Changeling’s Guide to Discord for Screen Reader Users
IMPORTANT
After a break, I have decided to begin maintaining this guide again. Before I start providing regular updates, I need to revise the guide to reflect the changes Discord has made since I started this project in 2019, and to allow for a form factor that will allow me to more easily make edits as updates to discord are released. This second edition will take some time and effort to put together, so please continue to use the existing version in the meantime.
If you find this project valuable, please consider making a donation. The content is free, but producing it takes time and effort. Also, maintaining the website and getting my hands on devices to test for documentation purposes costs money. If you are not in a position to give, I’ve been there. Thank you in advance for your patience and your contributions.
What is This?
This is a page that contains all the links to posts in the “Changeling’s Guide to Discord for Screen Reader Users” series, as well as some answers to some frequently asked questions. if these questions aren’t being asked on a frequent basis, this is me telling you that they should be.
How Do I navigate the Guide?
Each link is set to open in a new tab. You can click the link, read the post, close the tab, and find the link to the next post.
Who Are you? Why Did you Write This?
I am a blind computer user who was first given free run of the Internet after graduating high school in 2006. I quickly discovered the ability of the internet to let one person connect with others, and I embraced anything that gave people more choices for accomplishing this. I was particularly intrigued with Discord’s combination of building community, as well as its knack for creating topic specific forums within that community (channels), and it worked easily across all platforms. When I first drafted the guide, no other screen reader specific documentation existed, and I decided it should. A few days later, it did.
Can I link to This on my Website or Social media?
Of course. I put the information up so it could be freely available. You can use the short link http://changeling.mx/DiscordGuide for an easier fit within social media character limits.
Do Versions of this Guide for Other Platforms Exist?
I am happy to announce that the version of this guide specific to VoiceOver on iOS is now available. The developers continue to make changes and squash bugs, but the experience is finally stable enough to allow me to endorse the experience. Additionally, the user experiences between iOS and android are similar enough that someone could read the iOS-centric guide and be able to use the Android version.
Changes
The following is a list of changes to the guide to account for changes in functionality, new features, etc.
For the Front Page
- Added a section to document recent changes.
- Removed the “How Can I Get Help?” section.
- Provided a short link in the section permitting the sharing of this guide on other websites.
- Changed the section names to “Desktop” and “Mobile” to acknowledge multiple platforms.
For Desktop
- Added a link to JAWS scripts for Discord in information about navigating the UI.
- Changed the chatting information to include directions for reading messages using HTML navigation and the Discord navigation features.
- Added information about choosing roles to the section on servers and channels to account for the trend of only showing channels to users who assign themselves certain roles within a server.
- Added a section to the post about servers and channels explaining how to rearrange servers into the user’s desired order.
MetaChanges
Changed the post permalinks by adding “/discord” to all of them for organizational reasons. Additionally, they are tagged with “/desktop” or “mobile” depending on which guide they belogn to.
Posts in the Series
Specific to Desktop
- Introduction
- Navigating the User Interface and User Settings
- Servers and Channels.
- Chatting: Text, voice and video
Specific to Mobile
- Introduction
- Navigating the User Interface and User Settings
- Servers and Channels
- Chatting: Text, voice and Video
Well I’ve always said devs should directly aspire to work me out of a job. 🙂 I mean that seriously; the more it works without my retrofitting, the happier we all are, including me. I’m the only active scripter at @LevelAccessA11y because most of us are about making that happen.
Yeah. While I understand that scripting is a source of employment, I really like it when a program can be used without it because it can reach more users.
And more screen readers. 🙂 Scripting won’t die anyway; it’s still needed for optimization of speed-intensive jobs like call centers, and probably always will be. But it should be more an enhancement than a solution. It’s still a solution sometimes now though.
Yeah. The Discord folks seem to be responsive to feedback, so that works.
@changeling increased an account a few months ago but haven’t used much yet. What do you feel discord is best for?
@quark It was for gamers, but has since been expanded to include fandoms and other online activities. I really just like that each server has channels so you can mute channels in a group if you’re not interested in that topic.
@changeling cool, is there a star trek fandom server or community?
@quark There’s probably more than one. You might even find one that’s not toxic the way some fandoms are.
@changeling this. Is the key. Who runs each server, just anyone like it is in mastodon?
@quark Pretty Much. It’s actually easier to run a server on Discord than Mastodon.
Ooo! I’m so curious to see this jackbox thing in action. I’ll try to be there. 🙂
Nice.
I just need to investigate and see if there’s discord for mac and how accessible it is. I’m putting that on my tomorrow to do list.
It’s there, but my understanding is there are some issues. It has to do with the updated version of Electron they use, but you might be able to make it work.
If you can get in the server and find the watch stream button, that’s really all you’ll need.
I’ll take a gander. Worse comes to worse I can join on my phone I suspect.
You can get to the server that way, but spectator mode isn’t on the phone yet for some reason.
You can use your phone to play along, though.
phone dischord on ios sux ass
Alright. I’ll look at things tomorrow. I may pop back here with questions if I need anything. I’m gonna read through your website first, though.
That’s a good start.