Bug#546830: why no default desktop item?

Joey Hess joeyh at debian.org
Wed Sep 16 17:55:01 UTC 2009


Mario Lang wrote:
> As you will notice, both methods can be done without feedback.
> The Run Dialog is easily invoked with Alt+F2, and if DISPLAY is
> set, invoking orca from the command-line makes it possible
> to review its output with some other screen reader.
> 
> However, navigating the menu to invoke Orca is extremely
> error prone if you dont have any assistive technologies loaded yet.

Indeed, I understand why the menu is not used in these cases. But I
don't think they're the only cases.

> > I do not understand why the desktop menu item has been explicitly
> > disabled.
> 
> To be honest, I dont fully understand it either, but OTOH,
> I also see no real use for having it present.

Maybe Sebastian can shed some light on this since he made the change.

> I can certainly see how the magnifier aspect of Orca would be nice
> to have in the menu for some users.  I just have to
> meet a single person once that needs Orca but doesn't have it
> configured to startup automatically.

I have older parents, who sometimes have trouble with small stuff on the
screen, especially when web browsing. They don't need orca running all
the time, but could probably benefit from a magnifier occasionally. They
might not really need it now, but it could become essential in ten
years. It's much easier for me to walk them through trying orca over the
phone if there's a menu item.

I think you made a good point at DebConf that developers should become
familiar with these assistive technologies. Making them easily 
discoverable can only help with that.

-- 
see shy jo
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