[Kde-accessibility] The Status of KDE Accessibility

[Robert Cole]

Thanks for the reply, Jeremy.

I have a very usable KDE desktop now after some slight configuration.

I set Compiz as the default Window Manager, then edited some properties 
for the Enhanced Zoom Desktop and the Mouse Position Polling Compiz 
plugins using compizconfig-settings-manager (CCSM). I also disabled the 
window behavior of KDE in which hovering the mouse over an inactive 
window selects the window (i.e.; making it the active window). It is 
working wonderfully!

I see a package in my package manager called at-spi2-core, but I do not 
see any packages related to qt-at-spi. I do see some packages for 
kdeaccessibility, so it could be that qt-at-spi bridge could be included 
in one of these packages. When I get some more free time I will try to 
take a look at this.

I have never used KDE in the past, and I really wish that I would have. 
I really love it! It is easy to use and quite full of customization 
options. I am really looking forward to seeing what happens in the 
future between Orca and KDE.

As far as helping out with testing and things, I do not know exactly 
whee to start. I am currently reading a Linux textbook to learn more 
about the CLI-side of things (as I have mainly relied upon the GUI 
during my five or so years of using LInux), and I have another Linux 
book on the way for study purposes. I am looking forward to learning, 
but i also want to contribute to the community. I just honestly do not 
know exactly where to start.

I appreciate all of the information which you supplied, Jeremy. Thanks 
for the kind welcome.

I am looking forward to this new learning experience!

Take care.

On 10/31/2011 07:13 AM, Jeremy Whiting wrote:
> Hello Robert and welcome,
>
> On Sun, Oct 30, 2011 at 10:27 PM, Robert Cole<rkcole72984 at gmail.com>  wrote:
>> Hello, everyone.
>>
>> I just started working with KDE a day or two ago (for the first time) and I
>> absolutely love it.
>>
>> I am a partially blind user, and I rely on screen magnification to use my
>> system, and I am also beginning to work with screen readers across different
>> operating system platforms (NVDA in Windows and Orca under GNOME on my Linux
>> Mint 11 system).
>> I switched my window manager to Compiz under my new KDE desktop because (for
>> some reason) the Zoom feature under KWin was quite jumpy (I am sure there
>> could be an easy solution to this, but I do not know where and how yet as I
>> am completely new to the KDE desktop).
> I haven't tried the kwin zoom feature yet (I should soon though)
> There is also the kmag application you could try if you like.  It
> probably has more options which may or may not help, but it is an
> application, so will take some screen space itself.
>
>> I have read different articles about the possibility of KDE being made
>> accessible to the Orca screen reader, and I have also read a small bit about
>> KTTS.
> KTTS (which has been renamed to Jovie a couple years ago) is what
> makes KDE Applications able to speak, but not like a screen reader.
> For example the Knights game uses Jovie to speak the opponent's move
> and the desktop uses Jovie to say the time if you set it to.
>
>> My main question is this: What is the status of KDE Accessibility?
> KDE Accessibility is in a work-in-progress state.  But with a bit of
> tinkering you can try the latest code.  I'm not that familiar with
> Linux Mint, but how KDE Accessibility works in regards to orca is
> this.  Applications are written with the Qt framework which allows
> accessibility plugins.  One such plugin for the linux desktop is
> called qt-atspi bridge.  It bridges the Qt framework to the atspi2
> interface which orca understands.  Unfortunately it required some
> changes to Qt itself, and many crash fixes are in the not-yet-released
> Qt 4.8.  If Linux Mint includes prerelease packages of Qt 4.8 and the
> qt-atspi bridge, it should be just an install to test KDE with orca
> (and setting a few settings on your machine).
>
> At any rate http://community.kde.org/Accessibility is the main source
> to look for information regarding KDE Accessibility.  The qt-atspi
> bridge I mentioned is found under the first link Technical Information
> for Application Developers, along with how to enable it for testing
> with orca, etc.
>
>> I do not currently know a lot about programming, but if there is anything
>> which I can do to help with testing, I can learn what is needed and help in
>> that fashion. I just do not know when to begin.
> Testing is always very welcome. Also updating wiki pages, documentation, etc.
>
>> Thank you for your time in reading this, and for any responses.
> Thanks for asking.  The more help we can get the more work we can get done :)
>
> BR,
> Jeremy Whiting
>> Kind regards.
>>
>> Take care.
>> _______________________________________________
>> kde-accessibility mailing list
>> kde-accessibility at kde.org
>> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-accessibility
>>