[GOK] Ang. Re: Why ui grabbing in direct selection mode of gok?



Hello,


Mats Lundälv wrote:
I appreciate the arguments for the ui grabbing in GOK - both for
switch input and direct selection users.

But there are also reasons for wanting to disable this functionality
for some users in some situations - in fact for some users of both
these categories: GOK is currently targeted towards advanced
alternative input users. For them the ui grabbing will often make
sense, unless for direct selection users who master the ordinary gui
without major problems.

But for some other potential users, e.g. individuals with additional
cognitive difficulties, it may be preferrable to have a more stable
interface with less functionality. The dynamic features of the ui
grabbing may be disturbing and confusing rather than helpful.

So does it have to be either or? I don't yet know the inner secrets
of GOK well enough, but I would like to have an easy way to turn ui
grabbing on/off - both for a support person and possible to provide
for the user him/herself. Is that possible? If not, could it be
added?

I was now going to propose to add an option to disable ui grabbing in direct selection mode. But after reading your explanation above, it might be sensible to add it for all access methods.

Moreover, you make a distinction between the support person and the user itself. Does this mean that you would like to have such a distinction in gok? Or is it already available (non-core input device?)?


Another aspect that I have found very awkward is the fact that GOK
(and I believe also OnBoard) requires the adaptive features for the
physical keyboard (like sticky keys etc) to be activated for the OSK
to be fully functioning. This is really unfortunate and weird, as
well as totally non-standard for all other OSK solutions outside the
unix-linux sphere: Why should the OSK - being provided for users who
cannot use the physical keyboard - be depending on alternative
settings for the physical keyboard? This is a totally unmotivated
interference in the basic system settings, and in fact creates
accessibility problems for people supporting the OSK user. I regard
this as being a design flaw that should be removed asap. Any comments
on this?

I suppose that you are talking about the requirement to enable the sticky keys feature. Or are you talking about Assistive Technology (at-spi).

As far as I understand, Assistive Technology is at least required for the ui grabbing feature. So I don't think it will be possible to remove that requirement. And for what concerns the sticky keys, I don't know. Maybe somebody with more knowledge than me will add its comments.


Concerning onboard: it does not need any assistive feature of the hardware keyboard to be turned on. It even does not need Assistive Technology. But on the other hand, it does not offer switch input, there is no word prediction, no ui grabbing,... The first two are part of the specifications, but still have to be implemented.


Cheers

Francesco


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