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Diff for How well do OpenDocument applications address the needs of people with disabilities?

Mon, 2007-02-05 16:30 by carolgeyerMon, 2007-02-05 16:28 by carolgeyer
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How well do OpenDocument applications address the needs of people with disabilities?
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How well does OpenDocument v1.1 address the needs of people with disabilities?
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While OpenDocument v1.1 includes a number of specific improvements for accessibility, it's important to note that many of the concerns around accessibility have to do with the applications that implement the OpenDocument format.&nbsp; This includes questions about the built-in features of OpenDocument applications that meet the needs of people with disabilities, and questions about how well OpenDocument applications work with specialized assistive technology applications used by people with more severe disabilities.<br /><br />To improve support for assistive technologies on the Windows platform, IBM donated an extension to Microsoft's Active Accessibility API to the Free Standards Group (Now the Linux Foundation) which was designed to provide advanced access to office applications and expose&nbsp; all the accessibility features of OpenDocument 1.1. This API, called IAccessible2, was designed with the help of Freedom Scientific and GW&nbsp; Micro during its implemenation in support of OpenDocument v1.1 in the upcoming&nbsp; Notes 8 Productivity Editors. Furthermore, IBM worked with assistive technology vendor Freedom Scientific to ensure their office suite implementation of the ODF 1.1 specification worked well with assistive technologies.<br /><br />Also on Windows, the OpenDocument applications StarOffice and OpenOffice.org already work with the ZoomText screen magnifier from Ai Squared.<br /><br />On the UNIX platform, StarOffice and OpenOffice.org already work very well with the open source UNIX assistive technologies.&nbsp; This includes the Orca screen reader/magnifier used by people who are blind or have significant visual impairments, the GNOME On-screen Keyboard which provides rich support for people with a variety of physical impairments, and Dasher, and innovative alternate text entry system used by people who can move only their head or eyes.
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OpenDocument v1.1 includes a number of specific improvements for accessibility, including:<br />
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<ul>
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<li>Alternative text for non-text objects&nbsp;<br /> </li>
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<li>Proper association of captions to captioned content </li>
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<li>Encoding of pagination information </li>
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<li>Preservation of table semantic structure imported from other file formats </li>
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<li>Proper encoding of authored table header content </li>
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<li>Author-defined logical navigation of page objects in presentations </li>
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<li>Provision of alternative text hints for hyperlinks </li>
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</ul>
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It's important to note that many of the concerns around accessibility for people with disabilities have to do with the accessibility of the applications that implement the OpenDocument format.&nbsp; This includes questions about the built-in features of OpenDocument applications that meet the needs of people with disabilities, and questions about how well OpenDocument applications work with specialized assistive technology applications used by people with more severe disabilities.
Revision of Mon, 2007-02-05 16:28:

How well does OpenDocument v1.1 address the needs of people with disabilities?

OpenDocument v1.1 includes a number of specific improvements for accessibility, including:
  • Alternative text for non-text objects 
  • Proper association of captions to captioned content
  • Encoding of pagination information
  • Preservation of table semantic structure imported from other file formats
  • Proper encoding of authored table header content
  • Author-defined logical navigation of page objects in presentations
  • Provision of alternative text hints for hyperlinks
It's important to note that many of the concerns around accessibility for people with disabilities have to do with the accessibility of the applications that implement the OpenDocument format.  This includes questions about the built-in features of OpenDocument applications that meet the needs of people with disabilities, and questions about how well OpenDocument applications work with specialized assistive technology applications used by people with more severe disabilities.
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