Hi,
I realise it's somewhat bad form to jump on a mailing list and immediately
start posting, so I hope you'll forgive me. But it looked like the most
appropriate place to ask this.
I've been watching the project from afar for some time. I am a big fan of
open source and have been using console-mode Debian Linux as my primary
operating system for almost 15 years. But I am pragmatic enough to
realise that we need alternatives, and that Windows cannot be ignored. A
free Windows alternative would be fantastic if realised.
As a blind person, I am very interested in the ability to use ReactOS with
screen reading software such as NVDA which is open source, and others
which are not.
Last time I looked into the status of accessibility APIs in ReactOS, it
appeared that not much had been done.
After watching a presentation from Alex Ionescu yesterday on ReactOS and
where it's at right now, and with Windows XP about to be end-of-lifed, I
thought I'd look at this again.
A google of various appropriate terms turned up a number of encouraging
things, most notably doxygen documentation which indicated work on the
iaccessible/MSAA accessibility API. This is most exciting, as the
successor to this, iaccessible2, is I believe freely available and should
not need to be reimplemented. I don't know if there are plans to extend
implementation to that provided by UI Automation in more recent operating
systems and back-ported rather buggily to Windows XP, but my understanding
is that this would provide even greater possibility for access
(particularly if it didn't include the bugs!).
What I did not find, how ever, is any indication of the current status of
this. I didn't find any mention of it on the Wiki in Current Status,
Missing Functionality or Community Funded Ideas. There was nothing
obvious to me in the Tech Wiki or the reference section, nor in the two
most recent GSOC pages (I didn't go back any further). I did find
something on a page entitled Change Taskforce, basically saying that this
would be a good thing to support and may lead to greater support from
people like GSOC, but nothing else. I also found a couple of emails like
this one which don't appear to have been answered.
In case further justification is needed for this, apart from the obvious
goal of enabling screen reader users to use ReactOS, the NVDA project has
shown what blind developers are capable of. Blind users would be able to
report on accessibility issues in other parts of ReactOS and its various
applications, and some would even be able to contribute by writing code or
submitting translations. It's pretty much impossible for a blind person
to contribute to ReactOS if they can't use it. Finally, it may be
possible for the ReactOS project to either use existing software or
develop their own that can conduct automated testing of ReactOS by using
the accessibility APIs to both activate UI components and monitor the
results.
I am writing to ask about the status, but I am also asking that this
status be made available somewhere where people are likely to look for it,
probably on the relevant wiki page. This would mean that blind people
would be able to start testing ReactOS if support is complete/near
complete, and it would attract the interest of developers and interested
doners if it is not.
Any information on this subject would be most welcome.
Thanks,
Geoff.
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