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Re: [orca-list] GNOME Shell Dialogs

Hello, Al.
I hope that this is alright as I am Cc-ing this message to the Orca List as well. I am not sure if you intended to reply to the list as well as to me, but your message only came to me directly (which is no problem at all).
I know that a lot of people use Vinux for accessibility reasons, but I have stuck with Ubuntu for the time being because I have found that it is one of the most accessible distros, and because I am the only blind user here at home.
Ubuntu 12.04, in my opinion, is a very accessible distribution as far as Orca is concerned, and they have kept Orca quite up-to-date. I think that Ubuntu 12.04 started out with Orca version 3.4.0 or 3.4.1, but as of right now my version of Orca (from updates and not from compiling it myself) is at Orca version 3.4.2. I know that you are looking for a GNOME-based distribution, but you can simply run the following commands in Ubuntu 12.04 to install the GNOME Shell desktop as well as the GNOME Fallback (Classic) desktop: 

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell gnome-session-fallback
Ubuntu 12.04 also has a pretty accessible login screen now. I am able to use Orca to switch sessions and login to different user accounts. When on the login screen, you only need to press CTRL+S to get an accessible login screen.
As much as I love Ubuntu and have used it almost exclusively for the past five or so years, I find that Fedora runs much more quickly on my system. I know, as Joanie has mentioned, that work is being done to make the Fedora installer accesible. I think that once this takes place I may switch to Fedora full-time...but I am unsure as to what I will do right now. I have a 100 GB partition freed on my system, allocated for testing purposes I may shrink it, though, as I think that 100 GB may be a bit of overkill.
I would recommend Ubuntu personally, as I had great success with installing it using Orca. I had no need whatsoever to try to even look at my screen during the installation process; I was able to do all that I needed to do using Orca.
And about my statement concerning Fedora running more quickly, that is not to say that Ubuntu runs slow, as its performance is the best that I have ever seen it to this point on my system. I have found that Unity si more responsive than ever, but I still prefer GNOME as my working environment. Once GNOME 3.6 is released, which will include the inverse plugin for its magnifier, I will very likely switch to GNOME Shell full-time. the lack of the inverse feature, which changes the contrast while reading (I.e. I can have white text on a black background) is the only thing which has held me back from using GNOME on a full-time basis. While I am really trying to get away from reliance upon magnification, is is still something which I need on a daily basis, and the ability to have a negative contrast is pretty much crucial for me to be able to work on my system.
In any case, there is a LOT to look forward to in the future of Linux accessibility. I am so excited that I get to play even a minuscule part in it, and I am just so excited to see what the future holds.
I am glad that the information in my previous message was helpful to you. I am definitely no guru, but if there is anything that I can do to be of help to you, please e-mail me off-list. That goes for anyone else as well. I do not mind off-list contacts. 

Take care, Al, and all the best.

On 05/31/2012 05:14 PM, Albert Sten-Clanton wrote:

Thanks for the info below.  I'm about to gget a new Linux box, and more
likely than not will use the latest variant I can get of the gnome desktop
rather than a variant of Unity.  I had trouble finding just the kind of
information you've provided, so am grateful to have it here.

Al

-----Original Message-----
From: orca-list-bounces gnome org [mailto:orca-list-bounces gnome org] On
Behalf Of Robert Cole
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2012 6:32 PM
To: orca-list gnome org
Subject: Re: [orca-list] GNOME Shell Dialogs

Yes. GNOME Shell has a different array of keyboard shortcuts as compared to
Unity, but it, in version 3.4, has become MUCH more accessible as compared
to version 3.2 (which was decently accessible as well). Here [1] is a GNOME
Shell Cheat Sheet which I found that has a pretty good explanation of the
keyboard shortcuts for GNOME Shell.

Just a quick note. Unity consists of a panel on the top (the main panel with
applets such as networking, volume, etc) and the launcher panel on the
left-hand side of the screen (positioned vertically) on which exist
launchers for various favorite applications.

In contrast, the GNOME Shell desktop consists of a top panel alone.
There also exists an area at the bottom of the screen which displays
notifications for various events (e.g. Removable Media, Update
Notifications, etc), but I do not know if this is accessible with Orca yet
or not, as I have not tried it personally.

When on the desktop, you can (as Alex pointed out) press CTRL+ALT+Tab to
jump between the desktop and the top panel. When in the top panel, you can
press the left and right arrow keys to navigate through its different
elements.

When you press the Super (Windows) key -OR- ALT+F1, the Activities Overview
opens and overshadows the desktop. By default, the Activities Overview opens
with the Search field having focus by default. You can start typing in the
name of an application to search for a program which you want to use. The
Activities Overview consists of a few different areas which I will briefly
describe below. You can use the CTRL+ALT+Tab keyboard combination to
navigate between these different areas.

On the far left exists a vertical column of icons which are launchers for
your favorite applications (I believe this area is called the "Dash"). The
next area, in the middle of the Activities Overview, contains two tabs, one
labelled "Windows" and the other labelled "Applications". The Windows tab
displays previews of all currently opened windows. As to whether or not the
contents of the Windows tab is accessible I do not know as I have not really
used it personally; I will have to test it out later today. The Applications
tab displays a tiled line-up of all installed applications on the system; I
can say that this tab is accessible. On the far right of the Activities
Overview is where the Search area exists. All of these areas can be
navigated to by using
CTRL+ALT+Tab.

I hope that my explanations of the GNOME Shell desktop are helpful. I am
just explaining what I am able to see by using magnification in the hopes
that it will be of some help to you in your experience with the desktop
environment.

I hope that you will find this information helpful, and I apologize for the
lengthy e-mail.

Take care, Krishnakant, and kind regards.

[1] https://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell/CheatSheet

On 05/31/2012 02:55 PM, Alex Midence wrote:

No, the keys are totally different for shell.  The areas sound and
function similarly to Unity 2d (or, the other way around since unity
is based on shell, I think), but getting to them uses different
keystrokes.  Briefly:

alt f1 shell search:  Type the name of the app you want and it will
find it for you and give you choices of matches.  Use this as a
starting point to navigate the shell.  Use the control alt tab keys to
cycle through the panels such as dash, applicaitons, Windows ETC.
alt f2:  Run command dialog.  Use same as gnome 2.

  From anywhere within gnome3:  Control alt tab takes you to top
activity area.  Hitting left and right arrow here lets you navigate
the top menu bar.

This should get you started.  From here, just explore the areas the
way you would explore gnome 2 pannels.

Have fun,
Alex M

On 5/31/12, Krishnakant Mane<krmane gmail com>   wrote:

So what should I do to get the accessible shell?
Can I access the menus like that in Unity 2D?
Is the top panel also accessible with Orca?
I press alt +f1 to get the launcher menu in Unity and alt + f10 for
the top panel.
Are the keyboard shortcuts similar in gnome shell?
happy hacking.
Krishnakant.

On 05/31/2012 11:10 PM, Joanmarie Diggs wrote:

On 05/31/2012 01:21 PM, Krishnakant Mane wrote:


Last time I tryed gnome shell, Orca did not read those menus.
I had to type in the - pain the name of the application which I
wish to open.
Although typing first few letters of the app would give it to me,

That sounds like the old gnome run dialog; not the gnome-shell run
dialog.


would still be better if we had an accessible launcher menu like
that in Unity 2d.

As far as I am aware, the equivalent of the Unity launcher is the
GNOME Shell Dash. And the GNOME Shell Dash is now accessible.

Take care.
--joanie
_______________________________________________
orca-list mailing list
orca-list gnome org
https://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
Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org Find out
how to help at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/HowCanIHelp

_______________________________________________
orca-list mailing list
orca-list gnome org
https://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
Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org Find out
how to help at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/HowCanIHelp


_______________________________________________
orca-list mailing list
orca-list gnome org
https://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
Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org Find out
how to help at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/HowCanIHelp

_______________________________________________
orca-list mailing list
orca-list gnome org
https://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
Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org Find out how to
help at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/HowCanIHelp
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