[Kde-accessibility] KDE/Qt at the 2nd Linux Accessibility Conference

[Bill Haneman]

JP S-C wrote:
...

> At the 2nd Linux Accessibility Conference, the consensus
> (which I, who founded the KDE Accessibility Project, also agreed with) was to focus on the
> platform already furthest along in accessibility efforts, namely GNOME and GTK+, and then to move
> on to other toolkits later, after we had high quality accessibility support in GNOME.  \

Hi Folks:

Bill Haneman from the Sun and GNOME projects here;

Though the notes attribute the original statement of the consensus to
Peter Korn (of the Sun Accessibility Program Office), I'd like to 
reassure everyone that we don't seek to discourage work in KDE
interoperability, and AFAIR the initial conclusion wasn't really
from me or Peter... my initial expectation for the "interoperability"
session at LAC2 was that we'd be spending some time discussing how
to best move forward with KDE interoperability.  I want to avoid any
perception that "the GNOME folks" want to steam ahead without 
regard for other toolkits, quite the contrary.  But I was persuaded
by the discussion at LAC2 that in the absence of resourcing dedicated 
to KDE interoperability, all of us in the Linux/Unix accessibility 
community will be better served by getting one vertical stack working 
well, to prove our concepts and the viability of Linux and Unix desktop 
(in whatever form) as an accessible platform.  So I agree with the
conclusion, but want to clarify that I was not the original source of
the suggestion (as far as I recall).

Best regards,

Bill

> This does not mean that the KDE Accessibility Project should stop, in fact there was also a
> general consensus to keep learning about Qt and KDE in order to plan for interoperability in the
> future, to keep track of changes in the architecture of Qt and KDE, and to keep lobbying and
> trying to find developers who will be able to help with future KDE and Qt accessibility efforts
> (this also applies to all Linux graphical toolkits and desktops other than GTK+ and GNOME).  What
> it does mean, however, is that unless several developers step forward with an interest to learn
> about accessibility and the GNOME Accessibility Architecture and with a committed desire to modify
> Qt and KDE in order provide disabled users access, plans to code in the KDE Accessibility Project
> will be put on hold.