I totally agree with this. Now allow me to say that I've been both
sighted and blind. And I'm the first one to stand up and say that this
is a sighted world, and we have to adapt to it just as we demand it to
adapt to us. Living on my own, I find all kinds of workarounds for
every situation that comes up. So I'm not one of those blind people who
whines and says "make it easy for me." Asking for help is my last
choice, not my first. And as someone who has been blind now for 20 plus
years, I'm really tired of the attitude that I don't count because I'm
not a majority. Gee too bad we don't take that attitude in America with
the illegal aliens. Businesses are always making their websites more
screen reader friendly because they're learning that there is a very
large population of blind computer users out here. Do I want everything
made simple for me? No. I'm all for compromise. And with the constant
upgrades to Jaws and Skype, it seems that getting them to play nice
together is becoming more and more difficult. Skype in it's basic form
is a very simple program. communicating with text or voice. But I'm
fed up with this 'you're a second class citizen because you can't see'
attitude. And if it's simply a matter of telling people to read
documentation or manuals, then this group really isn't necessary. I
enjoy using Skype, and Doug does an amazing job with the scripts. My
original gripe was simply how the powers that be at Skype just can't
leave well enough alone. Having to use classic menus and turning on
keyboard navigation are just a couple steps we have to do to make Skype
more user friendly. But what about those who are blind who use Skype
and aren't on this list? Who do they turn to for help to use a program
that is being designed in a manner that is making it more and more
unfriendly to blind users. Now, if you have the time and the mindset to
read through pages and pages of boring technical documentation, more
power to you. Frankly that stuff bores me. I shouldn't have to take a
course on how to use something like Skype. Somehow a very simple idea
has slowly become very complicated over the past few years. If this
weren't true, then there's be no need for this group to help people with
using Skype.
Jack
----- Original Message -----
From: "JardataMailServices" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, November 30, 2009 3:53 AM
Subject: [Skypeenglish] Skype is written for sighted people
This theme constantly sickens me when it comes to software development.
Blind people are not a small manority when it comes to computer use. A
large number of porportion of blind people use computers. With regards
to skype and their dealing with blind people, I don't see how they could
want to work with blind people in using their products and do what they
do in 41 and other upgrades. Microsoft changed Office 2003 to Office
2007 and it is almost totally different interface; how, I have no
problems using office 2007 because they considered blind users in their
product changes. It is not less accessible because of the changes; it
is just as accessible because of them and with the first letter steps,
it is even more accessible. This is how skype should do it. Consider
their features and make it a choice which interface to use. This is
responsible programming.
I am so tired of blind people telling me that I must accept things the
way they are just because sighted venders write for sighted people and
blind people are not considered.
We must stop crawling along and accepting whatever is thrown to us and
start doing things to make venders consider our needs. Blind people are
a large enough minority to make skype take a look at our needs. If
blind people did not matter, they would not give anything about our
feelings. They just don't use this concern to make positive changes;
they use it to explain why they forget about our needs.
I feel I am being forgotten with skype 41 and, if I can, I will try to
do something about making a product like skype work for me or impress
upon skype to add a classic view to their current product. This can be
done easy enough. One last last thing: I use FTP Voyager and Serv-u;
they had a very usable classic view in their old products; they changed
their inyterface totally; but, in their view minu, there is one checkbox
to go back to a total classic view and keep all new changes. This has
not caused any problem for sighted people and I am sure Rhinosoft writes
its products primarily for sighted people. This is what I am talking
about; skype can do this, but for some reason they don't.
I am kind of tired of this, as I feel I am not getting anywhere with
skype and their interface and their lack of concern about my needs. I,
like I said earlier, will use the product for as long as it is permitted
with 38; skype will determine whether or not I can continue to use their
product. I may be a manority, but I am a consumer with money to spend
and a need to use whatever program I want to use.
I am not swayed by that thing of "we blind people should just be
grateful they even consider us at all." Without scripts, skype would
not be usable at all; therefore, what has skype done for our benefit?
If skype is so concerned about our needs, why do script writers have to
always fix it for them. They should write their program for all people
to use it in the first place. Again, it would not take much programming
to put a complete classic view as part of their program. Also, I can't
believe anyone had more trouble with 38 than with 41.
James Robinson
Thanks for posting to the skype english list. To access scripts for the
latest version of skype go to
http://www.dlee.org/skype
To access tutorials and other goodies go to
http://www.marrie.org/skype/skype.html
To contact the list owner send a message to
mailto:[email protected]
to download a tool to automate the installation of skypewatch go to
this link.
www.hkprojects.tk
and for a searchable archives page go here.
http://bit.ly/64Y48
thanks and have a wonderful day.
_______________________________________________
Skypeenglish mailing list
[email protected]
http://emissives.com/mailman/listinfo/skypeenglish_emissives.com
Thanks for posting to the skype english list. To access scripts for the latest
version of skype go to
http://www.dlee.org/skype
To access tutorials and other goodies go to
http://www.marrie.org/skype/skype.html
To contact the list owner send a message to
mailto:[email protected]
to download a tool to automate the installation of skypewatch go to this link.
www.hkprojects.tk
and for a searchable archives page go here.
http://bit.ly/64Y48
thanks and have a wonderful day.
_______________________________________________
Skypeenglish mailing list
[email protected]
http://emissives.com/mailman/listinfo/skypeenglish_emissives.com
