Re: [g-a-devel] startup of a11y tools

[Brian Cameron <Brian Cameron Sun COM>]

Matthias:

> Imo an approach like the one taken by Jon McCann in the new gdm a11y
> dialog (see  http://live.gnome.org/GDM/Screenshots ) is much more
> straightforward and we should look at doing something similar inside
> the session.

I agree that the new dialog is a big step forward.  It is a good idea
to provide a user-visible dialog where users can select the a11y
programs they wish to run.

However, this interface is lacking because many users with disabilities
simply cannot navigate the GUI to begin with unless the a11y programs
they need are already running.  A chicken-and-egg problem.

I know the new GDM does support the ability to always launch (autostart)
additional programs, which can be used to start a11y programs along with
GDM.  This perhaps meets the needs of a single-user desktop.  However,
this doesn't work well on multi-user desktops or terminal server
settings where some users may need text-to-speech, others may need
magnification, and others might not need any additional a11y programs to
be running.

I think this "support a11y on multi-user servers for users who may have
different a11y needs" is an important use case that should be addressed
before a general solution be implemented into the GNOME desktop.

Brian