Re: GNOME CVS: libgnome martin

[Bill Haneman <bill haneman sun com>]

Joe Shaw wrote:
> 
> On 11 Aug 2001 16:29:54 -0400, Michael Meeks wrote:
> 
> >       It also strikes me that the accessibility guys will need to be
> > able to play sounds on events; and that it seems entirely likely to me
> > that they will be able to do it 'right' at some stage, probably soon.

Actually the ability to play sounds on events is not the big headache
with
sound+accessibility; for users who need it (vision impaired, possibly
cognitive disabilities) we can use the at-spi to monitor various kinds
of
events and the assistive technology can use the sound engine of its
choice.
Eventually we will definitely need a "nice" streaming/multiplexing
sound 
API for speech and audio notifications, but that can wait a little
while.

The big issue, and it is pretty important, is with Gnome applications
that
give audio notifications.  In the case of those applications, we need
to be
able to intercept these notifications and provide alternate
notifications
(flashing screen, etc.) for the hearing-impaired user.  What we can't
have,
from an accessibility point of view, is lots of apps doing this in
their own
inconsistent way: we need a common API for all such sound
notifications, so 
that we can intercept and substitute at a single point.  This needs to
be
a control panel/theme function - and obviously it has value not just
for the
hearing-impaired but for the audio-driver-impaired (e.g. some laptops,
etc.)
It sounds to me (pardon the pun) as though the current 'solution' for 
Gnome audio is a free-for-all that would make such a consistent
audio-notification
policy unworkable.  Certainly the minimalist API proposal that is
floating
around would be a better solution for accessibility.  Even better
would be
a gnome_audio_notify ("bin-bong-file.au", "Alt. Descriptive String").

-Bill

> From what I understand of the accessibility stuff, the gail library will
> be below libgnomeui on the dependency chain, so there is no reason why
> the couldn't use whatever long-term sound API we implement. It would
> be wonderful to get their input on the matter.
> 
> I don't really like esd, but I am more concerned about an API existing
> in some form than whatever we choose to be its backend.
> 
> Joe
> 
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-- 
--------------
Bill Haneman
Gnome Accessibility / Batik SVG Toolkit
Sun Microsystems Ireland

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