Ollie the twitterrific bird5/6/2023 ![]() ![]() That's because "Post a Twitter Update" was too wordy and boring, in his opinion. In Hockenberry's mind, it was clear that the app needed nouns and verbs. He loved the service but ultimately wasn't happy with the current user experience, Hockenberry recently wrote on his blog.Įnter Twitterrific, an application for reading and posting updates to Twitter.īut the first iterations of the product had a slight problem. It royally stinks, but puts into perspective just how important accessibility is in the grand scheme of things.In December 2006, Craig Hockenberry of software development studio Iconfactory joined Twitter. I feel for every one of these people and all the others who feel abandoned by their social network of choice. Not only that, but the accessibility team at Twitter has also been let go or severely downsized so it seems it’s even less of a priority than it was at Twitter before he took over. “It honestly breaks my heart to read messages like this and it makes me even angrier at Musk for what he’s done. I received more than a few emails from Blind users who were upset and outraged because they would most likely have to stop using Twitter without accessible third party clients like Twitterrific,” he said. “Losing Twitterrific is indeed a blow to all of us, but especially to our users. Maheux and The Iconfactory are empathetic towards people’s plight here. Couple that with the loss of perhaps the most accessible indie client in Twitterrific and it’s easy to see there’s nowhere to go short of leaving altogether for Mastodon-which is an option many have chosen, but remains problematic in itself since quitting services on principle alone is a cost not all marginalized people can afford to pay. ![]() Above all else, Musk’s decision sent a strong message that disabled people and our needs aren’t welcome on his platform any longer. Of course, that all changed drastically and (likely) irreparably when Musk inexplicably and unconscionably gutted the company’s entire accessibility team as part of the layoffs that occurred in early November. To its credit, Twitter’s own first-party app used to be pretty solid in terms of adopting system accessibility features like Dynamic Type and Increase Contrast on both iOS and the Mac. The loss of Twitterrific is one The Iconfactory, and especially disabled Twitter users, will mourn for some time. “Reporting those bugs is important especially because they touch so many parts of the interface and how people interact with them,” he said. To that end, consistent reporting (through Apple’s Radar tool) is an important step in squashing the bugs, thus improving usability and reliability. ![]() Maheux said Apple does “an admirable job” in providing best-in-class tools for software creators, although bugs can weak havoc and cause accessibility to break. As the platform owner, the onus is on Apple to provide the APIs and the documentation necessary for App Store developers-on iOS or any other operating system-to create their app(s). Part of what makes The Iconfactory a better development shop is, of course, Apple. “It made us better developers for sure,” Maheux said. The benefits of doing it are their own rewards and the support of the accessibility community is something we treasure.”Īs for the Hall of Fame honor, Maheux said news of it “kind of floored us, honestly.” He went on to tell me it’s “gratifying” to know something they built had made the lives of others better that feeling pushed the team to live up to such a high standard and become developers at crafting every piece of software The Iconfactory makes. “It matters that your app is able to be used by those who. “ doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that should have to be rewarded,” he said, while adding support for assistive technologies “should be expected and having to provide them should not be resented” by software developers. In an interview with me coincident with the App Store’s tenth birthday in 2018, Twitterrifc’s lead developer, Sean Heber, explained that although the recognition is deeply appreciated, the reward is not in the award. The app has long been beloved by members of the disability community AppleVis, a well known community-run website for Blind and low vision Apple users, inducted Twitterrific into their eponymous Hall of Fame in May 2016 for their exemplary VoiceOver integration, amongst other traits. As ever, one aspect of this situation that goes largely overlooked is accessibility, (An exception is this Twitter thread by my friend Karissa.) For The Iconfactory in particular, Twitterrific’s journey to the afterlife hurts even more when considering the accessibility ramifications. ![]()
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