Memory Usage and Screen Reader Friendly Features
We made some changes to the server configuration this morning. There were some configuration changes that we wanted to make and update to a more recent version of GlowMUCK...
Configuration-wise, we've made some adjustments that will reduce the amount of memory the game uses. We believe that the change will not have an impact on the game's responsiveness, but if it does, feel free to let us know.
GlowMUCK (and therefore, Narnia) has a new feature which will let us set up port numbers with special purposes. Up until now, you could only connect to the game on port 2050. There is now an additional port, 2048. If you connect on port 2048, you'll see that the welcome screen on that port has the ASCII art lion removed. For a player who uses a screen-reader, the ASCII art was quite unfriendly, because the screen-reader had no way of knowing that the symbols are arranged into a picture, so it would recite each symbol by name. It may not sound that bad when I say so--but trust me, I tried it out. instant-headache!
This is a first step on a very long trail toward making NarniaMUCK's interface friendly to screen-reader devices. Next item on our radar on that front is the ASCII art borders that surround room descriptions on the muck. We're working on a technique that makes them optional and part of that will be making them default to 'off' on port 2048 (the screen reader friendly port).
If you use a screen-reader, we'd welcome some feedback about aspects of NarniaMUCK that are problematic when using a screen-reader. We've thought of some, but it is doubtful we've spotted them all.
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muck.narniamuck.org 2050
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Comments
*cheers*
It's extremely thoughtful of you to want to make the MUCK screen reader friendly. A lot of people wouldn't bother to take the time to do that. It would be considered too much work. I've been playing since 2004, so I'm totally used to the welcome screen and room borders by now, but they certainly would be a deterrent to other screen reader users. It's possible to create individual voice profiles in newer versions of JAWS (Job Access with Speech), so theoretically, people could create a voice profile for their MUD client of choice and have it speak no punctuation at all. But some people, like myself, use an older version of that screen reader, and lots of blind people use a different one (like WindowEyes or NVDA). Also, some people don't like to turn off all punctuation because they want to hear punctuation marks in regular sentences. That way they won't miss emoticons or brackets and such. Good for you for actually using a screen reader yourself to listen to the welcome screen! That's absolutely amazing! I don't think many other sighted game developers would bother to do that. I occasionally play on a MUD where only one very small concession was made for screen reader users. I think the developers could have done a lot more if they'd wanted to, but of course I understand that it takes a lot of work, and I don't expect anybody to cater to my wishes all the time. Screen reader users are really quite a small minority in the grand scheme of things. On the other hand, I play an online browser-based game called Kingdom of Loathing, and the developers have really gone out of their way to make it accessible. I only have a problem with one particular aspect of that game, but I think that's my fault and has nothing to do with screen reader inaccessibility. It's a maze, and I just can't do mazes--except seemingly the Twisted Caverns on Narnia. (One April Fool's Day, a certain staffer shoved a character of mine deep in the Twisted Caverns for a joke and didn't give me a lantern. Believe it or not, I actually made it out on my own! That was a lot of fun. Good memories). Anyway, I'll stop rambling now. Kudos to you for all the time and effort you're putting in on behalf of us blindos. I know I appreciate it, and I'm sure anyone else would too. Now I have to tell all my screen-reader-user friends and try to get them to play! I think one person I know will be over the moon.