From: alex wallis <alexwallis646_at_googlemail.com>
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:35:35 +0100

Hi list.
i'm just in the middle of listening back to the recording of the recent devcon.

I'm currently on the section to do with the rb utility, specifically discussion of the console version.
Speaking as a blind user I was wondering when we talk about the console version, I realise that it won't have a GUI, but just wondering if it is a console version, does that mean it will be command line based?
As just from a personal preference point of view i'm not a big fan of the command line interface, and where possible I do prefer a GUI. This is mostly because its a lot easier to click a button than to spend a few minutes typing in commands, but each to there own.

However I realise it must be frustrating when your not told what the accessibility issues are, and I can only speak from the users point of view. I don't no how many of the accessibility problems are down to bugs with QT and how many can be corrected by alterations to the utility itself. It just seems that when your using the utility, nothing is announced properly, for example if a dialog comes up for some reason it is not possible to review what that dialogue says with the screen reader, like we no its there but can't read it. With buttons and tabs the screen reader announces you are on a button or tab but does not tell you what it does. Its kind of as if the screen reader isn't reading the caption or label properly that is linked to the item that has focus.

Just a thought, but has anyone working on the rb utility tried talking to actual screen reader manufacturers? such as the developers of jaws or Window eyes? as they are the people who make the two leading screen readers, they might be able to technically describe how the utility can be altered to make it usable with a screen reader, as i'm guessing that in the long term it would be better if there was only one version of the utility to maintain. If not, i'd be happy to put together a list of contact details for the various manufacturers, as another side to the problem can be that with some applications some screen readers work better than others as there are several different ways to how they can work depending on which one is being used, because of the ways they get the information to be read. though 9 times out of 10 accessibility of applications is fairly even across all screen readers. The wikipedia entry on screen readers is fairly good for technical details on different methods screen readers use. I'd be happy to e mail manufacturers myself, but even though i'm the screen reader user and would be user of the utility, i'm not actually sure what they would need to be asked.

i'd be happy to try to answer any questions relating to accessibility issues if I can.
Received on 2008-06-30