the coming months for further improvements on the Android and Roku platforms.
Further reading
The following resources offer overviews and accessibility guidelines:
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