Accessibility
Table of Contents
This module is designed to help users who have difficulty hearing audible cues, or who have difficulty using a keyboard.
The module is divided into four tabs: Bell, Modifier keys, Keyboard Filters and Activation Gestures.
This panel is divided into an Audible Bell section and a Visible Bell section.
The top check box labeled Use System Bell, determines whether the normal System bell rings. If this option is disabled, the System bell will be silenced.
The next check box down can be used to play a different sound whenever the system bell is triggered. To activate, place a mark in the check box labeled Use customized bell, and enter the complete pathname to the sound file in the text box labeled Sound to play. If you want, you can select the button to navigate through your filesystem to find the exact file.
For those users who have difficulty hearing the System bell, or those users who have a silent computer, KDE offers the visible bell. This provides a visual signal (inverting the screen or flashing a color across it) when the system bell would normally sound.
To use the visible bell, first place a mark in the check box labeled Use visible bell.
You can then select between Invert screen, or Flash screen. If you select Invert screen, all colors on the screen will be reversed. If you choose Flash screen, you can choose the color by clicking the button to the right of the Flash screen selection.
The slider bar can be used to adjust the duration of the visible bell. The default value is 500ms, or half a second.
There are two sections to this panel.
If this option is enabled, you can press and release the Shift, Alt or Ctrl keys, and then press another key to get a key combo (example: Ctrl+Alt+Del could be done with Ctrl then Alt then Del).
Also in this section is a check box labeled Lock Sticky Keys. If this check box is enabled, the Alt, Ctrl and Shift keys stay “selected” until you “de-selected” them.
As an example:
If you press the Shift key then press the F key, the computer interprets this as Shift+F. Now if you type a P, the computer interprets this as the letter p (no shift).
If you press the Shift key twice then press the F key, the computer interprets this as Shift+F. Now if you type a P, the computer interprets this as the letter P (Shift+P). To de-select the Shift key, press it again.
There are two sections to this panel.
If this option is enabled, you must hold the key down for a specified length of time (adjustable with the slider) before the keystroke will be accepted. This helps prevent accidental key strokes.
If this option is enabled, you must wait for a specified length of time (configurable with the slider) before the next key press can be accepted. This prevents accidental multiple key strokes.
There are two sections to this panel.
| Use gestures for activating sticky keys and slow keys |
| Here you can activate keyboard gestures that turn on the following features: |
| Mouse Keys: Press Shift+NumLock |
| Sticky keys: Press Shift key 5 consecutive times |
| Slow keys: Hold down Shift for 8 seconds |
| Turn sticky keys and slow keys off after a certain period of inactivity |
| Use the system bell whenever a gesture is used to turn an accessibility feature on or off |
| Show a confirmation dialog whenever a keyboard accessibility feature is turned on or off |
| If this option is checked, KDE will show a confirmation dialog whenever a keyboard accessibility feature is turned on or off. |
| Ensure you know what you are doing if you uncheck it, as the keyboard accessibility settings will then always be applied without confirmation. |
| Use KDE's system notification mechanism whenever a keyboard accessibility feature is turned on or off |
Click the button to open a dialog which allows you to edit the notifications for status changes of all keys.
