Google+ readability

[Christopher Chaltain]

I'm not sure what else was said in this thread, since I don't see it
attached below, but the accessibility of Google Apps has improved
dramatically over the last year or so.

I have to spend quite a bit of time for my job in Google Docs, and I
typically do this in a virtual machine running Windows where I get to
Google Docs with Chrome and ChromeVox. It takes some getting used to,
but I'm finding it quite usable. I've heard that Chromium plus ChromeVox
plus Lois TTS should just work in Linux, but after getting sighted
assistance to help install everything, it didn't just work for me. I
still need to investigate this further, but Linux isn't a priority for
the Google accessibility guys right now.

I also use GoogleCL, a command line tool that runs in Ubuntu, to list
and download Google Docs, so I can use them with Libre Office.

I find I can do most everything I need to in Google Calendar now just
using Firefox and Orca.

I'm also finding now that I need to use Google Plus more and more for my
job. I can usually figure out most things, given enough time, but it
definitely isn't an enjoyable experience.

If memory serves, Google was threatened with a law suit over
accessibility and the fact that so many schools and universities were
switching to Google Apps. I think this compelled google to put more
effort into making Google Apps accessible last year. Unfortunately
though, I don't think this extended to Google Plus. There was a petition
going around a few months ago asking Google to make Google Apps more
accessible. I signed the petition and included in the comments that it
should extend to Google Plus since I see small businesses taking
advantage of what it has to offer, which is coming to pass with the
company I work for.

On 12/04/12 22:21, Kyle wrote:
> It may be a long battle to keep Google thinking of improving
> accessibility to its products, but it is indeed worth the fight. The
> battle for accessibility to any company's product is worth it, even
> though it may be long, hard and even frustrating at times. Although many
> Linux distributions have had some form of screen reading technology for
> more than 10 years, it has been only about 5 years since we have had a
> usable screen reader in GNOMW, and even less since we've had
> magnification. But look how far we've come; it's been well worth the
> time, energy and effort it has taken to make it all work as well as it
> does today, and it's still improving every day. Heck, even Windows has
> taken a giant leap forward in accessibility, with the availability of
> NVDA, and that has only happened within the past 4 years, and Windows
> accessibility is even now improving. I have had the pleasure of owning
> my first Android phone for about a month now, and it already is a giant
> leap ahead of any other phone I used in the past, and that is even
> taking into account the fact that I went with the lowest price I could
> find because of my extremely tight budget. All these OS's and platforms
> have a great need for more improvement, but it is very easy to see what
> can happen when we fight the long hard battle to gain equal access to as
> many products as possible at equal prices to what someone with fully
> functional eyes, ears, etc. would pay. Keep up the fight for
> accessibility everywhere, and keep up the great work toward making it
> work on Ubuntu and other Linux distributions.
> ~Kyle
> 


-- 
Christopher (CJ)
chaltain at gmail.com