This section describes how the design of Windows 95 makes it easier for software developers to make their products accessible to individuals with disabilities.
Windows 95 contains many built-in accessibility features. To make a computer running Windows 95 truly accessible, application developers must provide access to their applications' features, taking care to avoid incompatibilities with accessibility aids.
As part of the Win32 Software Development Kit for Windows 95 and Windows NT and The Windows Interface Guidelines for Software Design, Microsoft has provided developers with documentation which not only outlines these important concepts, but provides technical and design tips to help ISVs produce more accessible applications. Most of these tips will mean very little additional work to the designer, as long as the application designer is aware of the issues and incorporates accessibility into the application design at an early stage. By providing this information to application developers, Microsoft hopes to increase the general level of accessibility of all software running on the Windows platform.
Windows 95 now allows developers of voice-input systems and other alternative input systems to easily simulate keyboard and mouse input using fully documented and supported procedures.
Many accessibility aids have difficulty working with applications that implement nonstandard controls. Windows 95 introduces a whole new set of controls available for mainstream software developers, and these standardized implementations are designed to cooperate with accessibility aids.