[BRLTTY] Footsteps towards better accessibility in Linux

[Aura Kelloniemi]

Hi,

On 2025-04-05 at 13:23 +0200, Sébastien Hinderer <Sebastien.Hinderer at ens-lyon.org> wrote:
 > Aura Kelloniemi (2025/04/04 15:23 +0300):
 > > I wonder whether other types of widgets than terminals would be best handled
 > > by a dedicated screen reader that would communicate with the braille display
 > > using BrlAPI. BRLTTY is best in handling terminals, and it could do that and
 > > leave other widgets/interfaces for another tool. Of course there would be
 > > plenty of possibilities for code sharing, and maybe the BrlAPI server would be
 > > the right place for such shared code.

 > For non-terminal widgets, shouldn't we rather focus on improving their
 > braille rendering as done by Orca?

Orca has its issues. Foremost, it has issues with responsiviness and
stability. There is already a replacement screen reader in development
(https://odilia.app/).

 > Otherwise I fear there will be work and effort duplication, which we
 > cannot really afford, IMO.

I agree, and I don't really care, whether it is Orca, Odilia or BRLTTY that
interfaces with those widgets that BRLTTY currently does not, as long as the
screen reader works well.

Anyways my thoughts on expanding BrlAPI are relevant, regardless of what
application is going to call it. BrlAPI prvides its clients the same input
command set that BRLTTY uses. Those are heavily tailored towards terminal use,
and not all of them are useful in navigating other types of widgets. Also GUIs
would have use for other types of commands as well, like commands for
tree-structure navigation, link/button activation, opening context menus, etc.

-- 
Aura