Re: Promoting idea of getting Ubuntu to adapt to users' accessibility preferences...




Scott:

Sorry for the cross posting.

As we all know different users have different needs of their operating system. Adjusting the system to meet their requirements may take a lot of effort for certain users. Some users may not be able to configure the system without someone else's assistance. For computers in public spaces (eg. libraries, university computer labs, offices, etc.) it is very important that the computers can quickly adapt to different users' preferences and return to the defaults after they are finished.

To try to help with this process I've submitted an idea to the Ubuntu Brainstorm site. If you think this is an interesting idea worth pursuing please *consider voting for it*:

http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/20263/

*What is Web-4-All?*

The Adaptive Technology Resource Centre (ATRC) <http://atrc.utoronto.ca/> at the University of Toronto <http://www.utoronto.ca/>developed Web-4-All <http://web4all.atrc.utoronto.ca/html/english/w4a_home_e.html>, a system for easily configuring multi-user public access computer workstations. Web-4-All is basically a file which contains the users accessibility preferences. These preferences can be stored on a smart card or USB flash drive. When the user places this media into a Web-4-All compatible system the system automatically updates to match the accessibility preferences as best it can. When the user pull the card out of the system the computer reverts back to the previous settings.

This does seem like an interesting idea.  To expand upon it, I think
GNOME also needs a solution that works more generally.

There has been talk of enhancing gnome-settings-daemon so that it is
possible for users to hit particular keybindings or other sorts of
gestures (e.g. mouse gestures) to launch AT programs.  This would
allow a user to launch the on-screen-keyboard, text-to-speech, or
magnifier by completing the appropriate gesture (e.g. keypress or
mouse gesture).

I would think that using a specific smart card or USB stick is another
form of "gesture" that would also be good for launching AT programs.
However, wouldn't it be better to come up with a solution that would
support all of these sorts of "gestures" in one place?

Providing a solution that can recognize different sorts of gestures
(perhaps configurable so users can define their own sorts of gestures -
perhaps with other unique hardware based solutions - like pressing a
button on their braille display) seems a way to go about implementing
your idea and also supporting other mechanisms that could be used to
launch AT programs as needed.

Brian



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