<s>
Accessibility	B-Language
Toolkit	I-Language
(	O
ATK	O
)	O
is	O
an	O
open	O
source	O
software	B-Library
library	I-Library
,	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
GNOME	B-Application
project	O
,	O
which	O
provides	O
application	B-Application
programming	I-Application
interfaces	I-Application
(	O
APIs	B-Application
)	O
for	O
implementing	O
accessibility	O
support	O
in	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
common	O
nomenclature	O
to	O
explain	O
an	O
accessibility	O
framework	O
is	O
a	O
usual	O
client-server	B-Operating_System
architecture	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
this	O
architecture	O
the	O
client	O
and	O
server	O
need	O
to	O
communicate	O
with	O
each	O
other	O
,	O
usually	O
using	O
the	O
IPC	B-Operating_System
technology	O
of	O
the	O
platform	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Usually	O
the	O
API	B-Application
for	O
both	O
client-side	B-Operating_System
and	O
server-side	O
applications	O
are	O
the	O
same	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
accessibility	O
framework	O
provides	O
a	O
client-side	B-Operating_System
and	O
a	O
server-side	O
implementation	O
of	O
that	O
API	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
case	O
of	O
GNOME	B-Application
,	O
there	O
are	O
two	O
different	O
APIs	B-Application
,	O
one	O
for	O
the	O
client-side	B-Operating_System
(	O
Assistive	B-Language
Technology	I-Language
Service	I-Language
Provider	I-Language
Interface	I-Language
(	O
AT-SPI	B-Language
)	O
)	O
and	O
a	O
different	O
one	O
for	O
the	O
server-side	O
(	O
ATK	O
)	O
due	O
to	O
historical	O
reasons	O
related	O
to	O
the	O
underlying	O
technologies	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
ATK	O
abstract	O
headers	B-Language
files	I-Language
are	O
freely	O
available	O
to	O
help	O
developers	O
who	O
want	O
to	O
make	O
their	O
GUI	B-Library
toolkit	I-Library
accessible	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Developers	O
who	O
use	O
stock	O
widgets	O
of	O
GUI	B-Library
toolkits	I-Library
that	O
implements	O
the	O
ATK	O
headers	O
can	O
more	O
easily	O
make	O
their	O
applications	O
accessible	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GAIL	O
(	O
GNOME	B-Language
Accessibility	I-Language
Implementation	O
Library	O
)	O
was	O
the	O
name	O
of	O
the	O
accessibility	O
interfaces	O
implementation	O
defined	O
by	O
ATK	O
for	O
GTK+	B-Application
,	O
the	O
widget	B-Library
library	I-Library
of	O
GNOME	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Initially	O
,	O
GAIL	O
was	O
an	O
independent	O
module	O
mapped	O
to	O
GTK+	B-Application
but	O
since	O
GNOME	B-Application
3.2	O
,	O
GAIL	O
was	O
merged	O
into	O
GTK+	B-Application
,	O
so	O
the	O
ATK	O
implementation	O
is	O
integrated	O
into	O
GTK+	B-Application
and	O
GAIL	O
is	O
deprecated	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Apart	O
from	O
GTK+	B-Application
,	O
other	O
GUI	B-Library
toolkits	I-Library
and	O
applications	O
have	O
implemented	O
ATK	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
be	O
accessible	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
OpenOffice/LibreOffice	O
,	O
Mozilla	O
's	O
Gecko	O
,	O
Clutter	O
and	O
WebKitGTK+	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ATK	O
is	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
GNOME	B-Language
Accessibility	I-Language
Framework	O
that	O
was	O
released	O
in	O
2001	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
main	O
development	O
force	O
behind	O
ATK	O
was	O
the	O
Accessibility	O
Program	O
Office	O
(	O
APO	O
)	O
of	O
Sun	O
Microsystems	O
,	O
Inc	O
.	O
(	O
now	O
Oracle	B-Application
)	O
with	O
contributions	O
from	O
many	O
community	O
members	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
Oracle	B-Application
acquired	O
Sun	O
in	O
2010	O
they	O
cut	O
developer	O
jobs	O
of	O
full-time	O
developers	O
working	O
on	O
GNOME	B-Language
accessibility	I-Language
components	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
Accessibility	B-Language
Toolkit	I-Language
ATK	O
and	O
the	O
Orca	O
screen	O
reader	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
then	O
,	O
ATK	O
is	O
mainly	O
maintained	O
by	O
the	O
GNOME	B-Application
community	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
GUADEC	B-Application
2020	O
Emanuelle	O
Bassi	O
announced	O
to	O
have	O
been	O
working	O
for	O
about	O
6	O
months	O
on	O
a	O
successor	O
to	O
ATK	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Accessibility	O
will	O
no	O
longer	O
be	O
maintained	O
out-of-tree	O
but	O
be	O
part	O
of	O
GTK	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Available	O
since	O
GTK	B-Application
3.99.0	O
The	O
new	O
approach	O
will	O
implement	O
WAI-ARIA	O
(	O
World	O
Wide	O
Web	O
Consortium	O
(	O
W3C	O
)	O
Accessibility	O
Initiative	O
–	O
Accessible	O
Rich	O
Internet	O
Applications	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
