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Let's say I'm implementing an application blind users should be able to use (not an FPS game or drawing program). Aren't GUIs a pain in the butt even when prope

Let's say I'm implementing an application blind users should be able to use (not an FPS game or drawing program). Aren't GUIs a pain in the butt even when properly implemented with the right accessibility hooks? How about writing a command line version of the program? Wouldn't that be much more accessible? I'm not even thinking ncurses, I'm thinking about a REPL, or even non-interactive like grep or awk.

mwcampbell 9y ago
Blind programmers and sysadmins sometimes prefer command-line tools. But most blind people are now thoroughly accustomed to GUIs. An accessible GUI can be very usable. IMO, it's much better than using a screen reader with a screen-oriented terminal application (ncurses or the like). If you're skeptical, I can put together a little demo of one or two use cases on Windows and/or the iPhone.
- loup-vaillant 9y ago
  > IMO, it's much better than using a screen reader with a screen-oriented terminal application (ncurses or the like). I suspected as much, which is why I was thinking purely REPL/batch stuff. On the REPL end, I was thinking programming languages (Python, Lua, Lisp, OCaml…), and stuff like gdb. On the batch end, I was thinking utilities like grep or awk, compilers, or ImageMagick. In other words, stuff that would work well with a printer. I personally have a concrete use case in mind: file encryption, and password manager. I intend to write a first version for the command line, because it will be smaller and easier to write. Then I may do GUI versions. I was wondering to what extent the accessibility of the GUI version even matters, considering how simple the command line version would be.