Re: KDE 3.4 accessibility status?

[Olaf Schmidt <ojschmidt kde org>]

Hi Thomas!

Sorry for my late reply. The proper list for KDE Accessibility is 
kde-accessibility kde org

[Thomas Ward, Sunday, 5. June 2005 07:03]
> Hi list,
> I realise this is not specifically Gnome related, but since the Gnome
> access and KDE access teams are working somewhat together

Yes, we are indeed working together.

> I am interested in what accessibility is like on the new KDE 3.4
> desktop. It is my understanding there are some very nice accessibility
> features coming our way from KDE 3.4.

KDE 3.4 has indeed a lot of accessibility improvements, as described in 
the KDE 3.4 release announcement:
http://www.kde.org/announcements/announce-3.4.php

A list of the accessibility features in KDE 3.4:

* The KDE Text-To-Speech system (ktts) integrated into the PDF reader KPDF, 
the webbrowser Konqueror, the text editor Kate.
* The option to read out notifications from all KDE applications via ktts
* KSayIt, a tool for reading out longer texts
* KMouth, a tool for people who have lost their voice

* An optical bell for deaf people

* KMousetool, an application for people whom it hurts to click with the mouse
* Support for mouse gestures in all KDE applications

* KMag, a simple screen magnifier (no fullscreen magnification yet, but some 
other modes not supported by Gnopernicus). This applications will be vastly 
improved for KDE 3.5 or KDE 4 to support all magnification features currently 
available only in Windows screen magnifiers.

* A scalable monochrome icon set (complete, i.e. containing all KDE icons)
* The icon set can be automatically adapted to fit the current colour scheme 
(at run-time).
* This also works with user-defined colour schemes.
* Improved predefined high contrast colour schemes (avoiding large white areas 
for selected text, as it is in GNOME and formerly in KDE)
* A widget style that works well with high-contrast dark-background styles

* The option to increase window borders
* Support for AccessX keyboard features and gestures
* Mouse emulation via keyboard
* A keyboard status applet

More improvements will come with KDE 3.5, of course.
Screen reader support will come with KDE 4.

> I am asking because Mandriva Club 
> members just were notified Mandriva is making KDE 3.4 packages for
> Mandriva 2005 users, and wonder if the upgrade from KDE 3.3 to KDE 3.4
> is worth it from an accessibility standpoint. Thanks.

For partially sighted people, the it is definately very good to upgrade.

Olaf