FW: GDM accessibility sans AT-SPI

["Ian Pascoe" <ianpascoe btinternet com>]

Agreed with Peter and Bill, why re-invent the wheel?

Takeing this to the next logical step.

If you have a normal un-disabled user they would not want AT-SPI or similar
technology launched at this point, only those of us who need it.

I don't know how practical or codeable it would be but if prior to log on
you could set the code to examine the users built on the system and if the
user profile has Assistive Technologies enabled you start the AT-SPI and
required apps before log in.

OK, next question what about multi user systems?  Again I think if any of
the users have Assistive Technologies enabled you would need to load that up
as default as until the log in screen is completed you won't know which user
is logging in.  At After log in AT-SPI could either be killed or left
running.

Obviously if this marker was not set then you progress as normal.

Maybe also some type of indicator on the dialogue box as well to show that
Assistive Technologies is activated and runing too?

Just a few more thoughts for the melting pot.

Ian

-----Original Message-----
From: gnome-accessibility-list-bounces gnome org
[mailto:gnome-accessibility-list-bounces gnome org]On Behalf Of Peter
Korn
Sent: 07 December 2006 19:25
To: Henrik Nilsen Omma
Cc: gnome-accessibility-list gnome org
Subject: Re: GDM accessibility sans AT-SPI


Hi Henrik,

Login is a somewhat unique environment; it is reasonable to explore the
question of whether one can get by without AT and AT-SPI.

Unfortunately, I think the answer is "it depends upon the disability
need", which ends up being essentially "no, you can't really do without it".

You can do contrast & theming of course.  And the AccessX suite of
tools.  You can attack speech at login in the same was as you might
attack it at gdm time -> play .WAV files.  You can also making the app
self-voicing.  Given how simple the login screen is, the advanced
features of GOK aren't that important.

However, how do you address Braille?  How do you address multiple
disabilities?  What do you do when have additional AT we want to use
(e.g. voice recognition)?  And how much work will it be to make login
self-voicing?  How does that quantity of work compare to just supporting
AT-SPI and ATs at login?


Given all this, I think it makes more sense for doing with AT-SPI.  If
we are concerned with startup time, why not load a simple gesture
listener (should be quick) that when activated restarts gdm login with a
specific AT loaded?  I think we should at least explore options of
addressing the concerns you start to list below before (or in parallel
to) working on a self-voicing login.


Regards,

Peter Korn
Accessibility Architect,
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
> Hi all,
>
> Another controversial post to g-a ...
>
> I'm currently looking at GDM accessibility and it strikes me that there
> is a strong case for doing this without using AT-SPI. The themed version
> currently does not work properly with the AT-SPI features and on the
> plain greeter version there is still a fair amount of configuration
> required.
>
> Both the AT-SPI framework and the assistive apps are complex things that
> will need some work to get working Just Right at the login. It also
> takes some time to load. AT-SPI is great for global desktop access since
> adding access to every single app would be silly. However, GDM is *not a
> desktop app* and also has a simple and predictable interface so it makes
> sense to look at other options.
>
> I've written a spec describing a login system with built-in access
support.
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Accessibility/Specs/GdmAccessLite
>
> This may not be the right way to go but I think we should consider it
> before starting work on fixing the current model.
>
> Henrik
> _______________________________________________
> gnome-accessibility-list mailing list
> gnome-accessibility-list gnome org
> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-accessibility-list
>

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