New Interface Lack Accessibility

[chereec55993136]

I am putting my two cents in here about the new interface. It's clear that accessibility was not on their minds here. Of course every situation is unique, but in my case the new design rendered it unusable. I have vision problems and only one hand. The contrast for menus is terrible, and the sudden moving of tools to a different place has undone all of my curated "McGuyvers."  Thank god for the helpful hint on how to reclaim the original! But if that goes away, I'm toast.

Did the developers run this by any neuro-atypical testers?

[JR Boulay]

Every time Acrobat's interface has been 'revolutionised', it's because some egghead wanted to justify his salary and leave an imprint that would look good on his resume in the future.
User experience and accessibility have nothing to do with it.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

Hi @chereec55993136,

I'm not an Adobe employee, but I have been an Adobe beta tester for several decades.  As far as I know, there is only one beta tester with vision deficiency (legal blindness) and they complained to Adobe's engineers about the same problem you are having...and several more accessibility issues, too.

Adobe did improve the contrast before releasing the new Acrobat to the public, somewhat, but as an accessibility expert myself, I don't think they resolved the problems for low-vision and/or keyboard-dependent users. To me, that's their violation of Adobe's VPAT for Acrobat, which all government agencies and many major corporations require to verify that their employees with disabilities can use the software.

If you work for a government agency, log a formal complaint with your agency's IT department because they have the responsibility to ensure your software tools work fully for you.  Same if you work for a major corporation or entity: they're required by US ADA law to provide a functional workplace (and if you're in another country, its laws for full access to workplace facilities).

Finally, note that this is a volunteer user-to-user forum that rarely does gets anyone's attention at Adobe. So please tell Adobe directly about this problem at UserVoice, https://acrobat.uservoice.com/forums/590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac/suggestions/47082691-ditch-t...   Be sure to give them brief details about your disability and inability to use the interface because it's obvious that no one at Adobe understands accessibility.

You're not alone: nearly 1/3 of the world's population has an impairment or disability that hinders their use of computer technology.

Best to you,

—Bevi

[chereec55993136]

Thank you, Bevi!
I feel seen now.:-)
Cheree

A. Cheree Carlson

[P.I Removed by Moderator]