Re: [g-a-devel] [gdm-list] What's the Status of Audio in GDM?

[Brian Cameron <Brian Cameron Sun COM>]

Chuck:

> I've done some testing of accessibility support on GDM, specifically 
> the screen reader and audio output, on Fedora 9.
>
> On Wed, May 07, 2008 at 10:13:06AM -0400, Janina Sajka wrote:
> > What is the plan for SoundOnLogin=true ? Is it coming back? Should I
> > just be patient?
>
> I don't know about that option, however I do have sound working on my 
> GDM login screen.  Orca starts up automatically.

The feature was to provide 3 sounds at various points in the login
process:

1. When the login screen is ready for input
2. On failed login
3. On successful login

The previous GDM allowed you to configure whether the above 3 sounds
would be played, and allowed you to configure what soundfile would be
played for each.

This allows users who are blind to navigate the login process without
needing to use orca or to know how to launch orca.  Since, in the
normal use-case, a user just enters their username and password, it
isn't really necessary to provide full orca feedback to navigate this
most common use-case.  Orca is really only needed if the user wants to
navigate the GUI to do other use-cases like change the language, change
the session, use the XDMCP chooser, etc.

However, now that GDM has the Face Browser on by default, it might
not be possible for blind users to easily navigate the login process
without Orca anymore.  Though perhaps a hotkey could be added to
allow the username entry field to become available so that a blind
user could avoid having to use the face browser.  For most blind
users, the Face Browser is a distraction and makes the login process
more cumbersome.

It might be reasonable to avoid supporting these sound prompts if it is
possible for blind users to launch orca from the login screen via a
keybinding, and if GDM works well enough with orca that a blind user can
navigate the login screen without needing these sound prompts.

However, without the sound alerting the user when GDM is ready for
input, a blind user would have to guess when to hit the hotkey to
start orca, which is a bit ugly.  I can imagine if the bootup
process had a problem, a blind user might wait a long time before
realizing that GDM is not showing up.

Brian