Swipe Gesture Recogniser using voiceover

Question

I have a view with a few gesture recognisers (ala Clear). Should I add buttons only for voice over users instead?

I thought about using the hint to say something like "3 Finger Swipe Right to Edit. Left to Delete. Up to Create a new one." but it seems like Apple discourages that. Even apple uses "Double Tap to Edit" on textFields and such and I have no idea why they discourage that.

Does not include the name of the action or gesture. A hint does not tell users how to perform the action, it tells users what will happen when that action occurs. Therefore, do not create hints such as “Tap to play the song,” “Tapping purchases the item,” or “Swipe to delete the item.” This is especially important because VoiceOver users can use VoiceOver-specific gestures to interact with elements in your application. If you name a different gesture in a hint, it would be very confusing.

Answer 1

Yes you should include alternate buttons.

You're misunderstanding the Apple Disclaimer. The disclaimer refers to the fact that VoiceOver is going to take over the touch screen. Once VoiceOver takes over the screen, it decides how to pass gestures to your application. So as it works right now to activate a button, a user would highlight the button, and then double tap. But, VoiceOver doesn't need to stick to this (though it is highly likely that they will for some time). However, it is not a developers job to inform users of this. VoiceOver informs users of this through earcons, traits, and other instructions that are dependant on the AT. If a developer were to include this information in the hint, it could be invalidated by a change in the AT, and then be inconsistent across device versions, or other ATs such as braille boards.

Not only would you be potentially describing gestures that VoiceOver doesn't allow (given that it captures screen gestures. But, even if you were to apply the allows direct interaction trait, you may be describing gestures that people with disabilities can not perform. Either way, including another method of achieving the given interaction is the better solution.

Answer 2

Use custom actions defined on accessible elements instead of using specific buttons for your purpose.

Moreover, I don't think it's a good idea to add VoiceOver gestures dedicated to an application as you suggested with your hints : try and build your app with the VoiceOver standards that users are used to manipulating.