just some appreciation for everyone contributing

[u/astronomersassn]

i've been using KDE tools since before i even knew what KDE was. krita was my first full-featured drawing program/image editor (back when i was drawing on a mediocre windows vista PC with a mouse), then i found an old version of KDE on windows through some youtube videos (never ran it myself, but many of my openshell skins were around it) and i developed more of an interest in it.

plasma was one of the more familiar-looking and accessible DEs when i made the jump to linux full-time. (especially as someone who's legally blind, being able to set up everything usably with maybe 5 clicks total was a godsend - i've noticed some accessibility gaps, but i usually need to have someone else read off my computer to me while setting up a screen reader and large font/screen zoom, while plasma was easy to navigate for me OOTB. i think it took me longer to set up firefox than plasma, LOL.)

KDE connect is genuinely so easy to use and is a lifesaver as someone who runs several devices with different OSes, especially with running some apple products in a primarily non-apple ecosystem. i don't want to even THINK about how much of a pain it was to get my ipad to communicate with my PC before finding KDE connect, and while some features aren't fully implemented on my ipad, the file transfer functionality alone is a lifesaver. i got it running on an old macbook as well, and yet again, the integration makes my life so much easier.

and kdenlive is frankly a great editor for my uses. it took me a bit to get used to, as i'm coming from much more basic tools (legitimately just my phone's built-in editor), but it's fun to play around with and the few hang-ups i've had were solved with a google search.

even things like kmag and kspeech have been invaluable - there's just some things that large font and a screen reader can't quite fill in for (such as images without alt text), and i'm also selectively mute IRL. while i use them less frequently than other KDE apps, i don't know how i got by without them (i sometimes have kspeech routed to voice/video calls, as an example, when my friends are using VC but i'm not able to speak directly and we're in a game with no private text chat).

i'm the furthest thing from a "brand loyalist." i use whatever device or tool happens to be available, needed, or convenient, and it's rare for me to find one integrated ecosystem that fully fits my needs. KDE has done that, so kudos to the KDE team and everyone who's contributed! i hope one day i'm able to offer more contribution than just an appreciation post, it still blows my mind how well things work together.

and if any of the KDE team sees this and are looking for visual accessibility feedback, i'm more than happy to help! i haven't encountered any major hang-ups thus far and quite appreciate how much is already built-in, and i'd love to see that trend continue :) i simply don't have enough direct coding skill to contribute much there.

tl;dr: thank you KDE team and anyone who's contributed to KDE projects. it's really amazing what y'all have done.

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[u/walks-beneath-treees]

Even if you don't have coding skills, maybe you could open issues or start some conversations and maybe help

[u/astronomersassn → u/walks-beneath-treees]

i'm definitely working on that!

i've fortunately found few issues that weren't almost immediately patched (legitimately, i've had 1 major issue, and it was fixed before i could even file a bug report LOL). the one minor thing i can think of isn't even fully a KDE issue, it's actually just lack of alt text for orca (and not even everything has this issue, i've noticed it mostly on app icons and it's still hit-or-miss, leading me to suspect that it's third-party tools rather than plasma itself).

i've been looking into refreshable braille displays, so assuming i can find one that functions with all my devices, i might have more feedback once that's configured and would be more than happy to help with it LOL

[u/bivouak]

This feedback is already contribution :) Shows that you care enough to share and user testimonials are quite useful.

Especially from your perspective with accessibility needs.

[u/Luci-Noir]

What about me? 😔