There are a couple of command-line applications that I use that I have thought of adapting for GUI use. My first thought would be to use the Tk module, but after having a quick read of the documentation on some of the widgets, I see that I have a problem - it does not look like there are any accessibility features.

I would assume that the deficiency comes from Tk itself, rather than the Perl module. After all, Tk has been around a fair while - probably from before the time that anyone might have thought that people would be making use of assistive/adaptive technologies to use their computers.

What I would expect to see in an accessible GUI toolkit would include:

• The means to make the application fully keyboard-navigable.
• The ability of the entire application to work with assistive/adaptive technologies such as screen readers, Braille displays, etcetera.
• Some form of tooltips.
• Cross-platform operation.

(That last point isn't something that everyone in the accessibility community would agree on, but I do.)

There are a number of ways I can approach this:

• Forget having a GUI, stick with the command line. I have one blind associate who does just about everything through EMACS, voiced with EMACSpeak; he tells me that command line applications are the best. (For him at any rate.)
• Convert the applications to client/server - have the Perl application running on a network socket, write the GUI client in another language beginning with J that has a full accessibility API. (Not favoured, don't really want to run client/server, don't really want to write in the 'J' language with the GUI that sounds like something kids play on.)
• Convert the applications to web applications. (Not favoured, similar reasons to the above.)
• Use another GUI toolkit of which I am unaware for which there is a Perl module and accessibility features.

So, my question is this - can anyone recommend an alternative GUI toolkit which is geared up for writing accessible applications, that will run cross-platform and - perhaps most importantly - isn't a pig to learn?

Or should I just stick with the command line?

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