Hi Andrew,
In addition to what Greg has all ready said I recently ran in to the
adobe Flash "Road Block". Not being able to access Chapters or being
able to repeat sections but only able to "stop/pause, or go to start "
of the tutorial I was studying.!
A very important tutorial for which I need to study to gain access and
knowledge of how Apples "Logic pro" functions. The company called
Digital Music Doctor basically said "TO BAD" that adobe flash is the
format and there is no other alternatives!!!!
I found a work around by only launching the individual chapters from
the tutorial and gleaming the info from them, but still having little
control over the content. I asked them for key commands to work the
adobe flash but they never got back to me. Andrew this link mite be
useful to you.
http://www.jeroenwijering.com/?item=Making_Video_Accessible
(
I've been running VoiceOver since the first day it came out and have
been watching it grow! Do you think adobe could fix there problem with
accessibility!
Thanks
Chuck Reichel
954-742-0019
www.SoundPictureRecording.com
On Jun 10, 2008, at 9:33 AM, Andrew Kirkpatrick wrote:
I've received comments and feedback from a few of you as a result of
this thread, and I really do appreciate the information and
comments. I
apologize for my less-than-tactful reply to Greg's email, and hope
that
VoiceOver users continue to let me know how they use the product.
Supporting the Mac Accessibility API is a substantial engineering
effort, and I need to be able to back up the request with compelling
data since this feature request competes with other requests due to
finite resources.
Just to make more of the email thread between Greg and myself public -
Greg replied:
<GregReply1>
I must beg to differ about VoiceOver on a couple of points. My wife is
totally bind and uses VoiceOver daily for all of her computing need. I
could put you in contact with many more blind users of Mac as well.
Have you worked with the latest version of VoiceOver?
Further VoiceOver is also used by dyslexics such as myself and
dyslexics use Macintosh almost exclusively so dyslexic users would
impose the cross platform rule even if the blind did not. Under
Australian law dyslexics have the same rights to demand
accessibility as
the blind do.
Also VoiceOver is used by some with motor disorders such as
Parkinson's
they too have similar rights under the DDA.
I would urge Adobe to reconsider this. VoiceOver is only bound to be
more improved over time, it supports braille displays better now than
any windows option. The cost advantage over windows solutions is
substantial.
</GregReply1>
In response, I sent the following:
<AndrewReply1>
I am aware that the various users who may use screen reading software
such as VoiceOver may not be blind, and certainly I am not suggesting
that such users should not have access.
I'm happy to discuss how your spouse makes use of VoiceOver - I'm
pleased to hear that she is, although your report differs from what I
have heard in other quarters, so I'm interested to learn what works
well and what needs improvement about the tool.
</AndrewReply1>
To which he replied:
<GregReply2>
Well I'm the first to admit that VoiceOVer needs improvement. As the
co-author of the Louis braille translator I am in contact contact with
Apple about issues I find.
Both my wife, who is blind and myself use VoiceOVer on a daily basis.
In my wife's case she uses it for routine computing tasks such as
email,
web browsing, instant messaging and such. She has not as yet found
anything which she is unable to perform. She uses a braille display
quite extensively.
Of course she is living the in the same house with a VoiceOver
trainer.
But still there is little, out side of Flash content that she had not
been able to access with it.
One point with should be made is that I advise people to download and
install WebKit as it corrects several VoiceOver bugs which the
released
version of Safari has not yet implemented. That and the use of Spark
will give features needed by the blind.
One aspect of VoiceOver that differs from window screen readers such
as
Jaws is that VoiceOVer does not replace OS functionality with it's own
but rather give the user tools which non-visual or non-readers might
need. In VoiceOVer the user should still understand the basics of
Macintosh functionality.
</GregReply2>
Andrew Kirkpatrick
Senior Product Manager, Accessibility
Adobe Systems
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
