Re: bobby 3.0 beta accessability

As part of the second beta release of Bobby 3.0 (which will happen
within the next two weeks), we will be adding full command-line
support to Bobby so that it can be operated entirely from the 
DOS or UNIX command prompts. The command-line version offers
all the options that the GUI interface does and is included
both for expert users who wish to analyze whole sites in batch mode
and for those who prefer a text-based interface. The output
of the command-line version can be viewed with a web browser
of your choice.

We have also chosen to continue work on adding
accessibility support to the GUI itself. The accessibility
support Sun has added to Java is quite good, but unfortunately
it will probably be a while before Java-based GUIs are 
fully accessible using commonly available screen reading and
magnification technologies.

Josh Krieger
CAST 


Claus Thoegersen wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I am part of a group of people in Denmark that is working on testing
> public web sites for accessability. The test will be done by using
> the new Bobby 3.0 program. Because we have to test many different
> pages it is a good idea to use the application version of Bobby instead
> of the online version. I downloaded the new beta of version 3 Friday,
> but after having worked with it for some time I find it hard and
> maybe even impossible to use when you are also using a screen reader.
> 
> To be more specific I am using Jaws for Windows version 3.2 on
> computer running Windows98, this means obviously that I have
> installed the matching version of Bobby on the computer.
> 
> It was possible to install the program. The dialogues could be read
> and I could also move among the different choices using the tabulator
> key as you would expect to be able to. I could not however activate
> the object I was at by using the "enter" key, instead I had to use
> mouse keys to do this. When the installation was completed I tried to
> work with the program but without success. I could read the description on
> how to set the different options to perform a check of a web page, but could not find the actual
> options, neither in the program window or in the menu. Actually I
> could not access a menu, only the control menu with close,
> minimize, maximize, and restore options. I cannot find any regular
> menues but I think they are actually there. In the next week I will
> see if I can get more results with this program with sighted
> assistance.
> 
> I would find it very interesting if other screen reader users who are
> using other programs than JFW, would try to see how other screen
> reader packages can access this program.
> 
> I will send this mail to the Java access list, and also to the people
> at CAST. I hope that more can be done to make pure Java applications
> accessable for users of current assistive technology, because it
> will take some time until we have pure Java technologies available.
> 
> Claus Thøgersen
>

Received on Monday, 3 August 1998 15:45:56 UTC