Matt Campbell

https://toot.cafe/@matt

Software developer, formerly at Microsoft, now leader of the AccessKit open-source project (https://accesskit.dev/) and cofounder of Pneuma Solutions (https://pneumasolutions.com/). My current favorite programming language is Rust, but I don't want to make that part of my identity.

Music lover. Karaoke singer. Science fiction fan. Visually impaired (legally blind). Secular humanist

Public Key

npub19nhp7esyu59cw3v3e4jeac5nfy5zwj8cd2m2haa43h3apj58033qmzv7fc

NIP-05 Address

matt_at_toot.cafe@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqszemslvczw2zu8gkgu6ev7u2f5j2p8frux4d4t776cmc7se2rhccsmnmz7h

Author Public Key

npub19nhp7esyu59cw3v3e4jeac5nfy5zwj8cd2m2haa43h3apj58033qmzv7fc

Show more details

Last Notes

2024-08-31 17:30:26

- reply

Good to know, thanks. Both of us who worked on the site have low vision.

2024-08-31 17:27:43

- reply

*checks to make sure the static site's theme doesn't do anything egregious in computational or bandwidth cost*

2024-08-31 17:25:54

- reply

And, come to think of it, why *should* 3 seconds be acceptable, with computers and (some) Internet connections being as fast as they are?

2024-08-31 17:23:44

- reply

I guess it doesn't really matter for my little open-source project site. But then again, by hosting only in North America, I'd be giving preferential treatment to those in or near North America, right? Shouldn't we care about doing what we can to treat everyone equally?

2024-08-31 17:12:50

- reply

Isn't it more like hundreds of milliseconds depending on how far the visitor is from the single server?

2024-08-31 15:00:44

- reply

Yes, and there's a subtle difference between "The solution is [describe solution]" and "The solution is called [proper noun]". It may be the case that the proper noun is the only thing that (currently) implements the described solution, but it still matches a pattern that has negative associations for some. Perhaps I was overly sensitive, but I'm sure I'm not the only one, so I thought it was something worth keeping in mind.

2024-08-31 12:13:32

- reply

> The solution is called Rust.
I use and like Rust, but such a definitive statement ("the solution") does sound uncomfortably like religious propaganda (e.g. "Jesus is the answer"). Just saying we have to be careful about how we advocate for Rust, which is indeed a useful tool.

2024-08-31 10:06:31

About my last boost from @npub1d88…57ex, this makes me ashamed to consider myself part of the Rust community, especially since some of the comments he quoted in the thread were posted in places where the Rust code of conduct are allegedly in force (that is, it's not just Reddit and Hacker News). We've got a problem with tribalism in our community. I know it's not up to me to police the community, but still, what can we do about this?

2024-07-05 20:57:11

- reply

When you say pairing didn't win, do you just mean it didn't become popular, or that it didn't actually work as well as its proponents thought?

2024-07-05 02:49:05

- reply

Is there an existing free chat platform that you particularly think we should invest in? I've used Matrix, particularly the Element web client, during my work on GNOME, and I really don't like Matrix. It seems too complicated and flaky. IRC seems salvageable, except that perhaps too many people have already dismissed it as antiquated (a position I don't agree with).

2024-06-25 22:57:37

- reply

I'm curious about what makes the Xbox and PS5 hard to use. I don't own any of the consoles, but if I were to buy one, the Switch would be my last choice, since it doesn't have a screen reader. Yes, some console games are now accessible to blind people.

2024-06-18 17:51:17

Here's my latest update on Newton, the #Wayland-native, #Flatpak-friendly #accessibility project for the modern #FreeDesktop ecosystem, developed as part of @npub1dug…kxeq and funded by @npub1yng…nhrk. It's not ready for production yet, but this blog post includes a demo video and links to GNOME OS and Flatpak runtime builds you can try. As a bonus, because I'm integrating #AccessKit into #GTK, GTK apps will finally have #a11y on Windows and macOS. https://blogs.gnome.org/a11y/2024/06/18/update-on-newton-the-wayland-native-accessibility-project/

2024-06-18 13:05:14

- reply

You're not being rude at all. Thanks for the recap.

2024-06-18 11:14:22

- reply

I'm curious if you've tested any of these apps with Newton yet.

2024-06-17 11:59:30

- reply

I did see that post. In the accessible name calculation used by the GTK AT-SPI backend, the decision to walk the subtree for some roles (like buttons) but not others (list items) seems to be deliberate. I don't know why. The GTK AccessKit backend is using AccessKit's own name calculation, which currently doesn't walk the subtree for list items either, but I could easily change that.

2024-06-17 11:36:30

- reply

Thanks. So then, if I remember correctly, the only issue you're having with Fractal now is the lack of expanded state on the tree items, right?

2024-06-16 21:24:46

- reply

The next time you update, it's crucial that you update newton_atspi_compat (again from the newton_consumer repo), the AccessKit C bindings, and GTK all at the same time, and restart any running GTK 4 apps using the AccessKit backend before you restart Orca. I made a protocol-breaking change. Also, labels now have the correct role.
I'll look at your other reports later. Thanks again.

2024-06-16 16:32:21

- reply

I think I got flat review working correctly. Please pull the latest update to the newton_consumer repo and rebuild and reinstall the newton_atspi_compat Python package from there.

2024-06-16 15:17:28

- reply

Those differences between the Arch Linux GTK package and my version when using atspi are weird, because, as of a few days ago, my branch is based on GTK 4.14.4, with few modifications to GTK outside of the AccessKit backend itself.

2024-06-16 11:50:11

- reply

Please try my latest Orca update and let me know if it improves flat review for you.

2024-06-16 10:31:24

- reply

Please rebuild the newton_atspi_compat Python package from the newton_consumer repository here: https://gitlab.gnome.org/mwcampbell/newton_consumer
I moved the package so the low-level and high-level Newton consumer crates are consolidated in one repo. And since doing that move, I've pushed a couple of important fixes. Yes, I've updated my Orca README.

2024-06-15 23:58:09

- reply

Would you please test it with your Newton installation and let me know how it compares?
By the way, with the GTK AccessKit branch, you can easily switch back to the AT-SPI backend by setting the GTK_A11Y environment variable to atspi

2024-06-15 23:46:15

- reply

I think I heard the name Fractal before, but didn't know what it was. How accessible is Fractal with AT-SPI?

2024-06-15 23:37:39

- reply

I haven't used gvsbuild yet, but I have built GTK with the Visual Studio tools, just running Meson from a command prompt and letting it pull in dependencies via subprojects. I have also built it using msys2, which is where I've done most of my Windows testing lately, because that was the only way I knew that I could get it working with gnome-text-editor for some real-world GtkTextView testing.

2024-06-15 23:07:37

- reply

Hi, thanks a lot for building and testing.
Yes, the GTK AccessKit branch is already working on Windows. And it shouldn't be hard to make it work on macOS; I just have to write a bit of platform-specific code and figure out how to build on that platform.
I need to look into the first two bug reports. As for the third one, about stopping and restarting Orca, I think that's actually the same issue I'm working on right now.

2024-06-11 20:27:47

Why is it that, as [@graydon](https://types.pl/@graydon ) recently put it, "obviously audio configuration on Linux remains a complete disaster in the year of our lord twenty twenty four"? (see https://graydon2.dreamwidth.org/312887.html)
My guess: nobody has ever paid an individual or single team to design, implement, and polish a coherent audio stack from the ground up. I wonder, though, how much would actually need to be replaced to solve this long-standing problem. Does the ALSA kernel subsystem have design flaws, or only userspace?

2024-05-17 21:38:05

- reply

Instructions for setting up the whole stack are in the README on my branch of Orca: https://gitlab.gnome.org/mwcampbell/orca/tree/newton The instructions assume some familiarity with building and installing system components like GTK and Mutter using Meson, in a way that doesn't break your distro installation or on a throwaway system. Let me know if you have any trouble, or if you get it working.

2024-05-17 21:34:21

I recorded a quick demo of the current state of the Wayland-native accessibility stack I'm developing for @npub1dug…kxeq (and eventually other free desktops), code-named Newton. In the demo, I run the GNOME Podcasts app on the Newton accessibility stack, using my GTK branch that integrates AccessKit. So in principle, the same app should also work on Windows, and soon, macOS. The demo was featured in the latest edition of This Week in GNOME: https://thisweek.gnome.org/posts/2024/05/twig-148/ This work is funded by @npub1yng…nhrk.

2024-05-16 10:46:59

To follow up on the post from @npub1hpw…cd0d that I just boosted (https://fosstodon.org/@fedora/112450335722898487), I'd like to thank @npub1yng…nhrk for funding my work on @npub1dug…kxeq accessibility, and acknowledge that they're also funding other, more immediate work on GNOME accessibility, including the Spiel speech framework (https://project-spiel.org/) and a variety of improvements to the Orca screen reader. My project might be getting the most attention, but it's not the only important work happening in this area.