Re: Using Google Chrome with a screen reader

On Wed, Sep 03, 2008 at 11:16:05AM +0100, Joshue O Connor wrote:
>
> Sorry for cross posting.
>
> I just tried to use a beta of Google Chrome with JAWS 9 and Window Eyes  
> on Win XP. The only output I got from JAWS 9 was tab, tab, as I moved  
> though a webpage with no ability to browse by headings, jump to form  
> fields etc. With Window Eyes there was no output at all. Does anyone  
> know if Google plan to make Chrome play nice with AT?

I don't know, but according to the details posted at
http://lwn.net/Articles/296508/ it is based on WebKit. Support for Aria and
the ATK/AT-SPI accessibility interfaces is currently being developed for
WebKit under Linux, which is the operating system that I use and know most
about with regard to accessibility.

I may be wrong, but it is my understanding that WebKit already supports
accessibility under MacOS, which should make it easier for Google to
incorporate this into Chrome. In the comments following the LWN article that I
cited, it is speculated that Google may have written their own user interface
support for WebKit under MS-Windows, instead of using the APIs developed by
Apple for this purpose. What this entails regarding support for accessibility
APIs I leave for others to judge, preferably after looking at the source code
that Google developers have released. I don't know much about Windows as I
don't use it, but my understanding from mailing list discussions is that the
accessibility APIs available in that environment are not as comprehensive or
sophisticated as, for example, ATK/AT-SPI, and so the assistive technology may
need to do more of the work in making the application accessible. There is
also a Windows-based technology, IAccessible2, developed by IBM that
apparently offers superior accessibility API support, which may provide a
better opportunity to make the software accessible without requiring as much
work from assistive technology developers.

The QT version of WebKit may also become the subject of accessibility efforts
now that accessibility APIs are being supported in QT 4. Of course, to make
Chrome accessible via such APIs, it will also be necessary to ensure proper
implementation in those parts of Google Chrome that are not based on WebKit.

Received on Wednesday, 3 September 2008 10:56:42 UTC