[jp_sc@yahoo.com: Re: [Kde-accessibility] KDE/Qt at the 2nd Linux Accessibility Conference]

[Bill Haneman]

Navindra Umanee wrote:
> 
> Good stuff, JP.  I'm forwarding this to editors so that maybe some of
> your points can be included in a dot story/report.  I'm not sure if
> Dre has volunteered for that or not :-), but I'm sure he's busy with
> the KDE3 announcement right now, so no promises on how soon we get
> this out.
> 
> I fear the only way something will really get done in KDE/Qt is if
> *Trolltech* does it.  That is, if Trolltech has enough incentive to
> include accessibility support in Qt, it will happen, just like i18n
> did.  Once it's in Qt then it will more easily percolate to KDE.
> That's my theory.

FYI: There was a public announcement last year about accessibility
in Qt3.  Apparently there is some API-based support in Qt3, but it's
entirely directed towards MSAA (Microsoft Active Accessibility)
and thus is only useful on Windows.  Moreover, MSAA itself is not
an API which can deliver all the accessibility info required by
assistive technologies, it relies on the presence of other OS-level
notifications and APIs (e.g. other Win32 API).  Without getting
too bogged down in the merits/limitations of MSAA, I would say that
in Qt3 there is a move towards accessibility, but it is presently
directed exclusively towards accessibility of Qt3 on the Windows 
platform and it's not clear how much of this work would be of use to
KDE.

I admit to not having actually used Qt3 (sorry!) so I cannot comment on
whether keyboard navigation has been substantially upgraded as part 
of this effort; however it would be reasonable to hope that Qt3 has
better keyboard navigation since this would be as much a requirement for
accessibility as would API support.

Thanks and best regards,

Bill Haneman

GNOME Accessibility Project (possibly soon to be renamed "GNU"
Accessibility Project)



> Otherwise KDE needs a coherent plan, and enumerated steps (checklist)
> for what needs to be done and issues to consider.
> 
> Cheers,
> Navin.