Hi Yohandy, In my personal opinion the new Metro interface is the worst possible thing Microsoft could have done for Windows accessibility. People complained about the new start menu in Vista and Windows 7, but those changes pale in comparison to the new Metro interface. Instead of a start menu you have this start screen with icons tiled in columns and rows and it is very difficult to locate the icon you want, nor can you just press the first letter of the icon you want to jump directly to. Instead it is simpler just to type the name of the program you want and have Metro bring up a list of icons that matches your search and then you can up and down arrow to the icon you want. Its a pretty serious step backwards in terms of accessibility for blind Windows users in my book.
As far as touch gestures verses the keyboard technically we should be able to do both. The problem is that none of the current screen readers track input from a touch screen so it makes it difficult to use touch gestures with Windows 8 presently. We can certainly use the keyboard, but the way some screens are laid out its clear that keyboard input wasn't on Microsoft's mind as they developed the new look and feel because everything is arranged for a touch screen or mouse. As far as screen reader accessibility goes all of the major commercial screen readers are going to require updates to work with Windows 8. I've tried Jaws 13, Window Eyes 7.5, and they do a pretty poor job of working with Windows 8's new look and feel. The only screen reader that seemed to handle it with some grace is NVDA which still could use some work to improve access in some areas, but is functionally usable. As far as games goes its no better or worse than Windows 7. If you have a bunch of games written in VB 6 you'll need to install the missing components manually. If you have a game written in .NET generally anything written using .NET 2.0 or hire should work fine, but of course some games may require you install some extra .NET dependencies like SlimDX, the XNA Framework, and so on. Dos games compiled for a 16-bit OS and processor are a hopeless cause. You'll need a virtual machine or Dos emulator to run those on Windows 8. HTH On 8/23/12, Yohandy <[email protected]> wrote: > Hey all, > This is geared towards those of you that have installed Windows 8 previews. > > What do you think of the Metro interface? must we use touch gestures, or can > > we use a keyboard as a blind person to navigate around the OS? Does this OS > > work with current versions of screen readers? And most importantly, how > would you rate game compatibility? I'd test the OS myself, but unfortunately > > I don't have a spare machine to do so. I'd appreciate as much info as > possible. thanks in advance for your help! > > > > > > -------------- > I've been a Bing Rewards member for 6 months. In that time, I've won several > > $5 amazon gift cards, Microsoft Points, etc, simply by browsing the web. The > > best, not to mention easiest rewards program I've ever tried. If you wish to > > check it out, please follow this link. thanks! > http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9778718&rrid=C714DC93-BC0B-4441-AD27-F345856231A1 > > > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > [email protected]. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to [email protected]. > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
