[brailleblaster] Re: Is there a library for context-sensitive help?
- From: "John J. Boyer" <john.boyer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: brailleblaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2011 01:12:46 -0600
Tooltips sound interesting. I haven't used them in Windows because I
don't know how to get Jaws to show them. I'll check. BrailleBlaster will
have a toolbar. The tips will work on this, but we also need something
that works on ordinary menu items.
My personal opinion is that we should avoid mouse-over. They are hard to
get to work in Jaws, and probably in other screenreaders also. I've
never been able to get one to work, and a very experienced person told
me that she has never been able to get mouse-over to jwork without
actually using a mouse.
John
On Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 06:42:59AM +0000, Michael Whapples wrote:
> I have kept quiet partly as I am not fully sure exactly what is wanted
> (IE. how is context sensitive help to be shown, how is it to be
> activated, etc).
>
> Chris made one comment which I may be able to help with, when he
> mentioned it being from a mouse over event. If the context sensitive
> help is only a sentence or so then might a tooltip be sufficient?
> Tooltips should work fine with screen readers, you set the tooltip on
> the control itself (eg. control.setToolTipText("The tool tip"); ) and I
> don't think you will need to deal with event handling for the tool tips.
>
> Some screen readers may need prompting to speak the tooltip (I think
> orca by default does not speak tooltips but pressing ctrl+f1 will get it
> to speak the tool tip).
>
> Michael Whapples
> On 26/02/11 06:26, Chris von See wrote:
> >Although I've never tried it, I don't think you can define a help key
> >binding for help at the Composite level (for example) and then expect
> >to put the cursor in a form field defined in that Composite and press
> >the help key to get context-sensitive help. I'm honestly not sure,
> >though, so maybe it'd work...
> >
> >Here's an example of one way to implement context-sensitive help in
> >SWT. This (or rather similar methods not involving hard-coded help
> >text) is the way I've seen it done most:
> >
> >http://www.java2s.com/Code/Java/SWT-JFace-Eclipse/Demonstratesvariouslisteners.htm
> >
> >
> >
> >Look for the calls to "addHelpListener()", the "setData()" calls and
> >the "helpRequested()" method.
> >
> >You can also catch mouseover events and display help once the user
> >hovers the mouse over a certain area for a certain length of time, in
> >a manner similar to what Eclipse does with its context-sensitive help:
> >
> >http://www.java2s.com/Code/Java/SWT-JFace-Eclipse/HowtoimplementhoverhelpfeedbackusingtheMouseTrackListener.htm
> >
> >
> >
> >I'm honestly not sure how accessible that is, or how JAWS or VoiceOver
> >would know that the hovering help was present - perhaps Sina, Michael
> >or Alex can answer that one.
> >
> >In both cases, the event you get in the listener should contain a
> >reference to the widget for which the help was requested. You might be
> >able to get away with having a single help listener class, but in that
> >case you'll need some sort of mapping from the widget (or data
> >contained in the widget) to the appropriate help topic.
> >
> >Google can be your friend in figuring these things out :)
> >
> >
> >
> >Hope this helps,
> >
> >Cheers
> >Chris
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >On Feb 25, 2011, at 8:44 PM, John J. Boyer wrote:
> >
> >>Thanks, Chris. I might use this for extended help, but I think that
> >>context-sensitive help is usually a short explanation of what a
> >>particular menu choice does and how to proceed, or an explanation of
> >>something in the text. It seems to me that the most user-friendly way to
> >>present this information would be with a dialog box with an OK button.
> >>This can be done using the SWT MessageBox class. Hsow much is this used
> >>in applications? When I tried presing F1 on some MSWord menu choices it
> >>certainly was not what I got.
> >>
> >>Time for more dumb questions from someone who hasn't been coding in Java
> >>very long. Answers from the experts will considerably speed up
> >>development.
> >>
> >>I imagine that I have to designate a listener for whatever key is used
> >>for help. Can I set this up for the whold GUI or do I have to do so for
> >>the Braille view and Daisy view individually?
> >>
> >>Once the listener gets control, how does it determine where in the
> >>context it was called from?
> >>
> >>Thanks,
> >>John
> >>
> >>On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 04:26:14PM -0800, Chris von See wrote:
> >>>Minor update: Desktop.browse() takes a URI, not a URL.
> >>>
> >>>Chris
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>On Feb 25, 2011, at 4:19 PM, Chris von See wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>If you want to implement basic HTML help you can display it using
> >>>>the java.awt.Desktop class in Java 1.6 - it has a browse() method
> >>>>that takes a URL argument. The URL can point to either a Web site
> >>>>serving help pages or to a local file. The Desktop.browse() method
> >>>>can be invoked by whatever means a user would use to invoke help
> >>>>(F1, for example) - you just need to be careful that whatever
> >>>>mechanism you use isn't already mapped to something else by the OS.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>Cheers
> >>>>Chris
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>On Feb 25, 2011, at 3:46 PM, John J. Boyer wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>>Susan,
> >>>>>
> >>>>>I wouldn't worry too much about the frames, though I don't see why
> >>>>>anyone bothers with them. The documentation you mention mibht be
> >>>>>helpful. What I need is some information on context-sensitive help
> >>>>>algorithms. If I have to come up with my own it will take longer.
> >>>>>John
> >>>>>
> >>>>>On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 11:00:01AM -0700, Susan Jolly wrote:
> >>>>>>I think you will need a library that interfaces with your GUI. SWT
> >>>>>>provides context-sensitive help for Eclipse plug-ins but I don't
> >>>>>>know how
> >>>>>>it works when you use SWT outside of Eclipse.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>The online Eclipse documention seems to make a weird use of frames
> >>>>>>so I
> >>>>>>don't know how a screen reader would navigate it. I think what you
> >>>>>>want is
> >>>>>>something called Data Tools Platform Help-Helper Documentataion
> >>>>>>which is a
> >>>>>>section in the DAta Tools Platform Plug-in Developer Guide.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>Susan
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>--
> >>>>>John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
> >>>>>Abilitiessoft, Inc.
> >>>>>http://www.abilitiessoft.com
> >>>>>Madison, Wisconsin USA
> >>>>>Developing software for people with disabilities
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>--
> >>John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
> >>Abilitiessoft, Inc.
> >>http://www.abilitiessoft.com
> >>Madison, Wisconsin USA
> >>Developing software for people with disabilities
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
--
John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
Abilitiessoft, Inc.
http://www.abilitiessoft.com
Madison, Wisconsin USA
Developing software for people with disabilities
Other related posts:
