Re: [orca-list] Thoughts on a "list of elements" feature for Orca in Firefox

[Michael Whapples <mwhapples aim com>]

Hello,
I have to agree with Willie on this, I think the correct place for such
a feature would be as a plugin for firefox. In saying this, I am not
saying that such a feature would be useless, just suggesting that there
may be better places than orca for it.

Other than the potential performance advantage of it being a firefox
plugin, there is also the added advantage that this interface would be
available to you regardless of AT being used.

Michael Whapples
On Thu, 2008-05-22 at 10:37 -0400, Willie Walker wrote:
> Hi All:
>
> I'm curious if anyone has tried Jon Gunderson's Firefox Accessibility 
> Extension: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5809
>
> The reason I ask is that an extension living/running inside Firefox is 
> most likely going to provide faster analysis of the web content than 
> Orca can.  The reason for this is that the extension lives in the 
> Firefox process and doesn't have to do numerous roundtrips to build up 
> the data structures necessary to present the list of links.
>
> Will
>
> Marco Zehe wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I've given the possible list of elements (for example list of links)
> > feature some thought and would like to share it with you all to see what
> > you think.
> >
> > First off, let me clarify that I think Orca could really benefit from at
> > least a list of links. Others that are offered by other screen readers,
> > such as a list of headings, are not so imminently necessary IMO because
> > Orca provides access to these already with structural navigation, both
> > by any heading and by certain heading levels. However, a list of links
> > has no real equivalent in Orca's structural navigation, and I personally
> > find the Firefox search not as effective as I find a list of links when
> > I'm on Windows.
> >
> > So now for the look of the actual list: I would think it makes sense to
> > put this into a kind of dialog box that contains a tree table which
> > contains the name of the link (screen name, alt or title, whatever
> > Firefox provides) in the first column, and the URL in the second column.
> > The reason I think an URL should be presented in an easily accessible
> > fashion is because there are still enough pages that don't properly mark
> > up links, and sometimes the URL is the only reliable way to find out
> > what the link is about.
> >
> > The left and right arrows should move between cells in any given row as
> > usual (e. g. in Nautilus' file list view).
> >
> > When typing in letters, like is usual in Gnome tree tables, a search
> > should be performed. When typing and a match is found, Orca should speak
> > the result that would be activated. If using braille, Orca should show
> > the full link's name (contents of the first column) to the right of the
> > cursor  where one types the search. That way, even when only using
> > braille, one can read immediately whether the desired link has already
> > been found.
> >
> > ENTER should activate an "Activate link" button, close the dialog, focus
> > and activate the link, and thereby let the user navigate to the desired
> > destination page.
> >
> > In addition, a second control, possibly labelled "Focus link", should be
> > provided, which allows the user to focus, but not activate, the link
> > (for example in order to pull up its context menu). We could also think
> > of a keystroke like SHIFT+ENTER or something else that would activate
> > this button without having the user to tab to it. Or we could just make
> > sure it has an easily rememberable access key.
> >
> > ESCAPE should close the dialog obviously, without causing any change.
> >
> > I am not sure we'd need radio buttons to filter by visited, unvisited,
> > or all links, or to sort in alphabetical or tab order, as offered by
> > other screen readers. I find myself never using these at all. If I want
> > to explore the page, I usually do it by reading the page in whole, not
> > by simply arrowing through its links. I personally use the links list
> > ron pages I know well and know that I want to go to link 150 quickly and
> > activate it.
> >
> > Any thoughts?
> >
> > Marco
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