Hi all,
I'm adding accessibility support to an open-source MUD client (https://github.com/Mudlet/Mudlet) which has two primary widgets: an input line to enter commands into and a text area where output of the commands goes. The text area can also receive other, unsolicited text and I need the accessibility framework to read such text out, even if the focus is not on the text area and is on the input line.
The web has solved this usecase - where changes from an unfocused widget need to be announced - with live regions. I'm looking to do something similar in a desktop, Qt 5 application. I've already solved this for macOS by implementing the
NSAccessibilityAnnouncementRequestedNotification which allows VoiceOver read out any incoming text regardless of where the focus is.
I've done my best to research this and I see that the AT-SPI2 protocol
lacks an event to perform any sort of announcement. Orca, if I understand this right, works around this base limitation by
heuristically determining live regions and then reacting to the usual 'text changed' event.
Could I get a recommendation on how to proceed? I'd love to be able to support Linux users of my application in the right way.
Best,
Vadim
