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BeerSmith Software Navigation Issues

cheeseman

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I am very interested in utilizing the BeerSmith software as I have been making
beer for many years. So I installed BeerSmith 2.2 today. I am visually impaired,
use screen reader software and only the keyboard for navigation on my computer.
Once I had BeerSmith installed, I had no trouble accessing the menus using the
keyboard. 

Brad recommends when getting started to use the equipment wizard.  I opened up
the equipment wizard and that's where I ran into issues.  Initially, I could not
tab between fields but when I used the keyboard to simulate a right mouse click
I could then tab between fields and enter values in each of the fields but could
not execute the Next button with the keyboard; an actual mouse clicking on the
Next button was required. 

I did not evaluate other parts of the application because I need to have it be a
more seamless experience in order for me to use BeerSmith regularly.

I have done development work on computers, but I have never created a Windows
app.  I did do some searching for accessible app guidelines. My impression is
that in order to make apps accessible a developer must insert commands to access
the Microsoft user interface which is built into Windows.  I believe that if a
developer coded their application using guidelines suggested by Microsoft that
no rewriting of code would be necessary.  These changes would also be beneficial
for anybody that wished to use their laptop keyboard versus their laptop mouse
pad. 

It may be as simple as inserting code lines like:
GetAcceleratorKey method
GetAccessibilityView method
GetAccessKey method

I found the above lines at:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/windows.ui.xaml.automation
.automationproperties.livesetting.aspx

To learn more about accessibility see:

Microsoft Windows UI Automation blog:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/winuiautomation/archive/2011/05/18/building-ui-automatio
n-client-applications-in-c-and-c.aspx

Guidelines for designing accessible apps:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh700407.aspx

For more guidelines, enter a Google search "coding standards  to make windows
accessible site:microsoft.com", and it will return:

https://www.google.com/search?num=100&site=&source=hp&q=coding+standards++to+mak
e+windows+accessible+site%3Amicrosoft.com&oq=coding+standards++to+make+windows+a
ccessible+site%3Amicrosoft.com&gs_l=hp.3...10048.41200.0.44695.67.62.0.5.5.1.224
.7356.11j46j1.58.0....0...1c.1.64.hp..36.31.4132.0.tOCpTRbcGeQ
Brad, if you are monitoring this thread, and would be interested in evaluating
the possibility of making the BeerSmith application more accessible, I am
interested and available to assist with testing and if necessary locating
resources to help with the venture.

I would very much appreciate it if we could begin by taking a module such as the
equipment wizard to see what it might take to make the wizard accessible.

 
Hi,
  Unfortunately the program is not just a windows app - it uses a cross platform library to run on Mac, PC and Linux.  So it is not quite as simple.  I'll have to do some research on how to implement this using the platform library (wxWidgets).

Brad
 
Brad,

Thank you for the response.

One thing you might do if you haven't already done so, is to call the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk.  A couple of months ago, they told me that they would provide assistance to developers with questions to accessibility.  I don't know exactly what this means, but they should have people on staff that are knowledgeable about the subject.  Their suggestions should be beneficial across platforms.

Here is the link:
Disability Answer Desk
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/answerdesk/accessibility
 
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