This is a rare article that I wish had a more clickbait title, like “Wayland Does Not Support Users with Accessible Input Needs,” in the hope that it would reach a larger audience. Relatedly,...
This is a rare article that I wish had a more clickbait title, like “Wayland Does Not Support Users with Accessible Input Needs,” in the hope that it would reach a larger audience.
Relatedly, every time I hear about Wayland, I become more baffled that this was the chosen replacement windowing system…
It probably says more about any other alternatives than Wayland as is often the case. My rough understanding is that most of the maintainers of X11 simply didn't want to work on it anymore for a...
Relatedly, every time I hear about Wayland, I become more baffled that this was the chosen replacement windowing system…
It probably says more about any other alternatives than Wayland as is often the case.
My rough understanding is that most of the maintainers of X11 simply didn't want to work on it anymore for a lot of valid reasons. They then decided to start anew and "do it right" which is what Wayland eventually became. In the process they over-corrected in a lot of ways causing a lot of issues. Many of those have been addressed since then but not all.
Since X11 isn't really maintained anymore (there is a fork by one of the maintainers but that has its own problems related to that one maintainer) and Wayland is the only other game in town it makes sense that it is the thing that is being picked up.
As to why it is the only game in town. It is pretty damn complicated to develop something like Wayland and not a lot of people actually want to invest the time and effort. It is incredibly difficult to find people to contribute to OSS projects and more importantly to have people stick around for the long ride.
And to be honest, for me as an average user Wayland in its current state is fine besides maybe one or two idiosyncrasies everything works as I would expect. But clearly there is still a bunch of work left to be done on other aspects.
It is also why I explicitly included this quote by the author of the post
This big and long-winded post isn't intended to punch down-- I'm genuinely looking for the right people to talk to to solve a very big and difficult problem. If you think you might be one of those people, or know someone who is, please reach out!
Even if the Wayland creators are somewhat boneheaded in their approach in certain areas. It is incredibly difficult to find people who want and can systematically donate their own time to OSS projects. It is also pretty draining if you are working on a project that is widely used by an insanely diverse group of users all demanding your time and attention. The latter often not done in the nicest way possible.
Thanks for posting. This has unfortunately been on the horizon, clearly visible for all, and I truly mean all, to see coming (I’m not even using a Linux desktop, only via command line on servers,...
Thanks for posting. This has unfortunately been on the horizon, clearly visible for all, and I truly mean all, to see coming (I’m not even using a Linux desktop, only via command line on servers, and yet was aware about the lack of accessibility in Wayland vs. X11, although I only knew about issues on the “output” side, as the article calls it).
Sadly, due to the way (F)OSS works, unless there are vocal maintainers pushing for something to be made (or huge sponsors donating money with a dedicated purpose), whether that be a new protocol/standard or implementation, I think it just won’t come into existence at all.
This isn't my blog post, it was first shared on lobster.rs and I think it is important to share it to raise awareness. From the authors original post on lobster.rs
This isn't my blog post, it was first shared on lobster.rs and I think it is important to share it to raise awareness.
From the authors original post on lobster.rs
This big and long-winded post isn't intended to punch down-- I'm genuinely looking for the right people to talk to to solve a very big and difficult problem. If you think you might be one of those people, or know someone who is, please reach out!
I've been following the descent into Wayland for GNU/Linux systems for a while now. It was my reason for moving to Mac OS. Software I relied on every day just wouldn't work on Wayland. There were...
I've been following the descent into Wayland for GNU/Linux systems for a while now. It was my reason for moving to Mac OS. Software I relied on every day just wouldn't work on Wayland.
There were forks, discussions, PRs, and eventually the throwing up of hands. But they /did/ have a Mac OS version which worked, so I'm there now.
The friction caused by the development team around 'Wayland protocols' has been well documented on YouTube.
I hope this person finds a solution that works for them.
We should all be “accessibility maximalists”.
This is a rare article that I wish had a more clickbait title, like “Wayland Does Not Support Users with Accessible Input Needs,” in the hope that it would reach a larger audience.
Relatedly, every time I hear about Wayland, I become more baffled that this was the chosen replacement windowing system…
It probably says more about any other alternatives than Wayland as is often the case.
My rough understanding is that most of the maintainers of X11 simply didn't want to work on it anymore for a lot of valid reasons. They then decided to start anew and "do it right" which is what Wayland eventually became. In the process they over-corrected in a lot of ways causing a lot of issues. Many of those have been addressed since then but not all.
Since X11 isn't really maintained anymore (there is a fork by one of the maintainers but that has its own problems related to that one maintainer) and Wayland is the only other game in town it makes sense that it is the thing that is being picked up.
As to why it is the only game in town. It is pretty damn complicated to develop something like Wayland and not a lot of people actually want to invest the time and effort. It is incredibly difficult to find people to contribute to OSS projects and more importantly to have people stick around for the long ride.
And to be honest, for me as an average user Wayland in its current state is fine besides maybe one or two idiosyncrasies everything works as I would expect. But clearly there is still a bunch of work left to be done on other aspects.
It is also why I explicitly included this quote by the author of the post
Even if the Wayland creators are somewhat boneheaded in their approach in certain areas. It is incredibly difficult to find people who want and can systematically donate their own time to OSS projects. It is also pretty draining if you are working on a project that is widely used by an insanely diverse group of users all demanding your time and attention. The latter often not done in the nicest way possible.
Thanks for posting. This has unfortunately been on the horizon, clearly visible for all, and I truly mean all, to see coming (I’m not even using a Linux desktop, only via command line on servers, and yet was aware about the lack of accessibility in Wayland vs. X11, although I only knew about issues on the “output” side, as the article calls it).
Sadly, due to the way (F)OSS works, unless there are vocal maintainers pushing for something to be made (or huge sponsors donating money with a dedicated purpose), whether that be a new protocol/standard or implementation, I think it just won’t come into existence at all.
This isn't my blog post, it was first shared on lobster.rs and I think it is important to share it to raise awareness.
From the authors original post on lobster.rs
I've been following the descent into Wayland for GNU/Linux systems for a while now. It was my reason for moving to Mac OS. Software I relied on every day just wouldn't work on Wayland.
There were forks, discussions, PRs, and eventually the throwing up of hands. But they /did/ have a Mac OS version which worked, so I'm there now.
The friction caused by the development team around 'Wayland protocols' has been well documented on YouTube.
I hope this person finds a solution that works for them.