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AccessODF, accessibility checker for Writer files

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From: Christophe Strobbe
Date: Nov 9, 2011 4:27AM

Hi,

Yesterday, the K.U.Leuven released AccessODF, a new open-source
extension for LibreOffice Writer and OpenOffice.org Writer that helps
authors evaluate and repair accessibility issues. You can download
the extension from <http://sourceforge.net/projects/accessodf/>;. A
press release is available at
<http://accessodf.sourceforge.net/PressRelease_Extensions_20111108.odt>;
and <http://accessodf.sourceforge.net/PressRelease_Extensions_20111108.pdf>;.
The extension does not only identify accessibility issues and provide
repair suggestions (like Microsoft Office 2010) but also provides
automatic or semi-automatic repair functionality where possible. For
example, if the checker finds an empty heading or a table where rows
are allowed to break across pages, you can simply press the repair
button to fix that ("automatic repair"). If the checker finds an
image without alt text, pressing the repair button will open the
dialog where you can enter a text alternative, which saves you a few
steps ("semi-automatic repair").
AccessODF complements to other extensions: odt2daisy, which exports
Writer documents to DAISY, and odt2braille, which exports Writer
documents to a Braille format or sends them to an embosser. Both
extensions are available on SourceForge. Accessibility evaluation was
a feature frequently requested by users of odt2daisy and odt2braille.

Unfortunately, due to limitations in the APIs provided by LibreOffice
and OpenOffice.org, the AccessODF user interface is not accessible to
screen reader users and other keyboard users. (This will require
changes in the office suites.)

This is the first release of AccessODF, and I look forward to
comments and suggestions.

AccessODF was developed within the AEGIS project, an R&D project
funded by the European Commission that aims at integrating more
accessibility into mainstream software. Most of the software
developed by AEGIS is or will be available under an open-source licence.

Best regards,

Christophe


--
Christophe Strobbe
K.U.Leuven - Dept. of Electrical Engineering - SCD
Research Group on Document Architectures
Kasteelpark Arenberg 10 bus 2442
B-3001 Leuven-Heverlee
BELGIUM
tel: +32 16 32 85 51
http://www.docarch.be/
Twitter: @RabelaisA11y
---
Open source for accessibility: results from the AEGIS project
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