Microsoft Re-Positions Accessibility Functions in Vista

Microsoft’s accessibility guru Rob Haverty disclosed in a recent interview that accessibility features in the upcoming Vista operating system will go by the new name, "Ease of Access."

Microsoft research shows that over then 57 percent of Windows users would benefit from accessibility features, but do not necessarily identify themselves as being disabled. That is why Windows Vista will focus on ease-of-access functions rather than accessibility functionality targeted specifically for people with a disability.

“Ease of Access is one of the thirteen key elements of the new Vista system,” says Haverty. Some changes are small like replacing the wheelchair icon that represents current accessibility options with a more generic icon that more users will respond to. It is a first step towards the broader use of the already useful accessibility features in Windows.

In the first Beta versions of Vista, Axistive testers found all Ease of Access tools (Narrator, Magnifier, Sticky-keys, etc.) in the Ease of Access screen. New to the system were the extended Speech Recognition and a Windows Ease of Use recommendation Wizard. This last wizard offers suggested Ease of Use features after a five-step wizard with multiple choice questions. The wizard is a nice feature to get people using the accessibility features of Windows Vista, with explanatory statements like, “On TV, faces or text are often hard to see clearly (even when wearing glasses or contact lenses).”

The new UI Automation platform underneath the Vista surface give assistive technology designers a better and more uniform output of elements like buttons, forms, text and labels. Haverty expects that vendors of assistive technology software will greatly benefit from UI Automation after the transformation of their software to the new UI Automation layer. Assistive technology software like screen readers and magnifiers now capture the video signal or use the Microsoft Active Accessibility (MAA) layer to transport program information to the visually impaired user, but with the UI Automation, Haverty believes that designers can now really focus on innovative products instead of getting the basic information out of the program layers.

Microsoft’s dominant role in many fields will not apply to the accessibility field since there are little new innovations for end users on accessibility in Windows. In the Vista beta program, there is no sign of a new and improved magnifier or narrator with SAPI support, although these improvements were mentioned by Haverty last July. The focus in Vista is the solid UI Automation layer and fully accessible Vista (including all programs shipped with Vista). The rest of the improvements might show up in the official Windows Vista release.