[gui-talk] Seeking Guidance On MSIE8

Tue May 31 02:23:32 UTC 2011

Mike,

I have not used it yet, but what I understand has changed is that screen readers cannot get any information from IE 9 
using their off-screen models.  Generally speaking, if you can get all of the information you need from the Window-
Eyes Browse mode or JFW's Virtual Cursor, you may notice some rough edges but it is pretty accessible.  If you have 
web sites that require you to find things with the mouse or with the JAWS cursor or if you need to use those tools to 
determine the layout for some reason, things could be less predictable.  my understanding is that a sort of off-screen 
model of the web page can be built using the more elaborate information provided by UI Automation, but this is all 
pretty new.  Again, I don't think it really is fair to say that Microsoft Abandoned accessibility, but a change like this is 
going to have some bumps.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Mon, 30 May 2011 11:27:21 -0700, Mike Freeman wrote:

>Steve:

>I concur in your assessment. I just switched to IE 9 day-before-yesterday
>and, as you say, there are some rough edges (more, perhaps, for those using
>screen magnification than for those using speech) but, aside from different
>placement of some of the controls we are used to, it's still quite
>accessible. And My Lord is it fast!

>I'm not sure I'd go back to IE8 -- it's more trouble than it's worth -- but
>I might not have switched to IE 9 were it not for a bit of the "aw hell,
>let's see what happens" spirit.

>My only real stumble was that Flash and windows media Player weren't
>detected by web pages and I spent some time going round and round trying to
>figure out why, only to discover a checkbox in IE to enable/disable Actibe-X
>filtering and once I unchecked this, everything worked like clockwork and,
>as I say, lightning fast.

>In short, we ought to be wary but IMO we shouldn't raise the alarm -- at
>least not yet. We're not on the barricades but perhaps we should be
>considering how large our armies should be and who should command them.
>(grin)

>Mike

>-----Original Message-----
>From: gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of Steve Jacobson
>Sent: Monday, May 30, 2011 9:44 AM
>To: Discussion of the Graphical User Interface, GUI Talk Mailing List
>Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Seeking Guidance On MSIE8

>George,

>That has been my experience as well with Microsoft Office.  The change to
>the ribbon in Office 2007 was kind of a pain, but I didn't think going from
>2007 to 2010 was that much of a change.  While I don't like the ribbon and I
>think Microsoft should have given more thought to keyboard shortcuts, I
>can't say that it is not accessible.  IE 9 is a major change and while
>accessibility was not abandoned, there are some rough edges.  It isn't clear
>yet how the changes Microsoft is making to IE 9 and eventually to other
>software will affect accessibility.  I think it will reduce some of the
>flexibility we currently have and there are some capabilities we may loose,
>but it may also make things more stable in the long run.  In some ways,
>access technology will be more similar to what is happening in the Apple
>world.  I don't mean that keystrokes will change, more that things are going
>to tend to be accessible or not accessible with little middle ground.
>Therefore, there are things to be concerned about, but I don't think I would
>say Microsoft has exactly "abandoned" accessibility, either.  Now they
>appear to have abandoned accessible in Windows Mobile 7 for cellphones, but
>they have restricted that in other ways as well.  Time will tell what
>happens there.

>Best regards,

>Steve Jacobson

>On Mon, 30 May 2011 11:48:02 -0400, Jorge Paez wrote:

>>Not true about office--at least in my experience its been completely
>accessible.

>>On May 30, 2011, at 3:41 AM, James Pepper wrote:

>>> IT is as if microsoft has abandoned accessibility in its new 
>>> software, particularly office 2010.  It is very strange.  Dont mess 
>>> with a good thing, stay where you are!  And absolutely stay away from 
>>> IE 9, it is a disaster area for everyone!
>>> 
>>> On Sun, May 29, 2011 at 11:22 PM, Rob Tabor <rob.tabor at sbcglobal.net>
>wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Good evening all.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> I have been using MSIE7 for quite some time, even on my new-to-me 
>>>> Asus 644 bit laptop running Windows 7. However, I regularly get 
>>>> popup prompts to upgrade to MSIE-8 which I am reluctant to do as 
>>>> some have reported screen reader interface problems with JAWS, and I 
>>>> have personally experienced this problem when I last attempted it 
>>>> with JFW 9. I would like to hear any observations you might have to 
>>>> offer as to the interface between IE-8 and JAWS 12. Thanks to all in
>advance.
>>>> 
>>>> Best regards,
>>>> 
>>>> Rob Tabor & White Cane Ra#l Junior
>>>> 
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