What's New In Google Accessibility From Google I/O 2012

Google IO 2012: What's New With Google Access

1 Google IO 2012: What's New From Google Access

We showcased a number of exciting advances in accessibility on Android and Chrome during IO 2012. With these advances, blind and low-vision users can leverage Google applications and services on Android and Chrome to collaborate effectively with their peers and to obtain on-the-go access. Advances include out-of-the-box access on Android (JellyBean), a new set of gestures that enable fluent interaction on touch-screen devices, Braille support on Android, an extension framework for ChromeVox, and a new, high-quality voice for use with Web applications on Chrome.

1.1 Enhanced Android Accessibility In JellyBean:

• Accessibility on Android can be enabled by long-pressing with two fingers (4 seconds) the setup screen to enable out-of-the-box access for blind users.
• Touch exploration has been enhanced with simple gestures that enable users navigate on-screen contents.
• JellyBean provides a set of Accessibility Actions that can be called from any AccessibilityService such as TalkBack; it also provides early support for Braille displays.
• Touch exploration and gesture navigation both set AccessibilityFocus —

double-tapping anywhere on the screen activates the item with AccessibilityFocus .

• TalkBack now has a sister service BrailleBack for providing Braille support on Android.

• Chrome on Android is now accessible and supports the latest in Web Access standards.

With these enhancements in Android access, blind users can use a combination of touch exploration and navigational gestures to access any part of the Android user interface.

As an example, I typically use the Android Play Store by touching the screen around the area where I expect a specific control; quick flicks of the finger then immediately get me to the item I want. With these touch gestures in place, I now use touch exploration to learn the layout of an application; with applications that I use often, I use a combination of muscle memory and gesture navigation for rapid task completion.

1.2 Chrome OS On Chrome Books And Chrome Box

Chrome OS comes with ChromeVox pre-configured — ChromeVox is our Web Accessibility solution for blind users. With the new high-quality voice that is being released on the Chrome Webstore, ChromeVox now provides smooth spoken feedback in Chrome on all desktop environments. Finally, we announced a flexible extension framework that enables Web developers leverage ChromeVox from within and outside of their own Web applications to provide rich, contextual spoken feedback.

1.3 Developer Tools For Ensuring Accessibility

To help developers better leverage Web Accessibility, we are releasing a new Accessibility Audit tool that enables Web developers detect and fix commonly occuring accessibility errors. This tool has been integrated into Chrome's Developer Tools and helps Web developers ensure accessibility while working within their normal workflow.

1.4 Accessibility Related Presentations At Google I/O 2012

Catch these on Youtube in the next week if you weren't able to attend I/O this week.

• Android Accessibility (T. V. Raman,Peter Lundblad, Alan Viverette and Charles Chen).
• Advanced Web Accessibility (Rachel Shearer, Dominic Mazzoni and Charles Chen).
• What's New In JellyBean: Android Team.
• JellyBean announcement in the Wednesday keynote.

Date: 2012-06-21 Thu

Author: T.V Raman

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Accessible GMail On Android — Eyes-Free Email On The Go

1 Accessible GMail On Android — Eyes-Free Email On The Go

I've been using Android as my primary smart phone since late 2008, and the level of email access I've had on Android in the past has always been a source of frustration. About a year ago, I first started accessing my email on Android with K9-Mail — that helped me bridge some of the accessibility gaps on the platform.

Over the last few months, our friends over in GMail Mobile have been adding accessibility support to the GMail client on Android. What is truly exciting is that this support is being added to existing releases of Android including Froyo (Android 2.2) and GingerBread (Android 2.3). This means that GMail on Android is now accessible on existing devices — get the update from Market and give it a spin.

1.1 Typical Usage Pattern

Here is my typical usage pattern when accessing my corporate email at Google. Note that the volume of email I receive on this account is extremely high, and includes many mailing lists that I typically do not read while on a mobile device. To limit how much email I download to the mobile device, and to ensure that I attend to the most pressing email messages while on the go I do the following:

• I have defined a GMail filter that assigns label to-mobile to messages I want to access when on the go.
• Typically, this includes email addressed directly to me, and other priority items.
• I launch GMail to open to this label.
• I quickly skim through the list of displayed messages to here the subject and a quick overview of the message.
• If I decide to read the complete message, I select that message via the trackball on my Nexus One to hear the message in its entirety.
• And finding an email thread I am looking for is just one click away — press the search button, and use up/down to navigate your search history.

See our help center documentation for additional details.

Author: T.V Raman <raman@google.com>

Date: 2011-08-10 Wed

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Leveraging Android Access From Google IO 2011

You can watch our Google IO 2011 on Levarging Android Access APIs. The main take-aways from the talk:

• Android Access is easy --- the framework does most of the heavy-lifting.
• Implementing Android Access does not mean you take a performance hit.
• Accessibility is really about expanding the reach of your application.

Implementing accessibility within your application and thereby ensuring that it is usable in a wide variety of end-user scenarios will benefit your application --- both in terms of the number of users you gain, as well as how often your users use your application.

TalkBack Refreshed: Accessible On-Screen Keyboard And More ...

Android Access: TalkBack Refreshed

1 Android Access: TalkBack Refreshed

The latest enhancements to TalkBack now brings Android Accessibility to devices without a physical keyboard. Many of these enhancements also improve the overall TalkBack experience on all devices.

1.1 Highlights

• New TalkBack Keyboard.
• On-screen talking keyboard enables text entry via the touch screen.
• Text review provides spoken feedback when moving the cursor by character, word, sentence, or paragraph.
• Virtual D-Pad for navigating the Android user interface.
• Global TalkBack commands enable one-click access to oft-used commands.

1.2 TalkBack Keyboard

The TalkBack Keyboard is an Accessible Input Method (Accessible IME) that when activated enables you to enter and review text via the touch screen. To use this feature, you need to first activate the TalkBack keyboard via the Language and Keyboard option in the Settings menu. Next, customize the TalkBack Keyboard to taste via the TalkBack Keyboard Settings option --- here, you can customize additional features including auditory feedback as you type. Finally, open your favorite editing application, long-press on an edit field, and select TalkBack keyboard as your default IME. Note that you need do this only once; once the TalkBack keyboard has been made the default, it persists across reboots.

1.3 Entering Text On The Touch Screen

TalkBack keyboard is an on-screen keyboard that supports touch exploration along with synchronized spoken and auditory feedback. This means you can now enter text when using devices that don't sport a physical keyboard.

But wait, there's more here than meets the finger at first touch. Once you have activated the TalkBack Keyboard, you can switch the keyboard among three states by long-pressing the volume up/down buttons:

Hidden

The TalkBack keyboard is not displayed.

Navigating

You get access to an on-screen virtual D-Pad, along with Back, Home, Search, and Menu buttons.

Typing

An on-screen qwerty keyboard.

My preferred means of using the keyboard is to turn on auditory feedback from within TalkBack Keyboard Settings, as well as having SoundBack active. In this mode, you hear keys as you explore the keyboard along with an auditory icon; picking up your finger types the last key you explored. Typing produces a distinctive key-click.

The on-screen keyboard occupies the bottom 1/3 of your screen. While entering text, explore and find the top row, then move above it to hear what you have typed so far.

1.4 Reviewing Text By Character, Word, Sentence Or Paragraph

You can now navigate and review text by character, word, sentence or paragraph. Use a two-finger tap to move forward through these navigation levels; a two-finger double tap moves in the reverse direction. Once you have selected your preferred mode of navigation, you can use Up/Down on the physical track-ball/D-Pad, or alternatively, flick up or down on the virtual D-Pad to move forward or backward through the text being reviewed.

Note that text review works when the TalkBack keyboard is in either/navigating/ or typing mode; personally, I find it less error-prone on keyboard-less devices to first switch to navigating mode when reviewing text, since it is easy to inadvertently enter spurious text otherwise.

1.5 Using The On-Screen Virtual D-Pad

Placing the TalkBack keyboard in navigating mode provides an on-screen virtual D-Pad --- this is especially useful on devices that do not have a physical D-Pad or track-ball on the front of the device. When active, the virtual D-Pad occupies the bottom one-third of the screen, and fast-flicks in that area has the same effect as moving with a D-Pad or track-ball. Tapping anywhere within the virtual D-Pad is the same as clicking with the track-ball.

The corners of the virtual D-Pad also provides Back, Home, Search and Menu buttons --- these are especially useful on devices that lack explicit physical or capacitive buttons for these common Android actions. You can explore the virtual D-pad by moving your finger around the D-Pad area; crossing the top-edge of this area provides haptic and auditory feedback that can be used as an orientation aid in finding the virtual buttons on the corners.

1.6 Global Commands

In addition, selecting the TalkBack Keyboard as your default input method enables a set of global commands that can be accessed from your physical keyboard --- eventually, we will make these available via the soft keyboard as well. Here are a list of the current commands:

Command	Description	Key
Battery	Speaks the current battery level	menu + B
Time	Speaks the current date and time	menu + T
Connectivity	Speaks the connectivity state of each connection: WiFi, 3G, etc	menu + O
Repeat	Repeats the last TalkBack utterance	menu + R
Spell	Spells the last TalkBack utterance	menu + S

These shortcuts are listed in the Accessibility Preferences application where they can be edited. You can choose between menu and search for the modifier, and any letter on the keyboard for the letter.

1.7 Summary

All of these features work on Android 2.2 and above. In addition, TalkBack makes WebView accessible in Honeycomb --- look for a separate announcement about accessibility enhancements that are exclusive to the Honeycomb release in the coming weeks.

Author: T.V Raman

Date: 2011-03-16 Wed

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Eyes-Free Shell Refreshed

We just refreshed Eyes-Free Shell on Android Market with a long-overdue set of improvements that have been waiting to launch. Here is a brief summary of user-visible changes:

User Customizable Home Screen

You can now add additional pages of short-cuts to the home screen. You can flip through these pages of short-cuts by tapping the left or right edge of the screen. Pressing the menu key within a page of shortcuts allows you to customize the short-cuts on that page; it also provides controls for inserting new short-cut pages.

One-Click Uninstall

The default way of managing applications in Android requires many clicks through nested menus --- this is especially true when uninstalling applications. The Eyes-Free Shell now lets you uninstall applications by pressing menu while in the applications list .

I18N

Spanish and Chinese strings for Eyes-Free Shell.

And many more underlying changes too numerous to fit in this margin. Speak, Listen, And Enjoy!

Intersection Explorer --- Now Intersections Sound Even Better

We just updated Intersection Explorer on Android Market. This version improves on the initial launch by providing more intuitive descriptions for intersections, I'll include some examples below:

T-Intersection

Minor Street ends in Main Street to form a T-Intersection Depending on where you explore from, you hear:

• Currently at Minor Street ends in Main Street
• Currently at right on to Minor Street from Main Street.
• Currently at left on to Minor Street from Main Street.

Plus-Intersection

Given the 4-way intersection of Castro Street and El Camino, you hear one of the following depending on the direction you're exploring:

• Currently at Castro Street crosses El Camino
• Currently at El Camino crosses Castro Street.

And a lot more than will fit this margin --- explore, share and enjoy!

Walking About With A Talking Android

1 Walking About With a Talking Android

I have long relied on spoken directions from Google Maps on the desktop. As I access more and more of my online world through my Android phone, Google's recent announcement of GMM4.5 enhanced with walking directions means that I now have superior functionality to what I have enjoyed at my desk --- but now with the added benefit of having it all in my pocket!

Inclusion of step-by-step walking directions on Android now allows me to specify a destination on my TalkBack enabledeyes-free Android device, and have these spoken to me as I walk. But wait, there's more!

We're launching a new member of our Eyes-Free family of programs for Android --- WalkyTalky that goes hand-in-hand with spoken walking directions from Google Maps to better navigate the physical world. In addition,application Intersection Explorer allows me to explore the layout of streets using touch before venturing out with WalkyTalky.

1.1 WalkyTalky

WalkyTalky is an Android application that speaks the address of nearby locations as you pass them. It also provides more direct access to the walking directions component of Google Maps. With WalkyTalky installed, you can:

• Launch WalkyTalky to specify a destination,
• Either specify the destination by address, or pick from favorites or recently visited locations,
• And in addition to spoken walking directions,
• Hear street addresses as you walk by.

These spoken updates, in conjunction with the walking directions that are spoken by Google Maps help me navigate the physical world as efficiently as I navigate the Internet.

1.2 Intersection Explorer

Often, I like exploring a neighborhood to learn the layout of the streets before actually venturing out with my trusty companion,Hubbell Labrador, and this is where Intersection Explorer comes into its own. Using this application, I can explore any neighborhood on Google Maps via touch exploration.

1.2.1 How It Works

• Intersection Explorer starts off at the user's current location.
• One can change the start position by entering an address, to do this, press menu and click on new location.
• Once the map has loaded, touching the screen speaks the streets at the nearest intersection.
• Moving one's finger along a compass direction, and then tracing a circle speaks each street at that intersection along with the associated compass direction.
• Presence of streets is cued by a slight vibration as one traces the circle.
• Lifting up the finger when on a street moves in that direction to the next intersection, speaks the distance moved, and finally speaks the newly arrived-at intersection.

1.3 Summary

Together, Intersection Explorer and WalkyTalky, in conjunction with Walking Directions from Google Maps brings a new level ofaccess to my physical world. I use these tools in conjunction with other Maps-based applications such as the Places Directory on Android --- this is another application from the Google Maps team that works fluently with TalkBack on Android to help me find nearby attractions or other locations of interest.

So next time you take your trusty Android out for a walk, make sure to give these new tools a spin --- you can report back on your experience via our Eyes-Free Group.

Applications WalkyTalky and Intersection Explorer can be downloaded from the Android Market.Share And Enjoy, and as usual, remember, The Best Is Yet To Come!

Author: T.V Raman

Date: 2010-09-09 Thu

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QR Code for WalkyTalky:



QR Code for Intersection Explorer: