Ticket #147 (reopened Enhancement)

Opened 1 year ago

Last modified 4 months ago

BSG: Add options for the visually impaired

Reported by: Ageless Assigned to: romw
Priority: Major Milestone: 6.0
Component: Manager Version:
Keywords: accessibility Cc:

Description

Using [this thread on the BOINC forums]:

"Hello there. I am totally blind and I use a text to speech synthesiser which reads out loud what is on the screen. I upgraded to the latest version of boinc just today, and I find I'm unable to use the new interface because you need to click on pictures and graphics and such in order to get to the various areas of the program. I'd really, really really really like to get the old interface back. How do I do this? I do not currently have any sighted assistance who can help me. I really wana be able to continue participating in boinc project, but I fear that boinc's interface will become more unfriendlier to blind users. Please Please help if you can."

The BOINC Simple GUI could use buttons with text on them that can be read by speech programs.

Change History

05/03/07 09:01:09 changed by Richard Haselgrove

I would change Jord's final comment to "the simple GUI must use buttons..." - or text in a tooltip - or something: for usage in the UK to comply with Disability Discrimination legislation.

I have a colleague who is totally blind, and who uses Jaws v8.0 for Windows (from http://www.freedomscientific.com/) to generate both speech and active braille to describe the display output. If it would help, I could ask him if he would be prepared to assist with testing.

05/04/07 17:18:51 changed by Ageless

From the original poster:

Hi there. I'm testing the latest boinc version released on may 3 2007, and I must say it's an improvement over the last version. I do have a few suggestions though. including an option in the system tray where you can switch views, I accidentally switched to simple view and now can't get back, I'm scared if I do a ctrl-alt-del and ending all the boinc tasks, it might ruine the current work unit I'm doing. I've heard of this happening to a few people. I'm doing the climateprediction project which means I can't afford to wreck a work unit, it's gonna take me 3 months to finish this one and I just can't afford to lose it. Also, could you please do away with the grid view and bring back the old list view interface? I found it much easier. thanks. ps: good to see the preferences options can be accessed from the advanced view as well.

06/12/07 11:34:40 changed by romw

  • status changed from new to closed.
  • resolution set to fixed.
  • milestone changed from Undetermined to 5.10.

I have modified the manager so that if it detects a screen reader it'll automatically change to the Advanced GUI list view which is accessibility enabled.

We have a work item for 6.0 to make the Simple GUI accessible.

09/07/07 16:13:08 changed by mo.v

  • status changed from closed to reopened.
  • resolution deleted.

Hello Rom

As a result of this new thread http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/forum_thread.php?id=2097 on the boinc_dev forum, I've taken the liberty of reopening this ticket.

The modification of the boinc manager to make make it compatible with accessibility programs is very welcome. Many thanks for that.

This modification will unfortunately not at present help this particular cruncher with a visual impairment because his old computer's CPU is not powerful enough to support running a screen reader and boinc manager + workunit simultaneously.

The Windows XP magnification tool, which I have tried, works with the boinc manager, but is inconvenient to use because a) the magnified view only occupies half of the screen and b) the minimum magnification it permits (level 1) is x4 which for some people is too much. So one only sees one-eighth of the BM at any time.

Many people have less than excellent eyesight but not bad enough to require a screen reader. The font size in the boinc manager is pretty small. Would it be possible to create an option to view the BM in text one or two points larger?

Thanks for your time.

Mo

09/30/07 02:11:14 changed by Didactylos

This should be covered by milestone:6.0 as Rom said. Recommend re-close. mo.v, you can open a new ticket with the milestone set appropriately, but it would be sensible to reassess the accessibility when 6.0 reaches alpha.

(follow-up: ↓ 7 ) 10/07/07 10:41:53 changed by Nicolas

  • keywords set to accessibility.
  • milestone changed from 5.10 to 6.0.

No need for a new ticket; I'll bump the milestone here.

(in reply to: ↑ 6 ) 01/27/08 05:17:17 changed by mo.v

On 26 Jan, cruncher Lightsttn1 again asked on the boinc_dev forum http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/forum_thread.php?id=1908 for there to be an option in the BOINC manager to enlarge the BM GUI text size somewhat. The version 6 milestone page linked to above by Didactylos is not detailed enough to mention this sort of detail. Are there any plans to make such an option available? I don't think it would matter if the user had to scroll horizontally a bit.

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