Wednesday June 21, 2006

Another ODF accessibility option on Windows: ODF plug-in to MS-Office

The two big issues around ODF accessibility are:

• Whether the file format persists all of the information and structure needed for proper accessibility, and
  
• Whether one or more ODF applications are supported by the sophisticated assistive technologies used by people with disabilities [and specifically are supported to a similar level of efficiency and productivity for people with disabilities]

As I've reported here, the file format concerns are well in hand. That leaves the second issue we need to address. And as I noted in the survey last November, there are lot of different issues and needs that arise from the different sorts of disabilities folks are dealing with. As much as things are improving (with increasing support for applications like StarOffice/OpenOffice.org and IBM Workplace by assistive technologies in Windows and on UNIX), there is an incredibly rich ecosystems of assistive technology products in use, especially on Windows designed specifically to work well with Microsoft Office. The full richness of those offerings cannot be replicated overnight (even as applications like the GNOME On-Screen Keyboard and the Dasher alternative text entry system offer more efficiency and productivity than Windows counterparts with MS-Office).

Which is why I'm delighted by the 7 responses to the ODF Plug-in Request for Information issued by the Massachusetts Information Technology Division. These responses outline approaches to add ODF reading/writing (or importing/exporting) functionality into Microsoft Office. With such functionality in place, users of existing assistive technologies on Windows could continue to use them with their copies of Microsoft Office - only now they would be doing so with ODF files (rather than simply those file formats that Microsoft Office happens to support directly).

Going this "plug-in" route doesn't obviate the need to improve native assistive technology support for ODF applications. But it does mean that while such support improves and matures, existing Microsoft Office users who have an effective working environment need not be disrupted, or moved to a different environment that impacts their efficiency or productivity - before it and they are ready. A "plug-in" offers the option of waiting until their specific needs are met (or perhaps even exceeded) with the alternatives being developed now.

Over the coming months it will be very interesting to see how the "plug-in" options presented in response to the RFI are reviewed by Massachusetts, and whether they go forward with one or more of them, (and how their testing of them with assistive technologies pans out). (2006-06-21 00:05:00.0) Permalink Comments [1]