Questions about clip name announcements, working with fades and track markers feature in PT

[John André Lium-Netland]

Hi all,

I wish there was a accessible way to easily see each clip in the timeline and view and edit fades like one can with regions in Logic. Is there a way to have Flo Tools and VoiceOver automatically announce the name of a clip when selecting it with control-tab or control-option-tab?

Also, I have tried to find an accesible way to use the Track Marker feature introduced in PT 2023.6. Will there be an update to the tutorials for the 2023 enhancements in PT?

Best,
John André

[Slau Halatyn]

Hi John,

Some responses interjected below:

On Mar 4, 2024, at 1:50 AM, 'John André Lium-Netland' via Pro Tools Accessibility <ptac...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I wish there was a accessible way to easily see each clip in the timeline and view and edit fades like one can with regions in Logic.

I think we all wish for that as well. It would take a significant change to how the timeline is represented (or revealed) for VoiceOver to be able to access individual clips within the timeline. One potential solution is to do what was done to the rulers with tables but even that solution leaves a bit to be desired. I don’t see it necessarily happening any time soon as there are many more and bigger fish to fry, as they say.

As far as fades are concerned, they can easily be selected and edited by pressing Command+F. The resulting dialog is accessible and there are, of course, shortcuts for the various fade shapes. What isn’t accessible are the anchors for dragging and adjusting parabolic curves. In my 20+ years using Pro Tools, I’ve never felt the need for that level of fade adjustment but that’s just me.

> Is there a way to have Flo Tools and VoiceOver automatically announce the name of a clip when selecting it with control-tab or control-option-tab?

As far as automatic announcement, it’s problematic to have anything be automatic. Selected clips can be announced with Flo Tools by pressingOption+Shift+comma. thing is, the Clips table needs to be expanded. The other thing is, a clip may be selected in the list without anything being selected in the timeline and that can be confusing. sighted users get used to the behavior very quickly but a blind user must verify what is and isn’t selected in either the timeline or the clips list so anything automatic can easily lead to confusion.

> Also, I have tried to find an accesible way to use the Track Marker feature introduced in PT 2023.6.

To be honest with you, I haven’t wrapped my head around it yet. I can certainly understand the value of it but haven’t had a use case so can’t say that I’ve spent any significant time with it.

> Will there be an update to the tutorials for the 2023 enhancements in PT?

I hope that we can add to the guide some time soon. There certainly have been a few changes that should be reflected. Any such update will surely be announced here.
Cheers,
slau