- From: Sailesh Panchang <sailesh.panchang@deque.com>
- Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:11:00 -0400
- To: "'W3C WAI-XTECH'" <wai-xtech@w3.org>
> often provide universal design benefit to users without disabilities. I suppose you mean universal access and not 'universal design'. Also do screen readers not get covered by the more generic "text to speech" category? >Hardware and/or software that acts as a user agent, or along with a >mainstream user agent, to provide services to meet the requirements of >users with disabilities that go beyond those offered by the mainstream >user agents. >The distinction between mainstream user agents and assistive technologies >is not absolute. Many mainstream user agents provide some features to >assist individuals with disabilities. The basic difference is that >mainstream user agents target broad and diverse audiences that usually >include people with and without ... Are all ATs listed there being labeled as user agents? That is the impression I got. I agree that screen reading software for instance is able to interpret HTML elements / attributes and render them in a manner that is amenable to an audio interface. So it can be regarded as a user agent. The talking browser HPR (which used to be available from IBM) is also a user agent. But do all other AT listed there have that ability or function? So is it correct to label all the listed ATs as user agents? Thanks, Sailesh Panchang Accessibility Services Manager (Web and Software) Deque Systems Inc. (www.deque.com) 11130 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite #140, Reston VA 20191 Phone: 703-225-0380 (ext 105) E-mail: sailesh.panchang@deque.com
Received on Monday, 30 June 2008 17:01:25 UTC