Most of the issues with graphical user interface accessibility under
Linux are in the desktop environments and applications, not in the
screen reader.
Most of the issues are too much choice.
Which desktop are you talking about?
Accessibility is excellent under both Windows and Mac, compared to Linux.
This is in the biggest part because the GUI is baked right into the OS.
And there are not a hundred different desktops to choose from. Many of
which are developed by people who don't give a damn about accessibility,
or even don't know what it is.
Orca is never going to adequately cover any application that is not a
GTK application.
One of the worst things abut Orca is the dependence on speech-dispatcher.
Two things need to happen IMHO:
1. Somebody needs to fix the bug in the sd_espeak module of
speech-dispatcher so that it does not unload itself randomly. This will
make it possible to choose espeak and not pulse, and still get reliable
stability.
2. There need to be alternative "factories" chooseable under the Orca
settings. Currently speech-dispatcher is it.
But accessibility on the Linux desktop will never be a patch on Windows
or Mac, just because there are loads of desktops to choose from.
And IMHO accessibility starts with the installer.
I will only use distros I can install unassisted, and I am 100% blind.
Why do so many distros based on Debian or Ubuntu rip out the
accessibility bits from the installer?
Another reason Windows and Mac are so accessible, is that they are
commercial products. They don't really have much choice but work on
accessibility, and doing so makes sound commercial sense.
Many Open Source projects, including various GUI desktops in Linux, pay
scant, or no attention whatsoever to accessibility.
Mike
Orca is well maintained, but my impression is that some other, necessary
components aren't. If someone wants to devote resources to working on
graphical desktop accessibility, screen reader development isn't where I
would suggest starting.
--
Michael A. Ray
Analyst/Programmer
Witley, Surrey, South-east UK
He/him
"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when
there is nothing left to take away." -- A. de Saint-Exupery
