Ease of Use and Accessibility is something that every product should boast of as at the end of the day it is the users who will be utilizing the services. Microsoft has recently outlined commitments which would help the company chart its future path and make its products more accessible and help serve people with disabilities.
The guiding principles consists of transparency, committing to share the plans, accountability and inclusiveness. By adhering to these guidelines Microsoft is expected to blend in the best of accessibility features for the differently abled. Apart from this Microsoft wants to improvise on the Windows 10 functionality in 2016 by adding new accessibility features and tweaking the current ones.
Over the last few months, we have been going through feedback from our listening channels like the Disability Answer Desk and talking to some of our great partners. It’s clear that we need to deliver an experience that enables not just access, but also productivity.
The company is putting in efforts to make sure that everyone can easily access and use Windows 10 Start menu, lock screen and other features like Cortana, Store, Music, Videos among many other things. Edge already comes with built in magnifier and Narrator, further Microsoft also seems to be readying some new features which will have a big impact on the accessibility.
Windows 10 Mail will be offered an improved built-in assistive technology which will include better mapping of the keyboard commands and a significant increase in the number of supported languages.
On the other hand, Office 365 will herald with easier authoring access from multiple devices and Voice Over support for Office for Mac. It’s good to see that all the apps on the Windows 10 Store will be blessed with full accessibility support. “Tell me what you want me to do” in Office 2016 will help people to get the things done with intuitive commands.
Microsoft says that this is just the beginning and as we move ahead many more accessibility features will be added. On a related note the Disability Answer Desk is of great use to differently abled customers.
