[gui-talk] Important! Information on the Skype 4.1 "Screen Reader Not Detected" Problem

[Doug Lee]

I doubt this happens to very many people, but I have already noticed
that it has happened to some, and the problem is serious enough in its
effects to warrant the "Important!" subject line attention-getter.

Note that this only applies to users of Skype 4.1 beta, the one
released in May of 2009.  If you run Skype 3.8 or Skype 4.0, you
should not see the problem discussed below.

The following information may apply to you if you have ever been
running Skype 4.1 beta, released in May of 2009, and encountered any
of the following:

1. Inability to arrow through the contact list, the conversation list,
or any other Skype list control.

2.  JAWS reading huge volumes of information on arrow keys or tab,
such as most or all of one of those lists.

3. Alt+numbers and Alt+arrows in a conversation window saying "Not in
a chat window" even though you really are in one.

4. For BX users, BX saying "unknown object" for a great many portions
of Skype's interface.

Causes of the above problems include doing any of the following
things while Skype 4.1 beta is running:

1. Unloading and reloading JAWS.  (This may cause the problem but does
not always do so.)

2. Changing to a different JAWS version by unloading one and then
loading another.

3.  Running Microsoft Narrator and then closing it while Skype is
still running.

4. Playing with another screen reader and shutting it down while Skype
is running.

If you never do any of those things, you should never run into this
problem.

I have written up a detailed description of this issue, including what
to do about it if you encounter it, at my web site,

	http://www.dlee.org/skype/

The direct URL to the information page for this issue is

	http://www.dlee.org/skype/sr_not_detected.php

In summary, the above user actions can cause this Skype 4.1 beta to
lose track of the fact that a screen reader is running, which in turn
causes it to stop providing all accessibility information until it is
restarted.  Future Skype 4 releases are expected to improve
significantly on this situation.  The Skype developers and management
are aware of this problem.  It escaped notice during the testing of
the Skype 4.1 beta release because unloading and reloading a screen
reader is not a regular enough occurrence to have come to mind as a
necessary part of the testing process, either for them or for me.

-- 
Doug Lee                 dgl at dlee.org                http://www.dlee.org
SSB BART Group           doug.lee at ssbbartgroup.com   http://www.ssbbartgroup.com
"I before E, except after C, or when sounded like A, as in neighbor
and weigh, except for when weird foreign concierges seize neither
leisure nor science from the height of society."