Apple applications: Access for All?

Posted by Pierre Igot in: iTunes, Macintosh
August 7th, 2004 • 3:20 am

MacWorld UK reports on the fact that Apple has just published extensive documentation to “encourage developers to add Universal Access features to applications“.

This information is available on Apple’s Developer Connection site.

Cool. Maybe someone could send a polite reminder to Apple regarding support for Universal Access in their own applications. (I’ve sent enough reminders myself. I am afraid I can no longer send polite ones.)

For example, someone could tell Apple that its flagship music player application iTunes doesn’t even support properly Full Keyboard Access. Check out this dialog box:

iTunes - No Full Keyboard Access

Where’s the blue halo indicating where the Full Keyboard Access focus is? It’s nowhere to be seen. No matter how many times you hit the Tab key, nothing happens.

Sure, you can use the Return key to hit the “No” button, the Escape key to hit the “Cancel” button, and the “Y” key to hit the “Yes” button. But that “Y” key behaviour is non-standard. And Full Keyboard Access is habit-forming. Once you’re used to using it to go from control to control in dialog boxes, you expect it to be always there. It’s not there in this dialog box. Yet more inconsistency on Apple’s part — and not exactly a glowing example of “Access for All“.

(Let’s not even mention the fact that FileMaker Pro, developed by a fully-owned Apple subsidiary, still doesn’t support Full Keyboard Access at all.)


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