Re: Support for UI Automation

Henry,

IAccessible2 is not cross-platform although the KDE people have somehow
managed to make it or something similar to it cross-platform. It is a
complement to MSAA. However, the combination of it and MSAA is very close
to Linux ATK/ATSPI. So, mapping down to it from an application from one
platform to the next is about 20% additional work. This is what Firefox 3
does and it works very well. For us the good thing is it supports WAI-ARIA
as well. Freedom Scientific worked with us on it to ensure it works well.
NVDA, Dolphin, Freedom Scientific (JAWS and Magic). So does GW Micro
although there are a few regressions in the latest version of Window-Eyes
which we have identified.

I am glad to see UIA also getting support by ATVs. What is important is
that the level of access on Windows is improving and the available API will
reduce the need for reverse engineering. What I am hoping to see is that
the UIA strategy can duplicate the performance of an AT's access to
IAccessible2 as it can run in-process as they do with MSAA. For screen
reading this has been necessary to get the performance needed out of
Windows. The performance issues are not solved by merely ratcheting up the
CPU clock speed. Operating scheduling hits for out of process access is
usually the hit. There are some ways around that such as data collection on
the provider side, as we did on Linux, but that has to be fully vetted by
ATs.

Rich

Rich Schwerdtfeger
Distinguished Engineer, SWG Accessibility Architect/Strategist
blog: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/schwer


                                                                           
             Henny Swan                                                    
             <hennys@opera.com                                             
             >                                                          To 
             Sent by:                  David Poehlman                      
             w3c-wai-ua-reques         <poehlman1@comcast.net>             
             t@w3.org                                                   cc 
                                       w3c-wai-ua@w3.org                   
                                                                   Subject 
             02/26/2009 10:26          Re: Support for UI Automation       
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Thanks David.

On 26 Feb 2009, at 11:09, David Poehlman wrote:

> on windows, you are better off to stick with msaa and hacks but this
> has more to do with software than with the web.
>
> On Feb 26, 2009, at 5:04 AM, Henny Swan wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> Another quick question for the list if I may.
>
> Does anyone know how well UI Automation is supported by screen
> readers such as Jaws, WindowEyes and others such as NVDA? As I
> understand it Iaccessible2 is sort of cross platform but not fully
> (this I am still a bit unclear on I admit) so I am curious to know
> if UIA would be a better route to go down with regards to a robust
> cross platform accessibility API.
>
> Thanks in advance, Henny
>
> --
> Henny Swan
> Web Evangelist
> Member of W3C Web Accessibility Initiative Education and Outreach
> Group
> www.opera.com/developer
>
> Personal blog: www.iheni.com
>
> Stay up to date with the Web Standards Curriculum www.opera.com/wsc
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Jonnie Appleseed
> with his
> Hands-On Technolog(eye)s
> reducing technology's disabilities
> one byte at a time
>




--
Henny Swan
Web Evangelist
Member of W3C Web Accessibility Initiative Education and Outreach Group
www.opera.com/developer

Personal blog: www.iheni.com

Stay up to date with the Web Standards Curriculum www.opera.com/wsc