Re: Console-based applications
From: "Jason White" <jasonw@ariel.its.unimelb.edu.au>
In my case, I don't need any Web sites that rely on Javascript and DOM
support, so Elinks, Lynx, Emacs/W3, etc., are all just fine.
Well, obviously, that is fine. But that wasn't really the question. The
question was why would a
blind person want access to a graphical user interface. I guess the question
itself doesn't really apply to you.
Right now, it depends on what you want to do. But eventually, support for
character browsers, email programs, spreadsheets, and word processors
will
be dropped. You'll still be running your linux servers in character mode
but that's about all you'll be able to do.
I disagree with the above. Console-based applications (especially e-mail
software) are still under active development, and they'll be around for as
long as there are people who want them sufficiently to contribute to their
ongoing improvement and maintenance. That's one of the advantages of free
software.
Maybe I'm out of touch but is there now a character based browser that fully
supports javascript? It seems to me that if there is this big developer base
out there, that would be the first thing they'd fix. And even if someone did
get around to it eventually, it took a long, long time. I know, for
example, that emacs-w3 and emacs-w3m don't support javascript. That was just
mentioned on the emacspeak list today. So there is no javascript support in
the browsers for emacspeak. And the guy who wrote emacspeak works for
google.
use word processors. Instead, they write their documents in a text editor
such
as Vi or Emacs, in a format such as LaTeX or Docbook XML. Typesetting
software
is then used to prepare Postscript, or more typically these days, PDF
output
for printing; and the very same source files can be used to generate HTML
and
other formats as well.
Well, I am not willing to accept your assertion that that is typical. But
it's not really even to the point. First of all, the process you're
describing is inefficient and takes more technical knowledge than a lot of
people have. I work for the Math Department at the University of Wisconsin
and even the secretaries around here use LaTEX. But people who actually know
how to *write* LaTEX are few and far between. They all use wysiwyg editors.
I'm not saying that a lot of folks aren't fine coding every character of
their math term papers in LaTEX in vi. But a lot of people aren't okay with
that. And that is why blind linux users need access to a Gui.
Furthermore, if in your job, you've never had anyone email you a Word
document or an Excell spreadsheet, you should consider yourself lucky.
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