Making Ribbons more accessible

More room for the words you need

On iPhone and iPad, Ribbons uses your system text size for its interface. We’re improving how headings, settings, and onboarding adapt at larger accessibility sizes, so important text and actions have space to grow. In Save to Ribbons, the content can scroll while Save stays at the bottom.

Imagine opening your trip Drawer to check a booking note. Increasing your reading size should help you read the title and find its actions, rather than make you work around a crowded screen.

A reading size for your Mac, too

We’re adding a Text Size setting on Mac, from 100% to 200%, for interface text and note presentation. Making a note larger to read doesn’t rewrite its saved formatting. You can keep the content as it is and choose a more comfortable size on this device.

Meaningful names. Useful actions.

With VoiceOver, the details you hear matter as much as the ones you see. On iPhone and iPad, we’re making library cards communicate their pinned state and offer named actions such as Copy Text, Open Link, Pin or Unpin, and Add to Drawer, where they apply to the item.

For a packing note you use often, that means its pinned state and its Copy Text action are part of the item’s accessibility information. For a saved website, the corresponding action is Open Link. These actions give another route to frequent tasks alongside the visual menus.

This is part of our VoiceOver work. We still need to validate complete journeys—from onboarding and purchases to finding and reusing an item—with people who rely on a screen reader.

A closer look, without a pinch

A saved screenshot can contain the small detail you came back for. We’re adding named image actions for Zoom In, Zoom Out, movement, and Fit Image, plus a visible Image Controls menu on iPhone and iPad. The image’s zoom level is also available as accessibility information.

You can enlarge a preview, move to the part you need, and return to the whole image using controls instead of relying only on pinch and drag gestures. This improves access to the preview; it doesn’t turn the contents of every image into a readable text document.

A comfortable appearance, with less motion

Ribbons offers light and dark appearance, with Auto following your device’s setting. You can also choose a built-in font style for the interface on each device. These choices let you adjust the environment around your saved content to suit your reading preferences.

We’re strengthening text and control contrast in areas including settings and capture. We’re also making custom image zoom and transitions respect Reduce Motion. On this website, silent app demonstrations have Play and Pause controls and start with a still image when reduced motion is requested.

Dark appearance is a preference, not a guarantee that every theme has sufficient contrast. We’re continuing to check both appearances and larger text together, including on iPad.

Saving should feel predictable

Sharing something to Ribbons starts with a review and an explicit Save. A title, note, and Drawer are optional. If you don’t choose a Drawer, the item goes to Ribbons. There’s no extra filing decision you have to make before you can keep something.

We’re keeping the preview’s space in place while artwork loads, instead of moving the controls when an image arrives. Once a link is available, you can save it while its optional website or map preview is still being prepared.

Successful saving now has an explicit Done action, and an error requests accessibility focus on its explanation. The goal is a clear outcome and a useful next step, including when you’re using assistive technology. We’re still testing these transitions inside the apps people share from.

Room for keyboard use

On Mac, a library shortcut shouldn’t get in the way of the control you’re using. We’re improving keyboard handling so native controls, text editors, and PDF readers retain their navigation keys while they have focus.

If you’re collecting references while writing, you should be able to move between your library and a note without losing the keys you use to edit. We’re continuing to test focus order, menus, and previews, including iPad with a hardware keyboard.

Start with your own preferences

These are useful places to begin. The exact options depend on your device, system version, and Ribbons version.

iPhone and iPad

In your device’s Settings, open Accessibility → Display & Text Size → Larger Text. Turn on Larger Accessibility Sizes if you need them. VoiceOver is in Settings → Accessibility → VoiceOver, and Reduce Motion is in Accessibility → Motion. In Ribbons, appearance and font choices are under Settings → Theme.

Mac

In Ribbons Settings, look for Appearance, Font Style, and the upcoming Text Size control. Your Mac’s System Settings → Accessibility contains VoiceOver and display preferences. On current macOS versions, Reduce Motion is under Accessibility → Motion.

Apple’s guides explain display and text preferences on iPhone and iPad, turning on VoiceOver on iPhone, and the Mac’s accessibility settings.

Accessibility is work we keep doing

A labelled button is a beginning. What matters is whether you can save, find, read, and reuse your content independently. We’re still working through larger-text and contrast issues on iPad, complete screen-reader and keyboard journeys, and alternatives for media.

Deep Recall can make words in images and scanned PDFs searchable, but search results and visual highlights aren’t a complete, screen-reader-friendly text reading experience. That’s an area we want to improve. Recognition also depends on the source and processing. Saved websites and other apps’ media can have their own accessibility limitations, and user videos may not contain captions or audio descriptions. We also need captions and written alternatives for our spoken demonstrations on this website.

This guide describes our design and the changes we’re preparing. It isn’t an accessibility certification or a claim of complete VoiceOver, Switch Control, Voice Control, or keyboard support. We’ll update it as we validate those experiences across devices. The app’s App Store accessibility labels are a separate, device-specific description of evaluated support.

Help us make the next improvement useful

If something is hard to read, reach, or understand, we’d like to hear about it. Tell us which device and Ribbons version you’re using, the task you were trying to complete, and the setting or assistive technology involved if you’re comfortable sharing it. You don’t need to send private notes, documents, or recordings.

Email Paul about accessibility