Re: [orca-list] [Support] linux on desktop

[Joanmarie Diggs <jdiggs igalia com>]

Hey all.

I agree with Peter's suggestion that discussing the focus mode stuff to
the Orca list. I would also suggest that concrete issues, complete with
steps to reproduce the problem, be provided. It could be that you're
experiencing a bug that I need to fix. It could be that a new feature
would address your problems. But without concrete steps for me to follow
and experience what you're experiencing, it's hard to say.

Sorry and thanks!
--joanie

On 11/11/2014 08:33 AM, Peter Vágner wrote:
> Hello,
> This conversation makes me embarassed.
> I think this focus mode thingy should be moved to the orca list.
> I do like this feature and I was under an impression many of you find it
> usefull at least messages posted to the orca list on august were mainly
> positive.
> For sure it contributed to increased performance we can currently enjoy
> while using orca with mozilla products.
> Should heuristic to automagically pass keys through be added back into
> orca disabling focus vs browse mode switching all together effectivelly
> reverting a bunch of related commits from orca 3.14 to decrease
> differences between orca 3.12 and orca 3.14?
> Or is this something we just need to explain better like some people
> have asked?
> Is there something else we can do in order to help minimize level of
> frustration you have just expressed?
> I have always considered you Kyle as an expert when it comes to things
> we are discussing at these lists mainly sonar gnu linux support list and
> orca list and you have always been posting loads of usefull tips, howtos
> and similar usefull material.
> Hearing such strong arguments from you I am really afraid something is
> going wrong. I also feel somewhat responsible for this as I was one of
> strong supporters and advocates of the focus vs browse mode related
> features. I have been posting loads of ideas how I think it might work
> before Joanie has implemented it. You know you are linux native user and
> I am only using it for some two and a half years now with more than 10
> years with previous background in windows.
> Or hopefully this is only a coincidence that this feature proposal has
> been implemented and I might not be responsible for what you are feeling
> now. I really don't know and this is why I have said I'm embarassed at
> the beginning of this message.
>
> What do you guys and girls think?
>
> Greetings
>
> Peter
>
> On 10.11.2014 at 14:53 Kyle wrote:
> > I remember attempting to use Firefox with NVDA on Windows. Beep beep
> > beep busy busy busy, and dynamic content doesn't work due to virtual
> > buffering. Frankly I constantly cursed at my computer the last time I
> > tried to use Windows, but my Linux experience has been far less of a
> > cursing session, as things just work as expected. Sure there are some
> > inconsistencies in something as complicated as a browser with all kinds
> > of diverse websites, but for the most part, my experience has been far
> > better than anything I tried to use on a Windows-based machine. To be
> > quite honest though, I have been struggling far more with Firefox and
> > Orca now that this focus mode has been added. I am far less productive
> > on websites now, and find myself going all over the page when I'm just
> > trying to type in a textbox. So the attempt to make Linux browsing more
> > like Windows is certainly a #EpicFail, at least for my own uses. Yes,
> > I'll come right out and say it. I hate focus mode, and wish it had never
> > been implemented. But Windows users seem to love it, and to this day, I
> > just can't figure out why. It was one thing I certainly didn't miss when
> > I started using Firefox with Orca, and I want the old behavior back.
> >
> > Regarding making Jaws for Ubuntu, I really hope they don't. Jaws was
> > certainly the worst screen reading application I ever had the
> > displeasure of using, and it's certainly the most expensive also. If
> > anyone is going to port any Windows screen reader to Linux, I would
> > prefer NVDA to be ported. The other stuff is pure crap, and isn't worth
> > my time or money. I don't like virtual buffers for the browser though,
> > and in fact whereas I hate focus modes, I curse virtual buffers down to
> > the ground, so I likely would never use NVDA for Linux. Worse still,
> > NVDA doesn't even read most Windows applications very well, so I'm not
> > at all sure how it would handle Linux applications. Believe it or not,
> > Linux actually has a far greater percentage of applications that mostly
> > work with Orca than Windows has that work with NVDA, so I really don't
> > think such a port would work that much better than Orca already does.