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Currently, screen readers cannot 'read' icons and decorators, unless those icons and decorators are associated with other user interface objects that have labels attached to them. In many cases, it would be inappropriate to add labels in lieu of these icons and decorators (where labels might further clutter the user interface or confuse the user). In some cases, the icons and decorators are used to denote the state of something - where, again, use of a label would be inappropriate. So, the icons and decorators are necessary, however, those with visual impairments have no access to the information provided by them. Here are a couple of examples: 1. In the Navigator view, you have a list of projects. The screen reader will read these out. There are 'project' icons beside the projects. The screen reader doesn't mention these - which is probably fine, since the user probably knows what the Navigator view is for. However, if the project is a Java project, there is a little 'J' decorator on the project icon. Or, if the project is shared to CVS, there is a little CVS 'container' decorator on the project (if CVS decorators are turned on). Users with visual impairments are not notified of this information via the screen reader. 2. In the Variables view, you have a list of variables. The screen reader will read these out. If a variable value changes, it ends up with a little 'delta' symbol beside it. Users with visual impairments are not notified of the value change via the screen reader. If there was a way to associate alt text with icons and decorators so that screen readers could read them (this is my enhancement request), in these particular cases, the screen reader could read 'Java project' or 'CVS project', followed by the name of the project - and 'changed variable' followed by the variable name and value. There are *many* other examples in Eclipse where icons and decorators are available as visual indicators only. I'm hoping that this global solution for this can be achieved rather than opening a bug for each visual-only indicator. If something like this is implemented, I would expect the following: - those designing the GUI would decide if it makes sense to add the alt text or not (ie. contributing alt text with icons and decorators would not be mandatory) - the alt text would probably need to be place-able in a translatable file - some work would need to be done with some of the popular screen reading companies to make sure that the screen readers can pick up on what's implemented One FYI - when I refer to 'screen readers' here, that includes Inspect Objects. It doesn't pick up on icons or decorators, either.
Commercial screenreaders (IIRC) do an association of a graphic to content at the tool level already - I don't think there is a way we could do this in API. The only way is to add an accessible listener to a control to give this alt text - but it could be argued that if the text is not suffecient you have broken accessibility anyways (this is in the IBM guidelines). Are you suggesting adding an accessible listener to everything with a decorator?
On how to implement it (your last question): I really don't know enough about Eclipse development to answer this (I truly wish I did). I'm merely indicating that there's a problem here and that I'm hoping it can be fixed. I don't quite understand your other comment about broken accessibility regardless, if the text is not sufficient: is that not the case always? It would be up to the developer to ensure that text is sufficient - just as it's up to them now to make sure that their hover text is accurate - that UI text is adequate and clear, etc. At any rate, I discussed this suggestion with the accessibility centre last week, and they liked the idea. They didn't seem concerned about the potential for insufficient text...
One of the guidelines is that there should be no critical information that is expressed only be graphics - they should just be a help. For instance the CVS decorator has a repository icon but it also appends the name of the resource with the repository information. If users had to rely on just the icon this would not be accessible enough. We need to be sure that any solution we have is not for screen readers only - especially as low vision users are more common than blind ones.
There are currently no plans to work on this feature
As of now 'LATER' and 'REMIND' resolutions are no longer supported. Please reopen this bug if it is still valid for you.
