Thoughts on KDE Plasma as of right now

Thu Jun 23 15:34:01 UTC 2022

Howdy,

> I mean, all I really need is the apps being fixed, things like 
> konsole, the various windows and programs and it's definitely useable. 
> Dolphin is surprisingly great, I went in expecting oh, it'll be a pain 
> to use. 
yes, most apps already got very basic support, but this needs to be 
improved a lot. first lets fix up most the desktop related components. 
Konsole should have basic accessibility support as well. but i think the 
handling in orca to VTE is very special black magic. this might need to 
be done for Konsole as well.
the support for konsole is tracked at this task:
https://phabricator.kde.org/T10099
last thing was QT was missing the Terminal accessibility role. this was 
added then by frederik. so the work could here beeing continue as well.

> The only show stopper or me, and I've not found a workaround yet, is 
> that the QT5 windows and panels do not read
QT5 windows should be accessible by default. you might have to set an 
environment variable:
set this to your ~/.bashrc file
export QT_LINUX_ACCESSIBILITY_ALWAYS_ON=1 # for QT5 accessibility

by the way, in latest plasma 5.25 there is a new shortcut to focus all 
available desktop panels Meta + Alt + p (it cycles between all available 
desktop panels and the desktop itself). the desktop panel and tray area 
is also now keyboard navigate able. But some accessibility labels are 
missing or could  be improved. this is next on my list.

just to share the latest links i send to orca list:
my blog post about current KDE accessibility team efforts:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/68079468

Carls current proposal to have accessibility as 3 year goal (this is a 
voting process):
https://phabricator.kde.org/T15611
my old proposal from 2019 to try to set accessibility as KDE goal (sadly 
not voted):
https://phabricator.kde.org/T11074
lets hope accessibility is set as KDE goal for now. this would be great 
and would give that a lot of love and attention.

i will do a basic review of the current situation at weekend. for those 
are curious about KDEs accessibility state.

cheers chrys
Am 23.06.22 um 13:05 schrieb Linux for blind general discussion:
> I mean, all I really need is the apps being fixed, things like 
> konsole, the various windows and programs and it's definitely useable. 
> Dolphin is surprisingly great, I went in expecting oh, it'll be a pain 
> to use.
>
> No, Dolphin was quick, useable and responsive. The only show stopper 
> or me, and I've not found a workaround yet, is that the QT5 windows 
> and panels do not read, the irony of the accessibility panel being 
> inaccessible is not lost on me, but I'm tempted to keep it around to 
> see where it goes, and given the Steam Deck uses Plasma last I 
> checked, here's hoping for improvements that get ported there too
>
> On 6/23/22 11:53, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
>> Yeah, I've not tried it in like half a year, but this has prompted me to
>> begin as a Patron to linux-accessibility again. Just $19 per month, 
>> but I
>> hope it helps enthusiasm and to keep up this really great work!
>> Devin Prater
>> r.d.t.prater at gmail.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jun 23, 2022 at 5:18 AM Linux for blind general discussion <
>> blinux-list at redhat.com> wrote:
>>
>>> So given the news about KDE accessibility getting worked on, I figured
>>> I'd give KDE a shot. I wasn't that impressed last time.
>>>
>>> However. It's improved a lot, I can do basic things, which is a big 
>>> step
>>> up, and I get talking app launchers, and can do email, web browsing and
>>> text editing which is a big, big plus.
>>>
>>>
>>> That being said, I still cannot change system settings or default apps
>>> like I can on, say, Mate but, and here's the thing I like about KDE
>>> Plasma as of writing this...
>>>
>>>
>>> It is fast, it, on my Arch box, so YMMV on other OSes, but I'm running
>>> this on my Arch box, the thing I like about it is the keyboard commands
>>> make sense.
>>>
>>> Now, if I can just work on adding a shortcut that doesn't require me to
>>> go and fight with a window that won't read, that'd be good. Plasma is
>>> pleasently surprising and worth checking in on.
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Blinux-list mailing list
>>> Blinux-list at redhat.com
>>> https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
>>>
>>>
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