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"It doesn't take a visionary to know building accessibility into the desktop is the right thing to do for your business environment. Making accessibility a reality provides users with disabilities a higher quality computing experience. It levels the playing field for your most important commodity - your employees. "

Scott McNealy
Chairman and CEO
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
 
Table of Contents
  1. Designed with the User in Mind
  2. Features and Benefits
  3. Accessibility Highlights
  4. Accessibility Support for Developers
  5. Future Developments
  6. More Information
 
 

 
 

Designed with the User in Mind

The GNOME desktop was designed with the user in mind - it is very easy to use and customize, thereby allowing individuals to tailor the desktop to suit their specific needs. Users with physical disabilities such as poor vision, blindness, deafness, or impaired motor skills can all benefit from the GNOME desktop. GNOME is built around an architecture that allows for the easy creation of accessible solutions that break down the barriers users with disabilities often face when using computer technology.

Legislation, particularly Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act, has raised public awareness of the need to create accessible software. This Section requires the federal government to procure information technology that users with disabilities can interact with effectively. GNOME 2.0 provides a basic accessible desktop as well as services that software developers can use to more easily create new accessible solutions.

 
 

Features and Benefits

Key Features and Benefits
Feature
Benefit
GNOME 2.0 accessible desktop
GNOME 2.0 provides an accessible environment that provides advanced keyboard navigation, keyboard control, and visual theming options
Assistive technologies
We expect to provide an on-screen keyboard, screen reader, and screen magnifier in a future release of GNOME.
Integrated accessibility architecture
APIs and support libraries are provided to allow developers to quickly create accessible applications and assistive technologies.
 

 
 

Accessibility Highlights

To benefit users with disabilities, the GNOME 2.0 Desktop comes with a number of accessibility features:

  • Keyboard navigation support
  • Advanced keyboard control (AccessX)
  • Theming options for those with vision problems

In addition, accessible applications built for the Java platform will also run on GNOME 2.0 and will be able to work with assistive technologies in development for GNOME, using an innovative software adapter or bridge.

The following assistive technologies are being developed for the GNOME 2.0 desktop:

  • On-screen keyboard - Allows users with motor-related disabilities, who are unable to use a regular keyboard and mouse, to enter character input more easily
  • Screen magnifier - Enables users with low vision to enlarge the computer screen and interact with the magnified portion of the screen they are viewing
  • Screen reader - Allows users who are blind or visually impaired to access information on the computer screen through a Braille display or synthesized speech. It uses the FreeTTS text-to-speech engine.

 
 

Accessibility Support for Developers

The GNOME Accessibility Architecture, contributed by Sun Microsystems to the GNOME open source project, provides the foundation on which developers can quickly write accessible applications. The framework has been carefully integrated with the GNOME desktop to make it easier to create accessible solutions which continue to work even after software upgrades. It is also designed to be compatibly extensible to support applications and assistive technologies as they evolve.

GNOME's accessibility architecture allows for the easy integration of other assistive technologies such as speech recognition and video captioning systems. In addition, it can be extended to support more than just the GNOME and Java technology-based applications as mentioned above. For example, work is underway on making the Netscape and StarOffice applications accessible by adapting them for use with GNOME's accessibility architecture.

 
 

Future Developments

GNOME's accessibility architecture allows for the easy integration of other assistive technologies such as speech recognition and video captioning systems. In addition, it can be extended to support more than just the GNOME and Java technology-based applications as mentioned above. For example, work is underway on making the Netscape and StarOffice applications accessible by adapting them for use with GNOME's accessibility architecture.

 
 

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