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Hi,
Luke and Will, I think it might be useful to lay
out the constraints that you are working under when creating an accessible
installation program. This might allow people to make constructive
suggestions on how to improve these programs.
As an outsider, this is how I see it. Someone
creating an accessible installation program faces two problems. The first
problem is available (or a lack of available) space on the installation
CD. The second problem is the need to know the user's desired language
before any assistive technology (AT) can be started. Are there any other
constraints?
The optimal solution to me would be to start some
form of assistance when the language selection menu appears to the sighted user.
It would be useful to indicate arrival at this menu with an auditory cue.
At this point, the user needing AT could indicate this by pressing a key-chord
(e.g., Alt-Ctrl-1, Alt-Ctrl-2, ... Alt-Ctrl-5) to select one of the AT
configurations. For those of us who need speech or Braille, pressing
Alt-Ctrl-3 would provide minimal speech and Braille output in this menu. One
serviceable, if ugly hack would be to have low-quality recordings of the
different language names, each language name being voiced as it is selected as
the user arrowed through the menu. Similarly, a small Braille table could
provide relevant Braille translations of the language names as they are
selected. Once the language has been selected, the requested AT services
could be started. This means that the selection between the live desktop
and the installation program can be made with AT support. One assumption
is made here--when the language selection menu appears, a fully functional, if
stripped down, OS is running. Is this a valid assumption?
I'm guessing that this sort of solution is
precluded by the first constraint I mentioned above--there isn't space on the
installation CD for the recordings, Braille table, or the mechanisms to deliver
them to the user, not to mention the facilities needed for other
ATs.
I just realized another assumption I am
making--these early selection screens are using enough of the gnome
infrastructure to allow AT services to be started after the language has
been selected. Is this a poor assumption?
I'm sure that there are several other assumptions
that I am making without realizing it. However, I'm hoping this will
start a discussion that can lead to a workable solution that all can be happy
with.
Thanks for all the work,
dave
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