My real fear though is that one of these days, the Modern UI will be the only UI available, and then what are you guys going to do? I mean, as a person interested in learning to program using the .NET Framework, how are decisions made about whether to use desktop applications or those applications for the modern UI in design? It right now seems that Microsoft is leaning toward modern UI only, which could very well mark the end of accessibility on Windows for blind people, right?
-----Original Message----- From: Stephen Clower [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2012 8:54 AM To: Katherine Moss Cc: Loy; gw-info Subject: Re: How's the support coming for Modern interface apps on Windows 8? Katherine, I can't speak to the Windows 8 Skype app as I personally have not used it. However, just like any prgoram, it can be designed with accessibility in mind or not at all. From what we have heard from other Windows 8 users who have tried it, the Skype app falls in the latter category. Window-Eyes and other adaptive technologies follow a set of rules as spelled out by a number of organizations (including Microsoft) and also incorporate work-arounds based on real world experience. Unfortunately, just because a specification exists doesn't mean that people will use it, know about it, or disregard it because they don't feel accessibility is important. Modern UI apps are especially tricky as their designs are geared more for touch-based hardware and not navigation via the keyboard. Some areas of Windows 8 even don't provide consistent keyboard navigation (hence our Windows Enhanced app). Windows 8 and modern apps are still very, very new, and we're hopeful that the remaining issues will be sorted out as time progresses. Regarding the older Skype client, I quote the following paragraphs from GWConnect's own documentation: Ever since the initial release of the Skype client in mid-2003, people from all around the world have used it to initiate high-quality voice and text conversations, send and receive files, and stay in touch with one another. The visually impaired community, likewise, has used Skype since then to facilitate equal communication with each other and their sighted counterparts. However, as the service has grown, so too has the program. For years, screen reader users have kept up with Skype's ever-morphing interface either with custom patches, scripts, or apps. While largely successful, such utilities must be constantly maintained as any new version of Skype can, and often will, cause previously working scripts or apps to stop functioning properly. In mid-2011, Skype announced its Skype Kit developer program. This service allows program developers to directly access nearly all Skype services without the additional need of traversing its user interface. Developers, therefore, can create their own interface to Skype and seamlessly integrate it into their own products. And, because the underlying Skype services are much less likely to change on a whim, GW Micro decided to take advantage of this service and create a simple, elegant, fully accessible interface to Skype which is designed with the visually impaired community in mind. Having full control of the user interface also means that unlike the official Skype client, GWConnect's interface will not dramatically change from version to version. When you learn how to use GWConnect today, you can be confident that your knowledge will continue to apply in the future as new versions are released. Thus, we have the tools to try to keep augmenting the standard Skype client, but as its interface never remains constant we'd be playing a never-ending game of catch up. With GWConnect, we did devote quite a bit of time to incorporate nearly all of the Skype features provided by the Skype Kit, but now that this task has been completed, we can focus our resources on other innovations-- such as Window-Eyes 8. We intend to continue providing feature updates to GWConnect, but the beauty of the Skype Kit approach is that we don't have to release an augmented app update every few days just to keep up with Skype's ever-changing user interface. Regards, Steve On 11/6/2012 10:30 PM, Katherine Moss wrote: > Not to scare anyone, but since I am a technical person, I'd like to > know the details preventing WE from working with the metro Skype app; > after all, I bought Windows 8 so that I could join this new world of > apps; this has not happened yet. What is really going on here? But > anyway, what exactly is it that prevents WE from working with even the > regular Skype Client? Steve, you mentioned that it's something on Skype's > end. > I would assume that it's the custom control used in the application, > for if it were just a matter of things not being labeled, then that > could have been fixed via a WE script a long time ago. Am I right > about that? Or are their true limits to how far WE scripts can take us? > > *From:*Loy [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* Tuesday, November 06, 2012 2:49 PM > *To:* gw-info > *Subject:* Re: How's the support coming for Modern interface apps on > Windows 8? > > Can't read mail on the Windows 8 Mail app and I can't find anyone who > can tell me how. > > ----- Original Message ----- > > *From:*Katherine Moss <mailto:[email protected]> > > *To:*[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > *Sent:*Tuesday, November 06, 2012 1:42 PM > > *Subject:*How's the support coming for Modern interface apps on > Windows 8? > > Hello all, > > I am a user and lover of Windows 8. That's not to say that WE 8 > doesn't seem to have it's problems though. I have noticed this > mostly on the metro side of things. For instance adding an account > to People is impossible using WE because WE doesn't read things > properly in the dialog that comes up when you click add another > account. I'd appreciate it if this were fixed. I also have trouble > seeing everyone on the messaging app as well as answering and > writing messages because I cannot tell whether a message was sent or > not. The edit field never clears. Also Skype doesn't work either > with WE 8, and it would be nice to be able to use the official Skype > client with no need for scripts or alternate clients. > -- Stephen Clower Product support specialist & App Development GW Micro, Inc. * 725 Airport North Office Park, Fort Wayne, IN 46825 260-489-3671 * gwmicro.com 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. GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can manage your list subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv.
