RE: Screen Readers and UIA
- From: "Macarty, Jay {PBSG}" <Jay.Macarty@xxxxxxxx>
- To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:03:21 -0600
Chris,
Interesting note about FS and the AIA. Have been researching their
objectives and so on but hadn't run onto that little bit of info.
________________________________
From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Chris
Hofstader
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2008 5:59 AM
To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Screen Readers and UIA
Hi,
I'm fairly confident that System Access supports UIA at some
level but one would need to ask Matt or Mike for a definite answer. I
also think someone told me that NVDA will or does support it but I
haven't checked.
At HJ/FS we always had a bit of a "wait and see" attitude toward
new accessibility related API and the truly ugly problems with MSAA 1.xx
reminded us that we were right in doing so. Today, with so few
applications using UIA, it probably causes yet another chicken and egg
situation where the screen readers won't support it until the ISV
community starts using it which will only begin when the screen readers
start supporting it.
GW typically jumps onto MS supported API and such much more
quickly than FS. If you read up on the new Microsoft AIA program, pay
special attention to the membership list. It includes all major SR
vendors except FS. I do not know any of the politics behind the scenes
and can't say that I care either.
A bunch of years ago, the ATIA AT/IT compatibility team, of
which I chaired the bits and bytes subgroup, tried to come up with a
common standard for accessibility API. We had MS, Apple and Sun
involved as well as FS and AI and a couple of other AT players. As the
project ground forward, companies would start to drop out. At the
bitter end, it was just IBM, Sun and FS and our results looked a lot
like the gnome accessibility API.
I think that iAccessible2 is the most likely to give us a really
good accessibility API that's consistent across platforms but, once
again, other than the Mozilla funded software, we'll have the dog
chasing his tail problem again. The GPL programs probably have the best
chance if, somehow, we (meaning our community of accessibility hackers
worldwide) can build a cadre of hackers who go back into applications
and retrofit the accessibility code while keeping the other folks who
work on those programs up to date about why this effort is happening and
how much easier it will be if they add such to their features rather
than requiring it to be added later.
cdh
From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Chris
Meredith
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 5:44 PM
To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Is WPF Accessable?
There's no really short answer to that question, sadly. As it
stands now, WPF is accessible using UI Automation. Sadly, however,
screen reader vendors haven't added access to UI Automation, for reasons
of which I'm not entirely certain, though I expect it has something to
do with their reluctance to write part of their product in managed code
(I'm not entirely certain what performance hits they would encounter
there). There is an unmanaged UI Automation API, but documentation is
minimal at best, and Microsoft strongly advises using the managed API.
What I want to know, and perhaps someone more wise in the ways of screen
reader development than I can provide an answer here, is why the vendors
don't write potential UI Automation handlers in managed C++, which is a
recommended way of mixing managed and unmanaged code in the same
application (and I expect they're using C++ for at least part of their
development as it stands).
From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Richard
Thomas
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 2:34 PM
To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Is WPF Accessable?
Hi Punit:
Don't know, still trying to find a set of instalation
instructions for VS 2008 Pro to set up an installation plan.
Rick USA
----- Original Message -----
From: Punit Diwan <mailto:punitdiwan@xxxxxxxxx>
To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 10:33 AM
Subject: Is WPF Accessable?
Dear Members,
We all are aware that Microsoft .NET 3.0 and later
comes loaded with WPF application development functionality. Now VS
2008, every can easily develop WPF enabled applications.
I want to ask is it possible to develop WPF
applications for we people? I tried Linq and it seems accessable to me.
Did any one tried WPF application development using designer.
I assume once we develop WPF enabled app, we will
have to use UI Automation to make it acessable as recommended by
Microsoft. Waiting for your comments.
Thanks
Punit Diwan
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