compiz doesn't "talk" when switching windows

[Steve Kowalik]

Binary package hint: compiz

When using Metacity with a11y enabled, the window switcher will speak the name of window that is about to be switched to. Switching to compiz in Feisty Fawn at least, and it doesn't speak. Given that compiz will be the default window manager, and you can't be certain that a visually-impared user will have a sub-standard video card, it should speak.

[Joanmarie (joanmarie-diggs-deactivatedaccount)]

Steps to reproduce:

1. Install Accerciser (http://live.gnome.org/Accerciser) - a tool for checking products for their accessibility.

2. Select gtk-window-decorator. Then in the Event Monitor select "selected application" as the source and press the Select All button.

3. Use Alt+Tab to switch among your open windows.

Expected results: A bunch of events would appear in the event monitor.

Actual results: No events whatsoever appear in the event monitor.

Impact: Screen readers such as Orca are not able to speak or braille what is being displayed on the screen, therefore a user who is blind has no way of knowing what is selected in the Alt+Tab list.

This is on a fully-updated Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon box.

[Joanmarie (joanmarie-diggs-deactivatedaccount)]

I just opened a bug upstream: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=12292

[Joanmarie (joanmarie-diggs-deactivatedaccount)]

Ping. :-)

I'm now running the latest Ubuntu Hardy Heron and am still seeing this issue.

Thanks in advance for anything you can do on this!!

[Luke Yelavich (themuso)]

I'm untagging this bug, as there is a work-around, which most people affected by this issue would do anyway. The workaround is simply to switch back to using metacity as the window manager. I have done this for the accessibility profiles on the hardy live CD, so it won't affect users.

However, this should be looked at in greater deatil for Intrepid, as compiz does give some useful features, especially for people with low vision, making use of the eZoom plugin.

[Danny Baumann (dannybaumann)]

Fixed in commit
http://gitweb.freedesktop.org/?p=xorg/app/compiz.git;a=commit;h=6884b4858b8f9a51e298e4b169328e1462dea099

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

fixed upstream.

[Hew (hew)]

Is this fix included already in Intrepid with compiz 0.7.7?

[Joanmarie (joanmarie-diggs-deactivatedaccount)]

Yes. Sadly, there are other issues. See:

* http://bugs.opencompositing.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1027
* http://bugs.opencompositing.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1028

As a result, even with the upstream fix in question, compiz still won't "talk" (well, or at all) when switching windows in Intrepid if the thing which is to be doing the "talking" is Orca. :-(

[Hew (hew)]

Thanks for your comment. Since this bugfix has landed in Ubuntu, I am marking the bug as Fix Released. The other bugs are already upstream (with one of them fixed), but if you wish to have them tracked by Launchpad for Ubuntu, you should open new reports since they are separate issues. Thanks again!