2011-09-16 10:43:44

I just realize maybe i didn't ask my previous question in the correct angle.
So another (and more interesting) question to the community:

Do you have any software/website in mind that you would like to have an accessible version (because you can't use it) or a more convenient version (because it requires a lot of effort to use)?

2011-09-16 11:23:46

Lol; I won't even try to answer that question; they're just so many software I want accessified (hmm; is there even such a word as accessified)? Everytime I think of one, a dozen other programs pop up.

2011-09-16 11:31:28

Ok then, i add a little thing to my question:

Give me a list of 10 software (or type of software)/website you would like to see more accessible or easier to use.

2011-09-16 19:28:43

zeduckmaster, I recently looked in to making google maps accessible but ended up not thinking I had the time to pull it off.  Among the people I had told the idea about, they were all very excited about it.  They can currently pull up the textual information from a search, to grab a phone number or something, but they miss out on the ability to "see" the top down view to visualize where the business is in relation to their house.  For places within walking distance they would benefit from being able to actually walk there, but they would require more than a short list of driving directions.

In the event that you want to tackle this idea, here is what I was attempting to do.  The plan was to let them enter their home address (to be stored) and then enter key words to search, like Pizza.  When the search returned all nearby pizza places, they could select one/some/all and tell it to add this to their map.  The map would be a large 2D grid like the Castaways game or battleship if you've never played it.  This map would automatically scale itself to include all locations added, and would have their home in the center.  All roads would be filled in, with the assumption that sidewalks line them all, and they could literally move from tile to tile to follow a sidewalk to their destination.  I didn't work out the navigation options, but the system would need to be able to talk them through getting there, and hopefully it would all work well enough that someone could then venture out and walk to the business having never been there.

- Aprone
Please try out my games and programs:
Aprone's software

2011-09-16 19:56:56

Aprone: wow; that really sounds like an awesome idea, provided that it can be pulled off. To simplify things, so that I'm sure what you're saying, basically you enter starting coordinates (your address) and the program pulls data of a certain radius from this point. Then you build a virtual audio map, complete with info like distances and such?

You could also expand the idea I think. E.G when on a restaurant or a business, pressing the applications key brings up a menu, where additional info from google maps can be linked to e.g email, phone no., full address etc etc.

@zeduckmaster: I suppose the applications that I want to be able to be accessible would be the ones that do not talk to screen readers using the usual methods like the DOM (document object model), any sort of mirroring driver, MSAA (or its successor UIA). An example of this is the fantastic free, and open-source ebook-management application extraordinaire calibre. Unfortunately, for cross-platform compatebility, its gui is written in qt and even though qt has an accessibility framework like java, the developer didn't know how to make use of it and not being a programmer myself, I couldn't be of help. This would include mainstream games like civilizations, which is currently completely inaccessible as it does not talk to screen readers at all. I think that the likelihood of that wish coming true is pretty slim.

2011-09-16 22:07:30

Victorious that's pretty much the idea.  The problem I was having was pulling the proper data from google maps.  I couldn't get valid information about buildings and trees, only roads.  I ended up switching over to a newer map system called Ovi that helped with the other landmarks but was terrible for just about everything else.  In the end I was going to have to use data from Google maps, Bing, and Ovi in combination to try to get all of the data I needed, and I just threw up my hands and decided that it was just too much work for the amount of time I have available to work on it.  I think the idea itself is doable, I just don't have time to DO it.  If another developer was willing to get it made, I would be more than happy to hand over the idea.  I'm not big on taking credit for ideas, I just want to see the end product existing and helping people, even if that means someone else created it.

- Aprone
Please try out my games and programs:
Aprone's software

2011-09-17 09:15:03

Hm; I thought that google maps has info about buildings and trees?

Yeah; pulling data from so many sources all at once and getting them to blend into the interface seemlessly is going to be a major pain. What about doing it in stages? E.G in the first stage, just get whatever info you can about roads from maps. Next, get other landmark info from ovi and so on.