Gnome Accessibility
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Groklaw.net, most famous for its in-depth coverage of the SCO vs IBM lawsuit, features an story on the Linux Screen Reader from IBM. The application summary states that the core of the system is the AccessEngine, a message pump that receives events via the Assistive Technology Service Provider Interface (AT-SPI) on the GNOME desktop. The commands available for controlling the screen reader are determined by cascading scripts that completely define the user experience.
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With all the talk about the choice of the Open Document Format in Massachusetts and the criticism from some people who need accessibility support, Peter Korn, one of Sun's Accessibility Engineers made this great writeup of the current state of GNOME accessibility and how it compares to Windows solutions available.
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We are members of the Gnome and KDE Accessibility Projects, and also of the Free Standards Group's Accessibility Workgroup (FSG Accessibility). We have prepared this statement in order to clarify the plans and intentions of our projects with respect to interoperability and standardization. We believe this statement accurately reflects the consensus viewpoint of the individual members of our groups.
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Luke Yelavich has released an accessibility-focused version of the Ubuntu LiveCD:
I am happy to announce the second testing/proof of concept release of an
accessible derivative of the Hoary Live CD, based on the recently
released Ubuntu preview. This CD aims to give blind/vision impaired
linux users a chance to use the Gnopernicus screen reader, and explore the
many features and applications of the GNOME and Ubuntu desktop.
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David Bolter writes: After 3 years of GNOME cvs commits, we are pleased to announce version
1.0.0 of GOK, the GNOME Onscreen Keyboard suite!
We judge GOK to be robust, reliable, and ready. This announcement is
going to be a little longer than usual, as we attempt to give proper
credit for all who have helped GOK reach 1.0.
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Sun and GNOME hacker Bill Haneman is interviewed by the FOSDEM team over at the FOSDEM website in preparation for this years FOSDEM conference. The interview mainly discuss the GNOME Online keyboard which is part of the suite of GNOME accessibillity applications.
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Version 3.2.0 of the Dasher predictive text entry application is now available for download, with binary packages (currently for Debian and Solaris).
This version is the first release of the new stable branch, and is aimed at the GNOME 2.4 and 2.5 desktops (but will continue to work happily under 2.2). New features include integration with the GNOME accessibility framework and gnome-speech, and the ability to enter text directly into other applications.
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In the third (MP3 Audio) of a four-part series about Gnopernicus from the American Council of the Blind, Sun accessibility engineer Marc Mulcachy demonstrates Nautlius and gedit. He also makes a note about the complaints of doing these demostrations using a speech synthesizer that is no longer available, so for this demonstration and the next he will be using of the DecTalk speech synthesizer. He also demonstrates the FreeTTS speech synthesizer.
Also this week Glynn Foster presented some screenshots showing new configuration capplets for the GNOME accessibility features. The first shows a capplet for choosing which accessability features to enable, and the second shows a capplet for controlling the visual bell feature. Also Calum Benson highlighted some of the work being done on a new applet to show the status of various accessibility features.
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In the second of a four-part series from the American Council of the Blind, Sun accessibility engineer Marc Mulcachy demonstrated the GNOME Panel and Control Center. He also mentions what system he is running, and that it is hard to install Red Hat 9 compared to Red Hat 8, due to the removal of Speak-Up.
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In the first of a four-part series from the American Council of the Blind, Sun accessibility engineer Marc Mulcachy discusses the current usability of GNOME for blind users [MP3 Audio/30min.] and also gives a lengthy but very interesting demonstration of Gnopernicus. It is truly amazing to see technology like this coming to GNOME!
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Irene Ryan (Sun Microsystems) has issued a multiplatform accessibility guide that supports the GNOME 2.2 desktop. The guide contains information about how to:
* Configure the mouse and keyboard to make these devices accessible to more users
* Navigate the desktop from the keyboard only
* Change the appearance of the desktop to enhance the accessibility of the desktop for users with visual impairments
You can download or view the GNOME 2.2 Desktop Accessibility Guide in HTML and PDF formats from the following location: http://www.gnome.org/learn
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The Sun GNOME documentation team has updated their Solaris GNOME 2.0 Desktop Accessibility Guide. Trot on over to http://www.gnome.org/learn to read the latest version.
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Sharon Snider of IBM has just published the GNOME 2 Desktop Accessibility Guide. Many thanks for Sharon for creating this important documentation!
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The GNOME Accessibility Project has been cited prominently by the American Foundation for the Blind when it awarded the 2002 Helen Keller Achievement Award to Sun Microsystems, Inc. This is the first time that this prestigious award has ever been conferred on an organization for innovation in accessibility for computer desktops. Sun's Pat Sueltz accepted the award on behalf of Sun and the GNOME community, citing the many contributions of other institutions and individuals as reasons for the project's progress to date.
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The GNOME Accessibility themes are a set of desktop themes and icons for users with low or limited vision. These themes represent the labors of
Jimmac, Calum Benson from Sun and others.
