Rename COM Registration Fixing Tool to System accessibility repair tool

[bramd]

Link to issue number:

Closes #18666

Summary of the issue:

The "COM Registration Fixing Tool" name uses technical jargon ("COM Registration") that is unclear to most users. Users encountering accessibility issues may not understand what this tool does or when to use it based on its current name.

Description of user facing changes:

All user-facing references to "COM Registration Fixing Tool" have been renamed to "System accessibility repair tool":

• Tools menu item
• All dialog titles and messages (intro, progress, success, failure)
• User Guide documentation
• Change log entry
• Bug report issue templates

Description of developer facing changes:

Internal identifiers (method names, file names, helpId anchors) are preserved to minimize risk and maintain backward compatibility with add-ons or scripts referencing these identifiers.

Description of development approach:

Renamed all user-facing strings across the codebase while keeping internal code identifiers unchanged. Updated translatable strings, documentation, and issue templates. The dialog title was changed from "Fix COM Registrations" to "System Accessibility Repair" and the progress message was updated to be more descriptive.

Testing strategy:

Manual testing: Built the launcher executable, ran NVDA from the launcher, and verified the renamed tool appears correctly in the Tools menu and that the repair tool dialogs display the updated strings when invoked.

Known issues with pull request:

None.

Code Review Checklist:

• Documentation:
  • Change log entry
  • User Documentation
  • Developer / Technical Documentation
  • Context sensitive help for GUI changes
• Testing:
  • Unit tests
  • System (end to end) tests
  • Manual testing
• UX of all users considered:
  • Speech
  • Braille
  • Low Vision
  • Different web browsers
  • Localization in other languages / culture than English
• API is compatible with existing add-ons.
• Security precautions taken.

[codeofdusk]

I'm not in favour of this change, specifically because

Users encountering accessibility issues may not understand what this tool does or when to use it based on its current name.

A name like "system accessibility repair tool" tells me less about what the tool does, not more. How about adding a hint in the menu, something like "COM Registration Tool (repair system accessibility)", leaving the explanatory text when you launch the tool (which is good) unchanged?

[CyrilleB79]

@codeofdusk, it seems to me that you are thinking as a developer, not as a standard user.

Users encountering accessibility issues may not understand what this tool does or when to use it based on its current name.

A name like "system accessibility repair tool" tells me less about what the tool does, not more.

For standard users, "COM registration" has no meaning at all. There may be a better wording but the concept of repairing system accessibility is more likely to mean something for standard users than "COM registration".

All what "COM reg fixing tool" tells you more is about the technical information about how it works or what it technically does, what is not useful for non-dev users.

Personally, I find this renaming more than welcome.

[seanbudd]

Could we get some alternative name ideas? I think this is an improvement still, but still feels less than ideal.
This still feels somewhat misleading, as if this could fix wider system accessibility issues. I think it's safer to use a name closer to the suggested "repair NVDA installation" or similar, to be more clear that it fixes how NVDA interacts with the system.

[makhlwf]

'Repair NVDA's system accessibility' feels good for me.

[bramd]

Thanks all for the suggestions. I have also seen some confusion with end-users on the COM registration fixing tool, so I would like to see this improved. I, from a dev/power user perspective, find the current name fine as is and totally see the suggestion that it covers what it’s doing and is technically correct. Given that we want to indicate more clearly what is being fixed and don’t over promise what will be fixed, here are a few more suggestions: * Repair NVDA system integration * Restore NVDA system access * Re-register NVDA with Windows (has also been suggested in the original issue) Would like to hear what you think about these names or variations there off. ​

[XLTechie]

Why not just "NVDA Repair Tool"? It leaves what it's doing somewhat ambiguous (is it NVDA that needs repaired, or is it NVDA doing the repairs?), but that's actually a good thing, since usually the user doesn't really know where the problem is anyway, just that something isn't working right. Further, it leaves it open to some scope expansion later. Plus, it's not bloated with extraneous words like "system" or the like, that don't really bring anything to the table regarding comprehension of what's going on.

[XLTechie]

As an aside, "System accessibility repair tool" implies that it repairs accessibility for the system, not just as it relates to NVDA. Are the COM fixes in question actually relevant to any other SR?

[SaschaCowley]

I think there's also a risk that when we talk about "fixing" accessibility, users may think this tool can somehow improve the accessibility of any inaccessible application. Perhaps something like "accessibility registration repair tool" would help to communicate that this is restoring the way NVDA talks to applications, while also clearly communicating that what this does is remediate some problems with accessibility?

[CyrilleB79]

I find @XLTechie's comment and suggestion very relevant:

Why not just "NVDA Repair Tool"? It leaves what it's doing somewhat ambiguous (is it NVDA that needs repaired, or is it NVDA doing the repairs?), but that's actually a good thing, since usually the user doesn't really know where the problem is anyway, just that something isn't working right. Further, it leaves it open to some scope expansion later. Plus, it's not bloated with extraneous words like "system" or the like, that don't really bring anything to the table regarding comprehension of what's going on.

Regarding @SaschaCowley's proposal "accessibility registration repair tool":
Replacing "COM" goes in the right direction to avoid technical jargon. But IMO, "registration" does not need to appear in the tool's name. The end user does not need to know what the exact technical action (registration) is. Also removing "registration" would prevent any potential confusion, even if quite unlikely, like "user registration" (e.g. similar to Windows registration).

Regarding @bramd's suggestions:

• "Repair NVDA system integration": quite nice, I'd accept it too, even if it's less flexible than @XLTechie's suggestion.
• "Restore NVDA system access"! I prefer "repair" than "restore"
• "Re-register NVDA with Windows": this one is quite ugly ("re-register"), and can lead to confusion with user account registration.

[michaelDCurran]

I'd accept "accessibility registration repair tool" I think, but otherwise I'd prefer to leave it as its original name which it has had for many years.

[seanbudd]

@Qchristensen - what do you think of "accessibility registration repair tool". we seem mostly on agreement with it

[seanbudd]

@Qchristensen - has approved the term, can you update it to that?