[BlindRUG] RStudio is now Posit - does this mean anything for us, was: RE: message from Gary

[Robin Williams]

Hi,

Thanks to Gary for his thoughtful contribution.

It is at least vaguely reassuring to know that accessibility at RStudio isn't a completely dead duck. Over the next week I will endeavour to have a play with the latest build. As a community, perhaps we can speed up the wheels of progress again with a concerted effort targeted at the powers that be. That may be wishful thinking, but we won't know unless we try.

From: BlindRUG <blindrug-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Jonathan Godfrey via BlindRUG
Sent: Monday, March 4, 2024 8:28 PM
To: Seo, JooYoung via BlindRUG <blindrug at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Jonathan Godfrey <A.J.Godfrey at massey.ac.nz>
Subject: [BlindRUG] message from Gary

Hi all,

Seems Gary is having trouble posting to Blind RUG. He has just sent me a message which I have snipped and clipped.

See two parts below...

<part 1 to me specifically, but now shared>


Hi. I did survive the cutbacks, but my full-time accessibility role was significantly scaled back.

Your answer is spot-on; even though RStudio is becoming somewhat accessible on a technical level, the overall UI design is such that I don't know that it will ever be pleasant or efficient to use via screen reader.

<Part 2 to everyone>

Hi, I'm the mentioned employee of Posit who is subscribed to this list.

Most of my time at work is no longer directly focused on accessibility. This is why I've been lurking. I don't want to make promises beyond what I can realistically deliver in my role.

Progress has been slow. Not zero, but slow. It's now in a place where RStudio is partially accessible to screen readers. However, usability for doing actual work via screen reader is still quite terrible (in my personal, non-scientific opinion).

I usually make some accessibility fixes in each release of the RStudio IDE, so use the most recent release (2023.12.1) to try out screen-reader support.

Be aware that a "screen reader mode" needs to be enabled for some features to work. You should get an announcement when you start RStudio with a screen reader running, telling you if the mode is off and which keyboard shortcut to use to enable it. Alt+Shift+/ on Windows. Once it's enabled, it will remain enabled for future sessions.

For reading previous output in the Console, there is a command to set focus on the output region. On Windows, the shortcut is Alt+Shift+2, or alternatively, Ctrl+backtick (grave). To navigate this region once focused, you must switch the screen reader to browse or virtual cursor mode. We've tried coding this to make that switch happen automatically, but last time I checked it wasn't working consistently. I'm aware of the accessibility features in Visual Studio Code, and certainly would love to incorporate some of their ideas.

Some significant remaining issues, with links to github, include:
*  autocomplete popups not announced by screen reader<https://github.com/rstudio/rstudio/issues/6167>
*  Console history popup not announced by screen reader<https://github.com/rstudio/rstudio/issues/6168>
*  keyboard focus not being well managed when showing different panes<https://github.com/rstudio/rstudio/issues/5652>
*  Command palette sluggish with JAWS screen reader<https://github.com/rstudio/rstudio/issues/7869>
*  a fundamentally busy and complex user interface
*  lots of quirks and bugs
This article on RStudio Screen Reader support<https://support.posit.co/hc/en-us/articles/360045612413-RStudio-Screen-Reader-Support> is still reasonably up-to-date.

Gary
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