Now that this bug has been fixed for 2.24, we may have gotten rid of one of the last remaining barriers to enabling a11y by default:
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=524263 Will Peter Korn wrote: > Hey Willie, > > Regarding #5 below - enabling accessibility on the desktop: I think it > is worth asking the question whether we are ready to have desktop > accessibility support on by default. It takes more memory, so we > certainly want to allow folks to turn it off if they don't need it. And > in the past it was more unstable than any of us liked (and so folks who > didn't need it wanted it off by default). But... it is being used more > and more by folks doing testing of GUIs in general (thanks to dogtail, > et. al.) and it has been getting a lot more testing in general. > > So, maybe for GNOME 2.24 this would be a possibility? > > > Regards, > > Peter Korn > Accessibility Architect, > Sun Microsystems, Inc. > >> I agree that things are a little confusing right now. I'm not sure I've >> fully understood/appreciated the motivation for why things are the way >> they currently are. This might be a good opportunity to clarify, >> improve, or both. :-) >> >> I think there are a bunch of different problems to think about: >> >> 0) How do I know what accessibility solutions GNOME offers? These >> include global system preferences (e.g., AccessX and theming) as well as >> assistive technologies (e.g., Orca, GOK, Dasher, MouseTweaks). One >> solution is word-of-mouth, which should not be discounted as a >> reasonable solution. Another solution is to read the documentation, >> which we are improving as part of GOPA. Another is to scour the >> "Applications" menu to see what's there (i.e., the same way I'd stumble >> across an e-mail client or web browser). Another is to scour the >> "Preferences" menu for assistive technology preferences. This all seems >> like it could be cleaner. >> >> 1) How do I enable theming and/or AccessX features on the login screen? >> For theming, I believe the current solution is to offer an optional >> menu on the username/password dialog, which is OK. For AccessX, the >> current solution is to make sure AccessX is enabled in the X server and >> to rely upon the de facto settings and keyboard gestures built in the >> XKB server extension. This is marginally OK, and tends to be the >> solution we see on public information kiosks (i.e., you don't get your >> exact personal preferences, but you should get enough to allow you to >> log in). >> >> 2) How do I launch an assistive technology from the login screen? While >> it requires a one-time sysadmin operation to enable accessible login, >> the current solution of keyboard and/or mouse gestures for gdm seems to >> be reasonable for many users. Doing so requires a priori knowledge of >> the keyboard/mouse gestures, but perhaps some automatic 'help' content >> generation might be possible? In addition, a dialog as suggested in the >> kick off for this thread might help some users as long as they do not >> need an assistive technology to access the dialog. >> >> 3) How do I 'carry over' accessibility from the login screen to the >> desktop session? The current solution is to treat the gdm session and >> the desktop session as separate. This presents an issue for users until >> they've customized their desktop session for accessibility. That is, >> the solution is that there is no carry over and that the user needs to >> customize their desktop session for accessibility. >> >> 4) Related to #3, there are at least two solutions for autostarting >> assistive technologies: general autostart for GNOME and a special >> "Accessibility" tab on the preferred applications dialog >> (gnome-default-applications-properties). The overlap of these has been >> a source of confusion to me. For simplicity, it has seemed to me that >> the assistive technology itself should be the one to offer the "start me >> on log in" option, and it should do so by just adding itself to the >> general autostart list for GNOME. >> >> 5) Related to #3, how do I enable a11y for the desktop? The current >> solution is to provide the a11y preferences dialog for this. IMO, this >> is kind of counterintuitive and is probably something that should >> instead be provided by the tool that requires the a11y infrastructure to >> be enabled (e.g., Orca, GOK, DogTail, etc.). >> >> 6) Related to #2, can I create a customized a11y environment for gdm? >> That is, always set the theme by default, always enable SlowKeys with a >> timeout of 0.75 seconds, etc. I have no great answer for this since >> I've always been accustomed to the login screen being a shared system >> resource on a multiuser system. :-( >> >> In any case, I think this is a good discussion. We definitely have room >> for improvement/clarity. >> >> Will >> >> Brian Cameron wrote: >> >>> Matthias: >>> >>> >>>> Imo an approach like the one taken by Jon McCann in the new gdm a11y >>>> dialog (see http://live.gnome.org/GDM/Screenshots ) is much more >>>> straightforward and we should look at doing something similar inside >>>> the session. >>>> >>> I agree that the new dialog is a big step forward. It is a good idea >>> to provide a user-visible dialog where users can select the a11y >>> programs they wish to run. >>> >>> However, this interface is lacking because many users with disabilities >>> simply cannot navigate the GUI to begin with unless the a11y programs >>> they need are already running. A chicken-and-egg problem. >>> >>> I know the new GDM does support the ability to always launch (autostart) >>> additional programs, which can be used to start a11y programs along with >>> GDM. This perhaps meets the needs of a single-user desktop. However, >>> this doesn't work well on multi-user desktops or terminal server >>> settings where some users may need text-to-speech, others may need >>> magnification, and others might not need any additional a11y programs to >>> be running. >>> >>> I think this "support a11y on multi-user servers for users who may have >>> different a11y needs" is an important use case that should be addressed >>> before a general solution be implemented into the GNOME desktop. >>> >>> Brian >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Gnome-accessibility-devel mailing list >>> Gnome-accessibility-devel@gnome.org >>> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-accessibility-devel >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Gnome-accessibility-devel mailing list >> Gnome-accessibility-devel@gnome.org >> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-accessibility-devel >> > _______________________________________________ Gnome-accessibility-devel mailing list Gnome-accessibility-devel@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-accessibility-devel
