Dear Bambu.
I’m writing as an early adopter of an X1C and, like many, I’m blown away by the ease, speed and quality of your offering. I am, however, totally blind and have a few thoughts on your lack of accessibility for makers like myself and, looking forward, blind students, other blind creatives etc.
- Bambu Studio
For all my sins, I’m on mac but believe this will extend to windows too. The Bambu Studio slicer is not accessible to a screen reader. I’m grateful that when I requested the command R to slice and command shift G to send the print to the selected machine, you aded it but, really, that’s the tip of the iceberg.
1.1 Basic printing
the absolute basics of starting a print with default setting in a single material is not accessible. it’s very close, but , we need to be able to start the print. The ‘send’ button is not accessible … At all. This needs fixing.
1.2 Advanced makers needs
For more advanced makers, we need to be able to tab around the screen, use arrow keys, select and deselect all elements of the print process from interface material to fan speed etc. I realise this will be a bigger undertaking, but it needs to be done to truly open this platform to everyone.
- The Handy app
This app and the recent addition of maker world, to my mind, is the key. Apps, on iPhone here, are usually very accessible due to the way they are built on IOS. Sadly, I cannot say this is true for the handy app. Buttons in the bottom bar are unlabelled, the maker world interface is messy to navigate with a screen reader, there is no means of flicking through items as on other apps when in settings, accessing AMS settings is equally difficult. Everything is there and it is arguably easier to use than Bambu Slicer, but it is far from an easy or pleasurable process.
I’m going to link a few articles below that outline best practices for accessibility on mac and IOS which, I believe, should apply on other platforms too.
Of course, the sharper minded of you will wonder how I’m able to test and comment on these issues. Surely, if it isn’t accessible, how can someone totally blind work it independently. I’m using a specialised OCR plug in that allows me to read and interact with the screen. It isn’t a standard part of a screen reader and is only required in apps that have not been built to a satisfactory standard for accessibility. Same goes for IOS. These are means of advanced screen reader users working our ways around the problem. It’s fiddly, it’s unpleasant and requires a great deal of patients, all going against the UX I believe Bambu has in mind for its customers.
I hope you, the community see this and comment, showing your support for blind makers. The excitement of 3D printing is amplified considerably when we, as blind makers, can hold a 3D representation of a building, a vehicle, objects that are too big to touch or conceive, galaxies, super heroes, monsters for DnD, loved ones faces, rockets, boats, local maps, etc. I’ve never had people print for me, why should I let them have all the fun? All of us, including you, dear reader, need to be able to print independently. Sure, there are kind people that will print for those who can’t but, ■■■■ that. We’re moving into an age of equality, (in some spaces at least), where blind people don’t have to wait for a pair of helping hands or working eyes. How would any of you feel if this hobby required someone else to hit a button for you to print? I simply won’t accept that, I won’t wait. I’m busy, I need to get things done and waiting on others, as you all know, is a frustration. We need to be able to use these machines just as easily as sighted users… That’s it. No work arounds, no sighted help, no waiting on donations of time, straight up, sit down, find a model, and fire it off.
I’m lucky, I’ve got an engineering background and a mind that would seem to be well suited for this sort of thing. I’m also stubborn as ■■■■, my double edged sword, and will work a problem until it is solved. Thankfully, not everyone is like that, some are, but I want everyone without sight, the old, the young, to be able to access this hobby and even to take it into a business.
Bambu, with the release of the A1 (getting one for my dad as it’s the first printer I can confidently say someone who is a little older can get to grips with straight off the bat), you are poised to dominate. Please make sure that everyone is included. From a business stand point, if you want to hit the education sector, accessibility will be a high priority. Be the first printer manufacturer to put accessibility high up in your priority. I consider you the apple of 3D printers. Please take a leaf out of their playbook and make the uX for everyone, not just those with working peepers.