Re: [orca-list] [Fwd: Default button of Orca]

[Alan Bell <alanbell ubuntu com>]

On 20/04/11 23:13, Luke Yelavich wrote:
> I support Alan's request to set the help button as the default button. We can give new users instructions on 
> how to access preferences when orca starts, and all being well, the user should be able to navigate help with 
> arrow keys, assuming the distro has set up caret navigation in yelp, and if not, then perhaps Orca should 
> check this prior to launching yelp, and enable it.
>
> Luke
Hi all,

I really appreciate the discussion around this little suggestion! 
Firstly, I totally agree with Joanmarie and others that making a 
downstream change of the default button in one distro would be a bad 
thing. This is just one really minor point in my overall objective of 
making Orca so easy that even a sighted person could use it. Right now 
on startup you are greeted with "Orca Screen Reader slash Magnifier 
frame, preferences button" if the user presses space or return they get 
to "Orca Preferences, General Page", which is a bad place to be if you 
have no idea how to use Orca or how to navigate the user interface. 
Pressing left and right moves between pages, pressing down ends up in 
the desktop/laptop radio button, then up/down/left/right just flip 
between desktop/laptop. The cancel button is 15 tab presses away.

Making the help button the default (and changing / to & which is a 
separate issue) would mean the user is greeted with:
"Orca Screen Reader & Magnifier frame, help button"
from which point experienced users can press tab-space to get to the 
preferences window, but the new user can press space, return or still F1 
to get to the help, which makes it more discoverable.

The next issue is making the help start with something helpful. The 
"Quick reference" section is at the right at the end, 22 tab presses 
away, and not particularly helpful. All the information is in there, but 
there are no up front instructions about useful keys to press to get 
started. All it needs is a paragraph at the top of the first page of 
help with something like:

"The Orca screen reader provides an audio commentary of the desktop as 
you use it. There are a number of commands you can use to control Orca, 
many of these are accessed through the Orca modifier key which is Keypad 
0 on a desktop keyboard or capslock if you have a laptop keyboard 
without a separate number pad. You can navigate through this help by 
pressing tab to move between links and return to follow a link."

And then at the top of the list of links I would put stuff like:
The "Learn" Modes - link
WhereAmI - link
Navigating the desktop with the keyboard - link

I am not entirely joking when I talk about "making Orca so easy that 
even a sighted person could use it", I actually really want to enable 
use-cases such as a sighted person working on a computer without a 
monitor, perhaps a installing a headless server using nothing but a USB 
keyboard and headphones. Having people use Orca out of choice, or 
because they can't be bothered to plug in a monitor, might mean that 
more applications get tested by more people for readability and more 
developers spend more time thinking about arranging their applications 
user interface in a reader friendly sequence.

Alan.