[gui-talk] oxymoron

[Rasmussen, Lloyd]

I haven't tested this, nor do I have a way to do so.  But I suspect that Windows 8 Narrator is most likely to have implemented the on-screen keyboard.  In some ways it is still ahead of the non-Microsoft screen readers.


Lloyd Rasmussen, Senior Staff Engineer
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
Library of Congress   202-707-0535
http://www.loc.gov/nls
The preceding opinions are my own, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Library of Congress, NLS.

-----Original Message-----
From: gui-talk [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Hoffman, Allen
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2014 10:32 AM
To: Discussion of the Graphical User Interface, GUI Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] oxymoron

Any screen reader.
Windows 8 onscreen keyboard from the touch screen is not usable to my knowledge.
In the IOS world this functionality works, and the 3rd party apps would be really nice to be usable as complete alternatives to the standard onscreen keyboard, but sandboxing precludes this.  In windows the sandboxing is less complete so implementation of alternative touchscreen keyboards should be much less challenging, yet none is available as part of a screen reader or even stand alone app to my knowledge.  Why?  Maybe there is a technical issue I'm missing, or maybe people think that using the touchscreen for keyboard entry just isn't worth it?  For one who uses them in various ways I can say it sure would be nice to be able to do so for some things.



-----Original Message-----
From: gui-talk [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Steve Jacobson
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2014 10:13 AM
To: Discussion of the Graphical User Interface, GUI Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] oxymoron

Allen,

I may have missed it, but which screen reader are you trying to use.  It is my understanding that all of the mainstream screen readers work with Windows 8 using external keyboards, but not all of the touch capabilities have been implemented yet, although they will be.  I understand that NVDA and Narrator have done the most with this.  
In general, the keyboard approaches you mention for Apple are third party apps and they did not become available immediately, either, and are still evolving.  Am I missing your point?

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Fri, 2 May 2014 11:54:40 +0000, Hoffman, Allen wrote:

>Sorry if I was unclear with what I'm looking for.  Please identify 
>specific tablet/touch screen keyboard usage
directions--e.g. use the actual touch screen keyboard, not other touch gestures and external keyboards.  Pointing folks to general documentation doesn't help.


>-----Original Message-----
>From: gui-talk [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Dean 
>Martineau
>Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2014 4:00 PM
>To: 'Discussion of the Graphical User Interface, GUI Talk Mailing List'
>Subject: Re: [gui-talk] oxymoron

>Documentation for both screen readers.



>Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dean.martineau.7
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>-----Original Message-----
>From: gui-talk [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of 
>Hoffman, Allen
>Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2014 12:53 PM
>To: Discussion of the Graphical User Interface, GUI Talk Mailing List
>Subject: Re: [gui-talk] oxymoron

>This is great.  Can you Please tell me how to use onscreen keyboard on 
>a tablet using either of these products, or point us all to a document 
>that does?



>-----Original Message-----
>From: gui-talk [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Dean 
>Martineau
>Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2014 3:43 PM
>To: 'Discussion of the Graphical User Interface, GUI Talk Mailing List'
>Subject: Re: [gui-talk] oxymoron

>Both JFW and NVDA have systems for accessing the touch screen in windows 8.



>Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dean.martineau.7
>Twitter: @deantopdot
>Subscribe to the free weekly Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday at 
>http://www.flying-blind.com


>-----Original Message-----
>From: gui-talk [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of 
>Hoffman, Allen
>Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2014 12:39 PM
>To: Discussion of the Graphical User Interface, GUI Talk Mailing List
>(gui-talk at nfbnet.org)
>Subject: [gui-talk] oxymoron

>Can someone explain why on windows 8 that the touch keyboard is 
>unusable, and there is not alternative?  On IOS we continue to hear the 
>challenge of using alternative keyboards like fleksy or mbraille for 
>all apps as an option is limited because of Apple's app 
>sandboxing/isolation.  While windows 8 and 8.1 is not the wild west I 
>don't believe it is sandboxed in the same way as IOS is, so what's not 
>happening to provide fleksy or mbraille like keyboard functionality as 
>part of a screen reader?  Am I missing some piece of windows preventing 
>this?  Am I missing some part of our AT producers preventing this?  Someone please enlighten me.