Java Accessibility is currently broken into two separate packages:  the Java Accessibility API and the Java Accessibility Utilities.  This release represents the Java Accessibility Utilities and contains classes designed to help assistive technologies take advantage of the Java Accessibility API.  The Java Accessibility API is a cross platform, toolkit independent API designed to give assistive technologies direct access to the information in user interface objects, and is part of the Java^TM Foundation Classes.

There are four areas in which Sun is currently building Accessibility support into the Java platform.   The four sections below give a brief overview of the four areas of support for Java Accessibility that Sun is currently developing.

The Java Accessibility API

The Java Accessibility API defines a contract between individual user-interface components that make up a Java  application and an assistive technology that is providing access to that Java application.  If a Java application fully supports the Java Accessibility API, then it should be compatible with, and friendly toward, assistive technologies such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, etc.  With a Java application that fully supports the Java Accessibility API, no off screen model would be necessary because the API provides all of the information normally contained in an off screen model.

The Java Accessibility Utilities

In order to provide access to a Java application, an assistive technology requires more than the Java Accessibility API:  it also requires support in locating the objects that implement the API as well as support for being loaded into the Java virtual machine, tracking events, etc.  The Java Accessibility utility classes provide this assistance.

The Java Accessibility Bridge to Native Code

Java applications run on a wide variety of host operating systems, many of which already have assistive technologies available for them (e.g. Macintosh, OS/2, Windows).  In order for these existing assistive technologies to provide access to programs written in the Java programming language, they need a bridge between themselves in their native environment(s) and the Java Accessibility support that is available from within the Java virtual machine (or Java VM).  This bridge, by virtue of the fact that it has one end in the Java VM and the other on the native platform, will be slightly different for each platform it bridges to.  Sun is currently developing both the Java programming language side of this bridge, and the Win32 side.  In cooperation with assistive technology vendors and the various platform vendors, Sun intends to make similar bridges available for other platforms over time.

The Pluggable Look and Feel of the Java Foundation Classes

The Java Foundation Classes (or JFC) are a collection of technologies that represent a new foundation upon which to build Java applications.  The JFC is a core part of JDK1.2, and is also available as a separate package for JDK1.1.  The Java Accessibility API is one of the technologies of the JFC.  Another is the "Swing" set of user-interface components, which is built using a Pluggable Look and Feel architecture.  This architecture separates the implementation of the user-interface components from their presentation.  On a component-by-component basis, the presentation is programmatically determined and can be chosen by the user.  Instead of a visual presentation, a user could instead choose an audio presentation, or a tactile (e.g. Braille) presentation, or a combination of the two.  With this support, a user wouldn't need a separate assistive technology product interpreting the visual presentation of the program on the screen.  Instead, the user would have direct access to that program because it would interact with the user in his/her desired modality.

We are not finished with Java Accessibility, and are continuing to improve our current offerings as well as investigate new areas.  The road ahead will tell you more about our plans for the future.

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