menu items missing on fresh install of Ubuntu

[Francesco Fumanti]

I just installed a fresh copy of Intrepid alpha 6 and there are no onboard items in the Applications menu, though onboard gets installed by default.

By using the Main Menu control panel I was able to find them disabled between the items of the "System->Preferences" menu; I would have expected them under the "Universal Access" menu.

[marmuta (marmuta)]

This is still an issue on Intrepid RC.

I too was looking for onboard first in Applications->Universal Access and only found its menu entry after reading this bug report.

There are now two hidden entries under System->Preferences, one for configuring it and another for running it. My suggestion is to leave "onboard settings" where it is now in preferences and move "onboard" to the "Universal Access" menu.

[Francesco Fumanti (frafu)]

A few comments on the patch above:

The patch for trunk makes the onBoard and onBoard Settings item appear in the Universal Access menu. The tradeoff is that they disappear from the Control Center window. Unfortunately, I was not able to make them simultaneously appear in the Universal Access menu and in the Control Center. Does anybody know if that would be possible?

A comment for those that followed the manipulation with the Main Menu control panel explained above: they have to delete the onboard entries in ~/local/share/applications/

[Francesco Fumanti (frafu)]

The patch that ends with 2.diff fixes additionally the Homepage and Vcs-Bzr entries in debian/control. To be applied to trunk (as for the previous patch).

[Chris Jones (tortoise)]

I assume that now Orca has a menu item that Onboard can too? I need to hear from one of the Ubuntu devs about this before I commit Francesco's patch because every time I add a menu item for Onboard it gets patched out.

[Francesco Fumanti (frafu)]

I have set up a PPA where I post new packages with the changes that I make to onboard. You can download from there a version of onboard with menu items that appear in the Universal Access menu. Please, be aware that I am rather new at this; so if you are going to use, it is at your own risk.

You can find the PPA here:
https://edge.launchpad.net/~onboard-pointer-users/+archive

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

RELEASE: Maverick Meerkat
CD/DVD VARIANT: all images for Ubuntu and Xubuntu
ISO BUILD: Installed and up to date Maverick as of 2010-08-22

SYMPTOMS:
Onboard onscreen keyboard is installed by default. Unfortunately, it is only available if the command is typed into a terminal or Alt+F2. If this keyboard is required, normally it is because the external keyboard is unavailable to the user.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE:

   1. Install Maverick Meerkat, Ubuntu or Xubuntu
   2. Check all the menus for Onboard Keyboard

This needs to be mouse selectable or a keyboard shortcut to be usable.

[Chris Wilson (notgary-deactivatedaccount)]

Triaged in hundred paper cuts, as per comment #7.

[Chris Wilson (notgary-deactivatedaccount)]

Does this need to go upstream, or this just a problem with Ubuntu?

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

This is a problem with Ubuntu. Ubuntu has been removing the menu entry for all releases. We need to re=-enable that entry to make Onboard show up in the menus. The application is harder for those who need it when they have to have someone else type in the terminal to get it started for them.

[Chris Wilson (notgary-deactivatedaccount)]

In that case, I'll close the upstream task.

[Jani Monoses (jani)]

I talked to seb128 from the desktop team and apparently omitting this is due to decluttering menu entries. And that there is supposed to be an easy way to start onboard when booting with a11y enabled.
Charlie, Chris what is your opinion?

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

Why are we removing accessibility items when we need to declutter? By virtue of having accessibility, that person is already working harder then the average user to use Ubuntu. Did anyone tell you the easy way to start this? In my experience, that means, just open a terminal and type the application name. If that is the easy way, why have a menu?

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

Seriously, the Onboard Keyboard application is used by those needing a one-touch keyboard or who have difficulty using the standard (multi-finger) keyboards. To have no way for them to even discover the Onboard Keyboard exists seems a bit silly. It really doesn't add clutter to have one more entry in the menu, put it under accessories, where it fits nicely, and can be used. Instead, the easy way is to expect the individual who can not type easily, to first ask enough people to find out an on-screen keyboard even exists, then discover a way to start it, so they can tell the OS to run that application when they log in.

[Francesco Fumanti (frafu)]

[quote]
there is supposed to be an easy way to start onboard when booting with a11y enabled
[/quote]
Onboard does not depend on the accessibility framework. Onboard is a rather simple onscreen keyboard and thus it wanted to avoid the issues involved when running at-spi.

[quote]
In my experience, that means, just open a terminal and type the application name.
[/quote]
I would even go further: I suppose that the typical onscreen keyboard user does not have a hardware keyboard; so he can't type the name of an application in the terminal.

Fortunately, GDM has the accessibility icon that opens the accessibility dialog where the user can start onboard; otherwise the users needing an onscreen keyboard would not even be able to log in. However, automatically starting the onscreen keyboard in the desktop session when the user started it during the GDM session also does not solve the problem: if the user for example closes the onscreen keyboard by accident; he would have to search for it in a situation where he would not be able to type.

Experienced users might click with the mouse through the file manager to go into the /usr/bin folder and start it from there; or open the Main Menu to unhide the desktop entries (supposing he knows about their existance). But should Ubuntu not be the distribution also usable by unexperienced people?

Anyway, I find the situation a bit odd: onboard is an onscreen keyboard that was submitted by Ubuntu as a GSOC project because they wanted an onscreen keyboard that was easy to use. So why not make it more easily accessible (in other words: more easy to find and start) by people that are not initiated about onscreen keyboards or that are new to Ubuntu!?

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

I would even submit it is close to useless to enable Onboard at the GDM login screen. It can not be used to enter the password, so most users that require it will not even have login required. They don't have a chance to enable anything at GDM because they choose automatic login when installing Ubuntu.

[Penelope Stowe (pendulum)]

If you're using OnBoard, you probably can't type or can't type easily. It makes no sense to hide it where someone either needs to type to bring it up (which he or she can't do) or know how to find it when he or she probably needs OnBoard before being able to do anything else.

Personally, I've been frustrated with how accessibility items have disappeared from the default menu (some of which now don't even seem to exist in GUI form when they used to) as it makes it harder for me as a user who needs them to find them. As a result, I feel I can't recommend Ubuntu to friends who need accessibility features since they have to search a lot harder than they would on Windows or MacOS and it's a lot harder to set up. Sadly this is something we've actually removed in functionality as I remember in Feisty a lot of these things existing being easy to find and easy to set-up.

Also, in general, making OnBoard easier to find will make it easier for people using Ubuntu on a tablet to find it to use it. The more it gets hidden away (or removed to things that require typing), the harder it will be to encourage more people to try Ubuntu on the tablet or other similar set-ups.

[Francesco Fumanti (frafu)]

[quote]
It can not be used to enter the password
[/quote]

Onboard CAN be used to enter the password at GDM ! (if automatic login is not enabled)

Indeed, on the bottom panel there is an icon resembling a man; it is the accessibility icon (the usual wheelchair icon instead of the vetruvian man icon might be easier to understand). Clicking on it will open the accessibility dialog. In the accessibility dialog there is a checkbox named: Type without a keyboard. By activating that checkbox, onboard will appear at the GDM screen.

Of course, for computers used by only one person, it is probably more straightforward to activate automatic login.

[quote]
... it makes it harder for me as a user who needs them to find them. As a result, I feel I can't recommend Ubuntu to friends who need accessibility features...

The more it gets hidden away (or removed to things that require typing), the harder it will be to encourage more people to try Ubuntu on the tablet or other similar set-ups.
[/quote]

Unfortunately, I can only agree !!!

[Jani Monoses (jani)]

The ubuntu-desktop mailing list is probably a better place to raise the issue of a11y being impacted by decluttering.

[Andrea Grandi (andreagrandi)]

Ubuntu has not those kind of menu anymore and Unity let you find "Onboard" if you type its name, so I think this bug should be invalid now.

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

Actually, this bug applies to more than just Ubuntu 11.10. Since the menus are still valid in Ubuntu 10.04, this bug is still valid. As for unity, if you are a visually disabled user, "just type Onboard" can be very frustrating. Perhaps this is still valid, especially for Ubuntu 10.04.

[Chris Wilson (notgary-deactivatedaccount)]

Is this still an issue in 12.04? The Dash entry for Onboard is present there. If this is still affecting 10.04 then the fix should be pushed out there as well.

[Chris Wilson (notgary-deactivatedaccount)]

10.04 LTS is the only release where this is a problem and that will be End-Of-Lifed next month, so I'm going to close this report.