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These APIs have existed for like three or more decades for desktop apps. That's partly why most desktop UI toolkits are based on tree of widgets: Mac and Window
by jcelerier 5y ago
These APIs have existed for like three or more decades for desktop apps. That's partly why most desktop UI toolkits are based on tree of widgets: Mac and Windows's native accessibility APIs expect a tree
- mwcampbell 5y agoFWIW, the oldest accessibility API was Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA), which was added to Windows 95 in a service pack in 1997. Classic MacOS never had an accessibility API; the Outspoken screen reader for that OS had to rely exclusively on ugly hacks (e.g. patching Toolbox functions). OS X introduced accessibility APIs for Carbon and Cocoa in an early version; not sure which one. Unix-based desktop environments got an accessibility API, AT-SPI (thank you Sun), in the early 2000s.
- jcelerier 5y agowell TIL, I believed accessibility to already be there by the late 80s, in NeXT workstations and the first windows versions but it looks like that was not the case.