[ossrp-control] FW: [vics-irl] Fw: Free Screen Reader Project

Hi all,   Has anyone seen this, or had time to find out more?   There must
be something in the air!!


Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: Gerry Ellis [mailto:gerry.ellis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: 15 May 2005 22:22
To: VICS
Subject: [vics-irl] Fw: Free Screen Reader Project


Hi,

this sounds very interesting, but may take some time to show results.


Take care,

Gerry Ellis
t/a Feel The BenefIT

Tel   (+353-1) 282-7791
Mob   (085) 716-8665
email gerry.ellis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

If you don't know where you're going,
How will you know when you get there?

----- Original Message -----
>From: "Laura Eaves" <leaves1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "bprogramming" <Programming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2005 5:35 AM
Subject: Fw: Free Screen Reader Project


Howdy -- for those not on nfbcs-talk here's a little goody for anyone
interested...
Enjoy!
--le

----- Original Message -----
>From: "David Andrews" <dandrews@xxxxxxxx>
To: <nfbcs@xxxxxxxxxx>; <nfb-announce@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2005 1:38 PM
Subject: [nfbcs] Free Screen Reader Project


>From: Veli-Pekka Tätilä vtatila@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Newsgroups: alt.comp.blind-users

Hello,
I've set up a new Yahoo discussion group for people interested in creating a
free, open source screen reader (and magnifier) for Windows. Screen reader
users, programmers, accessibility folk and anyone else interested is warmly
welcome.

The design of the screen reader will be user-centered and driven by real
user requirements. In other words, users decide on the feature set and the
developers implement the most popular features if possible. However, other
less frequently requested features, or even feature alternatives, will also
be
implemented as plug-ins if we've got the time. The plug-in based approach, a
bit like in say Winamp or Fire Fox, means to the end user that he or she can
pick
only the features desirable and make choices between different kinds of
alternatives
for, say, Web navigation while reducing download size and overall
complexity.

In addition to the developers, we need a sizable user-population for voting
on and
suggesting features, doing beta testing, writing user documentation and
whatever
else strikes your fancy.

Finally, please remember that this is still a voluntary project comparable
to a fan project of some sort, that is, done on people's free time. At
worst, it may mean that nothing comes of it in the end or that development
takes a lot longer than expected.

Despite these shortcomings, though, I believe writing a free screen reader
for the most popular Desktop OS out there is worth trying. And should
nothing spectacular come of it, I suppose we can at least make a free,
improved Narrator-clone.

Oh yes, and be sure to forward this to any people or lists that are
potentially interested in this project. DO use the OT: tag, in case the
forward is off-topic on a given list.

Subscription Information:

Web-site (and Web-based subscriptions):

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/screen_reader

Subscribe (via e-mail):

screen_reader-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To post after having subscribed, you can send e-mail to:

screen_reader@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Notice the underline between screen and reader, and also that yahoogroups is
a compound word without a dot in the middle, as used to be the case.

Be sure to introduce yourself by filling in the member intro form found in
the files section at:

You do need a Yahoo ID for accessing the files. Sorry for any inconvenience
this may cause.

On a side note, I'm the founder of this new Yahoo group, though certainly
not the first one to have thought about an open-source screen reader for
Windows. For a sample of what the member intro questionaire might include,
you can have a look at my member intro at:

http://www.student.oulu.fi/~vtatila/downloads/intro.txt

Note also that the opinions expressed are by no means an official statement
of project goals.

Developer notices:

We're just starting out, so there are still major decisions to be made.
However, we've already settled on the following and joining the group
signals acceptance of these principles:

-The primary platform is Windows (Win32, MFC, dot NET etc...). Ports to
other
platforms might or might not come later.

-The architecture is object-oriented and plug-in based.

-The core development language is most likely C plus plus because of the
speed,
object-oriented features and native access to the Win32 API if necessary. It
might be possible to create plug-ins with other languages, too, depending on
the finer points of the design.

The biggest long-term issues are designing a good architecture for
the screen reader and writing the core application itself. Thus any
experience in object oriented software architectures and implementation of
assistive aids like screen readers is greatly appreciated.

Ideally, the core of the screen reader should be small and most of the
things visible to the user should be implemented as plug-ins (compare to
Winamp). Going one step further, even the actual off-screen model and the
various detectors could be abstract so that the core reading logic would be
platform independent. Porting the reader to a new platform would only
require implementing concrete sub-classes for dealing with platform specific
accessibility interfaces. The same could be said about interfaces to Braille
displays and speech synthesizers, though SAPI, MSAA, DOM and raw WIn32 API
hooks should probably be supported in some form in Windows.

In addition to the really major stuff, there are managerial decisions to be
made including: electing the project leader(s), setting up the development
site, agreeing on accessible modeling notation, coding-style and
documentation and other such technicalities. However, these should be
further discussed in the Yahoo group when appropriate.

--
With kind regards Veli-Pekka Tätilä (vtatila@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Accessibility, game music, synthesizers and programming:
http://www.student.oulu.fi/~vtatila/

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