Inspiration
Pretty much every desktop for Linux has inaccessible components or visual aspects that add unnecessary complexity when using it with a screen reader. Window managers are light weight, uncluttered, and make a great foundation for a keyboard driven desktop. The main problem is, on their own, they are completely inaccessible.
What it does
Provides a modern desktop experience for blind computer users that is 100% accessible.
How we built it
It has been built over years. Codex has accelerated this process and helped solve some problems that had me stumped as a solo developer.
Challenges we ran into
Managing sounds verses speech, which is more useful and conveys information more efficiently. Also, and probably even more of a challenge, was providing help based on the current mode. I38 tries to be familiar enough to pick up quickly, but there is a small learning curve. Without the context aware help it was more of a learning cliff before.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
I38lock is a fork of i3lock that adds accessibility to the lock screen. Blind users can enter passwords with audible feedback while the password still remains hidden. Codex was intrigal in getting this working. I also had to figure out how to get my screen reader to be aware that previous windows no longer have focus and to restore focus when the user is authorized after a correct password entry.
What we learned
Watching Codex solve problems has taught me so much. I am a different coder now than I was over the past 35 years or so. In a lot of ways, Codex is like a skilled blind developer. I observed the tools it uses and have integrated a lot of the same patterns into my own work, e.g. heavy use of ripgrep. The way it finds sections of files, grasps code bases quickly and efficiently is nothing short of amazing.
What's next for I38
I38 uses a lot of scripts to accomplish things. Some of these are still totally hand written by me years ago. I eventually want to get Codex to review them all, make suggestions, general code cleanup, etc. As far as features go, for the moment, I consider it pretty much feature complete. That could change at any time however.
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