Re: GNOME A11y: where do we need to improve? (Want input by 25-Jan)

["Steve Lee" <steve fullmeasure co uk>]

On 24/01/2008, Ian Pascoe <ianpascoe btinternet com> wrote:
> B.  Ensure that the apps utilise a widgets library that supports AT-SPI.

GTK+ is very popular and it uses GAIL to automatically expose AT-SPI
for stock widgets. So it is important for application developers to
carefully consider the case for custom widgets and to ensure any they
create are fully accessible. In addition application authors may also
need to tune the stock accessiblity to make their applications as
accessible as possible.

We, as a community, need to advise other developers about these issues
and provide the information and tools they need so they can make their
apps fully accessible with little hassle. At GNOME summit in Boston it
was clear that the wider GNOME community are aware of a11y and are
keen to play their part. That is fantastic.

There is a new plug-in for accerciser that makes application a11y testing easy.

> Secondly, and this is a bit off the wall, to provide an additional call to
> AT-SPI that apps can directly access to provide additional information that
> would not normally be needed by a visually unimpaired user?

> For instance, a classic one that comes to mind is a graphical status bar
> like the one used on Update Manager - the unimpaired user can see the
> progress of the bar, but for an impaired user if the ap could send out
> additional information like the progress of the bar, or changes to a status
> bar ....  This could be used as an alternative to accessable widgets as
> well.

AT-SPI is rich enough to cover this specific case and almost any
other. In general it is a matter of the toolkit/application writers
exposing enough information through AT-SPI so that ATs can consume it.
However until there are ATs or test harnesses to consume the
information and thus create a demand for it, it is not going to be
implemented or completely tested.

For example when working on Jambu switch access I started exercising
Firefox in ways that Orca doesn't so I found bugs and omissions.
That's not a criticism of Firefox, rather it shows the reality and
priorities of software development.

-- 
Steve Lee
--
Jambu - Alternative Access to Computers
www.fullmeasure.co.uk