Harry,

Man, you are going to have a heart attack if you don't relax a bit. (smile)

I read the entire post you sent, and it looks to me like they are doing
quite a bit on access.  As far as having to buy a third party screen reader,
it was we blind people who forced that particular animal.  When Microsoft
first came out with the idea of building in some screen reading function to
the OS, the blind community had a virtual fit.  Microsoft was accused of
trying to drive all the other Screen reading companies out of business and
controlling the entire market.  So, which way do we want it?

As far as the cost, I agree with you, but that is the fault of the Screen
Reading companies, not Microsoft.  I have been having a good bit of luck
with Serotek's System Access though which is only about  a third of the
price of JAWS and works just as  well for most functions.

As far as Apple's built in screen reader, it is nice, ... now.  I need to
point out though that Apple resisted doing anything on access for years and
years and has only recently seen the light.  I'm not saying that we
shouldn't use Apple or that we should criticize them, just that Microsoft
has been at least trying to work with us for a lot longer than Apple.

Bill
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Visually Impaired Computer Users' Group List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2008 11:24 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VICUG-L] time for a rant, is anyone with me here?

Hi folks,
Here's the info from Microsoft about windows 7, and it's just like vista
with no menus, and same narater.  These folks never learn.
I think it's time they be sued for no accessibility.
Why should someone have to spend $1100 for a working screen reader, and
please don't tell me about other screen readers because I've used them all.
I have used them, and I don't like any of them.
Here's the blog from Mike Burnstein (whoever he is), at microsoft.
Harry
Accessibility in Windows 7
This post is from Michael Bernstein, a development lead on the User
Interface Platform team where he focuses on accessibility. Accessibility is
the term we apply to the APIs and features that enable Windows to be used,
to be accessible, by as many people as possible so that, regardless of
physical or cognitive abilities, everyone has the ability to access the
functions of Windows. To enable this, Windows includes both built-in
accessibility utilities as well as APIs used by third party assistive
technology aids and by application developers to make sure their software is
also accessible. This is a topic that is extremely important to Microsoft
and one that is a key tenet in the engineering of Windows 7. Microsoft also
has a corporate-wide group dedicated to making sure that PCs are easier to
see, hear, and use. You can read more about Microsoft's accessibility
initiatives on http://www.microsoft.com/enable/. --Steven

Hi, I'm the development lead for Accessibility and Speech Recognition
experiences in Windows 7, and I wanted to write about how we thought about
Accessibility in Windows 7.  

We wanted to make Windows 7 the most accessible operating system that
Microsoft has ever produced.  It became clear as we planned this release,
however, that the notion of Accessibility is not as simple as it may appear.
It is tempting to think about Accessibility like Security: either you have a
known failure, or your system is believed to be secure/accessible.  This
definition turns out to be limited, though.  How do you deal with the fact
that the needs of customers who are blind are very different from the needs
of customers who are deaf?  The needs of customers who are blind are even
different from those of customers with reduced vision: a magnification tool
is useless for one group and crucial for the other. And what do we make of
cases where something is technically accessible but practically frustrating,
like a common user scenario that takes 36 keystrokes to execute?  Clearly,
Accessibility wasn't going to boil down to a simple yes/no question.  It is
really more like a particular kind of usability, but usability for a
specific set of audiences with individual needs.

Since the questions we were asking were complex, the answers ended up being
complex, too.  We chose a four-part strategy to improve Accessibility in
Windows 7.

I. Build a firm foundation with UI Automation In Windows Vista, Microsoft
delivered a new core component for Accessibility called UI Automation.  UI
Automation enables a user's assistive technology (AT) to programmatically
drive the UI of an application, and allows applications to expose their
accessible functionality in a richer way than was possible in previous
versions of Windows.  More questions can be asked about a piece of UI, and
that UI can be manipulated in richer ways.  UI Automation also introduced
the idea of Control Patterns: any given piece of UI can decide how it should
be controlled.  Buttons expose the Invoke pattern, indicating that they can
be pushed; Combo Boxes expose ExpandCollapse, indicating that they can be
opened and closed.  We let different controls be different, instead of
trying to force them all into the same mold.  All this was introduced in
Windows Vista and adoption is still ongoing.

In Windows 7, we invested in improving the performance of the UI Automation
system and created a new, native-code API for UI Automation to make sure
that it can be used effectively by a wide range of assistive technology
software.  Now applications written in C++, as well as those written using
the .NET Framework, can take advantage of UI Automation.  

We also did a bunch of work to make sure that the UI Automation system was
integrated even more closely with the legacy Microsoft Active Accessibility
(MSAA) system and developed new bridging techniques between the best of the
new and the old technologies. UI Automation Clients can read Accessibility
information from MSAA applications, and vice versa, to ensure maximum
Accessibility regardless of which accessibility API an application used
originally. Since the UI Automation and MSAA systems cooperate closely in
many scenarios, we decided to name the combination of the two, calling it
the Windows Automation API. This architecture forms the foundation for the
rest of our Accessibility effort, and we're pleased to have this
Accessibility foundation Windows 7.

II. Improve our included Accessibility utilities We also improved the
Accessibility utilities that we include in the box with Windows.  Microsoft
works closely with many different AT software companies who deliver software
to make Windows more accessible to customers with disabilities, but we also
include a set of utilities to make sure that our customers' early
experiences are accessible, even before installing any other software. We
decided to enhance two of those utilities in Windows 7: the On-Screen
Keyboard and the Magnifier.

The most noticeable change to the On-Screen Keyboard is the improved look
and feel, but there are also more subtle enhancements.  The appearance of
this utility had not changed since Windows XP; our customers were also
asking for it to be resizable.  We addressed both of these by working
closely with Tablet developers to share a common code base between the
Tablet Soft Keyboard and the On-Screen Keyboard.  Both keyboards now have an
attractive appearance that is in tune with Windows 7 and both are now
resizable.  The keyboards still are distinct, though, because customers use
them differently: Tablet users may want to switch dynamically between
handwriting and typing, whereas On-Screen Keyboard users may need modes
where they can hover or scan to keys, if they have disabilities that prevent
them from clicking.  Along these lines, we also added basic text prediction
to help customers with disabilities enter text more quickly.  If you have
ever tried typing with an on-screen keyboard, you can appreciate how
significantly text prediction can improve text entry speed.

The Magnifier came in for a deeper overhaul.  The Magnifier in Windows Vista
and Windows XP was not an intuitive experience: when you pointed at part of
the screen, the magnified content appeared in a separate window, usually
docked at top of the screen.  You had to point at one place and look at
another.  We considered two basic solutions to this problem: you could zoom
into the entire screen or you could make the magnified area follow the
pointer while leaving the rest of the screen the same.  These became our two
primary modes for the Windows 7 Magnifier: Full-screen mode and Lens mode. 

Full-screen mode is great when you want to increase the size of everything
on the screen at once.  As you move the mouse or keyboard focus around the
middle of the screen, the view stays still; if you move towards the edge,
the Magnifier scrolls the view to keep up.  One downside of this mode is
that you can lose track of your context.  To address that usability issue,
we added a context animation that zooms out to show you where your work area
is relative to the whole screen, and then zooms back in.  

Lens mode, on the other hand, is nice when you just want to zoom in on one
particular thing.  In this mode, the lens centers on the mouse pointer,
which feels much like using a magnifying glass.  You can re-size the lens to
be very wide and short, which can be nice if you are reading a document and
want to magnify it line by line.  We based our design on the popular
Microsoft IntelliPoint magnifier, a design you can now enjoy with any mouse.

We also addressed customer feedback about the Magnifier window taking up too
much space on the screen.  We moved the most commonly used controls like
zoom in/out to a small toolbar, which fades out to a semi-transparent
watermark when you aren't using it.  The remaining options are available in
an Options dialog when you need them.  Last, we gave almost everything a
keyboard shortcut, so if you really don't want to see the UI, you don't have
to use it.  Win-+ will zoom you in any time you are using Windows 7.

These tools directly improve Accessibility for customers with low vision and
dexterity disabilities. It should be obvious, but making the PC easier to
see or interact with benefits everyone and so these two examples also show
the broad appeal of AT tools - at the PDC we showed both the On-Screen
Keyboard and the Magnifier and I think it is fair to see everyone saw the
benefit of using these tools themselves, regardless of abilities.

III. Make it easier to build Accessible software Windows APIs cannot provide
Accessibility all by themselves; it is vital for Windows-based applications
to do their part in providing Accessibility data for AT programs to use.
For example, a screen reader may sound excellent, but if it can't read your
favorite web browser, what good is that?  Assistive tools like screen
readers and magnifiers are clients of the Accessibility system, while the
applications that you want to use, like web browsers and word processors,
are providers.  It takes both to make the whole experience accessible--you
need both a high-quality client and a well-written provider to have a good
Accessible experience.  There are more providers in the software ecosystem,
so it is hard for us to work one-on-one with every provider to make sure
they are well-written.

To address this challenge, our team developed the UI Accessibility Checker
(AccChecker for short) and UI Automation Verify (UIA Verify) utilities,
which can scan an application (a provider, really) and report on common
Accessibility problems.  Software developers can use AccChecker and UIA
Verify to detect problems in their provider code before a customer ever uses
it.  Quality assurance engineers can use them to verify the quality of their
firm's work.  We believe this is so important that we released AccChecker
and UIA Verify as open-source software to make it available to the widest
possible audience.  If you are not a programmer, you may never use these
utilities directly, but you may well benefit from the bugs they helped to
eliminate before they ever reached you.  

IV. Plan for Accessibility from Day 1
To make sure that Windows features themselves were good providers, we
borrowed an idea from the Software Development Lifecycle, risk assessment.
Before a line of code was written, each planned Windows 7 feature was rated
on its Accessibility risk.  Features that use more basic, off-the-shelf
common controls are usually more accessible because Windows provides
built-in providers for off-the-shelf components; features that do fancy,
custom drawing have more work to do.  This planning process made each team
aware of how much accessibility risk it was taking on, so that they could
plan appropriately.  Once the features were all rated, the list was sorted
by risk so that our team could reach out to teams with high-risk features
and make sure that they had the resources and tools they needed to make
their feature properly accessible.  We also ensured that they received more
hands-on testing and validation.  As a result, most Windows features are
more accessible than they have been in previous releases, making for a
better overall customer experience.

To wrap up, we've emphasized Accessibility in engineering Windows 7.  We've
made good progress on improving the core architecture for Accessibility and
enhancing the included tools like On-Screen Keyboard and Magnifier.  The
AccChecker and UIA Verify tools have made it much easier to validate
applications to ensure that they will be compatible with current assistive
tools as well as future tools based on the Windows Automation API.  Our
approach to Accessibility for the features and providers in Windows itself
has become more thorough, consistent and integrated, thanks to the hard work
of hundreds of engineers across the company.  We're proud of what we have
accomplished in Windows 7 and hope that it will help customers with
disabilities to realize their full potential and have a more enjoyable
experience with Windows.

--Michael

Published Sunday, November 30, 2008 12:00 AM by e7blog Filed under: Design
Comments # re: Accessibility in Windows 7 Nice post!!

We are increasingly excited

:D

Monday, December 01, 2008 1:54 AM by Domenico # re: Accessibility in Windows
7 It's great that Microsoft have been working hard to fix all of the
problems in Windows. They've made a great new operating system that's going
to make life great for all end-users. Well done!

Monday, December 01, 2008 4:35 AM by Meph # re: Accessibility in Windows 7
This I look forward to -- in  my job I work with (almost!) every blind and
low vision assistive program out there.  Having Windows 7 contain usable
basic assistive products would be a godsend for my clients who don't need
the full power of the commercial programs.  MacOS has done very well with
their magnifier, and you can use LINUX Compiz to very good effect as a full
screen option.  Kudos on not abandoning assitive tech!

Monday, December 01, 2008 9:31 AM by AssistiveTech # re: Accessibility in
Windows 7 @AssistiveTech

The maghifer of Windows 7 6801 is the BEST!!!!

 right Windows+ or Windows -  keyboard 

VERY AWESOME!!!!!

Monday, December 01, 2008 10:58 AM by Domenico # re: Accessibility in
Windows 7 There needs to be a way to make each of these items modular.

No one in my family nor myself has any need for any of the options available
for the deaf, blind or otherwise incapacitated. 

So allowing this to be a modular addition is a strong desire of the
community. 

A simple spot in the Control Panel, as well as the option during the Windows
installation itself. Something like this as you are installing Windows or as
an OEM product, when Windows is started up the first time, not some buried
"custom install" menu buried under 30 clicks: 

"Windows 7 allows for increased functionality for people with disabilities
including the deaf, blind as well as other handicaps. Do you want to install
the Accessibility Module?

1) Yes, install everything

2) Yes, install but keep it inactive for later use"

3) No, do not install" 

(but allow this to be installed at a later time from the installation media
or downloaded).

This will not only allow minimalists to keep a slimmed down Windows install
but also keep the option available in the future if the computer is sold or
something happens to the person.

***Important***

I would suggest and prefer each and every portion of Windows, including
those mentioned in these blogs such as the taskbar and everything else to be
modular, this way we can use a minimalist install on an AthlonXP or netbook
system and the full blown install on a 8 core 4GHz Intel i7 (future) CPU.

Otherwise XP support will need to continue through 2014 and linux will
continue to make gains (not like thats a bad thing as it is already
happening)...

Monday, December 01, 2008 3:53 PM by screwballl # re: Accessibility in
Windows 7 @screwballl

See here

http://channel9.msdn.com/forums/Coffeehouse/443119-windows-7--MinWin/?Commen
tID=445902

Monday, December 01, 2008 5:03 PM by Domenico # Default accesibility
keyboard shortcuts I know I'm going to be stoned to death for even just
mentioning this, but I think the default shortcuts for keyboard
accessibility aren't well thought-out.

The shortcuts I'm talking about are Sticky Key's five-times-shift, and
Filter Key's shift-for-8-seconds. Toggle Keys' num-lock-for-5-seconds is
much less likely to be invoked accidentally, likewise Mouse Keys is almost
impossible to trigger accidentally.

This could be solved by avoiding to use common keys for the shortcuts, like
I mentioned above the ones using num-lock are mostly safe from accidental
invocations. You could have a single shortcut that pops up a window with all
4 keyboard accessibility features with big toggles (both clickable and
keyboard-selectable), this way it's also easier to remember since you reduce
the number of shortcuts to one.

Just a thought.

Monday, December 01, 2008 6:53 PM by JohnCB # re: Accessibility in Windows 7
1. While speech was a major advancement, I feel Vista took large steps away
from accessibility for normal people by making it difficult to do tasks by
requiring more keystrokes and more mouseclicks than ever. At so many places
in the UI (e.g. Default Programs), there is only one way of navigation,
either the mouse or the keyboard but not both. Lots of 'tabbing' is required
if using the keyboard.

2. What features does Windows have for customers who are color-blind? The
ability to output a grayscale display would be nice. Is is technically
possible on a color monitor?

3. It would be awesome if the Windows 7 accessories were made available on
at least Windows Vista.

4. How about the ability to pin/temporarily stick the magnifier lens to the
desktop when right-clicked so it only temporarily doesn't follow the mouse?

5. A better voice than Anna, why not license a cool one from partners such
as NeoSpeech?

6. I too agree the keyboard shortcuts for sticky, filter, toggle keys need
to be changed, first thing I do when I install Windows is turn off the
shortcuts to prevent accidentally triggering accessibility features.

7. For FilterKeys, why are users limited to fixed predefined repeat rates in
seconds? Why is it not possible to type in any value for seconds?

8. Correct me if I am wrong but AFAIK, the MouseKeys feature is impossible
to use on some laptops because they don't have a numeric keypad.

9. Windows' keyboard layout viewer/IMEs should be universally
accessible/have keyboard shortcuts. MS should also update Character Map to
make inserting special character easier and update it to support the
OpenType font typography features.

10. The new onscreen keyboard seems to have lost the numeric keypad, the
ability to customize font and whether to keep it always on top.

I hope all these are addressed.

Monday, December 01, 2008 10:33 PM by someone # other thoughts Here are my
thoughts on acessibility (a "legally-blind" person talking, with a very low
vision):

- Remember the Zoom'S setting in IE according to the url and/or a setting,
if for example I want all my msdn webpages to be zoomed at 125% with a "full
page zoom" (versus text zoom) it should be zoomed automaticly each time the
browser starts and remember the type of zoom.

- Make higher-DPI available in a per-application basis. Not all legacy
aplication respond well to high-dpi, but I still love it and would like to
use it wherever I can (and as the population gets older, more and more
people will love that feature which should be made even more acessible on
each program setting). It should be possible to run a programe twice, with
low and high dpi, because some part of an application may respond well to
high-dpi and others not.

- When using high-dpi, I've encountered many pop-up error messages where I
can't read the whole error message (the end of the sentences are simply
"cut"), you could certainly do something about it in the way windows handles
api...

I really love the fact that microsoft is taking acessibility seriously.

PS: I've dicussed this in the windows 7 taskbar comments, but I thought this
might be a better place.

Monday, December 01, 2008 11:56 PM by tryon # re: Accessibility in Windows 7
I would really love to see some thought given to accessibility when in safe
mode, or while repairing/reinstalling Windows. I am a blind computer users,
and it is frustrating to either create an answer file, or get help to
repair/reinstall windows, or to just use safe mode. Perhaps some audio
support for safe mode at least? 

Thanks for any thoughts you may have alon these lines, and I appreciate what
you are doing within windows itself to make it more accessible.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008 4:56 AM by csm120 # re: Accessibility in Windows
7 Didn't have the chance to already use any Win 7 Builds so I don't know
this: Is there a Windows + Scroll Wheel option alike the Ctrl + Scroll Wheel
on OS X for the magnifier? This is really handy because you don't have to
move your hand away of the mouse to use the magnifier shortcuts on the
keyboard.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008 10:13 AM by GRiNSER # re: Accessibility in
Windows 7 @csm120> It would be nice to have some high-dpi or audio support
when booting into safe mode indeed. 

The problem is when you're pressing F8 and choosing in which mode to start,
it is the motherboard constructor who manage that, my friend has a
motherboard that talks to him through the whole boot process or when error
popup, that's really great even for me because I can check other thing
without having to wait on the screen for the next "message/error"

@GRiNSER> As far as I can see there is no such thing, that is a really
important feature that is missing. Maybe there is some obscure shortcut but
it isn't showed in the properties menu, which should be easily visible and
customizable. 

All the acessibility option should be available as custom shortcut as I
don't want them "on" all the time and I hate the navigation in the new start
menu, it's simply aweful (can't find the old one, which is way less "click",
it works with hover only).

Tuesday, December 02, 2008 12:58 PM by tryon # re: Accessibility in Windows
7 This looks even better and better!

One of the functions that I am excited about, is the speech recognition
program. But the minus with this function is that it is with Windows ass
default, and therefore, it uses a lot of diskspace. When you install
Windows, you should have been asked if you want to install some of these
functions. 

But in the future, I can see us wring on a "paper" that is connected to the
PC, and the PC recognize the letters we are writing on the paper. A familiar
function is in the Windows 7 build 6801. If I had a touchscreen, I had used
this function a lot, like when i write an essay. 

But you guys in Redmond are doing a great progress on Windows 7, and keep
doing it! But, please do not go in the same trap as you did with Windows
Longhorn that the half OS was too complex, and the release date where placed
many years after the release date you tough the Longhorn platform was
finished.

Keep up the good work!

Martin

Tuesday, December 02, 2008 4:54 PM by martinmine # re: Accessibility in
Windows 7 There's the usual conflict of priorities to ponder with the
shortcuts - whether to make them memorable/easy to guess or make them easy
to use. I can't press Winkey-+ with one hand and I'd like it to be a
one-hand shortcut. But nothing is ever going to be as discoverable and
memorable as Winkey-+ for zooming in. 

I'm thinking the next rainy afternoon I get bored, I shall try cycling
through the Winkey and the rest of the keyboard, because I only know 9
Winkey shortcuts (+,-,E,R,P,S,D,F,L) and I bet there's a few more...

Tuesday, December 02, 2008 7:30 PM by marypcb # re: Accessibility in Windows
7 I just am so excited about what has be and will be the most progressive
and user friendly OS that is on the Market!

Thanks for all the hard work.

I discovered these features to be just great, I use when without reading
glasses, I also really have to give the thumbs up to the font/display tuning
for ease of use for older user such as my self!

Tuesday, December 02, 2008 8:51 PM by locolorenzo # re: Accessibility in
Windows 7 Can you make the 5 key of the numeric keypad (which currently sort
of simulates a left mouse click) behave exactly like the left mouse click
like the button we have on laptops? For example, it is currently not
possible to drag or hold the 5 key down and simulate a drag or hold. Also,
there is no real key for right click (though most keyboards have a context
menu key however that really brings up the context menu where the keyboard
focus indicator is, not where the mouse pointer/cursor is).

Thursday, December 04, 2008 5:07 AM by anonymuos # re: Accessibility in
Windows 7 PS.

Windows 7 Beta is coming for Developer !!!

http://www.msdndevcon.com/Pages/start.aspx

WOOOWW!!

OPS!! Im Not Developers :(

Thursday, December 04, 2008 6:16 AM by Domenico Anonymous comments are
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