Re: GUIs (was Re: A comment on Slashdot)

[<cpt.kirk@1tree.net>]

You are right that at least M$ has done something. But I would also remind
you that Netscape isn't the only group not supporting MSAA. Heck, even the
screen readers weren't jumping on that wagon. Hynter-Joyce bypassed it
when they supported IE4 initially. Don't know the company name, but
Window Eyes also was slow to support it. And Daulphin found that not
paying much attention to M$ whims was benificial as well.

While I think Netscape could have done more, it was also fighting to even
stay alive (and failed). Truthfully, Winblows is so convoluted, that I
think screen reading is always going to be somewhat convoluted. Keep in
mind that though MSAA is supposedly part of the OS, support is not
automatic. In my limited view, the OS should be able to deal with reading
any text it creates. Thus, software manufacturers should not have to worry
about being accessible (other then to include such things as keyboard
shortcuts).

DOS applications never took time to be accessible. They sent text off to
the OS and it was done. Same with the console apps in Linux. I would bet
that few (if any) of the apps you use in Linux ever had blind accesibility
as a part of their design criteria. It should be built in by running on
the accessible OS.

Kirk Wood
Cpt.Kirk@1tree.net
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Why can't you be a non-conformist, like everybody else?