Access keys in Studio 2014

Forum: SDL Trados support
Topic: Access keys in Studio 2014
Poster: philwhite

After giving up on Studio 2014 and reverting to Studio 2011 due to multiple accessibility issues, I recently decided to give 2014 another try.

My sight has deteriorated considerably over the past year or so, and I no longer use a mouse to navigate, because I simply cannot see the pointer, however large I set it,and the mouse interferes with my screen reader if I am using it (which is not possible in Studio anyway).

What really disappoints me in Studio 2014 is that many functions are simply not available from the keyboard, even if an underlined access key is shown. Just a couple of examples without using the mouse.

• Ctrl + N (New Project)
  
• Work through the wizard to the Add files page (hands off the mouse!)
  
• The Add Files button has the access key "A", but pressing Alt + A actually opens the Add-Ins ribbon and takes the focus out of the wizard to the ribbon. There is nothing I can do on the keyboard to get the focus back to the wizard. The only way of getting back to the wizard is to go through the task bar (Windows key + T multiple times and then arrow up to select the New Project wizard.
  
• But this doesn't actually help. The Add Files button remains inaccessible. No amount of tabbing or arrowing takes you to the row of buttons.
  
• So I reach for the mouse and add my file or files.
  
• But what if I add a folder (the access key here works) and want to merge the files. No chance. The Show Subfolders button has no access key, and I can only merge if I have shown the subfolders.

Much the same thing happens in many other wizards and dialog boxes, particularly when adding and selecting databases.

In the equivalent place in the Project properties, (selecting the database), the access keys have no effect whatsoever. Alt + A, for instance just goes "bing" and does not even open the Add-Ins ribbon. All the buttons on that page are completely unavailable.

All this, combined with the ribbon issue I described a long time ago mean that I am still stuck with 2011 unless anyone can tell me how to resolve some of this.

I wonswe whether SDL has ever thought about Section 508 compliance if they sell to US Federal agencies.
I have had a company working on getting Studio to work with the JAWS screenreader for more than a year now, and although they have had some success with the editor, many of the wizards and dialog boxes remain pretty intractable problems.

Is there anyone else out there who is trying to use 2014 without a mouse? Or even with a screenreader?