Improved java access
- From: "Chip Orange" <Corange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 7 Dec 2004 10:02:18 -0500
While the following article itself doesn't pertain to jaws directly, I
hope it signals a new effort in general to make java systems more
accessible (since I often still have difficulty with jaws and a java
application):
Sun demos accessibility for open-source systems
By
Thomas R. Temin
GCN Staff
Sun Microsystems demonstrated what it calls the third generation of
desktop computer accessibility technology, which it hopes to start
shipping for the
Linux operating system next year.
Peter Korn, Sun's chief accessibility architect, demonstrated a bundle
of accessible software collectively called Java Desktop System. It
consists of Linux
or Solaris x86, version 2.4 of the Gnome graphical interface
system--which incorporates Sun's accessibility architecture-and a suite
of applications all
programmed to interact with the accessibility features in Gnome.
Applications include the StarOffice productivity suite, the Mozilla Web
browser and Sun's
Evolution, a calendar and e-mail application.
Korn said of the accessibility features, "This is incredibly
liberating." Korn was a keynote speaker at the annual Interagency
Disability Educational Awareness
Showcase, or IDEAS, conference in Washington.
He predicted that by building, or buying applications built to,
open-source APIs, government agencies would more easily be able to keep
up with Section
508 accessibility mandates with less risk of breaking applications when
one element of a system changes.
One innovation is how on-screen keyboard buttons can include drop-down
menu items specific to a given application or function. This lets
mobility-impaired
users complete tasks much more quickly than do the on-screen keyboards
available under Microsoft Windows.
Korn demonstrated the Linux version of Java Desktop System on a PC, but
the software was a Sun internal build, not even the beta version. He
said when the
software eventually ships, it will come installed on Solaris x86
machines, but will be offered separately on disks when combined with
Linux.
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