KDE Developers Focus on Accessibility
From: ZDNet UK - 08/25/2004
By: Ingrid Marson

The KDE Community World Summit showed the commitment of open-source
developers to building accessible software for disabled users. The upcoming
3.4 or 4 version of the KDE Linux desktop environment will support
accessibility software that currently is only compatible with the GNOME Linux
desktop. KDE developer Harald Fernengel showed off how he could use an
on-screen keyboard called GOK to work with the Qt developer tool, and also
demonstrated a Gnopernicus text-to-speech reader. Other accessibility
features KDE developers want to incorporate in the next version include
utilities that automate mouse functions, magnify portions of the display, and
read text aloud. In addition, updates to the Qt developer tool would ensure
KDE interfaces also support these enhanced functions. The summit, held in
Ludwigsburg, Germany, also featured a Unix Accessibility Forum that brought
together developers and disabled users. Representatives from GNOME, Sun
Microsystems, IBM, Novell, and the Free Standards Group (FSG) also
participated in the summit, with FSG Accessibility Workgroup leader Janina
Sajka saying that disabled users would not use open-source solutions simply
because of ideology, but rather because they offered practical advantages. In
addition to being cheaper, open-source software is more easily customizable,
she said. IBM usability and accessibility consultant Vanessa Donnelly said
her company continues to roll out free accessibility solutions, including Web
Adaptation Technology that gives users control over how Web pages are
displayed, and Home Page Reader, a screen-reader product. 

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