[guispeak] Re: Firefox 1.0
- From: "Laura Eaves" <leaves1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <guispeak@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2004 13:33:56 -0500
Hi Rich -- As I said, both WindowEyes and Jaws use Microsoft's MSAA
interface (that's "Microsoft Active Accessibility") which is probably what
the object is that is passed to jaws.
But WE uses it also, as I said, so unless firefox has that put in, it won't
work well on windows -- but I think it is a relatively simple matter for a
programmer to put it in.
And since it is open source, if no one else has time to do it, I am
available at the moment for such things and am a programmer. Does anyone
know the language the source code is written in?
Thanks and take care!
--le
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rich Caloggero" <rjc@xxxxxxx>
To: <guispeak@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 1:31 PM
Subject: [guispeak] Re: Firefox 1.0
>I wonder about this...
>
> Its been a while since I've looked at the JFW scripts for IE, but from
> what
> I remember, there is a call that is made to get an object which is
> thereafter used for much of the information the screen reader extracts
> from
> the DOM. The object is the document object of the current page (if memory
> serves). So, unless jfw and Firefox can cooperate enough to be able to
> hand
> this object off to Jaws, then JFW access to Firefox will probably be about
> as good as IE access with virtual mode turned off (i.e., not very)...
>
> I suspect Window-Eyes will work better right out of the box. I''m not a
> window-eyes user, but may have the opportunity to try this in the next
> couple weeks. I'll let the list know how it goes.
>
> -- rich
>
> ----- 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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