Hi Gordon,
I couldn't agree more. I did a lot of web design ten or so years
ago, before the days of browse mode and virtual PC cursors. Those
methods had their use and served us well in their time, but
VoiceOver's approach is definitely one I prefer. Orca under ubuntu
seems to be going a similar route. As I've stated before, Windows
screen reading technolgy has been stagnant for years. I hope that
VoiceOver in particular, but Orca as well, can help push all the
products into new and uncharted territory.
Josh de Lioncourt
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
...my other mail provider is an owl...
On Sep 3, 2007, at 6:45 AM, Gordon Smith wrote:
So far, I have kept very quiet on this thread. I've been watching
it with interest though, as web accessibility is an issue I feel
very strongly about. VoiceOver's WYSIWYG, (what you see is what
you get), apprach has a very great deal in its favour. From the
perspective of a web designer, it can be an invaluable tool to help
you determine the layout of your web content. In the Windows
environment, typically at least, what you're using is a virtual
buffer. The web content is re-formatted so as to present it in
such a way as to make it simple to navigate. This also hhas
advantages. I am not a JFW user, so cannot deal with the
specifics. But I believe there is a "Forms" mode in JFW which
allows you to manipulate the contents of form fields. Similarly,
Window-Eyes has its "Browse" mode, which it uses to rendour web
content. When you need to interact with an edit box or other
control, you simply exit browse mode by hitting the enter key on
the control. This is a perfectly workable approach. But it
doesn't give you any idea as to the actual layout of your content.
VoiceOver has some powerful navigation tools, as has been pointed
out already. My only issues with Voiceover and web accessibility
are the failure to identify many web elements. For example, HTML
tables are not identified at all. Multi-selection list boxes just
don't work. Onclicks, (what JFW calls clickables), just don't
work. Anchors (what some call same-page links), just don't work.
But it's to Apple's credit that when I contacted them directly
about the non-identification of headings and heading levels, within
days an update to Safari appeared and in that update, headings were
identified by VoiceOver, along with their levels. So, in
conclusion, I would suggest, as others have done, that if you have
concerns about accessibility raise them with Apple. Contact
[EMAIL PROTECTED] and discuss. Don't demand, I don't think
that will get us far. This is all just my take, of course. But I
am doing what I can to have Apple implement the missing element
verbosity. If we also had a way to navigate by controls, similar
to the item and link chooser menus, I think that would also be a
huge help. But in general I think VoiceOver has a lot going for it.
On 3 Sep 2007, at 02:05, Richard Gardenhire wrote:
One thing I have noticed is that VoiceOver scans the screen
similarly to how a sighted person looks at it. For example, when
entering a form field in Windows, Jaws uses the tab keys to move
through the form field. I find that, with VoiceOver, on the other
hand, I use my right and left arrows to navigate the forms and have
no problems filling them out. Whenever I use my Tab keys, I tend
to miss a lot of textual information. Since learning to interact
with dialog and list boxes, I find it almost automatic to me. I
also like the idea that, if I enter an incorrect bit of
information, I can go back through the form and delete the text
entered and replace it with the new one. I tried that in Windows
the other day, and the Backspace key took me out of the form
field. I know this because my wife was watching the screen while I
was filling out a credit card application and was able to follow
the form as I went through it. If that doesn't convince her to
convert to the Mac, ...... Richie Gardenhire, Anchorage, Alaska.
--------------------------------
Join the fight against spam! Have your ISP enable client/server
authentication.
--------------------------------
