Hi Charles, No, not really. With Android Google has been slow to implement accessibility on their OS and the manufacturers like LG, Motorola, and Samsung have been slower still to adopt newer versions of Droid OS and Talk back on their phones making Android a vastly different end user experience for people with disabilities. To make matters worse each carrier may adopt non-standard apps and packages as part of their phone bundles meaning the apps you get with your phone may or may not be accessible since AT&T, Verison, etc probably have not tested their software bundles for maximum accessibility. The combination of manufacturer and carrier choices means a blind/low vision Android user really has to do a lot of research before buying a phone if he or she wants a high degree of accessibility.
With Windows all versions of Windows are reasonably accessible. Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 are all pretty accessible as far as screen reader support for the OS and applications go. That's not the problem. The problem most users have is that Microsoft has consistently been changing the end user interface, and many blind/low vision users don't like it changing so much from version to version. To give you an example beginning with Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 Microsoft completely redesigned the user interface for Windows. The Start Menu was removed and replaced with a tiled Start Screen. All the pull down menubars were removed and replaced with ribbons. The desktop has a new bar called the Charmbar where settings and other things can be found. All the pull down context menus are no longer pull down menus but tiled context screens. Various dialogs look different than before. On and on I could go. The point is it is all accessible using Jaws 14, Window-Eyes 8.2, or with NVDA 2013.2. If someone were to jump from XP to Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 they would be totally lost, not because it isn't accessible, but they have to learn where every thing is at, learn some new hot keys, and generally relearn how to use Windows as nothing is really the same any more. Relearning how to use the operating system is not an accessibility issue more as it is an issue of people's willingness to adapt to new things. Cheers! On 11/9/13, Charles Rivard <wee1s...@fidnet.com> wrote: > Is this sort of like the problems of Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and so on? It > > sounds like it is. > > --- > Shepherds are the best beasts, but Labs are a close second. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
