The Unbearable Lightness of Blogging, Part Two

Back in April, I noted the usability issues I had with the new Blogger interface. At that time, it was possible to revert to the old dashboard, which I did.

This morning, Google has forced me into the new interface, which is still almost exactly as difficult to navigate as it was in April. Most of the accessibility problems people raised in comments are still there.

Google calls Blogger's new interface "A clean, sleek interface designed for a streamlined blogging experience," but because they didn't listen to people with visual and/or information processing disorders about how unnecessarily difficult the layout is to navigate for us, their "clean, sleek interface" has not "streamlined" my blogging experience, but made it a total nightmare.

And now I'm stuck with it. As is everyone else who has difficulty with the new design.

Google claims that they prioritize accessibility, including for "those with disabilities," but months ago, people raised flags about accessibility issues with Blogger's new platform, and Google's response seems to be, "Sucks to be you."

Google doesn't even include Blogger in their "How to use accessibility features" section, which I suppose is because they don't offer any accessibility features for Blogger users. It's hard to agree Google has a meaningful commitment to accessibility when they make their blogging platform inaccessible to users and offer us no alternatives.

I have made my living using Blogger for years. And now Google has made my work infinitely more difficult and stressful, for a redesign that doesn't even significantly change function. That doesn't feel like a commitment to accessibility to me.

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