[gui-talk] [EXTERNAL] Problems Ordering From Amazon.com

[Baracco, Andrew W]

Well, we don't know if the problem lies with Amazon, or with JAWS, your
browser, or your PC. I think I recall that you are clinging doggedly to
XP, which means that you are using IE 8 at best, maybe older. And we do
not know which version of JAWS, so there is a potential rat's nest of
possibilities. I know that with JAWS, from time to time it just doesn't
see buttons as buttons, and pressing the spacebar does nothing.
Ordinarily, I do not think that clicking on a control on a web site
would lock up your computer, but it could be possible if you are using
an old browser. Before we migrated to Win 7 here at work earlier this
year, we were using XP with IE 7. On many web pages, there was a nag
urging me to upgrade my browser. I know that for me, often using a
different browser renders different results. For example, on the kim
Komando web site, when I click on the link to enter a contest with IE
11, I get an error message saying this page cannot be displayed. When I
hit ENTER  on the same link in Firefox, the entry form comes up with no
problem.

Andy


-----Original Message-----
From: gui-talk [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Gerald
Levy via gui-talk
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2014 9:30 AM
To: gui-talk at nfbnet.org
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [gui-talk] Problems Ordering From Amazon.com


Amazon.com claims that it has "enhanced" the accessible version of its
web site for screen readers.  I just used this accessible version of
Amazon.com with JAWS to order some hearing aid batteries, and had a very
frustrating experience, to say the least.  Everything proceeded fine
until I reached the page for selecting shipping options.  Normally,
there should be a group of radio buttons that let you select the desired
shipping speed, which in most cases, would be free shipping.  But
imagine my surprise when I heard the list of shipping options with no
corresponding radio buttons; there was apparently no way to select the
desired shipping option.  I clicked on the continue button, not knowing
what to expect, and lo and behold, on the next page, the radio buttons
magically appeared.  The free shipping option was already selected, so I
clicked on the select payment method button.  On the payment page,
everything appeared to be in order, so I clicked on the place your order
button.  Suddenly, JAWS stopped talking, and I had no idea whether my
order had been placed successfully.  I launched NVDA, which took about 5
minutes to launch.  I landed on the page that thanked me for my order,
so I knew that my order had been placed successfully.  But JAWS still
would not speak, and I could not even access the Windows Task Manager or
Start menu, leading me to believe that my computer had crashed.  I
pressed the eject button for the CD/DVD drive, and to my surprise, as
the disk tray slid open, JAWS suddenly came back to life.  Was this just
a coincidence?  I was without JAWS speech for about 10 minutes.  I
closed NVDA, and everything appeared to be back to normal, much to my
great relief, and I received an email confirmation of my order.  But
should this have happened in the first place if accessibility has been
"improved"?  Amazon seems to constantly tinker with its web site to the
great detriment of its blind users, and there seems to be nothing
anybody can do about it.  Has anyone else experienced problems lately
ordering merchandise from the regular or accessible Amazon.com sites?
Thanks for any insights or feedback.

Gerald 

 
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