Hi Damien,
Hmmm...I'm not sure what I can say in your case. It just seems to me
that we as blind users have little choice in the matter. A lot of the
smart phones my wife and I have looked at are all touchscreen, and those
that have keypads aren't much easier to use because the buttons are way
too small or they are so flat that they are hard to feel one from
another. For me learning to use an iPhone was making the best out of a
bad situation as other touchscreen phones like the Droid phone are less
accessible unless you sit down and have someone sighted set everything
up for you, and that doesn't even count the $60 or so for the screen
reader for Droid OS to boot. So for me at least the iPhone seems to be
the best deal we are going to get in terms of a smart phone.
Not only that, but as I've said in prior posts its not just smart
phones. Just this year I have beta tested a lot of software with drastic
U.I. changes designed for a touchscreen device. Windows 8, which I'm
running in a virtual machine, is completely different from anything
else I've ever used. Its got its accessibility challenges, but no matter
how much we scream, cry, and wine I'm pretty certain Microsoft won't
change the user interface. We'll have to deal with it in whatever way we
can.
Same goes for Linux as well. Ubuntu Linux, which I've used for about six
years, has recently switched over to a new graphical user interface
called Unity. It has introduced a number of accessibility
issues/challenges which are being fixed, but when I recommended that the
Ubuntu developers wait to introduce Unity once the accessibility issues
were fixed I got a resounding no. They explained that its all part of
their new marketing strategy to target PCs, smart phones, tablet PCs,
etc and they want a user interface suited for touchscreen devices etc.
Basically, accessibility takes a backseat to the bottom line. About the
only good thing I can say is the Ubuntu developers have worked closely
with the blind community to fix bugs and improve the accessibility of
the Unity desktop environment in Ubuntu 12.04. Which comes right back to
making the most of an undesirable situation.
Cheers!
On 4/22/2012 7:20 AM, Damien Pendleton wrote:
Hi Thomas,
Yeah, maybe I did give up. But like I said. That's because I don't
believe it is practical to have to sit with a phone spending five
minutes trying to access something when you could access the same
thing on, say Simbian or XP in a matter of seconds. And if touch
screen is the way forward, then I don't know what I'll be doing with
computers because it'd be even worse. I couldn't imagine me having to
be slow on a computer. That'd drive me insane and make me feel very
small.
Regards,
Damien.
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