/srv/irclogs.ubuntu.com/2011/06/24/#ubuntu-accessibility.txt

leagrisHello!08:26
AlanBellhi leagris 08:26
leagrisI feel concerned and worried about current and upcomming changes in Ubuntu that affect accessibility.09:12
leagrisAs a visually impaired, I strongly rely on compiz with enhanced zoom ezoom feature controlable with mous wheel and <super> modifier.09:13
leagrisSince natty, the default controls for ezoom where reset to a disabled default.09:14
leagrisThe needed mouse tracking was default to 40ms which is way too jercky09:14
leagrisI partly solved the above issues with ccsm, re-establishiing the controls with mouse and keyboard and lowering the mouse tracking to 2ms09:15
leagrisBut the Unity desktop still steal the <super> modifier key so I can not control ezoom zooming level while holding <super> and wheel <button4/5>09:16
AlanBellleagris: yeah totally agree, a load of the useful keybindings have just been turned off09:16
leagrisThe Unity thing is advertised as a replacment for classic desktop in next upcoming ubuntu releases09:17
leagrisI feel very worried about that.09:17
AlanBellyes, the idea is to have unity 3d and unity 2d09:17
AlanBellwhere is the mouse tracking setting leagris? I can't see it in ccsm09:20
leagristhat and the advertised removal of synaptic in favour of the less controllable software-manager are major worrying changes.09:20
leagrisAlanBell, Utility → Mouse Position Polling09:21
leagrisThird row in first column of the Utility section inside CCSM09:22
leagristhe setting is Mouse poll interval09:23
leagriscurrently at 8 with acceptable low jitter09:23
leagristhe default 40 is way too long09:23
AlanBellyeah that does make things smoother09:23
leagrisBefore natty the default was 1009:24
leagrissomeone decided that change for some unknown reason09:24
AlanBellyeah, I was meaning to find out how these settings are decided09:25
AlanBellI think the mouse poll interval should probably relate to the screen refresh rate09:26
leagrisAlanBell, yes it should, or to save some CPU cycles it should be put at a reasonable frequency09:27
AlanBellgah, thanks to the Americans laptop screens have a 60Hz tick09:28
leagris40ms in an ezoomed environment makes it difficult tu track anything on screen due to the jumpy effect.09:28
leagriss/tu/to09:28
AlanBellI actually found 40ms to be OK, I thought it was just my graphics card and big screen causing a slight lack of smoothness09:29
AlanBellbut having turned it to 2ms I can see that is smoother09:29
AlanBellI expect 2ms is going to be a performance problem on some hardware though09:29
leagristhe smoothing is much noticeable on a CRT that has no delay09:30
leagrisVsyked changes on a CRT is the most smooth setting available :)09:31
leagrisVSynked09:31
AlanBellyeah09:31
AlanBell10ms wasn't chosen by accident09:31
AlanBellit is 6 frames at 60hz and 5 frames at 50hz09:31
leagrisSure, and why has it changed to default 40 in Natty. I really wonder.09:32
AlanBellconspiracy or cockup is the question09:32
leagrislol, 09:33
AlanBellit might be in response to a performance issue on weak hardware, in which case it probably stays there by default09:33
AlanBellor it could have been done by accident09:33
leagrisMy guess this is a red light on the need for disabled user to  voice louder about their needs at Ubuntu :)09:34
AlanBellto be fair though, the mouse polling setting isn't really an accessibility specific thing, it probably makes all sorts of plugins less smooth09:35
leagrisI fear compiz is seen as some gimmick for most healthy geeks and CEO there09:35
AlanBellnot really, aesthetic design is considered important these days, thanks in part to Apple09:36
AlanBelland unity is built on compiz09:36
AlanBelland yeah, they broke it quite a bit when putting it together09:37
leagrisThe poor zooming tool in Windows7 is what took me away from it even when pressured to that environment du to job requirements09:38
AlanBelldo you want text cursor tracking in ezoom?09:39
leagrisI dream of that feature AlanBell with some options to enable disable, track timing and panning speed09:40
AlanBellit is on my todo list09:40
leagrisas for example I wouldn't want my screen panning abruptly while typing and the cursor reaching end of a line09:40
leagrisCurrently I disable zoom panning/tracking of active window as it is an annoyance having the pointer and zoom area changing because of some modal or other popup thing09:42
AlanBellwhat should it do at the end of a line?09:43
leagristhis is Focus Tracking in ezoom. I find it quite inconvenient09:43
leagrisat least I disable fitting zoom level at focus change09:43
leagrisAlanBell, at a guess if the cursor jump whatever direction some small amount, the zoom area should follow instantly and conveniently with some tunable smoothness09:45
leagrisif the cursor move some more than limit, a short delay then an accelerating move would be nice.09:46
leagrisThis would let eyes accomodate the fact, that the cursor moved far away, (let si it has moved out of here), then the accelerateing panning would help the eyes guess the direction and no relative position.09:48
AlanBellok09:48
leagrisI guess these should be a settable preference as needs may vary between users09:49
leagrissomeone may prefer instant position change, someone else may like some more delay or some other limit on defining small/big position change09:50
leagristhis probably needs some try/error/tune before having proper settings09:51
AlanBellI think that should be do-able09:52
leagrisAlanBell, if you can develop this you are my divinity :)09:52
leagrisAlanBell, seriously, if ou take time and work for this. It is so important I'd happily contribute testing and sponsor your work with real funds. Not so much sure but hope to cover some hard developer work hours.09:55
leagrisAlanBell send me an email lea dot gris at noiraude dot net or a message via launchpad09:57
leagrishttps://launchpad.net/~lea-gris09:58
* leagris take a break10:00
=== TheDaniel0108 is now known as Daniel0108
=== kinoucho` is now known as kinouchou
leagrisI got to go, thanks all especially AlanBell15:03
=== TheDaniel0108 is now known as Daniel0108

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