Re: [orca-list] F123.org-sponsored work and Request for input: Braille scrolling and when to route the caret

[Dave Hunt <ka1cey gmail com>]

I'm delighted to learn of F123 and its sponsoring of work on the 
Orca->Webkit interaction.  If this work results in improved usability of 
Epiphany Browser and Evolution Email, for instance, it is welcome! 
Should we ever change focus when scrolling html content?  Maybe we 
should always have the focus move only when manually requested? 
Navigation keys, like 'tab', 'shift+tab', and the keys to move by 
certain element type should always move focus.


-Dave


On 08/06/2012 01:47 PM, Joanmarie Diggs wrote:
> Hey all.
>
> First some awesome news: F123.org is supporting work to improve Orca
> around its support for WebKitGtk content. Some of this work will happen
> in Orca; most will happen in WebKitGtk. And all of it will get us much
> closer to web-browsing and email client solutions that JustWork(tm) and
> are much more performant than what we currently have. So thank you
> Fernando Botelho and F123.org!!
>
> One of the things I am fixing on the Orca side of the equation is
> braille scrolling of WebKitGtk content, and that brings me to my request
> for input:
>
> Currently, Orca's braille scrolling is in general incomplete and
> inadequate, sometimes working and sometimes not. But when it is working
> we are automatically moving the caret. I am seriously questioning if
> this is what we want to do for the following reasons:
>
> 1. Scrolling in braille seems to me to be an awful lot like scrolling
>     visually. In other words, if I am reading a document, I can leave the
>     caret where it is and move the document's scrollbar to look visually
>     before and after my current location and read the surrounding text.
>     If I then want to move the caret to a new location, all I have to do
>     is click with the mouse. But if I just wanted to look around and I do
>     not click, the caret remains where it was. Shouldn't Orca work this
>     way too, especially given the next item.
>
> 2. Three words: Cursor routing keys. As I am scrolling around via my
>     braille display, all I have to do to reposition the caret is press
>     the key associated with the cell of interest. This is actually easier
>     than clicking with the mouse. Given that one can explicitly and
>     easily update the caret position, wouldn't it make more sense to only
>     move the caret when the user has indicated the caret should be moved?
>
> 3. Focus side effects: In the case of Web content, if we move the caret
>     to a focusable object, there is an excellent chance we will also
>     change the focused item. Changing focus without the user explicitly
>     indicating focus should be changed strikes me as a bad idea.
>
> Please let me know what you think about this and I shall proceed
> accordingly.
>
> Thanks in advance. Take care.
> --joanie
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