<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/" type="topic" id="introduction" xml:lang="en-GB">
  <info>
    <link type="guide" xref="index#getting_started"/>
    <link type="next" xref="howto_setting_up_accerciser"/>
    <title type="sort">1. What is Accerciser?</title>
    <desc>
      An interactive accessibility explorer
    </desc>
    <credit type="author">
      <name>Eitan Isaacson</name>
      <email>eitan@ascender.com</email>
    </credit>
    <credit type="author">
      <name>Peter Parente</name>
      <email>pparent@us.ibm.com</email>
    </credit>
    <credit type="author">
      <name>Aline Bessa</name>
      <email>alibezz@gmail.com</email>
    </credit>
    <license>
      <p>Creative Commons Share Alike 3.0</p>
    </license>
  </info>
  <title>What is <app>Accerciser</app>?</title>
  <p>
    <app>Accerciser</app> is an interactive Python accessibility explorer.
    It uses the AT-SPI library to inspect, examine, and interact with widgets, allowing
    you to check if an application is providing correct information to assistive
    technologies and automated testing frameworks. <app>Accerciser</app> comes with a set
    of plugins that you can use to create custom views of accessibility 
    information.  
  </p>

  <p>
    By default, <app>Accerciser</app>'s main interface is comprised of three sections:
    a tree view of the entire desktop accessible hierarchy, namely <link xref="desktop_tree_view">
    Application Tree View</link>, and two plugin areas. If you prefer to see all plugins in a single
    area, dividing <app>Accerciser</app>'s interface in two sections instead of three, type <key>ctrl
    </key>+<key>t</key>. To re-divide it in three sections, just press <key>ctrl</key>+<key>t</key> again.
  </p>

  <note style="tip">
    <p>
      Make sure that accessibility support is enabled in your desktop - otherwise,
      <app>Accerciser</app> will not work as expected.
    </p>
  </note>

  <figure>
    <title><app>Accerciser</app></title>
    <desc>
      <app>Accerciser</app>'s default interface.
    </desc>
    <media type="image" mime="image/png" src="figures/accerciser-view.png">
      <p>
        <app>Accerciser</app>'s default interface.
      </p>
    </media>
  </figure>

  <section id="more_about_gnome_accessibility">
    <title><app>Accerciser</app>'s intended audience</title>
    <p>
      <app>Accerciser</app> fits the needs of many different audiences. User interface developers
      use it to ensure that their applications are providing all of their features through AT-SPI. 
      Assistive technology developers are able to see what AT-SPI is providing to their applications.
      Automated UI test developers find <app>Accerciser</app> beneficial since it exposes different
      events that could be expected from their target application. 
    </p>
  </section>

  <section id="accerciser_plugin_architecture">
    <title><app>Accerciser</app>'s plugin architecture</title>
    <p>
      <app>Accerciser</app> has an extensible, plugin-based architecture.
      Its core code is fairly small and most of its features are part of 
      default plugins: 
    </p>
    <list>
      <item>
        <p>
          <link xref="interface_viewer">Interface Viewer</link> - A plugin that lets you explore the AT-SPI 
          interfaces provided by each accessible widget of a target application.
        </p>
      </item>
      <item>
        <p>
          <link xref="validator_plugin">AT-SPI Validator</link> - A plugin that applies tests to verify the
          accessibility of a target application.
        </p>
      </item>
      <item>
        <p>
          <link xref="event_monitor_plugin">Event Monitor</link> - A plugin that displays AT-SPI events emitted by a target
          application as they occur.
        </p>
      </item>
      <item>
        <p>
          <link xref="quick_select_plugin">Quick Select</link> - A plugin that provides global hotkeys for quickly
          selecting accessible widgets in <app>Accerciser</app>'s Application Tree View.
        </p>
      </item>
      <item>
        <p>
          <link xref="api_browser_plugin">API Browser</link> - A plugin that shows the interfaces, methods, and 
          attributes available on each accessible widget of a target application.
        </p>
      </item>
      <item>
        <p>
          <link xref="ipython_plugin">IPython Console</link> - A plugin that provides a full, interactive Python
          shell with access to selected accessible widgets of a target application.
        </p>
      </item>
    </list>
  </section>


  <section id="more_about_gnome_accessibility">
    <title>More about Accessibility</title>
    <p>
       Accessibility is a core value that should touch all aspects of a Desktop
       Environment. To help achieve it in GNOME, some libraries were developed,
       such as ATK and AT-SPI. Though originated in GNOME, these libraries are now
       also used in other Desktop Environments. To learn more about Accessibility
       Libraries for GNU/UNIX systems, you can consult:
    </p>
    <list>
      <item>
        <p>
          <link href="http://developer.gnome.org/atk/">ATK Accessibility Toolkit</link> - 
          ATK provides the set of accessibility interfaces that are implemented by other toolkits and applications.
          Using the ATK interfaces, accessibility tools have full access to view and control running applications.
        </p>
      </item>
      <item>
        <p>
          <link href="http://developer.gnome.org/at-spi-cspi/stable/">AT-SPI</link> - 
          AT-SPI is the primary service interface by which assistive technologies query and receive 
          notifications from running applications. Additional material is available from the 
          <link href="http://accessibility.kde.org/developer/atk.php#coreclasses">KDE Accessibility Development Community</link>.  
        </p>
      </item>
      <item>
        <p>
          <link href="https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/a11y.html">GNOME Desktop Accessibility Guide</link> -
          A guide for anyone interested in how the GNOME Desktop supports the needs of users with disabilities.
        </p>
      </item>
      <item>
        <p>
          <link href="http://developer.gnome.org/accessibility-devel-guide/stable/">GNOME Accessibility Developer's Guide</link> - 
          A guide for developers who want to ensure their applications are accessible to the widest audience of users. 
        </p>
      </item>
      <item>
        <p>
          <link href="https://wiki.gnome.org/Accessibility">GNOME Accessibility Project</link> - 
          The GNOME Accessibility Project includes the guides listed above along with many other useful links
          for users, developers and system administrators.
        </p>
      </item>
    </list>
  </section>

</page>
