General question - is accessibility information valued here?
in [UK Mac]
|
Prev: Aplgies for errors and confusion was Re: newcomer
Next: I'm pissed off with James Jolley's libels and viciousness
From: Rowland McDonnell on 23 Jan 2010 02:55 Stefan Haller <stk.usenet(a)haller-berlin.de> wrote: [snip] > My rough estimate is that it would take me half a year of full-time work > to design and develop it; just the software development parts of the > task. And then there's graphics design (toolbar icons, stuff like that) > and a manual, that's probably another two or three months. !!! Well... I for one didn't think it'd be likely to take *that* much time. [snip] > Just dreaming: taking a sabbatical and doing it during that time is > something I could imagine. However, I have to feed a family and I simply > need the salary; and this is not something that a couple of people > gathering on usenet and setting up a PayPal account can compensate for, > honestly. We could probably manage a couple of dozen, I suspect.... > So - sorry, folks. Ah well. Thanks for taking the time to let us know. Rowland. -- Remove the animal for email address: rowland.mcdonnell(a)dog.physics.org Sorry - the spam got to me http://www.mag-uk.org http://www.bmf.co.uk UK biker? Join MAG and the BMF and stop the Eurocrats banning biking
From: Gareth John on 23 Jan 2010 04:18 Stefan Haller <stk.usenet(a)haller-berlin.de> wrote: [snip disappointing but understandable reply] Thank you for the clear and honest response. But most of all, thank you for the great software that we already have, and which I, for one, will continue to use and value. Best wishes to you and yours, Gareth. -- From Gareth John Please pull out the plug if you want to reply by email
From: Ian Piper on 23 Jan 2010 06:47 On 2010-01-22 20:21:22 +0000, Ian McCall <ian(a)eruvia.org> said: > On 2010-01-22 13:54:02 +0000, James Jolley <jrjolley(a)me.com> said: > >> i'm genuinely worried about posting here again with regards to anything >> disability related. > > I wouldn't be - it's the only way I'm going to find out about it, for > instance, such as when you posted your podcast link a while ago. > Interesting to hear a different view. > > > Cheers, > Ian I value accessibility in Mac software. To me it goes hand in hand with good design for usability, and that means good design per se. There is surprisingly little published, or even publicised by Apple, about the really excellent support for visual impairment included within Mac OS X and in the Xcode tools. VoiceOver is absolutely brilliant. If you've written some Mac software try running it against VoiceOver to see how it stacks up. Then run the Accessibility Verifier and Inspector tools. It can be really revealing to see where the accessibility gaps are. Luckily if you're using Xcode it is also very easy to make improvements. I must admit I didn't know anything about Apple's accessibility support until I heard Martin Pilkington talk at last years NSConference about it (article here: http://www.mac-developer-network.com/columns/theaccessiblemac/june09/). Trying to learn more I was surprised at how little information there is around beyond the Apple Developer Documentation. So I devoted a chapter in my book to this topic - as far as I know, this is the first book on Mac software development that covers how to evaluate and improve the accessibility of your software in any detail. Ian. -- Ian Piper Author of "Learn Xcode Tools for Mac OS X and iPhone Development", Apress, December 2009 Learn more here: http://learnxcodebook.com/� --�
From: James Jolley on 23 Jan 2010 06:52 On 2010-01-23 11:47:30 +0000, Ian Piper <ianpiper(a)mac.com> said: > On 2010-01-22 20:21:22 +0000, Ian McCall <ian(a)eruvia.org> said: > >> On 2010-01-22 13:54:02 +0000, James Jolley <jrjolley(a)me.com> said: >> >>> i'm genuinely worried about posting here again with regards to anything >>> disability related. >> >> I wouldn't be - it's the only way I'm going to find out about it, for >> instance, such as when you posted your podcast link a while ago. >> Interesting to hear a different view. >> >> >> Cheers, >> Ian > > I value accessibility in Mac software. To me it goes hand in hand with > good design for usability, and that means good design per se. > > There is surprisingly little published, or even publicised by Apple, > about the really excellent support for visual impairment included > within Mac OS X and in the Xcode tools. VoiceOver is absolutely > brilliant. If you've written some Mac software try running it against > VoiceOver to see how it stacks up. Then run the Accessibility Verifier > and Inspector tools. It can be really revealing to see where the > accessibility gaps are. Luckily if you're using Xcode it is also very > easy to make improvements. > > I must admit I didn't know anything about Apple's accessibility support > until I heard Martin Pilkington talk at last years NSConference about > it (article here: > http://www.mac-developer-network.com/columns/theaccessiblemac/june09/). > Trying to learn more I was surprised at how little information there is > around beyond the Apple Developer Documentation. So I devoted a chapter > in my book to this topic - as far as I know, this is the first book on > Mac software development that covers how to evaluate and improve the > accessibility of your software in any detail. > > > Ian. There's nothing I can say to reply to this except well done for looking into this. I'd like to read your chapter on it all though but obviously i'm not your target market for the book itself. Thanks also for the link. I didn't even know that XCode had any such accessibility verification tools. What do they do, look for unlabeled controls and such? In any case, there's not much of an excuse for people to write inaccessible applications I guess. Again, thanks so much for this. Feel free to write to me at any time if you would like assistance or testing. Best -JAmes-
From: Rowland McDonnell on 23 Jan 2010 16:05
Ian Piper <ianpiper(a)mac.com> wrote: [snip] > I value accessibility in Mac software. To me it goes hand in hand with > good design for usability, and that means good design per se. Accessibility is neither more nor less than good design for usability. > There is surprisingly little published, or even publicised by Apple, > about the really excellent support for visual impairment included > within Mac OS X and in the Xcode tools. VoiceOver is absolutely > brilliant. If you've written some Mac software try running it against > VoiceOver to see how it stacks up. Then run the Accessibility Verifier > and Inspector tools. It can be really revealing to see where the > accessibility gaps are. Luckily if you're using Xcode it is also very > easy to make improvements. I worry that when people think `accessibility' they think /only/ about the blind. There are people in this world with other disabilities that need to be addressed with specific accessibility support /in addition to blind people/ - and people without any disabilities at all who need their accessibility needs addressed (because these computers need to be accessible to *everyone*). (he added, because James Jolley seems to think that because I want to see people other than the blind given some support, that I somehow don't want support given to the blind) [snip] Rowland. -- Remove the animal for email address: rowland.mcdonnell(a)dog.physics.org Sorry - the spam got to me http://www.mag-uk.org http://www.bmf.co.uk UK biker? Join MAG and the BMF and stop the Eurocrats banning biking |