Scott: > Sorry for the cross posting. > > As we all know different users have different needs of their operating > system. Adjusting the system to meet their requirements may take a lot > of effort for certain users. Some users may not be able to configure the > system without someone else's assistance. For computers in public > spaces (eg. libraries, university computer labs, offices, etc.) it is > very important that the computers can quickly adapt to different users' > preferences and return to the defaults after they are finished. > > To try to help with this process I've submitted an idea to the Ubuntu > Brainstorm site. > If you think this is an interesting idea worth pursuing please *consider > voting for it*: > > http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/20263/ > > *What is Web-4-All?* > > The Adaptive Technology Resource Centre (ATRC) > <http://atrc.utoronto.ca/> at the University of Toronto > <http://www.utoronto.ca/>developed Web-4-All > <http://web4all.atrc.utoronto.ca/html/english/w4a_home_e.html>, a system > for easily configuring multi-user public access computer workstations. > Web-4-All is basically a file which contains the users accessibility > preferences. These preferences can be stored on a smart card or USB > flash drive. When the user places this media into a Web-4-All compatible > system the system automatically updates to match the accessibility > preferences as best it can. When the user pull the card out of the > system the computer reverts back to the previous settings.
This does seem like an interesting idea. To expand upon it, I think GNOME also needs a solution that works more generally. There has been talk of enhancing gnome-settings-daemon so that it is possible for users to hit particular keybindings or other sorts of gestures (e.g. mouse gestures) to launch AT programs. This would allow a user to launch the on-screen-keyboard, text-to-speech, or magnifier by completing the appropriate gesture (e.g. keypress or mouse gesture). I would think that using a specific smart card or USB stick is another form of "gesture" that would also be good for launching AT programs. However, wouldn't it be better to come up with a solution that would support all of these sorts of "gestures" in one place? Providing a solution that can recognize different sorts of gestures (perhaps configurable so users can define their own sorts of gestures - perhaps with other unique hardware based solutions - like pressing a button on their braille display) seems a way to go about implementing your idea and also supporting other mechanisms that could be used to launch AT programs as needed. Brian -- Ubuntu-accessibility mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-accessibility
