Hopefully now with the release of 7.1 GW will be working full speed ahead to resolve browse mode issues. Don't think we will get a date out of GW for the release of version 8 but if I were a betting man I would say around the end of the year. ----- Original Message ----- From: David To: WE English mailing list Sent: Saturday, June 27, 2009 11:19 AM Subject: Browse Mode - a suggestion/question
For quite a while now, Browse mode, has basically stayed the same. For all of what I know, it might have been this way forever - I did get in touch with WE in version 6.0. To claim, there has been no updates to browse mode, would be totally out of range. It's enough to just mention the placemarker functions, implemented with WE7. Still these have been to some extend, what we could discribe as Minor updates or changes. For at least a year, GW staff has told us, there will be a major update, or even a rebuild of the whole, browse mode - sometime... NO! This is no complaining message, I just try to sum up, the facts, as far as my knowledge goes. And I do understand the reason for the REBUILD of the Browse Mode, and that there is nothing in stone yet. That is actually what all of this message is all about... The problem, as it is by date, and has been for all the past, is that Brose Mode is a part of the basic WE code. This means, that ONLY GW staff has access to it, and ONLY they can change it. They are few, and have limited resources. They also have to make priorities when comes to what features to update, and maintain. But the WEB, is a quite dynamic place. It changes often, and it does so, OVER NIGHT. Go to your favorite webpage today, everything is fine, open it tomorrow, and you are stuck - the webmaster had the joky idea in his head last night, to change one tiny piece of code, and you are helplessly left behind. You go to the WE mailing list, and sigh out your heart, and is told that somewhere down the line, someone down the staff, will do something down the code... And meanwhile? When we first were told that plans were for an update to Browse Mode, last year, the web had this and that, that was inaccessible. If we look one year, two years, or whatever ahead, to get the rebuild, the web will have changed dramtically, and the whole process will have to be repeated. OK, enough for the summing up. Here is my suggestion: Up till WE6.1, the WE code made up the whole WE software, and that was what you got, and what you had to stick to. From WE7, the software has become FAR more dynamic, by entering into the scripting world. This gives us big opportunites, when comes to keeping the software UP-TO-DATE, and running even under brand new circumstances. GW Staff: Why not simply remove the browse Mode from the basic code, and make it all into a script??? Scripting the Browse Mode, would give several conveniences. First of all, not only GW staff would have access to it, meaning that if they don't have time to update, others might get the chance to jump in and give a hand. Secondly, the update would be far quicker and more easily done. Third, the users could benefit from the updates, even if they don't have the money to run and buy a newer version of WE, at least to some extend (most scripts can, for instance, be run as well under WE7, WE7.01, and WE7.1). Fourth, scripting would open up for features, that might not be possible, easily, to fit into the basic code. How well would this way of doing things work? Well, I did use another screen reader - back a few years ago - the German Blindows. They had done a similar solution, having no browse mode implemented in the screen reader itself, but bunddled it with a scripted software named WebFormator. The scripted browse mode, simply kicked in, whenever IE was opened, just like the Browse Mode of WE does. In practical, daily, use, the user might not even notice the difference. But when comes to the frequency, and time needed, to get out updates, everyone would benefit. ALLRIGHT, you all might state - and I guess this is the first reply we will get from staff members - but this will have to be in a later version of WE, sometime down the years.... !!! NO !!! Should be possible to get this done, already, with no new version of WE. A script could be out, that simply OVERRIDES the 'built-in' Browse Mode, that is implemented in WE as per date. Later on, yes, go ahead and remove the built-in Browse Mode, but the script could be out far sooner than a new version of WE. A bit of a job to built such a script? OH, YES! But what a job to rebuilt the built-in code in WE? And when will next version of WE come out? Again, no complaint, but let's face the fact. Few things that the users put their screen reader on to accomplish, is any more dynamically, and rapidly changing, than namely the WEB. We've got scripts for far more stabile and non-dynamic tasks than that, already. As time goes by, more and more of the web will rapidly change. If GW have to rebuild their code for all of these changes, they will soon find they have to run a whole staff on just that one task. Putting it out as a script, will take away a good portion of that pressure, from their shoulders, as stated in the four points above. Well, what do you listers, think about this? If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. All GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo, and can be searched through and sorted using the search form at the bottom of the page. If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, send a message to [email protected] and include leave gw-info in the body of the message. If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. All GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo, and can be searched through and sorted using the search form at the bottom of the page. If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, send a message to [email protected] and include leave gw-info in the body of the message.
