Orca: an open source scriptable screen reader

Orca is an open source scriptable screen reader. The development of Orca has been led by the Accessibility Program Office of Sun Microsystems, Inc. with contributions from many community members. For more information and to download Orca, see http://live.gnome.org/Orca.

Using various combinations of speech, braille, and magnification, Orca is designed to work with applications and toolkits that support the assistive technology service provider interface (AT-SPI). This includes the GNOME desktop and its applications, OpenOffice, Firefox, and the Java platform. Some applications work better than others, however, and the Orca community continually works to provide compelling access to more and more applications.

On the Accessible Applications page at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/AccessibleApps, you will find a growing list of information regarding various applications that can be accessed with Orca as well as tips and tricks for using them. The list is not to be a conclusive list of all applications. Rather, the goal is to provide a repository within which users can share experiences regarding applications they have tested.

Anyone with an interest in improving the GNOME Desktop Accessibility Guide (user section), please review the latest edits at http://www.snoringbeagle.net/gag.html and direct all corrections, suggestions, etc. to vpalexander@gmail.com - your input is greatly appreciated!

Darragh Ó Héiligh has created several audio guides for Orca. The audio guides can be found at http://www.digitaldarragh.com/linuxat.asp