This is for Mac Skype users, not Windows Skype users.
I'm looking for input on Mac Skype accessibility problems. These are
notes I took based on my experience with the currently available Mac
Skype release. I welcome comments, corrections, etc. if anyone has any.
Pardon the raw formatting; I originally wrote these for myself as an aid
in communicating with Skype developers. Pay attention to indenting and
leading dashes; this is written in a sort of outline format.
One brief note beforehand: The "Missed events tree" that I mention is
probably not supposed to exist is in fact invisible, according to a
sighted Skype user I talked to. This is why clicking on its entries
does not do the expected thing. This is the view that says things
like "collapsed 5 missed calls" (this is imprecise language; I'm not
at a Mac right now). There are two History views, one reached with
"Show History" and the other from the Window menu I think, hence their
names below. The "missed events tree" is neither of these.
Known issues:
File transfer table is inaccessible ("Unknown" for each row).
Chat drawers are inaccessible:
- "Unknown" for each row.
- Can't read rows without activating chats.
- I believe focus jumps out of the drawer when a chat activates.
- Note: Workaround: Use separate chat windows; but this becomes
cumbersome with large numbers of simultaneous chats.
Window menu history (one of two History views):
- History table doesn't identify entry types (vm, missed call, etc.).
- Space opens chats, plays vm's, etc (this is good, not bad).
- Not sure what Enter does on an entry.
Contact list history (second of two History views):
- First column reads as blank but should say what's unread.
- History table doesn't identify entry types (vm, missed call, etc.).
- Enter, not Space, opens chats (inconsistent with above).
- No way to play a voicemail in this view.
Missed event tree is invisible and probably not intended to exist.
Conference panels:
- No way to hang up on a specific conference participant from the
keyboard.
Contact list:
- Contact list only shows us one table column.
- Contact cell tooltips don't read as help tags.
- Contact row repeats on frequent redraw (minor; workaround: Esc to
jump to Search text field).
There you have them, the issues of which I am aware so far. Please
write back if you know any more or if you see errors in my notes. I
am communicating with Skype developers about Mac Skype issues this
week while in Tallinn.
--
Doug Lee [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.dlee.org
SSB BART Group [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.ssbbartgroup.com
There is more freedom in knowing how to handle pain than in knowing
how to avoid it. (4/29/01)
