Re: Use Core Text for Cocoa Emacs

[covici@ccs.covici.com]

Jason Rumney <jasonr@gnu.org> wrote:

> On 20/05/2010 10:59, covici@ccs.covici.com wrote:
> >> If I activate VoiceOver from the System Preferences as described above
> >> and click the Emacs frame, then the whole content area (i.e., other
> >> than the title bar and the tool bar, but including scroll bars) of the
> >> frame gets bordered in black, and the application name ("Emacs"), the
> >> title bar name, and the buffer text get spoken in this order.  But the
> >> cursor keys do not cause the character under the cursor to be spoken.
> >>
> >> If this is heading to the right direction, then Core Text vs. NS Text
> >> system, both of which are used in the Mac port, has basically nothing
> >> to do with accessibility.
> >>      
> > Yep, you are going in the right direction -- menues, prompts, buttons
> > and all such should be spoken.  Look at the system preferences dialog
> > and you will get an idea.  Look at textedit and you will get an idea of
> > what we  would like the cursor to do.
> >    
> 
> Is this because Emacs draws its own cursor?
> 
> On Windows, accessibility functions were made to work by introducing
> the variable `w32-use-visible-system-caret' and its associated code in
> w32fns.c/w32term.c.  When the user sets that variable to non-nil, the
> Windows caret is used, which allows Accessibility tools to track the
> cursor position and read text at the cursor, at the expense of losing
> user customization of the visual look of the text cursor.
> 

On the mac, the accessibility framework is more restrictive -- its up to
the application to conform to Apple's specifications.  I don't think
that changing the shape of the cursor would do the trick, the
accessibility framework needs to be informed about everything, when the
cursor moves and many other things, the details of which I do not know,
but as an example, Microsoft Word is complete inaccessible on the mac,
Microsoft won't conform and Apple says heck with you -- in other words.

-- 
Your life is like a penny.  You're going to lose it.  The question is:
How do
you spend it?

         John Covici
         covici@ccs.covici.com