Re: [g-a-devel] GNOME3

[Smitten <bittenbyapenguin gmail com>]

On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 1:25 PM, meg ford <meg387 gmail com> wrote:

Hi,

The residents can't really save anything to the computer, as it's used by all, so they leave pictures in their eMail boxes. They use xmag to enlarge pictures of their grandkids which are embedded in the eMails as one example.

With regards to:

>>In fact, the GNOME design team has put special care to ensure that it
>>can be used by those who have a low level of pointer control, either
>>because they are not well practised at using pointing devices or our
>>software, because they might not have good control over the hand and
>>fingers, or because they are using low quality hardware.

It takes more positioning of the mouse to navigate. Even if all you have to do is hover, the difficulty is getting the mouse pointer in position. If you increase the number of times, or increase the distance, the mouse has to be repositioned, you increase the difficulty of using your application for persons who have little control. For example I can't even switch between desktops (with a mouse) without first clicking on Activities, then moving to the opposite side of the page to nudge the widow that contains the desktops, and finally clicking on the desktop. Then I have to repeat it all to get back. Formerly I just clicked once on a window in the panel and I was there. There's an enormous amount of repositioning the mouse!

 

This sounds to me like a hardware issue. If you are in the U.S., I suggest that you contact the your state's Department of Vocational Rehabilitation Services [6] and ask for an Occupational therapist to do an evaluation for this woman. If this does not work, then you may be able to consult with an O.T. at your local public school. I greatly admire and commend your efforts here, but an O.T. would hopefully provide this woman with access to more appropriate technology. A roller mouse is very difficult to use, even for an "average" user. If this woman is able to use a wheelchair joystick, she may be able to use a joystick in place of a mouse. That said, I agree that the placement of the workspace switcher might still be too much of a barrier for this user. I plan to raise this as an issue with the Design Team, and see how it can be resolved. This is a good point, and this could be a problem for many users with disabilities who "cannot cross the midpoint" for whatever reason.

I also wanted to mention that the NATTAP might be a helpful resource for this woman --again, if you are in the U.S., that is.
http://resnaprojects.org/nattap/scripts/nattapcontacts.pl

Thank you Meg. There are OT on staff. They work with her to help her use the equipment I donated. Unfortunately the reason that I donate computers is because my state does next to nothing.

When my father was in the nursing home, someone in the family stayed with him every day. I would have my laptop when I stayed, and many of the residents stopped by to ask questions. Their curiosity and eagerness to learn prompted me to visit the home's IT department.

The woman there is wonderful. Very caring and knowledgeable. She's been through the hoops trying to find technology for those in her care. There just weren't programs to pay for them.  The link above takes me to our state's program for low interest loans so disabled people can buy assistive technologies. She not only gave me her permission to bring in donated equipment, running Linux, she gave me her team to build desks and run cabling.

A joystick mouse is something I'm investigating. They are quite expensive. I have friends who help me find things, so eventually we will. Since one of the guys at the home realized that "nailing" the mouse down would make it easier for her, she has been able to use it fairly well. It's not hardware, it's how far across the screen she has to control the mouse. I'm not sure what the designers were thinking when they changed the interface from one click to perform and action (like switching a desktop) to four. How can increasing the amount of time/effort to complete a task make a task simpler? *shrug*

 Thank you for all the informative links.