[guispeak] Re: Firefox 1.0
- From: "Laura Eaves" <leaves1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <guispeak@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2004 14:34:24 -0500
So it's the script and set file writers that need to access the hooks, not
necessarily the screen reader developers.
Anyway, what I'm saying is that a person independent of the screen reader
development companies can put in the interface.
Am I correct? I only know about jaws and have never used more/less
programmed set files, for WindowEyes.
And what about the other screen readers, like Supernova and Hal?
Take care!
--le
----- Original Message -----
From: "david poehlman" <david.poehlman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <guispeak@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 1:53 PM
Subject: [guispeak] Re: Firefox 1.0
> Hooks to use msaa are apploication specific.
>
> Johnnie Apple Seed
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Laura Eaves" <leaves1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <guispeak@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 1:38 PM
> Subject: [guispeak] Re: Firefox 1.0
>
>
> But that's the point Dave -- Jaws and Window Eyes have already put hooks
> in
> to handle MSAA, so if it is implemented correctly in firefox it should
> work.
> But if someone has already put it in Mozilla, perhaps it is close to being
> accessible.
> I'm going to download it and try it. I'm always open to alternatives...
> Take care and again, thanks for the info.
> --le
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "david poehlman" <david.poehlman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <guispeak@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 1:34 PM
> Subject: [guispeak] Re: Firefox 1.0
>
>
>> LE and all,
>> Msaa is utillized in the mozilla family but I'm not certain that it is
>> available in firefox 1.0 Even if msaa is used, this does not provide
>> automatic accessibility as the screen reader vendors must also do their
>> side
>> of it.
>>
>> Johnnie Apple Seed
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Laura Eaves" <leaves1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> To: <guispeak@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 1:27 PM
>> Subject: [guispeak] Re: Firefox 1.0
>>
>>
>> Hi -- This is very interesting -- I know a few people using firefox and
>> love
>> it, but none are visually impaired.
>> However, in order to work effectively with jaws or WindowEyes, it has to
>> use
>> MSAA to pass info to the screen reader. The MSAA interface is supported
>> in
>> libraries for the various programming languages on vs.net (the Microsoft
>> programming environment platform), but I don't know how to use it.
>> It would be an interesting project to add MSAA hooks to firefox and
>> distribute the source.
>> Now as for linux versions, I am not familiar with how screen readers
>> handle
>> browsing there.
>> I used to do hacks and bug fixes on lynx a long time ago, but quit and
>> moved
>> to windows when I foundout how much better screen readers had become.
>> Now
>> I
>> haven't been on unix/linux since I lost the rest of my vision, but know
>> many
>> blind persons who work heavily there with screen readers that have also
>> come
>> a long way.
>> So when I have enough money to get a linux box I may get one -- maybe
>> next
>> Feb or March.
>>
>> Anyway, I once purchased a program called "secure IE" -- a web browser
>> put
>> out by McAfee that is supposed to guard against all the malicious hacks
>> some
>> people put on web pages. But it was not accessible at all, and I went
>> back
>> to IE. So MSAA is important.
>> But the proof is in the pudding.
>> If anyone does try the windows version of firefox with a screen please
>> post
>> and let me know what you find -- and I'll do the same!
>> Take care!
>> --le
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Bundy, Keith" <Keith.Bundy@xxxxxxx>
>> To: <guispeak@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <vicug-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 1:00 PM
>> Subject: [guispeak] Firefox 1.0
>>
>>
>>> Below is an article that appeared a few days ago. I am wondering if
>>> anyone has already tried this program with a screen reader.
>>>
>>>
>>> Free Firefox 1.0 ready to battle MSIE
>>>
>>> By Joseph Menn
>>> Los Angeles Times
>>>
>>> published: 11/9/2004
>>>
>>> Early editions of browser have lured 10 million former Microsoft users
>>>
>>> Get ready for Browser Wars: The Sequel.
>>>
>>> Six years after Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer defeated Netscape
>>> Navigator in the signature fight of the online age, a direct descendant
>>> of the pioneering
>>> Web browser is exacting a small measure of revenge.
>>>
>>> The nonprofit Mozilla Foundation today will release Firefox 1.0, a free
>>> browser based on Netscape's technology but improved through the years by
>>> thousands
>>> of volunteer programmers. It's the first version intended for a wide
>>> audience.
>>>
>>> Earlier editions of Firefox attracted millions of users fed up with the
>>> viruses and spyware that increasingly exploit Internet Explorer's flaws
>>> to infect
>>> computers.
>>>
>>> After a series of security warnings this year, Explorer's share of the
>>> U.S. browser market slid from more than 95 percent in June to less than
>>> 93 percent
>>> last month, according to Internet consultant WebSideStory. Most of those
>>> computer users went to Firefox.
>>>
>>> A drop of a couple of percentage points may not sound like much, but
>>> globally, it represents more than 10 million people who have dumped the
>>> world's largest
>>> software maker in favor of an outfit with 10 full-time employees.
>>>
>>> It's part of a broader move toward so-called open-source software, which
>>> has Microsoft on the defensive. In the most visible part of that trend,
>>> many big
>>> corporations and everyday users alike are powering their computers with
>>> the free operating system Linux, encroaching on Microsoft's lucrative
>>> Windows franchise.
>>>
>>> Browsers have been free for a long time. But analysts say Firefox has
>>> special significance because it could open many more eyes to the
>>> possibilities of
>>> open-source software.
>>>
>>> Users like Firefox because it works about as fast as Explorer, adds
>>> features such as multiple-window browsing and presents a less tempting
>>> target for hackers.
>>> Users also can change the way it works, for example, by barring all
>>> images so that the text on Web pages appears more quickly. Most but not
>>> all sites can
>>> be visited with Firefox.
>>>
>>> "It's actually quite intuitive, and it's very fast," said Shekhar
>>> Venkataraman, an intensive-care doctor in Pittsburgh who has been using
>>> the Mozilla browser
>>> for more than a year.
>>>
>>> Milton Blackstone, a retired TV writer and producer, said he turned to
>>> Firefox after he became fed up with Explorer's frequent unexplained
>>> crashes. Although
>>> he complained he has had trouble following Web links in e-mails,
>>> Blackstone said he was glad he made the switch.
>>>
>>> "I think it's thought-out," said Blackstone, a resident of the San Diego
>>> community of La Jolla. "I have a lot of respect for Mozilla."
>>>
>>> As with Linux, the complicated computer code powering Firefox is freely
>>> available for any programmer to examine, improve and pass along. Fans of
>>> open-source
>>> software say that sort of continuous review makes the programs stronger
>>> and more reliable.
>>>
>>> Because anyone can read the Firefox code, hackers could create malicious
>>> programs the way they do with Explorer - and some have. But because
>>> thousands of
>>> volunteer programmers also can see any potential problems, they can
>>> respond quickly to plug security holes.
>>>
>>> "Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow," says Eric Raymond,
>>> president of the nonprofit Open Source Initiative, which promotes the
>>> development and
>>> distribution of open-source software.
>>>
>>> Firefox grew out of a 1998 project at Netscape Communications Corp. to
>>> make the browser's underlying code public. It was released in a preview
>>> version in
>>> February and has been downloaded from www.mozilla.org as frequently as
>>> 250,000 times a day.
>>>
>>> Keith Bundy
>>> Director of Student Development
>>> Dakota State University
>>> 605-256-5121
>>> Email: Keith.Bundy@xxxxxxx
>>> http://departments.dsu.edu/bundyk
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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