Public bug reported: [ Impact ]
Currently, the Desktop Icons NG (DING) extension included in Ubuntu doesn't support integration with screen readers like Orca. This is a disadvantage for visually impaired users. Since DING is implemented as a classic GTK application, it should be easy to wire it up to make use of the accessibility functions already available thanks to the ATK library. A patch for that has been recently uploaded to upstream, after a fix for this was requested by an user. The patch takes advantage of the already implemented keyboard navigation, and just makes these little changes: * sets a readable accessible description for the Desktop Icons window (because the application uses the invisible title bar to communicate with the extension, thus it contains just "odd characters and numbers") * sets an accessible description for each icon with the type and the visible name of the file, and marks each icon as focusable * when an icon is marked as selected, it gives the focus to it, thus triggering the screen reader to read the accessible description Also, the code for keyboard navigation is moved from the "key-press" event to the "key-release" event, because that's the event used by the accessibility subsystem, and not doing this results in an incorrect icon being read by it. [ Test plan ] * Enable the Orca screen reader by pressing Mod+Alt+S. A voice will say "Screen reader enabled" (or a similar, translated message). * Click on the desktop to give the focus to it. * Press the arrow keys to navigate with the keyboard through the icons. Only one icon should be highlighted, and it should change when the arrows are moved. * After the test, the screen reader can be disabled by pressing the same keys combination. Expected results: The screen reader should say the type and name of the selected icon, every time the arrow keys are pressed to change the selected icon. Current results: The screen reader remains silent while navigating with the keyboard. [ Where problems could occur ] A change in the way GTK manages the focus could result in the keyboard navigation to work incorrectly. ** Affects: gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons-ng (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: New ** Patch added: "Patch to add accessibility support" https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2048390/+attachment/5736866/+files/add-accessibility-support.diff -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons-ng in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2048390 Title: Desktop icons doesn't support accessibility (specifically Orca) Status in gnome-shell-extension-desktop-icons-ng package in Ubuntu: New Bug description: [ Impact ] Currently, the Desktop Icons NG (DING) extension included in Ubuntu doesn't support integration with screen readers like Orca. This is a disadvantage for visually impaired users. Since DING is implemented as a classic GTK application, it should be easy to wire it up to make use of the accessibility functions already available thanks to the ATK library. A patch for that has been recently uploaded to upstream, after a fix for this was requested by an user. The patch takes advantage of the already implemented keyboard navigation, and just makes these little changes: * sets a readable accessible description for the Desktop Icons window (because the application uses the invisible title bar to communicate with the extension, thus it contains just "odd characters and numbers") * sets an accessible description for each icon with the type and the visible name of the file, and marks each icon as focusable * when an icon is marked as selected, it gives the focus to it, thus triggering the screen reader to read the accessible description Also, the code for keyboard navigation is moved from the "key-press" event to the "key-release" event, because that's the event used by the accessibility subsystem, and not doing this results in an incorrect icon being read by it. [ Test plan ] * Enable the Orca screen reader by pressing Mod+Alt+S. A voice will say "Screen reader enabled" (or a similar, translated message). * Click on the desktop to give the focus to it. * Press the arrow keys to navigate with the keyboard through the icons. Only one icon should be highlighted, and it should change when the arrows are moved. * After the test, the screen reader can be disabled by pressing the same keys combination. Expected results: The screen reader should say the type and name of the selected icon, every time the arrow keys are pressed to change the selected icon. Current results: The screen reader remains silent while navigating with the keyboard. [ Where problems could occur ] A change in the way GTK manages the focus could result in the keyboard navigation to work incorrectly. 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