Re: [libreoffice-accessibility] configuring libreoffice for accessibility

Hi :)
Apparently the best version of java is the 6u21 version. The 20 and 22 are next best.  After 24 LO 
might run into problems unless you are using LO 3.5.0 which is still not yet officially released 
but you might be able to use the pre-release.  The 3.5.0 can use java 7 at last.

Hopefully whichever java you are using is working fine but if there are difficulties then checking 
the jave version might help

Tools - Options - Java

Regards from
Tom :)

--- On Wed, 8/2/12, Christophe Strobbe <christophe.strobbe@esat.kuleuven.be> wrote:

From: Christophe Strobbe <christophe.strobbe@esat.kuleuven.be>
Subject: Re: [libreoffice-accessibility] configuring libreoffice for accessibility
To: accessibility@global.libreoffice.org
Date: Wednesday, 8 February, 2012, 19:58

Hello Don,

Some configuration is necessary, but:
1) I don't know how easy they are to undertake with a screen reader, and
2) the benefit may not be what you expect.

My comment about the benefit of the configuration is that LibreOffice accessibility on Windows 
relies on Java Accessibility, which is not very well supported by screen readers. For better 
results, LibreOffice would need a different accessibility system called IAccessible2, but as long 
as OpenOffice.org has not integrated this, LibreOffice can't or won't integrate IAccessible2 either 
(in order to avoid duplication of the same work).

Now to the configuration:
1. First, you need Java and the Java Access Bridge, which you already have. However, if there is 
more than one Java Runtime Environment on your machine, you need to make sure that the Access 
Bridge is installed in the Runtime used by LibreOffice, or in all your Java Runtime environments. 
You can check which Runtime LibreOffice is using by going to the Options dialog (go to Tools menu, 
then Options) and navigating to the Java pane; you need to wait a few seconds while LibreOffice 
fetches the info about the available runtimes. The list of runtimes also says if the Access Bridge 
is installed in them. (If the text next to the vendor and version info says: "with accessibility 
support", then the runtime has the Access Bridge.)
2. After checking the runtimes and the Access Bridge, you need go to "Accessibility" in the Options 
dialog (it is the item above or before Java). The Accessibility pane contains a checkbox that says: 
"Support assistive technology tools (restart required)". You need to check this and restart 
LibreOffice.

However, because of the lacking support for Java Accessibility in screen readers, some people use 
IBM Lotus Symphony instead. Lotus Symphony uses IAccessible2 instead of Java Accessibility; it is 
free but not open source.
Some people have compared JAWS and NVDA for accessing LibreOffice and found NVDA somewhat better. 
You can download NVDA for free; if you use the portable version, you can even run it from a USB 
stick or your hard disk without an installation procedure (some unpacking is needed, but nothing 
more).

I hope this helps.

Best regards,

Christophe


At 19:45 8-2-2012, Don Raikes wrote:
> I ma using jaws 13.0.638 (beta), windows7 64-bit jdk 1.7.0U02 with accessbridge 2.0.2, and I 
> downloaded and installed libreoffice 3.4.5 yesterday.
>
> After the installation completed, I tried using the libreoffice calc program but jaws didn't read 
> anything in the spreadsheet. I couldn't even tell that I was in a spreadsheet.
>
> Also jaws does not seem to be reading the menus properly, nor is it reading any of the buttons in 
> the tools -> options dialog.
>
> Are there any things I need to do to configure libreoffice for accessibility?


-- Christophe Strobbe
K.U.Leuven - Dept. of Electrical Engineering - SCD
Research Group on Document Architectures
Kasteelpark Arenberg 10 bus 2442
B-3001 Leuven-Heverlee
BELGIUM
tel: +32 16 32 85 51
http://www.docarch.be/
Twitter: @RabelaisA11y
---
Open source for accessibility: results from the AEGIS project www.aegis-project.eu
---
Please don't invite me to Facebook, Quechup or other "social networks". You may have agreed to 
their "privacy policy", but I haven't.


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