Accessibility

Accessibility

Cablebag can be used without a mouse, with a larger interface, and with a screen reader for the parts of the window that Cablebag draws itself. The full statement, with what works, what does not yet, and how to report a barrier, is ACCESSIBILITY.md in the repository. This page is the short version.

Keyboard

• Every shortcut is listed under Settings, Keyboard shortcuts, and on Keyboard shortcuts. Ctrl+K opens the search box (Ctrl+Shift+K inside a terminal), where the arrow keys move through the results, Enter opens one and Escape closes the box.
• Dialogs put the focus on their first field, keep Tab inside, close with Escape and give the focus back to where it was.
• Context menus open with the context menu key or Shift+F10 on a focused tab or session; the arrow keys, Home and End move between entries, Enter runs one, Escape closes the menu.
• In the tab bar the left and right arrow keys move between tabs; in the session tree the up and down arrows move between rows, right opens a folder and left closes it, Enter opens a session.
• The sidebar's width can be changed by keyboard: Tab to the line between the sidebar and the tabs, then the left and right arrows.
• Tiling, split view and every pane action have shortcuts and are in the search box and the pane menu, so nothing depends on dragging.

Visual

• Settings, General, Interface size (90 to 175 percent; also Ctrl+Shift+plus and minus) scales the whole window, menus and dialogs included. The terminal text has its own size and colour scheme on the Terminal page.
• Theme: Same as Windows, Light or Dark.
• Keyboard focus is shown with a clear ring; connection state is not shown by colour alone (a filled circle, a hollow ring, a diamond, a grey circle, each with its word for screen readers and in the tooltip).
• When Windows is set to show fewer animations, nothing in Cablebag pulses, spins or slides, and the terminal cursor does not blink.

Screen readers

• The controls Cablebag draws are ordinary HTML buttons, inputs and lists with roles and names, so screen readers can reach them.
• The terminal draws its text on a canvas. Switch on Settings, Terminal, Screen reader support so that Narrator, NVDA and others can read the terminal's text and announce new output; it is off by default because it slows down very fast output.
• A Remote Desktop or VNC tab shows a picture of the other computer's screen, which a screen reader on this PC cannot read; a screen reader has to run inside the remote session.

Known limits and reporting a barrier

No formal test with a screen reader, magnifier or switch access has been done yet; the notes come from the source. Colour contrast has not been measured, there is no high contrast theme, and the Ctrl+Shift and Ctrl+Alt shortcuts cannot be changed. Reports from people who use assistive technology are the most useful thing you can send: use Report a problem in Cablebag (Settings, About Cablebag) or the bug report form and put the word "accessibility" in the title.