Re: [orca-list] Re Orca.....

[Willie Walker <William Walker Sun COM>]

Hi:

I would have preferred a less acerbic e-mail, but I understand your 
frustration and I thank you for writing us directly.  Feedback from 
users helps us improve this free open source software.

> Yeah I gave Orca a good go..... every time I tried to open it, it would 
> sort of "start up" but never actually start up at all.

Sorry.  I wonder if it might be this bug: 
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=558055 - Magnification 
autostart fails on login

It's kind of a difficult one for us to track down, but it seems like it 
might be a bug deeper in the stack.  :-(

> ii) directional keys like the < ^ > V arrow keys or any other keys;

That might be this bug: http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=504075 
- Orca should provide support for smooth/linear panning of the zoomer

Since the arrow keys are used for many other things, I don't think we 
can take them over completely by default.  Instead, we'd probably need a 
key combination with the Orca modifier to do this.  Do you have a 
constructive suggestion for the behavior we might provide?

> iii) Nor would any other keys that one would reasonably assume make the 
> screen zoom in or out happen, do anything - like Shift and + or -, or 
> the mouse scroll wheel;

http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=504077 - Orca should support 
mouse bindings

Unfortunately, we're not able to consume mouse events right now, so 
using the scroll wheel is a bit difficult.  :-(  Using Shift and +/- may 
also conflict with things (e.g., typing an _ character).

We have, however, created some unbound methods for increasing and 
decreasing the magnification level.  You can go to the "Key Bindings" 
page of the Orca preferences GUI.  Under the "Unbound" section, you will 
find "Increases the magnification level" and "Decreases the 
magnification" level.  You can bind these to any keystroke you wish.

> I'd really hate to be significantly impaired - either visually, 
> physically or cognatively; and to be ending up in the same situation as 
> I did with no help to get around the "Orca block" at start up.

With your constructive help, we can work to improve the situation.

Will