Thread Subject: Re: Group A: 21(a) keyboard operation

From: Gregg Vanderheiden
Date: Fri, Oct 20 2006 9:50 AM

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Just some thoughts..


MouseKeys should NOT be relied on for most keyboard input. But some things
cannot be done from a keyboard. To capture these 508 used to say 'where the
action or output can be described in a sentence'

Many people thought that meant you needed to build voice control into
programs. So in WCAG we have changed it to

" All functionality of the content is operable through a keyboard interface
without requiring specific timings for individual keystrokes, except where
the underlying task requires analog, time-dependent input."


MouseKeys would not qualify in the first part and the exception would not
cover simple line drawing where you use rubber band like drawing. Freehand
line drawing (where the line is the same no matter how slow or quickly it is
drawn) is an interesting case. It doesn't qualify for the exception, but
keyboard based drawing would be identical to pixel by pixel MouseKeys
movement. That is MouseKeys would appear to be identical to building a
pixel by pixel freehand drawing capability into a tool.


Gregg

-- ------------------------------
Gregg C Vanderheiden Ph.D.
Professor - Ind. Engr. & BioMed Engr.
Director - Trace R & D Center
University of Wisconsin-Madison
The Player for my DSS sound file is at http://tinyurl.com/dho6b


> -----Original Message-----
> From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf
> Of Peter Korn
> Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 12:08 PM
> To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ; TEITAC Web/Software Subcommittee
> Subject: Re: [teitac-websoftware] Group A: 21(a) keyboard operation
>
> Hi Jonathan,
> > [peter korn wrote] //With that definition, then I should provide
> > keyboard access to the tool that allows me to place a
> rectangle on the
> > screen in a CAD package (and to manipulate it), but I do
> not need to
> > provide keyboard access to the tool that paints pictures on the
> > screen. //
> >
> > I believe there should be keyboard access to allow me to
> draw with a
> > pen/pencil on screen that allows me to draw in freeform a line
> > vertically, horizontally, and diagonally (not the same as a line
> > tool). The actual shape I come up with my not be discernable
> > textually but I should have the right to draw this shape if
> I'm can't
> > use the mouse. In fact many drawing programs already have keyboard
> > commands in them to help user keep straight lines, this
> concept just
> > need to be extended to actually drawing with pencil, pen,
> or even a spray can.
>
> Today all three desktop OSes (Windows, Mac, and UNIX) provide
> MouseKeys functionality that allows any user who can press a
> single key on the keypad to move the mouse. Is this
> reasonable and sufficient? Or should we actually require
> that every software application provide mouse movement
> alternatives for moving things like spray cans in painting programs?
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Peter Korn
> Accessibility Architect,
> Sun Microsystems, Inc.
>

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