Re: Mozilla - like JAWS or like Hal?

[Jacob Schmude <jschmude adelphia net>]

> At 08:01 AM 5/05/2004, Peter Korn wrote:
> >  3. Now that we've started a good discussion about what is needed for good
> >     blind access to mozilla, perhaps we can start similar discussions about
> >     other aspects of the desktop.  Here are some questions to get that
> >     started (this further discussion shouldn't be cross-posted to
> >     <mozilla-accessibility mozilla org> of course...):
> >      a. What is good, and what can be improved, in Gnopernicus access to
> >         Nautilus and the actual desktop window itself?
>
Desktop access and nautilus, I find, work quite well. I particularly like
how, even in icon view, we get told the filetype based on its icon, which
even the best windows screen readers don't do. Something I've noticed, in
gnome-2.6's computer folder, when something is mounted, rather than saying
"mounted" or some such, it'll merely say the icon name twice. I do think
this should be fixed, since it was a bit confusing at first. I'd also like
to see, when drive icons appear on the desktop such as when they are
mounted, it would say "mounted drive icon" or something similar, rather
than just icon.

 > > >      b. Same question, but about Gnopernicus and
gaim? >
How about automatic reading of incoming messages, like window-eyes does
with MSN messenger? There should also be ways to read back through the
message window, as can be done in AIM for windows. The mesage auto-reading
feature should, of course, have a way to turn it off if one doesn't want
it. >
> >      c. Same question, but about Gnopernicus and StarOffice/OpenOffice.org?
>
Get rid of the "multi-line text" messages inside of the document windows.
For instance, I here "paragraph 1, multi-line text... paragraph 2,
multi-line text..." when all I really need to know is "paragraph 1,
paragraph 2" and things like that. Enhance responsiveness when speaking in
openoffice/staroffice writer--speech interruptability in particular. This
can on occasion get to be a major problem especially in the menu bar.
While we're on the subject of the menu bar, let's not have it read the
entire bar when one presses F10. Rather, let's just make it say the
current item, like other GNOME applications. Also, in lists it'll say
something like "list 10 items" but the current item will not be read, one
must up or down arrow then return to the item to here what item you were
on, which is can be an annoyance. Finally, in the special symbols dialog,
we need accurate descriptions for these symbols. Most of them read simply
as "A umlaut" or "e circumflex" therefore it is quite difficult to insert
an accented letter--if anyone has an easy way to do this, please write me
privately.
> >      d. What do you think about the Gnopernicus features?  The Gnopernicus
> >         NumPad commands and layer concept?  Braille interface?
I think the layer concept is a good idea but the way it is implemented now
is clunky at best. In my opinion, there should be four layers: a mouse
layer, a speech control layer, a braille control layer, and a magnifier
control layer. The mouse layer should combine the functions of current
layer zero and layer five--that is, the ability to move between objects
and click the mouse. Right now, we don't have a way to move the mouse from
object to object. I'd like to see a mouse movement and click feature
similar to the windows screen readers, since whether we like it or not,
not all programs will be fully keyboard accessible and there needs to be a
method for dealing with such programs. While we're on that, a graphics
labeler would be nice, as well as application-specific graphic
dictionaries. Either combine flat review mode with the mouse movement,
enhance it so that it works properly, or get rid of it altogether. In its
current state, it's not useful anyway, with it switching back to
focus-tracking mode within a few seconds of activation. And most important
of all, before anything else is done... STABILITY! There needs to be major
work in this area, gnopernicus should be stable before features get
implemented left and right. After all, if a program isn't stable, its
usefulness is diminished no matter how many cool features it has.
As for braille, I can't seem to get gnopernicus and brltty to cooperate
anymore, so no comment on that.
> >      e. What TTS engine(s) do you use with Gnoperncus?
I use DECTalk 5 almost exclusively, FreeTTS otherwise.
> >      f. What are the most important things you want to use with Gnopernicus
> >         but cannot use yet?
Distro-configuration tools like redhat-config-date, redhat-config-users,
etc. These interface to GTK ghrough python, and I'm not sure if they
interface to GTK1 or GTK2. GTK1 apps would be nice, if at all possible, as
there are still quite a few of those, including sound editors and media
players. Also, a good graphical web browser--I think, once mozilla gets
its accessibility stuff implemented that we'll have a fine browser there.
Good wordprocessor which, once openoffice works a bit better, we'll have
that. Good access to rhythmbox would be nice, currently the browser is a
bit buggy with gnopernicus at the very best. And how about programs based
on motif or similar, or just the plain x libraries? There's lots of
programs that still use that so as to not have any toolkit
incompatibilities--mostly commercial programs. Finally, how about the beep
media player--it's a GTK2 port of XMMS that'd be quite accessible if the
playlist editor window would read.

Well, that's my $0.02 worth.