# Guia de accessibilidade para desenvolvedores GNOME

O guia de accessibilidade do GNOME é para desenvolvedores que queiram assegurar que seus esforços de programação sejam acessíveis à maior audiência possível de usuários. Esse guia também cobre muitos requerimentos da Seção 508.

2008 Vincent Alexander
2001, 2002 Calum Benson, Brian Cameron, Bill Haneman, Padraig O'Briain, Sharon Snider
2011 Tatiana Wells
Projeto de Documentação do GNOME

Permissão é dada à cópia, distribuição e/ou modificação deste documento sob os termos da Licença de Documentação Livre GNU (GFDL), Versão 1.1 ou uma versão posterior publicada pela Fundação do Software Livre sem Seções Invariantes, sem textos de capa, e sem textos de fundo. Você pode achar uma cópia da GFDL aqui ou no arquivo COPYING-DOCS distribuido neste manual.

Esse manual é parte de uma coleção de manuais GNOME distribuídos sob GFDL. Caso você queira distribuir este manual separado da coleção, você pode fazê-lo adicionando a cópia da licença ao manual, como descrito na Seção 6 da licença.

Muitos dos nomes usados por companhias para distinguir seus produtos e serviços são chamados de marcas. Aonde esses nomes aparecem em qualquer documentação GNOME, e os membros do Projeto de Documentação do GNOME estão cientes destas marcas, então os nomes aparecem em letras ou iniciais maiúsculas.

O DOCUMENTO E VERSÕES MODIFICADAS DO DOCUMENTO SÃO FORNECIDOS SOB OS TERMOS DA GNU FREE DOCUMENTATION LICENSE COM O ENTENDIMENTO ADICIONAL DE QUE:

1. O DOCUMENTO É FORNECIDO NA BASE \"COMO ESTÁ\", SEM GARANTIAS DE QUALQUER TIPO, TANTO EXPRESSA OU IMPLÍCITA, INCLUINDO, MAS NÃO LIMITADO A, GARANTIAS DE QUE O DOCUMENTO OU VERSÃO MODIFICADA DO DOCUMENTO SEJA COMERCIALIZÁVEL, LIVRE DE DEFEITOS, PRÓPRIO PARA UM PROPÓSITO ESPECÍFICO OU SEM INFRAÇÕES. TODO O RISCO A RESPEITO DA QUALIDADE, EXATIDÃO, E DESEMPENHO DO DOCUMENTO OU VERSÕES MODIFICADAS DO DOCUMENTO É DE SUA RESPONSABILIDADE. SE ALGUM DOCUMENTO OU VERSÃO MODIFICADA SE PROVAR DEFEITUOSO EM QUALQUER ASPECTO, VOCÊ (NÃO O ESCRITOR INICIAL, AUTOR OU QUALQUER CONTRIBUIDOR) ASSUME O CUSTO DE QUALQUER SERVIÇO NECESSÁRIO, REPARO OU CORREÇÃO. ESSA RENÚNCIA DE GARANTIAS CONSTITUI UMA PARTE ESSENCIAL DESTA LICENÇA. NENHUM USO DESTE DOCUMENTO OU VERSÃO MODIFICADA DESTE DOCUMENTO É AUTORIZADO SE NÃO FOR SOB ESSA RENÚNCIA; E

2. SOB NENHUMA CIRCUNSTÂNCIA E SOB NENHUMA TEORIA LEGAL, TANTO EM DANO (INCLUINDO NEGLIGÊNCIA), CONTRATO, OU OUTROS, DEVEM O AUTOR, ESCRITOR INICIAL, QUALQUER CONTRIBUIDOR, OU QUALQUER DISTRIBUIDOR DO DOCUMENTO OU VERSÃO MODIFICADA DO DOCUMENTO, OU QUALQUER FORNECEDOR DE ALGUMA DESSAS PARTES, SER CONSIDERADOS RESPONSÁVEIS A QUALQUER PESSOA POR QUALQUER DANO, SEJA DIRETO, INDIRETO, ESPECIAL, ACIDENTAL OU CONSEQUENCIAL DE QUALQUER INDIVÍDUO, INCLUINDO, MAS NÃO LIMITADO A, DANOS POR PERDA DE BOA VONTADE, TRABALHO PARADO, FALHA OU MAU FUNCIONAMENTO DO COMPUTADOR, OU QUALQUER E TODOS OS OUTROS DANOS OU PERDAS RESULTANTES OU RELACIONADOS AO USO DO DOCUMENTO E VERSÕES MODIFICADAS, MESMO QUE TAL PARTE TENHA SIDO INFORMADA DA POSSIBILIDADE DE TAIS DANOS.

Vincent Alexander
Projeto de Documentação do GNOME
Calum Benson
Projeto de Documentação do GNOME
Brian Cameron
Projeto de Documentação do GNOME
Bill Haneman
Projeto de Documentação do GNOME
Padraig O'Briain
Projeto de Documentação do GNOME
Sharon Snider
Projeto de Documentação do GNOME
Guia GNOME de acessibilidade para desenvolvedores V2.24.0
Setembro de 2008

Projeto de Documentação do GNOME

Projeto de Documentação do GNOME

Guia GNOME de acessibilidade para desenvolvedores V2.24.0
Setembro de 2008

Projeto de Documentação do GNOME

Projeto de Documentação do GNOME

Esse manual descreve a versão 2.24 do Ambiente de Trabalho GNOME.

Feedback

Para reportar um erro ou fazer uma sugestão em relação ao Ambiente de Trabalho GNOME ou este manual, siga as direções em Página de Feedback do GNOME.

## O que é Acessibilidade?

Acessibilidade significa ajudar pessoas com deficiências a participar em atividades substanciais da vida. Isso inclui trabalho, e o uso de serviços, produtos e informação. GNOME inclui bibliotecas e uma infraestrutura de apoio que permitem que pessoas com deficiências utilizem todas as funcionalidades do ambiente de usuário GNOME.

In conjunction with assistive technologies if necessary - voice interfaces, screen readers, alternate input devices, and so on - people with permanent or temporary disabilities can therefore use the GNOME desktop and applications. Assistive technologies are also useful for people using computers outside their home or office. For example, if you're stuck in traffic, you might use voice input and output to check your email.

Assistive technologies receive information from applications via the Accessibility Toolkit (ATK) API, which you can find in the atk module in the GNOME repositories. Because support for the accessibility API is built into the GNOME widgets, your GNOME program should function reasonably well with assistive technologies with no extra work on your part. For example, assistive technologies can automatically read the widget labels that you would normally set in your program anyway (e.g. with GTK function calls such as `gtk_label_set_text()` or `gtk_button_new_with_label()`). They can also find out if there is any tooltip text associated with a widget, and use that to describe the widget to the user.

With a little extra effort, however, you can make your program function even more smoothly with assistive technologies. Besides helping individual users, this will also make your product more attractive to government and education markets, many of which now require their applications to be accessible by law.

### Types of Disability

In the US alone, there are an estimated 30,000,000 people whose ability to use computers may be compromised by inaccessible design. Globally, around 8% of the people who use the worldwide web have some sort of disability. Disabilities fall into one of these categories:

- Visual Impairments - these can range from low-vision (including dim or hazy vision, extreme far- or near-sightedness, color-blindness, and tunnel vision, amongst others) to complete blindness. Poor choice of text size and color, and tasks that involve good hand-eye coordination (such as moving the mouse) can cause problems for these users.

- Movement Impairments - users with poor muscle control or weaknesses can find it hard to use a standard keyboard or mouse. For example, they may be unable to hold down two keys simultaneously, or they may be more likely to strike keys accidentally.

- Hearing Impairments - these can range from being able to hear some sounds but not distinguish spoken words, to profound deafness. Applications that convey important information by sound alone will cause problems for these users.

- Cognitive and Language Impairments - these can range from dyslexia to difficulties remembering things, solving problems or comprehending and using spoken or written language. Complex or inconsistent displays, or poor choice of words can make using computers difficult for these users.

- Seizure disorders - certain light or sound patterns can cause epileptic seizures in some susceptible users.

### How Accessibility Works in GNOME

The Accessibility Toolkit (ATK) describes a set of interfaces that need to be implemented by GUI components to make them accessible. The interfaces are toolkit-independent - implementations could be written for any widget set, such as GTK, Motif or Qt.

The implementation for the GTK widgets is in a module called GAIL (GNOME Accessbility Implementation Library), which is dynamically loadable at runtime by a GTK application. Once loaded, those parts of your application that use standard GTK widgets will have a basic level of accessibility, without you having to modify your application at all. If GAIL is not loaded, GTK widgets will have a default accessibility implementation that essentially returns no information, though it nominally conforms to the ATK API. Applications which use Bonobo controls, particularly out-of-process ones, also load accessibility support code from module libgail-gnome. Whether or not applications on the GNOME desktop automatically load these accessibility support libraries depends on the value of a gconf key, "/desktop/gnome/interface/accessibility"; a boolean value of "true" enables support for assistive technologies and applications which call gnome_program_init will automatically load the appropriate accessibility libraries at runtime. "Pure GTK+ applications", e.g. those that use gtk+ but do not link to libgnome, rely on the value of the GTK_MODULES environment variable, which must be set to "gail:atk-bridge" in order to enable assistive technology support.

Most assistive technologies running on other desktops have historically found it necessary to maintain a complex off-screen model of the desktop applications, based on snooping of OS events, use of unsupported OS and application features and API, and other highly non-portable techniques. This has made assistive technology support somewhat "brittle" and highly OS- and application-specific, even application-version specific. In contrast, on the GNOME Desktop, all the information required by the ATs is provided by the running applications, via the GNOME Accessibility Framework, to a toolkit-independent Service Provider Interface (SPI). The SPI provides a means for UNIX-based ATs, such as screen readers and screen magnifiers, to obtain accessibility information from running applications via a consistent, stable API, and can eliminate the need for an off-screen model in many cases. Accessibility support for applications is "built in" to application toolkits via toolkit-appropriate APIs (for instance, ATK for most native C applications and the Java Accessibility API for Java apps), and exported to the common "AT-SPI" interface via the relevant "bridge" (see diagram below).

GNOME Accessibility Architecture

Diagram of GNOME's accessibility architecture

O suporte de acessibilidade embutida do GNOME significa que os aplicativos criados usando os componentes pré-definidos GNOME recebem suporte para tecnologias assistivas "gratuitas", contanto que os componentes não sejam usados de formas não-usuais que possam entrar em conflito com o apoio embutido.

A gtk+/GNOME widget is accessible if its use follows the general accessibility guidelines elsewhere in this document, and it implements the ATK interfaces appropriate to its role in the user interface. ATK implementations are provided for the "stock" GNOME toolkit widgets (i.e. non-deprecated gtk+ and GNOME widgets), and in many cases new widgets which derive trivially from existing GTK+ or GNOME widgets will also inherit suitable accessibility support.

Though GNOME's built-in accessibility support provides significant functionality without any accessibility-specific code changes on the part of the application, applications can often improve on the default descriptions provided for some of the widgets, and tailor them to that widget's specific purpose in your application, via straightforward calls to ATK methods in the application. For instance, in most cases applications should add or change the textual descriptions for these widgets with the appropriate ATK function call, so that an assisitive technology can describe their purpose or state to the user. See Coding Guidelines for Supporting Accessibility for more information.

If your application uses custom widgets, you may have to do some work to expose those widgets' properties to assistive technologies. See Making Custom Components Accessible and Examples that Use the Accessibility API for more information.

For additional, in-depth information regarding GTK/GTK+, see the GTK+ Reference Manual, the GTK section of the ATK Guide, the GNOME-hosted GTK+ 2.0 Tutorial and the official GTK+ FAQ.

### Developer Quick Start

Here are some common starting points:

#### How do I check to see if my application is accessible or not?

To start right in, see Making a GNOME Application Accessible - Overview. For a pre-codng perspective, see User Interface Guidelines for Supporting Accessibility or Coding Guidelines for Supporting Accessibility. For a checklist of post-design test items, see User Interface Checklist.

#### What are the common pitfalls?

The User Interface Checklist covers all the areas that sometimes get overlooked in the design stage.

#### How do I do common ATK things?

An abbreviated listing of common ATK calls can be found here.

#### How do I do more complex ATK things?

See Making Custom Components Accessible and Examples that Use the Accessibility API for more information.

#### Introducing ATK, AT-SPI, GAIL and GTK+

GNOME Accessibility Architecture

ATK is the toolkit that GNOME uses to enable accessibility for users needing extra support to make the most of their computers. ATK is used by tools such as screen readers, magnifiers, and input devices to permit a rich interaction with the desktop through alternative means. See the ATK SourceForge Project and the ATK Library for more information.

AT-SPI is the primary service interface by which assistive technologies query and receive notifications from running applications. The full API can be explored here. Additional material is available from the KDE Accessibility Development Community.

GAIL (GNOME Accessibility Implementation Library) is an implementation of the accessibility interfaces defined by ATK. GTK is a toolkit which is already mapped to ATK by the GAIL module. License, download and other information can be found here. The GAIL source code also serves as an excellent tutorial for advanced ATK usage. In addition, you may be interested in the GAIL Reference Manual.

GTK+ is a library for creating graphical user interfaces. It works on many UNIX-like platforms, Windows, and on framebuffer devices. GTK+ is released under the GNU Library General Public License (GNU LGPL), which allows for flexible licensing of client applications. GTK+ has a C-based object-oriented architecture that allows for maximum flexibility. Bindings for other languages have been written, including C++, Objective-C, Guile/Scheme, Perl, Python, TOM, Ada95, Free Pascal, and Eiffel.

For additional, in-depth information regarding GTK/GTK+, see the GTK+ Reference Manual, the GTK section of the ATK Guide, the GNOME-hosted GTK+ 2.0 Tutorial and the official GTK+ FAQ.

### Making a GNOME Application Accessible - Overview

If your application only uses standard GTK widgets, you will probably have to do little or nothing to make your application (reasonably) accessible. But do watch out for objects in your GUI that don't have a textual description associated with them, such as graphical buttons or status indicators that don't have labels or tooltips.

You can probably also improve on the default descriptions provided for some of the widgets, and tailor them to that widget's specific purpose in your application. You should add or change the textual descriptions for these widgets with the appropriate ATK function call, so that an assisitive technology can describe their purpose or state to the user. See Coding Guidelines for Supporting Accessibility for more information.

If your application uses custom widgets, you may have to do some work to expose those widgets' properties to assistive technologies. See Making Custom Components Accessible and Examples that Use the Accessibility API for more information. Additional detailed information can be found in Marc Mulcahy's 2002 GUADEC presentation, "Making GNOME Applications Accessible".

### Coding Guidelines for Supporting Accessibility

Here are some things you can do in your code to make your program work as well as possible with assistive technologies. (You can find a list of things to consider when designing your GUI in the User Interface Guidelines for Supporting Accessibility section later in this document):

- For components that don't display a short string (such as a graphical button), specify a name for it with `atk_object_set_name()`. You might want to do this for image-only buttons, panels that provide logical groupings, text areas, and so on.

- If you can't provide a tooltip for a component, use `atk_object_set_description()` instead to provide a description that assistive technologies can give the user. For example, to provide an accessible description for a Close button:

  Providing an accessible description for a GtkButton

      {
        AtkObject *obj;
        obj = gtk_widget_get_accessible(button);
        atk_object_set_description(obj,_("Closes the window"));
      }

- Use `atk_image_set_description()` to provide a text description for all images and icons in your program.

- If several components form a logical group, try to put them in one container.

- Whenever you have a label that describes another component, use `atk_relation_set_add_relation()` so that assistive technologies can find the component with which the label is associated. (If you associate the label with the component using `gtk_label_set_mnemonic_widget()`, the `ATK_RELATION_LABEL_FOR` relation is generated automatically, so the following code would not be necessary):

  Relating a GtkLabel to a GtkWidget

      {
        GtkWidget *widget;
        GtkLabel *label;

        AtkObject *atk_widget, *atk_label;
        AtkRelationSet *relation_set;
        AtkRelation *relation;
        AtkObject *targets[1];

        atk_widget = gtk_widget_get_accessible(widget);
        atk_label = gtk_widget_get_accessible (GTK_WIDGET(label));

        relation_set = atk_object_ref_relation_set (atk_label);
        targets[0] = atk_widget;

        relation = atk_relation_new(targets,1, ATK_RELATION_LABEL_FOR);
        atk_relation_set_add(relation_set,relation);
        g_object_unref(G_OBJECT(relation));
      }

- If you create a custom widget, make sure it supports accessibility. Custom components that are descendants of other GTK widgets should override inherited accessibility information as necessary. For more information, see Making Custom Components Accessible.

- Don't break what you get for free! If your GUI has an inaccessible container, any components inside that container may become inaccessible.

### The Accessibility API

Here are a few of the basic API calls you may need to use in your application to ensure it works well with assistive technologies. The full accessibility API is extensive, to allow you to write your own accessible custom widgets, for example.

Commonly used ATK API calls

API | Description
--- | ---
`AtkObject* gtk_widget_get_accessible (GtkWidget*)` | Returns the accessible object that describes the specified GTK widget to an assistive technology.
`void atk_object_set_name (AtkObject*, const gchar*)` | Sets the name of the accessible object. For example, if the object is a graphical button that quits the application when pressed, the name might be "Quit".
`void atk_object_set_description (AtkObject*, const gchar*)` | Sets the textual description of the accessible object. For example, if the object is a graphical "Close" button, the description might be "Closes the window".
`AtkRelation* atk_relation_new (AtkObject**, gint, AtkRelationType)` | Creates a new relation between the specified key and the specified list of target objects. A relationship normally indicates to the assistive technology that one widget is somehow related to another. For example, that a particular GtkLabel widget is the caption for a GtkTreeView in the same window.
`void atk_image_set_description (AtkImage*, const gchar*)` | Sets the textual description of the accessible image object. For example, if the object is a thumbnail of a virtual desktop in a panel applet, the description might be "Image showing window arrangement on desktop 1".

### Examples that Use the Accessibility API

As noted earlier, you should have little or no work to do to make your application accessible if you use the GTK widget set, or any other widget library that implements the ATK interfaces. The two most common things you may have to do in this case are:

- provide descriptions of some controls and images using `atk_object_set_description()` or `atk_image_set_description():`

  Setting the accessible description for a button

      {
         AtkObject *obj;
         obj = gtk_widget_get_accessible(button);
         atk_object_set_description(obj,_("Opens Preferences dialog"));
      }

- Specify relationships between any unusual groupings of widgets using `atk_relation_new()` and `atk_relation_set_add()`:

  Specifying accessible relationship between two controls

      {
        GtkWidget *widget;
        GtkLabel *label;

        AtkObject *atk_widget, *atk_label;
        AtkRelationSet *relation_set;
        AtkRelation *relation;
        AtkObject *targets[1];

        atk_widget = gtk_widget_get_accessible (widget);
        atk_label = gtk_widget_get_accessible (GTK_WIDGET(label));

        relation_set = atk_object_ref_relation_set (atk_label);
        targets[0] = atk_widget;

        relation = atk_relation_new(targets,1, ATK_RELATION_LABEL_FOR);
        atk_relation_set_add(relation_set,relation);
        g_object_unref(G_OBJECT(relation));
      }

The examples in the rest of this section are mostly to give you a flavor of the scope of the ATK. They cover techniques that you may never need to use as an application developer, although they may be of interest if you are writing your own custom widgets (see Making Custom Components Accessible) or if you want to write an assistive technology application. Whatever the purpose, the GAIL source code serves as an excellent tutorial for advanced ATK usage.

#### Gtk Modules

Programs that make use of GAIL (the accessibility implementation library for GTK widgets) are written as GTK modules. GTK modules are loaded into the program space if the `GTK_MODULES` environment variable specifies the module library name(s). If there are multiple module libraries, separate them with colons. For example:

`setenv GTK_MODULES "libgail:libtestprops"`

All GTK modules have a `gtk_module_init()` function.

#### Gathering accessibility information from an application

A program that wishes to make use of ATK calls would likely need to do one (or more) of the following things:

1. Create an event watcher, for example with the `atk_add_focus_tracker()` function:

       atk_add_focus_tracker (_my_focus_tracker);

   where `_my_focus_tracker()` is a function with this prototype:

       void _my_focus_tracker (AtkObject *aobject);

2. Set up a global event listener, with atk_add_global_event_listener():

       mouse_watcher_focus_id =   atk_add_global_event_listener(_my_global_listener,"Gtk:GtkWidget:enter_notify_event");

   where `_my_global_listener` has the prototype of a Glib GSignalEmissionHook. This example would cause the `_my_global_listener()` to be called whenever an enter_notify_even signal occurs on a GtkWidget object.

3. Access the ATK top-level object with the following function call.

       AtkObject *root_obj = atk_get_root();

   This returns an AtkObject which contains all toplevel windows in the currently running program. The user could then navigate through the object heirarchy by accessing the root object's children, which corresponds to the toplevel windows.

#### Querying an AtkObject's Interfaces

Having located the AtkObject associated with an object in the application (e.g. by using `gtk_widget_get_accessible()`), you can find out what interfaces it implements in various ways:

1. Use the supplied `ATK_IS_...` macros, for example:

   - `ATK_IS_ACTION(atkobj)`

   - `ATK_IS_COMPONENT(atkobj)`

   - etc. (there is one for each interface)

   If the macro returns `TRUE`, the interface calls can safely be made on that ATK object.

2. Test the role of the AtkObject by calling `atk_object_get_role()`. Any given role implements a specific number of ATK APIs.

#### Setting up an ATK Signal Handler

Using the `column_inserted` signal as an example:

    table_column_inserted_id = g_signal_connect_closure_by_id(my_atk_obj,
    g_signal_lookup("column_inserted", G_OBJECT_TYPE(my_atk_obj)),0,g_cclosure_new(G_CALLBACK (_my_table_column_inserted_func),NULL,NULL), FALSE);

This will cause `_my_table_column_inserted_func()` to be called whenever a column_inserted signal is emitted on the AtkObject `my_atk_object`.

Connecting to a signal is slightly different if the signal supports detail. The `children_changed` signal supports the add detail. To connect to a signal when the add detail is also specified, this technique is used:

    child_added_id = g_signal_connect_closure (my_atk_obj,"children_changed::add",   g_cclosure_new (G_CALLBACK(_my_children_changed_func),NULL,NULL),FALSE);

This will cause `_my_children_changed_func()` to be called whenever a `children_changed` signal with the add detail is emitted on the AtkObject `my_atk_obj`.

#### Implementing an ATK Object

You will need to implement your own ATK objects for any widgets that do not already have an accessible implementation in GAIL (or the equivalent library for other widget sets). This should be implemented as a GTK module, which, as before, should be included in the `GTK_MODULES` environment variable so it is loaded at runtime.

##### Registry

For this example we will assume there is an object called GTK_TYPE_MYTYPE. The ATK implementation will be called MYATKIMP_TYPE_MYTYPE. A factory will be needed which will be called MYATKIMP_TYPE_MYTYPE_FACTORY.

To register an ATK implementation of a GTK object, these steps must be followed in the module's `gtk_module_init()` function:

1. Access the default registry:

       default_registry = atk_get_default_registry();

2. Register the ATK object in the `gtk_module_init()` function of this module by making this function call:

       atk_registry_set_factory_type (default_registry, GTK_TYPE_MYTYPE, MYATKIMP_TYPE_MYTYPE_FACTORY);

This will register the AtkObject implementation of GTK_TYPE_MYTYPE to MYATKIMP_TYPE_MYTYPE_FACTORY. This factory will be implemented so that it knows how to build objects of type MYATKIMP_TYPE_MYTYPE.

##### Factory

The factory must be implemented as a child of class type ATK_TYPE_OBJECT_FACTORY and must implement the function `create_accessible()`. This function must create an appropriate AtkObject. A factory can be used to create more than one type of object, in which case its `create_accessible()` function will need to be smart enough to build and return the correct AtkObject.

##### ATK Implemetation for a Specific Object

All GObjects implement a `get_type()` function. Using the above example the naming convention for this function name would be `myatkimp_mytype_get_type()`.

In this function, you specify which interfaces your object implements. If the following logic were included in this `get_type()` function, this object would implement the ATK_TEXT interface:

Sample `get_type()` function

    static const GInterfaceInfo atk_text_info =
    {
       (GInterfaceInitFunc) atk_text_interface_init,
       (GInterfaceFinalizeFunc) NULL,
       NULL
    };

    g_type_add_interface_static (type, ATK_TYPE_TEXT,
                                 &atk_text_info);

The function `atk_text_interface_init()`, which has the following prototype, would need to be implemented:

    void atk_text_interface_init (AtkTextIface *iface);

This function would connect the interface function calls to the specific implementation as follows:

Connecting custom interface calls to an AtkObject implementation

    void
    atk_text_interface_init (AtkTextIface *iface)
    {
       g_return_if_fail (iface != NULL);
       iface->get_text = myatkimp_mytype_get_text;
       iface->get_character_at_offset = myatkimp_mytype_get_character_at_offset;
       ...
    }

Then the functions `myatkimp_mytype_get_text()`, `myatkimp_mytype_get_character_at_offset()`, and the rest of the ATK_TEXT interface functions would need to be implemented.

##### AtkObject Implementation

AtkObjects are GObjects, and all GObjects need to specify the `get_type()` function. Here is an example that sets up a class and instance initializer. This `get_type()` function also specifies that the object implements ATK_TEXT and specifies the parent object to be MYATKIMP_MYPARENTTYPE.

Sample `get_type()` implementation

    GType
    myatkimp_mytype_get_type (void)
    {
       static GType type = 0;

       if (!type)
       {
          static const GTypeInfo tinfo =
          {
             sizeof (GailLabelClass),
             (GBaseInitFunc) NULL,                              /* base init */
             (GBaseFinalizeFunc) NULL,                          /* base finalize */
             (GClassInitFunc) myatkimp_mytype_class_init,       /* class init */
             (GClassFinalizeFunc) NULL,                         /* class finalize */
             NULL,                                              /* class data */
             sizeof (GailLabel),                                /* instance size */
             0,                                                 /* nb preallocs */
             (GInstanceInitFunc) myatkimp_mytype_instance_init, /* instance init */
             NULL                                               /* value table */
          };

          /* Set up atk_text_info structure used below */
          static const GInterfaceInfo atk_text_info =
          {
             (GInterfaceInitFunc) atk_text_interface_init,
             (GInterfaceFinalizeFunc) NULL,
             NULL
          };

          /* Set up typename and specify parent type */
          type = g_type_register_static (MYATKIMP_MYPARENTTYPE,
                "MyatkimpMytype", &tinfo, 0);

          /* This class implements interface ATK_TYPE_TEXT */
          g_type_add_interface_static (type, ATK_TYPE_TEXT,
                                       &atk_text_info);
       }
       return type;
    }

##### Class/Instance Initializers

You will have to set up a class initializer for the GObject if your AtkObject implementation either:

1. Redefines any function calls defined by the object's parent. This is typically necessary when an object needs to implement a function like `atk_object_get_n_accessible_children()`. This is necessary if the object has children, but they are not represented with widgets.

   For example, if your ATK implementation needs to over-ride the AtkObject function `get_name()`, then the class initializer would look like:

   Class initializer that overrides parent's `get_name()` function

       myatkimp_mytype_class_init (GailLabelClass *klass)
       {
         AtkObjectClass *class = ATK_OBJECT_CLASS (klass);
         class->get_name = myatkimp_mytype_get_name;
       }

2. Requires a `parent->init`, `parent->notify_gtk`, or `parent->finalize` function. This example defines all three:

   Class initializer that defines its own `init()`, `notify_gtk()` and `finalize()` functions

       static ParentObjectType *parent_class = NULL;

       myatkimp_mytype_class_init (GailLabelClass *klass)
       {
          ParentObjectType *parent_class = (ParentObjectType*)klass;

          /*
           * Caching the parent_class is necessary if the init,
           * notify_gtk, or finalize functions are set up.
           */
           parent_class = g_type_class_ref (MYATKIMP_TYPE_PARENT);

           parent_class->init = myatkimp_mytype_widget_init;
           parent_class->notify_gtk = myatkimp_mytype_real_notify_gtk;
           parent_class->finalize = myatkimp_mytype_finalize;
       }

   1. parent->init

      A `parent->init()` function may be necessary if the ATK implementation needs to do either of the following:

      1. Cache any data obtained from a backing GTK widget.

      2. Listen to any signals from the backing GTK widget.

      Here is an example of both:

      A custom `init()` function

          void
          gail_tree_view_widget_init (MyatkimpMytype  *mytype,
                                      GtkWidget       *gtk_widget)
          {
             /* Make sure to call the parent's init function */
             parent_class->init (widget, gtk_widget);

             /* Cache a value in the ATK implementation */
             mytype->cached_value = gtk_widget_function_call();

             /* Listen to a signal */
             gtk_signal_connect (GTK_OBJECT (gtk_widget),
                                 "signal-type",
                                 GTK_SIGNAL_FUNC (_myatkimp_mytype_signal_type),
                                 NULL);
          }

      In this example, if the specified signal-type signal were generated on the backing `gtk_widget`, then the `_myatkimp_mytype_signal_type()` function would be called.

   2. parent->notify_gtk

      If the ATK implementation needs to listen to any property notifications on the backing GTK object, a `parent->notify_gtk()` function may be necessary. For example:

      A custom `notify_gtk()` function

          void
          myatkimp_mytype_real_notify_gtk (GObject    *obj,
                                           GParamSpec *pspec)
          {
             GtkWidget *widget = GTK_WIDGET (obj);
             AtkObject* atk_obj = gtk_widget_get_accessible (widget);

             if (strcmp (pspec->name, "property-of-interest") == 0)
             {
                /* Handle the property change. */
             }
             else
             {
                parent_class->notify_gtk (obj, pspec);
             }
          }

   3. parent->finalize

      If it is necessary to free any data when a GObject instance is destroyed, then a `finalize()` function is needed to free the memory. For example:

      A custom `finalize()` function

          void
          myatkimp_mytype_finalize (GObject *object)
          {
             MyAtkimpMyType *my_type = MYATKIMP_MYTYPE (object);

             g_object_unref (my_type->cached_value);
             G_OBJECT_CLASS (parent_class)->finalize (object);
          }

### Making Custom Components Accessible

Adding ATK support to your custom widget will assure its cooperation with the accessibility infrastructure. These are the general steps that are required:

- assess a custom widget according to the applicable User Interface Guidelines;

- determine which ATK interfaces a custom widget should implement, according to the widget's feature set and function;

- assess which ATK interfaces can be inherited from the parent widget class;

- implement the appropriate ATK interfaces for the widget class in one of two ways:

  - directly by the custom widget, or

  - in an AtkObject subtype created by a new AtkObjectFactory subclass

  If the second method is used, the appropriate factory type must be registered with the AtkObjectFactoryRegistry at runtime.

The GAIL source code serves as an excellent tutorial for advanced ATK usage.

### User Interface Guidelines for Supporting Accessibility

When designing your application's GUI, there are a number of simple guidelines you should follow to ensure that it can be used by as wide an audience as possible, whether in conjunction with assistive technologies or not. Don't be fooled into thinking that this is just a case of "making your GUI usable by people with disabilities", though, and that you shouldn't bother if you know a disabled person is never going to use your application. Following these guidelines will improve the overall usability of your application for everyone who uses it - including you!

#### General

We all get frustrated if we can't find a feature in an application, or make a mistake from which it takes a couple of minutes to recover, if it's possible to recover at all. If you have some sort of disability, the chances are the effort and time penalties involved will be several times worse. Following a few basic guidelines can help prevent these sorts of situations for all users.

- Provide Undo for every action that changes the user's data or the application's settings. If possible, provide more than one level of undo and redo, and a history list to allow preview of what actions will be undone.

- Provide commands to restore default settings. If a particular setting could make the application completely unusable for an individual, e.g. by making the fonts very small, it would be useful to provide an option to restore the default settings outside the application itself. This could be done using a command line switch, for example.

- Help prevent users from doing the wrong thing. This is particularly important for actions that could be done by accident (e.g. mouse actions) or that cannot easily be undone (e.g. overwriting a file). Consider using confirmation dialogs or forcing the user to go into a particular mode to perform potentially destructive actions.

- Minimize users' memory load. For example, let the user view multiple documents at the same time, and ensure online help or other instructions can remain visible while they carry out the procedure being described. Allow them to copy any information that is displayed, and paste it anywhere that data can be entered.

- Don't make users insert disks. Depending on a user's particular disability, they may find it difficult to physically insert or change a disk, or they may find it hard to identify the correct disk in the first place. If your application is installed from CD-ROM, provide an option to copy all the files that will be required onto the user's hard drive.

- Don't place frequently used functions deep in a menu structure. Whether you're using a mouse, keyboard or some other input device, deeply-nested menu items are best avoided. As well as the burden of remembering where to find them, they are always more difficult and time-consuming to access.

- Don't lead users through unnecessary steps. For example, wizards are useful for users who have trouble handling large numbers of options at one time, but other users may need to minimize the amount of time or keystrokes they use. Such users benefit from being able to skip unnecessary steps or go directly to the one they need. Consider providing a Finish button in wizards that skips right to the end and assumes default responses for the intermediate steps. If the process has many steps, consider asking the user at the start if they want to run through all the steps, or just the most commonly-used ones.

#### Keyboard Navigation

A well-designed keyboard user interface plays a key role when you are designing accessible software. Blind users can navigate software more effectively using the keyboard, because using the mouse depends on visual feedback of the mouse pointer location. Also, mobility impairments can prevent a user from successfully navigating using the mouse, because of the fine motor control skills required.

It is therefore important to make all mouse actions available from the keyboard, and include keyboard access to all toolbars, menus, links and buttons. Every function your application provides should be available using the keyboard alone. Hide your mouse while you're testing your application if you have to!

Most functionality should be easy to make accessible by using keyboard mnemonics and accelerators, and the toolkit's built-in navigation features. However, operations that rely on drag-and-drop, for example, may require more thought.

- Provide efficient keyboard access to all application features. Some users may be unable to use a mouse, and many "power-users" prefer to use the keyboard anyway. Also, some specialized assistive technology input devices may simulate keyboard events rather than mouse events. Since typing is difficult or even painful for some users, it is important to provide a keyboard interface that minimizes the number of keystrokes required for any given task.

- Use a logical keyboard navigation order. When navigating around a window with the Tab key, keyboard focus should move between controls in a predictable order. In Western locales, this is normally left to right and top to bottom.

- Ensure correct tab order for controls whose enabled state is dependent on checkbox, radio button or toggle button state. When such a button is selected, all its dependent controls should be enabled, and all the dependent controls of any other button in the group should be disabled. When the user selects a checkbox, radio button or toggle button that has dependent controls, do not automatically give focus to the first dependent control, but instead leave the focus on the button.

- Don't override existing system-level accessibility features. For example, AccessX is an Xserver extension that has been supported since X11R6. The MouseKeys feature of this extension allows mouse movement and button clicks to be simulated using the keypad. Therefore you should not add features to your application that can only be accessed by pressing keys on the keypad, as users relying on the MouseKeys feature will not be able to use them.

- Provide more than one method to perform keyboard tasks where possible. Some users may find some keys and key combinations easier to use than others.

- Provide both keyboard and mouse access to functions where possible. Some users may only be able to use either the mouse or the keyboard, but not both.

- Don't assign awkward reaches to frequently performed keyboard operations. Some people may only be able to use one hand on the keyboard, so shortcuts that can be easily used with one hand are preferable for common operations. In any case, having to frequently perform long or difficult reaches on the keyboard can increase muscle strain for all users, increasing the risk of pain or injury.

- Don't require repetitive use of simultaneous keypresses. Some users are only able to press and hold one key at a time. Assistive technologies such as AccessX may allow users to press the keys sequentially rather than simultaneously, but this of course means the operation will take longer for them.

- Ensure that any text that can be selected with the mouse can also be selected with the keyboard. This is a convenience for all users, but especially for those for whom fine control of the mouse is difficult.

- Ensure that objects that can be resized or moved by drag and drop can also be resized or moved with the keyboard. For example, icons and windows on the desktop. Where precision sizing and placement is potentially important, e.g. shapes in a diagram, also consider providing a dialog into which you can type co-ordinates, or a means of snapping objects to a user-definable grid.

- Don't use general navigation functions to trigger operations. For example, do not use basic Tab keyboard navigation in a dialog to activate any actions associated with a control.

- Show keyboard-invoked menus, windows and tooltips near the object they relate to. In GNOME 2.0, users can call up popup menus with Shift F10, and tooltips with Shift F1. Do not completely hide or obscure the object to which the menu or tooltip refers, however.

#### Mouse Interaction

Remember that not everybody can use a mouse with equal dexterity, and that some users may have difficulty seeing or following the mouse pointer.

- Don't depend on input from mouse button 2 or button 3. As well as being physically more difficult to click, some pointing devices and many assistive technology devices only support button 1. Some assistive technologies may not emulate the mouse at all, but generate keyboard events instead.

- Allow all mouse operations to be cancelled. Pressing the Esc key should cancel any mouse operation in progress, such as dragging and dropping a file in a file manager, or drawing a shape in a drawing program.

- Provide visual feedback throughout a drag and drop operation. As the mouse passes over valid targets, highlight them and change the mouse pointer. Use the "no drop" mouse pointer when passing over invalid drop targets. See Mouse Interaction Examples.

- Don't warp the mouse pointer, or restrict mouse movement to part of the screen. This can interfere with assistive technologies, and is usually confusing even for users who don't rely on ATs.

- Don't make mouse targets too small. In general, mouse targets should be at least the size of the "hot area" around the resizable window border in the current window manager/theme - bearing in mind that a user with impaired dexterity or vision may be using a window manager with larger areas than the default.

##### Mouse Interaction Examples

Example of "no-drop" pointer from CDE/Motif

Example of an "invalid drop target" pointer shape

#### Graphical Elements

Provide options to customize the presentation of all the important graphical elements in your application. This will make it easier for people with visual or cognitive impairments to use.

- Don't hard-code graphic attributes such as line, border or shadow thickness. These elements should ideally be read from the GTK or window manager theme. If this is not possible, provide options within your application to change them.

- Provide descriptive names for all interface components. The GAIL library provides default accessible descriptions for many GTK widgets, but you will still need to add your own in some cases, such as for widgets that use graphics instead of text (e.g. a well in a color palette, or an icon without a label). Consider overriding the defaults with more helpful or application-specific descriptions where possible.

- Allow multi-color graphical elements (e.g. toolbar icons) to be shown in monochrome only, if possible. These monochrome images should be shown in the system foreground and background colors, which the user will have chosen for themselves (by their choice of GTK theme) for maximum legibility.

- Make interactive GUI elements easily identifiable. For example, do not make the user hover the mouse over an object to determine whether it is clickable or not. Leave sufficient space between objects and clearly delineate object boundaries. Don't show GUI elements that look pretty but don't actually do anything, unless you also provide an option to switch them off.

- Provide an option to hide graphics that don't convey essential information. Graphical images can be distracting to users with some cognitive disorders. The icons on the GNOME foot menu, for example, can be switched off whilst still leaving the menus fully functional.

#### Fonts and Text

Even to a user with normal vision, textual output provides the majority of the information and feedback in most applications. It is therefore critical to choose and position text carefully on the screen, and leave the choice of font and size to the user, to ensure that people with vision impaiments can also use your application effectively.

- Don't hard-code font styles and sizes. The user should be able to adjust all sizes and typefaces. If for some reason you cannot make this functionality available, never hardcode any font sizes smaller than 10 points.

- Provide options to turn off any graphical backdrops or "watermarks" behind text. Such images interfere with the contrast between the text and its background, which can cause difficulty for users with visual impairments.

- Label objects with names that make sense when taken out of context. Users relying on screen readers or similar assistive technologies will not necessarily be able to immediately understand the relationship between a control and those surrounding it.

- Don't use the same label more than once in the same window. If you use the same label in different windows, it will help if it means the same thing in both windows. Also, don't use labels that are spelled differently but sound the same, e.g. "Read" and "Red", as this could be confusing for users relying on screen-readers.

- Position labels consistently throughout your application. This normally means immediately below large icons, immediately to the right of small icons, and immediately above or to the left of other controls. See Fonts and Text Examples.

- When you use static text to label a control, end the label with a colon. For example, Username: to label a text field into which the user should type their username. This helps identify it as a control's label rather than an independent item of text.

- When you use static text to label a control, ensure that the label immediately precedes that control in the Tab order. This will ensure that the mnemonic (underlined character) you assign to the label will move focus to or activate the correct control when pressed.

- Provide alternatives to WYSIWYG. Some users may need to print text in a small font but edit in a larger screen font, for example. Possible alternatives include displaying all text in the same font and size (both of which are chosen by the user); a "wrap-to-window" option that allows you to read all the text in a window without scrolling horizontally; a single column view that shows the window's contents in a single column even if they will be printed in multiple columns; and a text-only view, where graphics are shown as placeholders or text descriptions. If the application has panels with child controls, consider allowing the panels to resize along with the parent window.

##### Fonts and Text Examples

Correct label placement for various GUI elements

List control with label above List control with label above | Large file manager icon with label underneath Large file manager icon with label underneath | Small toolbar icon with label to its right Small toolbar icon with label to its right | Spinbox control with label to its left Spinbox control with label to its left

#### Color and Contrast

Poor choice of colors on the screen can cause problems for users with color blindness (for whom hue is important) or low-vision (for whom brightness/contrast is important). Generally, you should allow the user to customize the colors in any part of your application that conveys important information.

Users with visual impairments may require a high level of contrast between the background and text colors. Often a black background and white text is used to prevent the background from "bleeding" over. These settings are critical for users with visual impairments.

- Don't hard-code application colors. Some users need to use particular combinations of colors and levels of contrast to be able to read the screen comfortably. Therefore all the main colors you use in your GNOME application should be taken from the GTK theme, so the user can set the colors for all their applications to something legible just by changing the theme. If for some reason you do need to use colors that are not available in the theme, ensure they are customizable within the application itself.

- Don't use color as the only means to distinguish items of information. All such information should be provided by at least one other method, such as shape, position or textual description. See Color and Contrast Examples.

- Support all the high contrast GNOME themes. Ensure that when one of these themes is selected, all the text in your application appears in the high contrast foreground and background colors specified by the theme.

- Ensure your application is not dependent on a particular high-contrast theme. Test it with different high-contrast themes to ensure your application respects the settings.

##### Color and Contrast Examples

Example illustrating redundant use of color

Example showing changes in stock price using color only | This display could cause problems for a red-green color-blind user (color-blindness affects as many as 1 in 7 males in some parts of the world). The lack of contrast between the red text and black background would also make it hard to read for a user with low vision, even with a screen magnifier.
Example showing changes in stock price using both color and arrows | This display reinforces the color-coding with arrows to show the stock price movement, and uses darker shades of green and red on a lighter background to provide higher contrast. This needn't be the default color scheme if testing were to show it to be too distracting for the majority of users, but it should be possible to customize it in this way either by theming or via the application's Preferences dialog.

#### Magnification

Many users, even those not visually impaired, benefit from magnification of text and graphics. However, without magnification, a visually impaired user may not be able to access and use the program at all.

- Provide the ability for the user to magnify the work area.

- Provide options in the application to scale the work area. Users need to have an option to magnify the work area 150% to 400% or more. Test the application to confirm the object you are viewing is not affected by changing the magnification settings.

#### Audio

People who have difficulty hearing, as well as those who work with the sound on their computers turned off, will be disadvantaged if your application relies on sound to convey information. In general, make sure that the user is able to have any audible information conveyed in other ways.

- Don't assume that a user will hear audio information. This applies as much to users with broken soundcards as it does to those with hearing impairments!

- Don't use audio as the only means of conveying information. Give the user the option to have all audio information provided in a visual way as well. This includes providing closed captioning or transcripts for any important spoken sound clips.

- Allow users to configure frequency and volume of all warning beeps and other sounds. This includes being able to turn off sound altogether.

#### Animation

Used sparingly, animation can be useful for drawing attention to important information in your application - and it can look cool, too. However, it can be problematic for some users, so make sure they can turn it off.

- Don't use flashing or blinking elements having a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz. This includes text as well as any graphical objects. Anything in this frequency range may cause particular problems for users susceptible to visually-induced seizures. Note that there is no "safe" frequency, though. If flashing is essential, you should use the system's cursor blink frequency (which should itself be customizable), or allow users to configure the frequency themselves.

- Don't flash or blink large areas of the screen. Small areas are less likely to trigger seizures in those susceptible to them.

- Make all animations optional. The animated information should be available in at least one non-animated format, at the user's request.

#### Keyboard Focus

Showing the keyboard focus position clearly at all times is important, both for users with vision impairments as well as "power-users" who prefer to use the keyboard rather than the mouse. There should never be any confusion as to which control on the desktop has focus at any given time. You ought to be able to leave your computer with the focus on any widget in your application, then go off and phone your girlfriend or walk the dog until you've forgotten which widget you left it on. When you return, you should be able to tell straight away exactly which widget it was.

A visual focus indicator is an audio representation of the cursor position relative to the other objects on the desktop. This allows the user to move among objects interactively as the focus changes. The visual focus must be programatically exposed to assistive technologies. Note that in most cases, this is handled automatically by the ATK, without requiring you to do any additional work. However, you will need to be aware of this requirement when writing your own custom widgets, for example.

- Start focus at the most commonly used control. If no control in a window is deemed to be the "most" useful, start the focus at the first control in the window when that window is opened. Focus should not be started on the OK or Cancel buttons of a dialog even if they are the most commonly used controls, as they can always be activated immediately by pressing Enter or Escape.

- Show current input focus clearly at all times. Remember that in controls that include a scrolling element, it is not always sufficient to highlight just the selected element inside that scrolling area, as it may not be visible. See Keyboard Focus Examples.

- Show input focus only in the active window. Hide all primary visual focus indicators in all windows that do not have the focus and activation. If a single window has separate panes, only one pane should have the focus indicator, and focus indicators should be hidden in all other panes. If it's important to continue showing which item in an unfocused list is selected, for example, use a secondary focus indicator. See Keyboard Focus Examples.

- Provide appropriate feedback when the user attempts to navigate past the end of a group of related objects. When navigating a list, for example, stopping with audio feedback is usually preferable to moving the focus back to the first object in the list. Otherwise, users who are blind or have low vision may not realize they have returned to the beginning. In the case of a text search in a document, a dialog may pop up to indicate that the end of the document has been reached, and ask if you want to resume the search at the start of the document.

- Play the system default audio or visual warning signal when the user presses an inappropriate key, or when a navigation key fails to move the focus. For example, when the focus is on the first character in a text field and the user presses left arrow key, or the user tries to perform multiple selection in a single selection dialog. (Note that users with hearing difficulties should be able to configure a system-wide visual equivalent to the default warning sound.)

##### Keyboard Focus Examples

Example illustrating need to show focus clearly

The focused item in this window cannot be seen because it has been scrolled off-screen | One of the controls in this window has focus, but it's impossible to tell which...
The focused item in the list has been brought into view by scrolling the list | ...until you scroll the list, which reveals that one of its items is currently selected.
The list control in this example has a solid border indicating focus, whether its selected item is currently visible or not | If the list control itself is given a "focused" border, it's easy to tell it has focus even when the currently-selected item isn't visible.

Example illustrating use of secondary focus

Split-paned window in which both panes seem to have focus | In this example, it's impossible to tell just by looking which of the two panes actually has keyboard focus.
Split-pane window in which secondary highlighting is used to show which pane has focus | By using a secondary selection highlight color in the inactive pane, it's immediately obvious that the tree control has focus here...
Split-pane window in which secondary highlighting is used to show which pane has focus | ...and that the list control has focus here.

#### Timing

Interfaces in which things appear, disappear or happen according to some hard-coded time limit are often a hindrance to accessibility. Some users may read, type or react very slowly in comparison to others. If information they require is hidden before they are finished with it, or obscured by other information popping up which they didn't explicitly request, then your application will become very frustrating or even impossible to use.

- Don't hard-code timeouts or other time-based features. Examples include automatic scrolling when dragging an object towards the edge of a window, holding down a scrollbar button, or automatically expanding a tree node when an object is dragged over it and held for a short time. These should either be customizable in the application, the GNOME control center, or at worst, manually editable from the command line via a configuration file or GConf entry.

- Don't briefly show or hide information based on the movement of the mouse pointer. (Exception: system-provided features such as tooltips, which the user can configure on a system-wide level). If you must provide such features, make them optional so users can turn them off when a screen-review utility is installed.

#### Documentation

People with disabilities cannot use the application effectively if they do not have access to the required manuals and help files. Of particular importance is keyboard navigation, since this is the only way many users can navigate the application.

- Provide all documentation in an accessible format. ASCII text and HTML are both excellent formats for assistive technologies.

- Provide alternative text descriptions for all graphics in the documentation.

- Document all your application's accessibility features. Keyboard navigation and shortcuts are particularly important to document. Include an accessibility section in your documentation, where information on all the accessibility features can be found.

## Testing

There are several points of review to conduct before declaring an application accessible. Over the course of development you may want to consider automated testing techniques. Dogtail, for example, may complement your automated testing plan.

This section describes a number of tests you can perform manually on an application to test its accessibility. Passing all the tests does not necessarily imply that the application is fully accessible, but if the application fails any of these tests, then further work may need to be done to improve that aspect of its accessibility.

### Keyboard Navigation

The following keyboard operations should be tested. Do not use the mouse in any part of this test.

- Using only keyboard commands, move the focus through all menu bars in the application.

- Confirm that:

  - Context sensitive menus display correctly.

  - Any functions listed on the toolbar can be performed using the keyboard.

  - You can operate every control in the client area of the application and dialog boxes.

  - Text and objects within the client area can be selected.

  - Any keyboard enhancements or shortcuts are working as designed.

### Graphical Elements

Test the application using a screen reader and confirm that:

- Labels and text are being read correctly, including menus and toolbars.

- Object information is read correctly.

### Visual Focus Indicator

- Verify that when moving among objects that the visual focus indicator is easy to identify.

- Keyboard navigation through the software and menus should be clearly visible when the focus moves.

- Confirm that the screen reader is tracking the visual focus indicator as you navigate using a keyboard.

- Run a screen magnification program (if available) and verify that the magnifier can track the visual focus indicator as you navigate using the keyboard and mouse.

### Fonts and Text

- Change the font in the application and confirm that the settings are maintained.

- Test the application by changing colors and confirm that all settings are maintained.

- If magnification is available, test the font, color, and size using the magnification option.

### Color and Contrast

- Print screenshots to a black and white printer and confirm that all information is visible.

- Test applications using only black and white, high-contrast settings and confirm that all information is conveyed correctly.

- Test that the application provides at least three combinations of color schemes and that high-contrast schemes are available (e.g. white on black or yellow on blue).

- Turn on high-contrast settings in the GNOME Control Center and confirm that the application respects these settings.

- Test various themes to ensure that the software is working for all the available settings.

### Audio

There should be an option in the application to show audio alerts visually.

Test that the audio is working correctly by enabling sound in the GNOME Control Center and then perform the following actions:

- Perform an action that should generate an audio alert and confirm that the application is working as designed.

- Verify that the application works correctly when increasing or decreasing the volume.

- Confirm that warning messages and alerts can be heard correctly in a noisy work environment.

### Animation

Verify that an option is available to stop animation and that it is working as designed.

Turn the animation off. Confirm that all information is still conveyed correctly.

### Keyboard Focus

- Test all messages to confirm that the user is notified before a message times out and is given the option to indicate that more time is needed.

- Make sure an option has been included to adjust the response time and confirm that it is working as designed.

### Documentation

Test ASCII text documentation with a screen reader to confirm that it is clear and precise and can be read by assistive technologies.

Test HTML applications using a web browser and screen reader to confirm that the documentation is accessible to assistive technologies.

Note: There are web accessibility guidelines available at http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/.

Confirm the following information is included in the documentation:

- State if the application does not support the standard keyboard access used by the OS.

- Identify if there are unique keyboard commands.

- Identify any unique accessibility features.

- If an action is documented for the mouse, make sure there is an alternative for using the keyboard.

### User Interface Checklist

This section summarizes the guidelines given in User Interface Guidelines for Supporting Accessibility. You should refer to that section of the guide for more detailed information on any of the checklist items given here.

When testing an application for accessibility, you should go through each of the items in the list. Note whether the application passes or fails each test, or does not apply to that application.

General Principles checklist

GP | General Principles | Pass/Fail/NA
--- | --- | ---
GP.1 | Every action that alters the user's data or application's settings can be undone.
GP.2 | All application settings can be restored to their defaults without the user having to remember what those defaults were.
GP.3 | After installation, the application can be used without the user having to insert a disk or CD at any time.
GP.4 | The most frequently used functions are found at the top level of the menu structure.

Keyboard navigation checklist

KN | Keyboard Navigation | Pass/Fail/NA
--- | --- | ---
KN.1 | Efficient keyboard access is provided to all application features.
KN.2 | All windows have a logical keyboard navigation order.
KN.3 | The correct tab order is used for controls whose enabled state is dependent on checkboxes, radio buttons or toggle buttons.
KN.4 | Keyboard access to application-specific functions does not override existing system accessibility features.
KN.5 | The application provides more than one method to perform keyboard tasks whenever possible.
KN.6 | There are alternative key combinations wherever possible.
KN.7 | There are no awkward reaches for frequently performed keyboard operations.
KN.8 | The application does not use repetitive, simultaneous keypresses.
KN.9 | The application provides keyboard equivalents for all mouse functions.
KN.10 | Any text or object that can be selected with the mouse can also be selected with the keyboard alone.
KN.11 | Any object that can be resized or moved with the mouse can also be resized or moved with the keyboard alone.
KN.12 | The application does not use any general navigation functions to trigger operations.
KN.13 | All keyboard-invoked menus, windows and tooltips appear near the object they relate to.

Mouse Interaction checklist

MI | Mouse Interaction | Pass/Fail/NA
--- | --- | ---
MI.1 | No operations depend on input from the direita or meio mouse buttons.
MI.2 | All mouse operations can be cancelled before they are complete.
MI.3 | Visual feedback is provided throughout drag and drop operations
MI.4 | The mouse pointer is never warped under application control, or its movement restricted to part of the screen by the application.

Graphical Elements checklist

GE | Graphical Elements | Pass/Fail/NA
--- | --- | ---
GE.1 | There are no hard-coded graphical attributes such as line, border or shadow thickness.
GE.2 | All multi-color graphical elements can be shown in monochrome only, where possible.
GE.3 | All interactive GUI elements are easily distinguishable from static GUI elements.
GE.4 | An option to hide non-essential graphics is provided.

Fonts and Text checklist

FT | Fonts and Text | Pass/Fail/NA
--- | --- | ---
FT.1 | No font styles or sizes are hard-coded.
FT.2 | An option to turn off graphical backdrops behind text is provided.
FT.3 | All labels have names that make sense when taken out of context.
FT.4 | No label names are used more than once in the same window.
FT.5 | Label positioning is consistent throughout the application.
FT.6 | All static text labels that identify other controls end in a colon (:).
FT.7 | Static text labels that identify other controls immediately precede those controls in the tab order.
FT.8 | An alternative to WYSIWYG is provided. For example, the ability to specify different screen and printer fonts in a text editor.

Color and Contrast checklist

CC | Color and Contrast | Pass/Fail/NA
--- | --- | ---
CC.1 | Application colors are not hard-coded, but are drawn either from the current desktop theme or an application setting.
CC.2 | Color is only used as an enhancement, and not as the only means to convey information or actions.
CC.3 | The application supports all available high- contrast themes and settings.
CC.4 | The software is not dependent on any particular high-contrast themes or settings.

Magnification checklist

MG | Magnification | Pass/Fail/NA
--- | --- | ---
MG.1 | The application provides the ability to magnify the work area.
MG.2 | The application provides the option to scale the work area.
MG.3 | The application's functionality is not affected by changing the magnification or scale settings.

Audio checklist

AU | Audio | Pass/Fail/NA
--- | --- | ---
AU.1 | Sound is not used as the only means of conveying any items of information.
AU.2 | The user can configure the frequency and volume of all sounds and warning beeps.

Animation checklist

AN | Animation | Pass/Fail/NA
--- | --- | ---
AN.1 | There are no flashing or blinking elements with a frequency greater than 2Hz or lower than 55Hz.
AN.2 | Any flashing or blinking is confined to small areas of the screen.
AN.3 | If animation is used, an option is available to turn it off before it is first shown.

Keyboard Focus checklist

KF | Keyboard Focus | Pass/Fail/NA
--- | --- | ---
KF.1 | When a window is opened, focus starts at the most commonly-used control.
KF.2 | Current input focus position is clearly displayed at all times.
KF.3 | Input focus is shown in exactly one window at all times.
KF.4 | Appropriate audio or visual feedback is provided when the user attempts to navigate past either end of a group of related objects.
KF.5 | The default audio or visual warning signal is played when the user presses an inappropriate key.
KF.6 | There is sufficient audio information for the visual focus that the user can figure out what to do next.
KF.7 | When using assistive technologies, such as a screen reader or braille device, the current program indicates the position and content of the visual focus indicator.

Timing checklist

TM | Timing | Pass/Fail/NA
--- | --- | ---
TM.1 | There are no hard-coded time-outs or time-based features in the application.
TM.2 | The display or hiding of important information is not triggered solely by movement of the mouse pointer.

Documentation checklist

DC | Documentation | Pass/Fail/NA
--- | --- | ---
DC.1 | All documentation is in an accessible format, with textual alternate descriptions provided for all figures and diagrams.
DC.2 | The documentation includes a section that covers all the application's accessibility features.

### GOK (GNOME Onscreen Keyboard)

Your application should be usable via gok; key input should be generated entirely by gok, not the keyboard. The aim here would be to work with your application and the desktop in general, ensuring any type of character input can be performed with the on-screen keyboard.

The gok application ships with the GNOME Desktop so should already be present. For full documentation, refer to the official gok site.

Follow these steps to verify the correct operation of gok with your application:

- Login into the GNOME desktop

- Run gok

- Start your application

- Provide input to your application with a pointing device (e.g., mouse or head-tracker) and gok.

- Work using the auto-completion and word prediction features of gok.

- Verify that gok enables and disables the Menus and Toolbars buttons based on the kind of application invoked; for example, the Menus and Toolbars buttons are disabled for the 'Font properties' capplet, but the same buttons are enabled for the Gedit application.

- Verify that the gok on-screen keyboard provided by the Compose button can be used to type in any text for the selected application; run Gedit, click on the text area, and then click on the Compose button in gok. Select the required keys from the on-screen keyboard. The characters should appear in the Gedit text area.

- Verify that the Launcher button allows the user to launch any of the Terminal, Web Browser or Text Editor applications.

- Verify that the Activate button allows the user to activate any of the currently running application windows on the user's desktop, including GNOME panels and the GNOME desktop.

- Verify that the Menus button lists all the available menus in the current application. Verify that clicking on a menu button displays the sub-menu and menu items contained within the sub-menu. Finally, verify that clicking on a menu item activates the menu item. For example, click on the Help Browser application and click on the Menus button. The GOK window now displays the File, Go and Help buttons (the Help Browser menus). Click on the File button and it displays the New Window and Close Window buttons (menu items).

- Verify that the Toolbars button lists all the available buttons in the application toolbar. For example, click on the Help Browser application and then click on the Toolbars button. The GOK window now displays the Back, Forward and Home buttons.

- Verifique que o botão UI Grab mostra todos os itens de objetos para a janela do aplicativo selecionado. Por exemplo, abra o capplet 'Propriedades de fonte' e clique no botão UI Grab na janela GOK. A janela do aplicativo GOK deve mostrar os nomes de botões no capplet - Sans, Sans-serif, Close e Help.

### Accerciser

Accerciser e a arquitetura de acessibilidade GNOME

Accerciser é um explorador de acessibilidade Python para o ambiente de trabalho GNOME. Usa AT-SPI para inspecionar e controlar componentes, permitindo que você verifique se um aplicativo está provendo a informação correta para as tecnologias assistivas e infraestruturas automáticas de teste. Accerciser tem uma estrutura simples de plug-in que você pode usar para criar visualizações customizadas da informação de acessibilidade. A documentação completa pode ser vista no manual oficial do Accerciser . Para uma demonstração do Accerciser e PyATSPI (Python-wrappered acesso e uso do AT-SPI), veja esse artigo. Para uma excelente introdução do autor, veja o artigo intitulado Faça seu aplicativo acessível com Accerciser.

Accerciser efetivamente substituiu a antiga ferramenta at-poke.