You're correct in that most screen readers can load configurations based
on the name of the program.
Generally, bios screen writes are exactly what a screen reader wants,
because that's the easiest way to get things to the screen in a way they
understand since they monitor those interrupts to catch the text going
to the screen. Reading video memory is much more difficult for a screen
reader, because then they have to compare what was there before, and
what's there now, then only speak what changed. Most of them can do
that, but as you can imagine, it's not always an effective method of
reading the screen content, depending on how things are written to the
screen, and often, (especially in dos), there's decorative characters,
which are also spoken. In this case, that's not a problem, but it can
be for some.
There's nothing wrong with the way this program is written, it does work
just fine, it's just not as screen reader friendly as something that
presents things to the screen in a structured manner. Of course, the
nature of the game makes this necessary, which is why I suggested using
screen review, it would allow her to turn off speaking while the screen
is updating, then read it after it's done, which would present things in
the order they should be spoken. It's slower, but it works, and is how
some of the scripting functions in some of the dos screen readers work.
A quick recode to use printf statements, and minimal updating (I.E. only
update when necessary, not every time through the loop) would help
screen readers handle it a bit better. Still, as Karen said, it is
usable, just a little out of order. I'd not have bothered to mention it
at all if Karen hadn't posted saying it wasn't working well.
On 5/10/2025 9:54 PM, Eric Auer via Freedos-user wrote:
Hi Travis,
Were interruptsand bouncing around the screen necessary? Of course
not, but like the source says, they were having fun, and this was the
result. It wasn't meant to be serious.
A simple recoding of the program would make it considerably more
screen reader friendly, but that's another story entirely.
As the game implementation is fresh and actively supported,
I would say it would be nice if the author could make things
configurable: One setting which bounces around and has funny
visual effects and one setting which updates the screen in a
more structured and documented way which can more easily be
digested by a screen reader. I assume some screen readers can
also be told to activate app-specific configurations depending
on the name of the currently running exe or com?
Regards, Eric
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