One of the worst instances I have ever seen of inaccessibility is that of Microsoft's Team Foundation Server 11 Beta.  I did a test run of it last week, and I have discovered that not only were half the controls not labelled for screen readers to be able to interpret them, but also that Microsoft has decided to implement new control types that screen readers aren't programmed, and probably won't be so, to recognize them.  And then, this is the oddest thing I have ever seen, but TTS software in the case of Team Foundation server will instead of reading a number, nothing at all, or total Gibberish as happens most often when dealing with unlabelled list items, will instead read the name of the control supposedly as named in the .NET Framework itself.  For instance: "Microsoft.TeamFoundation.WPF.NavigationTreeItem".  As a result, the person configuring the Team Foundation server instance won't know which configuration option their cursor is pointing to.  That is the worst thing I have seen in the case of inaccessibility, and I would like it very much if Microsoft were willing to fix it so that it works properly.  

I picked Team Foundation server 11 Beta because of the increasing number of blind coders out there, and since Microsoft is generously deciding to offer the Express version for free to up to five users, then my thoughts are that blind individuals who are into open source will opt to use it for their version control/build services since it is easier (GUI driven as oppose to command line driven) than are some of the others such as SVN or CVS. One way that it could come in handy, and that is the way that I might eventually use it depending on the future of a project idea I have for the CodePlex community, is to have CodePlex handle the repository while my own server handles the build process since CodePlex doesn't support team build or Continuous integration.  But the point of this post is to say that right now, without someone else to assist, that cannot happen, and visually impaired individuals are left out of the loop for this kind of thing.  Team Foundation Server 11 beta is just one example of this common problem for us that doesn't seem to go away; that of screen reader manufacturers purposely discriminating against certain types of controls, programming frameworks, and application types, often leaving the commonly used enterprise-type applications out of their list of those supported; instead focusing on what matters to 90 percent of the population.  I do not deny that 90 percent of the population is important and that care should be taken for consumers and those who do not use very high-tech applications, but there should also be a segment (possibly a dedicated one) of all screen readerr manufacturers that deals specifically and exclusively with the corporate/enterprise segment of products such as those at Microsoft like Team Foundation Server, SQL Server, BizTalk Server, and Sharepoint Server.  For if not, then blind and visually impaired individuals will never be able to have an appropriate place in the corporate world as systems admins, server admins, and other technical positions.  The only thing that is stopping them is the favoritism of the lower-tech individual that companies like GW Micro and FS seem to possess.  It is time for the community to step up and realize that all software should be ttaken into consideration when it comes to accessibility for all.   

One of the more striking things that I have discovered during my time using the two programs together is that some of the features that seem to be available in JAWS don't seem to be available yet to those using Window-Eyes.  a prime example is when an author opens a document in which either they themselves, or someone else has added comments.  Comments are a great way for multiple authors when working on a document to colaborate and give feedback.  I find their  use an integral  part of my own education since my professors use them to provide corrections on essays, scripts, and papers.  The big problem with them that I see when using Window-Eyes and Word 2010 together is that the choices in the right-click context menu pertaining to their manipulation are not read by Window-Eyes, but they are read by JAWS.  (for those who are unfamiliar with what I am talking about, when you have your cursor positioned at the beginning of a line that has a comment in it, and you right-click, two additional choices will appear in the menu that pops up.  They are: delete comment and edit comment.)  I find this rather odd, and I intend to mention it as a support request to GW Micro.  Having this problem could really inhibit the productivity of a blind employee who depends on feedback via this method from their boss and co-workers. 

Another interesting thing that I have found between JAWS and Window-Eyes when working with Word 2010 is the stability of each when working in the spell checker.  With JAWS, the result is   always the same; stability without problems, but with Window-Eyes, it is much different. When a person tries to spell check using Window-Eyes as their screen reader, it may work fine; reading all pertinent information, or it might not, either reading nothing, or reading the information in a very fragmented manner.  Questions have come up a lot on the mailing lists at GW micro regarding this particular topic, and different individuals say different things.  I for one thing, have not had a very good experience with it at all; always switching to JAWS whenever it is time to spell check a document.  Well, till next time, be waiting for my thoughts on another member of the Office 2010 family.   

I have discovered that in terms of most of the above, Window-Eyes is much more stable, in some cases reading more than what I get with JAWS, and at other times, simply reading an equal amount of information.  The big kicker here though, at least I think, is that with Window-Eyes, one can write their own scripts for any particular application that does not have default support for the screen reader in any programming language including those supported by the .Net Framework.  JAWS allows for this as well, but only for scripts written in a propriotary language that is hard to learn, examples are limited and often silly and unrealistic, and it cannot use Windows .net framework classes or Win32 APIs in the scripts, making for very limited support of anything that falls a bit far from the mark of normal programming practices.  And UIA, you ask?  Well don't.  Because the use of WPF is not one of the strong suits of JAWS for Windows.  In terms of working with virtualization technologies, I have been experimenting a bit with VMware vSphere, yet I haven't gotten Window-Eyes to show a single console to a single VM.  I will be asking the GWMicro community about this since the support staff tell me that they have seen it happen and I do not doubt it in the least since they are very aware of the needs of our community that come with changing technology.  I have not gotten to test out either MSsQL Server 2008 R2, Sharepoint 2010, or microsoft office Access 2010 yet, but I will keep you updated in future blog posts in this series. 

                All those who love Microsoft’s web technologies are aware of their web Platform Installer.  I use it for various things, such as testing to see if certain technologies will work with a particular operating system, installing and configuring different web applications (Mojo Portal is available, just for everyone’s information), or just checking out the available apps to see if any of them will come in handy someday.  This tool was never quite accessible all the way through for screen readers simply due to it’s layout, but upon the update from version 2.0 to 3.0, things have gotten even worse in that regard.  But, no one, whether sighted or not, should worry about anything ... CMD comes to the rescue!  Microsoft has put on their official IIS site (Official Microsoft IIS Site) a blog entry that gives an overview of this tool, and there’s more on MSDN.  And not to mention, in a way, this tool is probably faster since once the commands are entered, things just happen and also in some instances, text without all of the graphical fluff getting in the way really helps folks who want results quickly check their progress.  You can download the tool WebPiCmdLine tool download link.  Good luck to all those who want to have an easier time using Microsoft’s web technologies.

Another very prominent place where universal design would work great in the Gordon community is in terms of trying to tone down the constant Mac Vs. PC war that never seems to end.  Issues can arise in terms of compatibility, range of support for both opperating systems, as well as accesssibility.  Most of the time professors are trying to work with PC users when they use a Mac, which makes it hard on the user if adequate support is not able to be provided due to the professor's comfort level.  Ann and i also believe that something needs to be done with this.  We have proposed the idea of a system where everyone knows a bit of both to at least help mitigate the support issues.  I'll keep you updated as more comes up on this situation. 

As is our mission, we will do what we can to get companies, organizations, as well as individual developers to make their programs accessible to all parties using them.  I've seen so much of this, and still it often seems like folks don't care one bit once they've decided on a development plan for their programs.  It is clear that often times, the blind folks are not thought of at all.  This has been the case for many years.  Though things have improved greatly since the 1990's, there is still much work to be done in terms of accessibility standards.  Though there is the ADA, as well as 508 compliance for web sites, it seems that too many folks are getting away with not following such simple rules.  I can understand that some folks, like big corporations, they might not have time to deal with that, but if the smaller companies could, it would be a step in the right direction. 

One problem, or misconception, I should say, that most people have is that it takes a lot more money to make programs accessible out of the box.  In some situations, yes, indeed that might be true, but for those who develop in .net and use the tools that microsoft has kindly offered for this purpose, they are all set, and no extra money needs to be paid.  Visual Studio 2010, both the free express version as well as the paid-for professional version, has beautiful property dialogues where one can edit the labels of buttons, menu items, and toolbars.  The really fascinating thing about this is the fact that no code needs to be typed into the code edeitor window to make these changes take effect.  For those of you who prefer to code everything by hand, which is quite a few of us these days, you do have to worry about the code behind the formatting.  I want to tell you that I am most experienced (with what little experience i yet have), in .net, so most of my programming comments will be based on those languages.  This is just an example of how easy accessibility is to implement in programs.  There are even ways to make custom controls accessible and natively readable by screen readers, and as I learn more, I'll blog more about that in the future.  Keep an eye out! 

For those who don't know me this is Ashley here, one of the original founders of the Raeder24 Network. This entry is just the first as an introduction to the random crazy stuff that goes on in my life.

I had recorded a few things for someone on the Braille+, whitch, although it has its glitches is a pretty decent device. The other day I was trying to take those folders and put them on my computer so that I could send them over skype to the person they were intended for. Sounds easy, doesn't it? I mean how hard could moving files be? If you operate a computer but can't move a file, then... I really don't know what to tell you.

The device comes with this cable so that you can either charge it in a wall charger or plug it into USB and charge using your computer. I was going that route, because if you plugged the device into the computer it would show you it's files just like any other device. This time however, it charged fine but it wasn't showing up what so ever in my list of drives. So then I decided, fine, I'd set up my FTP server and upload them to my computer that way. But, fail once again, because I couldn't figure out how to FTP on the braille+. If anyone knows, please do tell.

Finally I realized that the very same cable I was using also had another port on it. To me it looked like you could plug a thumb drive into it and use that as another drive for the braille+. I plugged the drive in, and thankfully everything recognized. So I took the files, put them on the drive, took the drive and put that in my computer, and then sent them. Three and a half hours later, I finally had my files.