INFO: Logo FAQ: Do Remote-Control Utilities Have to Comply with Guidelines to Expose the Keyboard Focus? (256181)

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Accessibility of any communication requires three components to cooperate and follow accessible-design guidelines:

• The source of information must provide data needed by people with disabilities.
• The pipeline that transmits information must preserve the accessibility data and provide it to the client software.
• The client software must take the accessibility data and make it available to the user or to accessibility aids running on the user's behalf. (It may also have to explicitly request that the source provide this data.)

Remote control applications consist of two components running on separate systems and communicating over a network or similar infrastructure. Typically, the user is working at one workstation where the client component of the utility allows him or her to see an image of what is appearing on a separate host computer. The user's input is gathered on the client computer and transmitted to the host, where it is simulated as if the user were working on the host computer. Then, any output is gathered on the host computer and transmitted to and displayed on the client computer. In this case, one might argue that a remote control utility is a client utility that is not getting accessibility information, such as the location of the keyboard focus on the host computer, and so cannot present it to the user. However, the remote control utility consists not only of a client portion but also the pipeline that gathers information on the host computer and transmits it over the network to its client component. Currently, it gathers and transmits information about what drawing objects appear on the screen. It is clear that it could, if necessary, also gather and transmit information about the keyboard focus location.

Unfortunately, while it is easy to "remote" the focus once you know it, at this time it is very difficult for applications to track the focus properly in order to know what to remote. Therefore, requiring this would represent an undue burden on software applications, so at this time remote control applications are exempted from this requirement.

This exemption applies only to remote-control applications. It does not represent a general exemption for all components that sit between some source of information and the user's operating environment. For example, the exemption would not permit applications that host COM objects to interfere with those objects' ability to comply with accessibility or certification guidelines.

In the future, Microsoft may provide helper libraries that make it easier to track to focus. With such libraries in place, it is likely that remote control applications would be required to gather and transmit this data.