Re: Newbie question: Section 508 and "full keyboard access" on Mac OS X
Re: Newbie question: Section 508 and "full keyboard access" on Mac OS X
- Subject: Re: Newbie question: Section 508 and "full keyboard access" on Mac OS X
- From: "Marshall F. Scott" <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 03 Sep 2003 08:32:53 -0600
One thing that is not spoken is (in Jagaur, at least) is the menu bar and
menu items. I also think that items in the docck are not spoken either. As
far as screen readers go, I think there will be more information available
once Panther is released.
Marshall
--
Marshall F. Scott
University of Utah
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From: Andrew Kirkpatrick <email@hidden>
>
To: Accessibility-Dev Mail <email@hidden>
>
Subject: Re: Newbie question: Section 508 and "full keyboard access" on Mac OS
X
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Date: Wed, Sep 3, 2003, 7:00 AM
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Apple offers some great features for a variety of disabilities, but a person
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who is blind will not currently be able to to use OSX. The ability to speak
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the text under the mouse is not useful for people who are not using a mouse.
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This support is beneficial for people with some degree of visual impairment,
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many of whom many opt to use it in concert with the zoom features of the OS.
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As expected, the amount of spoken text in different applications varies
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widely. AOL instant messenger, for example, voices the window title and not
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much else until you go into dialogs where some standard controls are used.
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Mail.app does a far better job, but isn't perfect. The text that is part of
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the OS is better still, and examples of unspoken text are fewer in number
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(e.g. Apple system profiler/logs).
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Since there is no screen reader that is currently available for OSX, the
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"spoken text under the mouse" feature can get away with certain requirements
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for a blind user such as speaking the state of controls as well as the text.
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(e.g. Mouse over the mail.app toolbar and notice that grayed icons are
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spoken the same as active ones).
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Apple has done a great deal of work laying the groundwork so that it is
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prepared for a day when a screen reader is developed, but until such time,
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OSX will not be the choice of people who are blind.
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>
AWK
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> The speech support in Mac OS X is very good. There are some settings you
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> have to turn on in the Speech preference pane (Spoken User Interface tab,
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> especially the "Text Under the Mouse" checkbox) and the Universal Access
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> preference pane in System Preferences. If you set it up right, your Mac will
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> speak every item under the mouse, and the text of alerts as they appear.
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>
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> I believe the location of these settings will be rationalized a bit better
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> in Panther.
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> I should say that I haven't tested this exhaustively to see what, if
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> anything, does not get spoken. But the head of Apple's speech group, Kim
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> Silverman, makes a point of telling developers every year at WWDC to test
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> their choice of text for user interface items with speech turned on, to make
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> sure the words are easily understood. This is something that every Mac OS X
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> application, even old ones, get "for free" as Apple likes to say.
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--
>
Andrew Kirkpatrick
>
CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media
>
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Boston, MA 02134
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E-mail: email@hidden
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Web site: ncam.wgbh.org
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617-300-4420 (direct voice/FAX)
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