Re: issues with X Window

["Leonard R. Kasday" <kasday acm org>]

I just want to underline what Jason said, that there was a lot of work done
in Ultrasonix to make x-windows accesssible, including adding specific
features to the X windows architecture to facilitate adding accessibility.
They got to the point of demos with an x-window widget set, and an
interface that included auditory icons in addition to speech.  So I'd urge
anyone who's developing accessibility software for X-windows to check out
that work to see what you can use from it.

Len

At 07:09 PM 8/22/99 +1000, you wrote:
>Disclaimer: I have absolutely no expertise in this area; the following
>information is accurate to the best of my knowledge.
>
>The Mercator project at the Georgia Institute of Technology, which led to
>the development of what is now called UltraSonix, originally started by
>attempting to derive the information required to generate a speech-based
>interface, from monitoring the low-level protocol. This technique was
>found to be unsatisfactory, and it was concluded that vital details of the
>interface had to be gained from higher levels of the structure. The
>details are documented in the various papers which can be found at the
>Mercator web site, a link to which is provided on Brian's UltraSonix web
>page (http://henge1.henge.com/~brian/ultralin.html).
>
>If speech is to be treated as an important display medium, then it must be
>taken into account in the design of the user interface components that
>programmers include in their applications, and in the data representations
>which are employed (for example, there are important aspects of HTML 4.0
>which were motivated specifically by the desire to enhance spoken
>interaction). Some of the implications of these ideas are treated at
>length in T. V. Raman's book, Auditory User Interfaces, which I have
>recommended before and will doubtless recommend again as a groundbreaking
>work in this field.
>
>
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-------
Leonard R. Kasday, Ph.D.
Universal Design Engineer, Institute on Disabilities/UAP, and
Adjunct Professor, Electrical Engineering
Temple University

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