On Fri, 2010-07-09 at 17:53 -0700, Peter Korn wrote:
Bryen,
Seems everyone's interested in Zoomtext or at least the equivalent of
Zoomtext. Is Zoomtext's equivalent Orca or is there something else.
ZoomText is an incredibly powerful desktop screen magnifier that over the past ~2 decades gained a tremendous set of features - including some speech output capabilities (in the "magnifier/reader" product). I believe the most recent releases introduce scripting capabilities.
Orca is not a direct equivalent to ZoomText. Orca is a stronger screen reader than ZoomText, and not as strong a screen magnifier. Some of the more interesting features in ZoomText not present in Orca include:
- Extremely fast magnification
- Font smoothing
- A broad range of color remapping capabilities
- "App reader" and "Doc reader" that providing additional document re-rendering capabilities for certain specifically supported apps
The AEGIS-funded ATRC work on GNOME Shell magnification is our path toward providing much of the functionalities I listed above, plus things ZoomText is not capable of today. For example, "App Reader" (and "Doc Reader") like functionality could be system wide, thanks to the AT-SPI. Having magnification tied into the shell means we can provide different, magnified (or otherwise visually enhanced) renderings of things otherwise already built into the shell (e.g. window switching). And given the ease with which zoom regions can be created in GNOME Shell, having app-specific and situation-specific magnification layouts which combine Orca's approach to scripting with AT-SPI knowledge means we could provide application- or task- specific magnification layouts for improved efficiency and productivity.
Of course, it is easy to handwave about the wonderful future. What we need to do is get there!
Thanks Peter. This was an excellent insight that helped me to better understand the differences in both platform environments. I should probably have mentioned also in my original email that the group I met with was the Deaf-Blind group. And it's pretty clear that in the Deaf-Blind community, Zoomtext is the software of choice (though everyone's complaining about the high cost.) And it makes sense, in my opinion, that most Deaf-Blind users prefer ZoomText over Jaws on Windows. Most haven't even tried Jaws because audio screen readers mean nothing to them. But I guess if they use Braille, that helps to justify using Jaws. (Uneducated guess, of course.)
One person even complained that she had to give up her beloved Macintosh simply because she was unable to find a ZoomText equivalent. I'm sure you've heard similar stories like this many times out there in the wild.
Second question... Is there a port of Orca to other platforms like
Windows or Macintosh?
No. Nor would it make sense. Orca depends upon AT-SPI, and that doesn't exist on Windows or Macintosh. IAccessible2 exists on Windows - the closest equivalent to AT-SPI - but it isn't universal there as it is on GNOME.
NVDA is the closest thing to an "Orca port" on Windows: an open source screen reader written in Python that uses published APIs (vs. screen scraping) to obtain the necessary information to re-present the screen to blind users in speech & Braille.
Your saying it doesn't make sense makes sense. :-)
And I'm not about to get into some big argument about whether we should break away from that AT-SPI dependency. No sense for me to really do that. But there is a bit of wishful thinking on my part that if I could just simply showcase the products we use in open source a11y without telling potential new users "You have to also switch operating systems to do this", we could move closer to getting our products accepted more in mainstream.
I recently met an Accessibility software teacher a few weeks ago who explored on her own and discovered open source opportunities, such as Vinux and Orca. It was pleasing to hear those names come up in a venue where open source isn't a topic. But as much as she liked what she saw and wanted to incorporate it into her classes, she was told adamantly by her superiors not to deviate from Windows-based software. When pressing why, she got no real answer other than "We're not moving away from Windows."
So, how to encourage adoption of our great open source a11y products without pushing for radical change? Thus is the challenge we face. :-)
Thanks again, Peter.
Bryen
Regards,
Peter
Thanks,
Bryen M Yunashko
GNOME-A11y Outreach
_______________________________________________
orca-list mailing list
orca-list gnome org
http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
Visit http://live.gnome.org/Orca for more information on Orca.
The manual is at http://library.gnome.org/users/gnome-access-guide/nightly/ats-2.html
The FAQ is at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/FrequentlyAskedQuestions
Netiquette Guidelines are at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/FrequentlyAskedQuestions/NetiquetteGuidelines
Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org
Find out how to help at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/HowCanIHelp
--
Peter Korn | Accessibility Principal
Phone: +1 650 5069522
500 Oracle Parkway | Redwood City, CA 94065
 Oracle is committed to developing practices and products that help protect the environment
|
