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Thread: Assistive technology on terminals (thin clients)

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Number of posts in this thread: 6 (In chronological order)

From: PAUL BROWN
Date: Wed, Sep 26 2007 4:00AM
Subject: Assistive technology on terminals (thin clients)
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I know this is slightly off-topic for this list, as it's not really Web related, but I wondered if anyone knew the current state of assistive technology on thin client terminals.

I've found some references on the web that are a few years old, it seems that at the time support was non-existant, but that AT companies were awake to the need to resolve this. Have things improved at all since then?

Any pointers much appreciated,

Paul

From: Phil Teare
Date: Wed, Sep 26 2007 5:30AM
Subject: Re: Assistive technology on terminals (thin clients)
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Interest declared:

Obviously most thin clients are online. As such, Talklets (www.talklets.com)
may be of interest. It is install free if you can insert script (e.g. in a
greasemonkey type fashion). So no 700Mb voice engine and font to install.

Any questions just ask.
Phil
--
Phil Teare,
CTO & Chief Architect,
http://www.talklets.com from Textic Ltd.
(44) [0] 208 4452871

From: Alastair Campbell
Date: Wed, Sep 26 2007 8:40AM
Subject: Re: Assistive technology on terminals (thin clients)
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On 9/26/07, Phil Teare < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Obviously most thin clients are online.

I think you might have missed the mark there, I would have assumed he
was talking about Terminal Services or similar. (Citrix perhaps?)

I'm not sure how a zoom application would work? Presumably alternative
browsers just rely on being loaded on the system.

JAWS 7.1 (and I assume 8) does support TS but in addition to the JAWS
Professional it requires an upgrade:
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jawspricing.asp.

However, I've not actually talked to anyone who's actually used it, or
any other screen reader with thin clients.

Apart from that I don't know, you might have to ask the vendors...

-Alastair

From: Phil Teare
Date: Wed, Sep 26 2007 8:50AM
Subject: Re: Assistive technology on terminals (thin clients)
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oops.

I think of kiosk type situations when I hear thin client...


Are you thinking more along the lines Alistaire is asuming, Paul?

Phil


On 26/09/2007, Alastair Campbell < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
> On 9/26/07, Phil Teare < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> > Obviously most thin clients are online.
>
> I think you might have missed the mark there, I would have assumed he
> was talking about Terminal Services or similar. (Citrix perhaps?)
>
> I'm not sure how a zoom application would work? Presumably alternative
> browsers just rely on being loaded on the system.
>
> JAWS 7.1 (and I assume 8) does support TS but in addition to the JAWS
> Professional it requires an upgrade:
> http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jawspricing.asp.
>
> However, I've not actually talked to anyone who's actually used it, or
> any other screen reader with thin clients.
>
> Apart from that I don't know, you might have to ask the vendors...
>
> -Alastair
>

From: PAUL BROWN
Date: Wed, Sep 26 2007 9:30AM
Subject: Re: Assistive technology on terminals (thin clients)
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Yes, terminal services, sorry for not being clearer. No specifics yet, might be Citrix, I should find out more next week.

>From my understanding the issue is (was?) that terminal services effectively serve a screenshot to the terminal, so there's no data for AT to get hold of. I'm not sure what AT functionality is being considered, from screen reader to zoom, changing colours / contrast, etc. My knowledge of how terminals work is very limited also, all I know is the web side of things :)

Interesting to hear that JAWS does now support terminals, the older articles I'd be able to find implied that support was pretty non-existant.

Thanks for your help,

Paul

> I think you might have missed the mark there, I would have assumed he
> was talking about Terminal Services or similar. (Citrix perhaps?)
>
> I'm not sure how a zoom application would work? Presumably alternative
> browsers just rely on being loaded on the system.
>
> JAWS 7.1 (and I assume 8) does support TS but in addition to the JAWS
> Professional it requires an upgrade:
> http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jawspricing.asp.
>
> However, I've not actually talked to anyone who's actually used it, or
> any other screen reader with thin clients.
>
> Apart from that I don't know, you might have to ask the vendors...
>
> -Alastair
>

From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: Wed, Sep 26 2007 10:50AM
Subject: Re: Assistive technology on terminals (thin clients)
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Yes, both JAWS and WindowEyes can be set up to work in a Citrix
environment. A few years ago I did some research for a small nonprofit
on the issue. Additionally, some terminal emulation software is
accessible--although that tends to be for terminal environments that
are largely text-based.

If the list is still active and your focus is on visual impairment, I
would suggest checking on the blind programming list. At least, it use
to be a good way to make contact with developers with visual impairments
that worked in a fairly wide variety of environments.


Tim
>-----Original Message-----
>From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
>[mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of PAUL BROWN
>Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 10:29 AM
>To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
>Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Assistive technology on terminals (thin clients)
>
>Yes, terminal services, sorry for not being clearer. No
>specifics yet, might be Citrix, I should find out more next week.
>
>>From my understanding the issue is (was?) that terminal
>services effectively serve a screenshot to the terminal, so
>there's no data for AT to get hold of. I'm not sure what AT
>functionality is being considered, from screen reader to zoom,
>changing colours / contrast, etc. My knowledge of how
>terminals work is very limited also, all I know is the web
>side of things :)
>
>Interesting to hear that JAWS does now support terminals, the
>older articles I'd be able to find implied that support was
>pretty non-existant.
>
>Thanks for your help,
>
>Paul
>
>> I think you might have missed the mark there, I would have assumed he
> > was talking about Terminal Services or similar. (Citrix perhaps?)
> >
> > I'm not sure how a zoom application would work? Presumably
>alternative
> > browsers just rely on being loaded on the system.
> >
> > JAWS 7.1 (and I assume 8) does support TS but in addition
>to the JAWS
> > Professional it requires an upgrade:
> >
>http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jawspricing.asp.
> >
> > However, I've not actually talked to anyone who's actually
>used it, or
> > any other screen reader with thin clients.
> >
> > Apart from that I don't know, you might have to ask the vendors...
> >
> > -Alastair
> >
>