Re: [Usability] Orca UI change

[Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt myrealbox com>]

Hi Rich

On Dec 17, 2007, at 10:59 PM, Rich Burridge wrote to 
gnome-doc-list gnome org:
> ...
> On the application specific tab in the Orca Preferences for
> the "pidgin" application, there is now a new frame that contains
> three radio buttons that looks like this:
>
> +-- Messages ---------------------------------------+
> |                                                   |
> | 0  Speak all new messages                         |
> | O  Speak only channel with focus                  |
> | O  Speak all channels when application has focus  |
> |                                                   |
> +---------------------------------------------------+
> ...

If every radio button (or checkbox) in a group begins with the same 
word, "Speak" in this case, that's the GUI equivalent of code 
duplication. It means the labels need refactoring. Like this:

    Speak messages from:
    (*) All channels
    ( ) Only the channel with focus
    ( ) All channels when the application has focus

(You'll notice this also gets rid of the frame. When all you have is 
three radio buttons, putting a frame around them is a bit excessive.)

The next problem is that "focus" is geek jargon, and "the application" 
is needlessly vague. We can fix that a bit:

    Speak messages from:
    (*) All channels
    ( ) A channel only if its window is active
    ( ) All channels when any Pidgin window is active

But that's still a bit awkward. Perhaps screenreader users would find 
it easier to think of this as a controllable mute function?

    Mute a channel when:
    ( ) A different window is active
    ( ) A different program is active
    (*) Not at all

On a broader topic, why does Orca have application-specific tabs at 
all? I have half a dozen chat programs installed. In a theoretically 
complete Orca, would I have to set the same speech options half a dozen 
times over? What about other programs that often have new text 
appearing, such as the Gobby editor, multiplayer games, or slow 
terminal commands? Will each of them need an equivalent set of three 
radio buttons in their own tab?

One possible way of addressing this would be with automatic murmuring. 
Speech in background windows could always be a bit quieter than in the 
frontmost window. And if there was too much new text appearing in all 
windows for the speech to keep up, text in background windows could 
become much quieter, and overlap with the foreground window and other 
background windows. This background murmur would be more of an activity 
indicator, rather than expecting you to actively listen to the 
background windows.

Cheers
--
Matthew Paul Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/