Introducing The Android Accessibility Framework

Starting with Android 1.6, fondly known as Donut, the platform includes an Accessibility API that makes it easy to implement adaptive technology such as screenreaders. Android 1.6 comes with a built-in screenreader called TalkBack that provides spoken feedback when using Android applications written in Java.

The next few videos will progressively introduce TalkBack, SoundBack and KickBack, a suite of programs that augment the Android user interface with alternative output.

All of these special utilities are available through option Accessibility in the Android Settings menu. Once activated, the accessibility settings are persistent across reboots, i.e., you need enable these tools only once.

Notice that because I have accessibility enabled on my phone, all user actions produce relevant auditory feedback. Thus, each item is spoken as I move through the various options in the settings menu. The spoken feedback also indicates the state of an item as appropriate.

Activating SoundBack produces non-spoken auditory feedback; KickBack produces haptic feedback.

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