Design environment to facilitate accessible software

• US 20030210266A1
• Filed: 05/07/2002
• Published: 11/13/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: OʼKeefe, Timothy Jude, Cragun, Brian John, Wood, Brian Owen
• Granted Patent: US 7,093,199 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/762
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/967 Visual or iconic programming

Abstract

The present invention generally is directed to a method of associating a label with a component in a graphical user interface panel. The method comprises: displaying an image of the panel containing an image of the component and an image of the label; receiving a set of user inputs selecting the image of the component, the image of the label, and a predefined user action configured to associate the label with the component; and associating the label with the component in response to the set of user inputs.

Claims

1. A method of associating a label with a component in a graphical user interface panel, comprising:

displaying an image of the panel containing an image of the component and an image of the label;

receiving a set of user inputs selecting the image of the component, the image of the label and a predefined user action configured to associate the label with the component; and

associating the label with the component in response to the set of user inputs.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined user action is configured to generate a set of programming codes for associating the label with the component.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising prior to displaying the image of the panel, determining whether the label has been associated with the component.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying at least one indicator to visually indicate whether the label has been associated with the component.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying at least one indicator to visually indicate whether the label has been associated with the component, wherein the at least one indicator comprises an icon proximate one of the image of the component and the image of the label, the icon indicating that the label has not been associated with the component.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying at least one indicator to visually indicate whether the label has been associated with the component, wherein the at least one indicator comprises an icon proximate one of the image of the component and the image of the label, the icon indicating that the label has not been associated with the component; and

displaying a brief description for the icon.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying at least one indicator to visually indicate whether the label has been associated with the component, wherein the at least one indicator comprises displaying the label in a box with a solid border to indicate that the label has not been associated with the component.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying at least one indicator to visually indicate whether the label has been associated with the component, wherein the at least one indicator comprises displaying the image of the label in a box with a dashed border to indicate that the label has been associated with the component.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying at least one indicator to visually indicate whether the label has been associated with the component, wherein the at least one indicator comprises displaying the image of the label in a box with a dashed border connected by a solid line between the image of the label and the image of the component to indicate that the label has been associated with the component.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the label is one of a caption text and an alternative display text.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the label is a caption text if the component is a non-graphical component.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the label is an alternative display text if the component is a graphical image component.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the label is a description of the component and is readable by a screen reader.

14. A method of associating a new label to a component in a graphical user interface panel, comprising:

displaying an image of the panel containing an image of the component;

receiving a set of user inputs selecting the image of the component and a predefined user action configured to generate and associate the new label to the component;

displaying a request for a description of the new label in response to the predefined user action;

receiving the description for the new label; and

associating the new label to the component.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising prior to displaying the image of the panel, determining whether the component has been associated with a label.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising displaying at least one indicator to visually indicate whether the component has been associated with a label.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising displaying at least one indicator to visually indicate whether the component has been associated with a label, wherein the at least one indicator comprises an icon proximate the image of the component, the icon indicating that the component has not been associated with the label.

18. A computer readable medium containing a program which, when executed, performs an operation, comprising:

displaying an image of the panel containing an image of the component and an image of the label;

receiving a set of user inputs selecting the image of the component, the image of the label and a predefined user action configured to associate the label with the component; and

associating the label with the component in response to the set of user inputs.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the predefined user action is configured to generate a set of programming codes for associating the label with the component.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the operation further comprises prior to displaying the image of the panel, determining whether the label has been associated with the component.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the operation further comprises displaying at least one indicator to visually indicate whether the label has been associated with the component.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the operation further comprises displaying at least one indicator to visually indicate whether the label has been associated with the component, wherein the at least one indicator comprises an icon proximate one of the image of the component and the image of the label, the icon indicating that the label has not been associated with the component.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the operation further comprises:

displaying at least one indicator to visually indicate whether the label has been associated with the component, wherein the at least one indicator comprises an icon proximate one of the image of the component and the image of the label, the icon indicating that the label has not been associated with the component; and

displaying a brief description for the icon.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the operation further comprises displaying at least one indicator to visually indicate whether the label has been associated with the component, wherein the at least one indicator comprises displaying the label in a box with a solid border to indicate that the label has not been associated with the component.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the operation further comprises displaying at least one indicator to visually indicate whether the label has been associated with the component, wherein the at least one indicator comprises displaying the image of the label in a box with a dashed border to indicate that the label has been associated with the component.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the operation further comprises displaying at least one indicator to visually indicate whether the label has been associated with the component, wherein the at least one indicator comprises displaying the image of the label in a box with a dashed border connected by a solid line between the image of the label and the image of the component to indicate that the label has been associated with the component.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the label is one of a caption text and an alternative display text.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the label is a caption text if the component is a non-graphical component.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the label is an alternative display text if the component is a graphical image component.

30. A computer readable medium containing a program which, when executed, performs an operation, comprising:

displaying an image of the panel containing an image of the component;

receiving a set of user inputs selecting the image of the component and a predefined user action configured to generate and associate the new label to the component;

displaying a request for a description of the new label in response to the predefined user action;

receiving the description for the new label; and

associating the new label to the component.

31. The computer readable medium of claim 30, wherein the operation further comprises prior to displaying the image of the panel, determining whether the component has been associated with a label.

32. The computer readable medium of claim 30, wherein the operation further comprise displaying at least one indicator to visually indicate whether the component has been associated with a label.

33. The computer readable medium of claim 30, wherein the operation further comprise displaying at least one indicator to visually indicate whether the component has been associated with a label, wherein the at least one indicator comprises an icon proximate the image of the component, the icon indicating that the component has not been associated with the label.

34. A computer, comprising:

a memory containing a program; and

a processor which, when executing the program, performs an operation comprising;

displaying an image of the panel containing an image of the component and an image of the label;

receiving a set of user inputs selecting the image of the component, the image of the label and a predefined user action configured to associate the label with the component; and

associating the label with the component in response to the set of user inputs.

35. The computer of claim 34, wherein the operation further comprises prior to displaying the image of the panel, determining whether the label has been associated with the component.

36. The computer of claim 34, wherein the operation further comprises displaying at least one indicator to visually indicate whether the label has been associated with the component.

37. A computer, comprising:

a memory containing a program; and

a processor which, when executing the program, performs an operation comprising;

displaying an image of the panel containing an image of the component;

receiving a set of user inputs selecting the image of the component and a predefined user action configured to generate and associate the new label to the component;

displaying a request for a description of the new label in response to the predefined user action;

receiving the description for the new label; and

associating the new label to the component.

38. The computer of claim 37, wherein the operation further comprises prior to displaying the image of the panel, determining whether the component has been associated with a label.

39. The computer of claim 37, wherein the operation further comprise displaying at least one indicator to visually indicate whether the component has been associated with a label.