Things You Can Do Yourself
- 12.1.1. Before You Start
- 12.1.2. Keyboard Access and Focus
- 12.1.3. Theming, Colors and Contrast
- 12.1.4. Animation
12.1.1. Before You Start
Write down the type of people you expect to use your application. Then write some "scenarios" for each type of user— a little story that describes the typical tasks those users will use your application for. These tasks should be along the lines of:
Fred needs to find an email about widgets that he received last week
rather than
Fred clicks on the button and types widgets into the dialog.
This way, you can use the same scenarios to test and compare different interface designs, and to spot any missing functionality.
Include these user descriptions and scenarios with the documentation you commit to CVS. This way, other contributors will get to understand your users too, can help to develop the application with that knowledge, and can provide more scenarios of their own.
12.1.2. Keyboard Access and Focus
When you have started implementing your interface, hide your mouse, and make sure you can still use it to do everything using only the keyboard. Implement keyboard functionality at the same time as mouse functionality— don't leave it until the end.
Using only keyboard commands, move the focus through all menu bars and toolbars in the application. Also confirm that:
- Context sensitive menus display correctly (Shift+F10).
- Tooltips can be popped up and down for all controls that have them (Ctrl+F1, Esc).
- All functions listed on the toolbar can be performed using the keyboard.
- You can fully operate every control in the client area of the application and dialogs.
- Text and objects within the client area can be selected.
- Any keyboard enhancements or shortcut keys are working as designed.
- Verify that when moving among objects, the visual focus indicator is easy to identify at all times.
12.1.3. Theming, Colors and Contrast
Test various GNOME themes to ensure that your application respects all the available settings.
Test your application with black and white, high contrast themes and confirm that all information is still conveyed correctly. If you don't have a suitable high contrast GNOME theme available to test, print off some screenshots in black and white (not greyscale) and make sure all the important information is still visible— this will approximate what a high contrast theme user will see.
12.1.4. Animation
Ensure you have implemented an option to turn off any animation in your application (for accessibility reasons), and that it is working as designed. Turn the animation off. Confirm that all information is still conveyed correctly.