Next Section

Accessibility Software

Introduction

Using your Screen Reader ***sr

General ***sr Commands

Speech Output

Controlling Speech in Text Windows
Controlling Speech in Dialog Boxes

Braille Output

***bd Panel
Basic ***bd Functions
Controlling Speech with ***bd keys
Emulating Main Keyboard with ***bd

Using Virtual Mouse Device

Combining Speech and Braille

Using your Screen Enlargement Software ***se

Introduction

As their name says, accessibility or adaptive programs help the people with special needs to access information which otherwise would be inaccessible for them. Only the use of these programs makes working with computers possible for blind and partially sighted people.

For visually impaired persons who still have enough vision to see characters and other objects on the screen in case their size is properly adapted, there are so-called Screen Enlargement programs available. In addition to enlarging the contents of the screen, the screen enlargement software offers usually different navigation helps.

Blind persons use so-called Screen Reader software to access the contents of the screen. There are basically two alternative ways for blind persons to work with computers: aural and tactile way. It is possible to choose between using a speech synthesizer or a Braille display. However the most efficient method is to combine the both access ways.

This section gives you merely a short introduction into the most important functions of the software you currently use.

Using your Screen Reader ***sr

Screen readers are programs which make the information on the computer screen accessible through a Braille display or a speech synthesizer.

Screen readers must be able to pick out elements that will make what is on the screen meaningful, so that the user can manage the dialog with the machine appropriately.

Windows can display information anywhere on the screen, in any size, and screen readers must be able to identify where to focus at any moment. Windows has multiple cursors with different cursor shapes and many possible screen positions for these different cursors, which makes tracking events difficult. All this makes these programs very complex and expensive.

In this section I try to explain as short as possible only the very basics of ***sr. This should enable you to make your first steps in Windows and to continue by yourself learning more advanced functions and techniques.

General ***sr Commands

This section lists and explains some important ***sr commands that affect ***sr overall behavior irrespective of the output devices used.

Start ***sr: ***SR_Start: JAWS comes without any keyboard shortcut with which you could start it. Click here to see how to make one.
Open ***sr Window: ***SR_Window: In the ***sr application window you can change many Screen Reader settings in order to adapt its behavior to your expectations. Here is no place to go deeper inside ***sr. To learn more about it, consult ***sr On-line Help and the other manuals provided with the software.
Shut Down ***sr: ***SR_Shut_Down

Refresh Screen: ***Refresh_Screen: This is a very important command. ***sr is from time to time confused and does not show/speak the relevant piece of the screen contents. It occurs sometimes in the Start Menu, sometimes also in other applications after changing from one View in another. Pressing ***Refresh_Screen helps almost always.
Hot Key Help: ***Hot_Key_Help
Display Sensitive Help: ***Display_Sensitive_Help
Keyboard Help (toggle): ***Keyboard_Help
Find a text on the screen: ***SR_Find
Find the previous occurrence of the found string: ***SR_Find_Previous
Find the next occurrence of the found string: ***SR_Find_Next
Pass a Key Through to the active application: ***Pass_Key_Through: It happens sometimes that an application you work in uses a same key combination as ***sr for some command you actually need. Normally you could not use it, because ***sr snatches it. Press a key combination you will to be processed from the active application immediately after pressing ***Pass_Key_Through and ***sr will let it through.
Activate the Graphics Labeler: ***Graphics_Labeler: With the Graphics Labeler you can "label" icons and buttons that ***sr does not recognize.
Activate the Automatic Graphics Labeler: ***Automatic_Graphics_Labeler: ***sr can execute an automatic labeling of all graphics in the active window. Before doing it you have to switch the tool tips on. The contents of the corresponding tool tip will be made to the graphic label.

Speech Output

Most of the time ***sr reads exactly the information you expect to hear:

If you switch to a window or open a new one, ***sr reads the window title
In a text area you get to hear the line or the word you move to
In a dialog box you hear the type of the control you tab to and its current value.

This default behavior of ***sr makes the working with Windows controls and Windows applications intuitive and easy.

Nevertheless the automatic actions executed by ***sr can by no means cover your complete information need. Often you have to re-call to your memory the line, the word or exactly the character on the current insertion position. From time to time you need the contents of the status bar or a glance to the system time on the task bar. There are also applications and situations where the only possibility to activate a control is by using mouse.

As the most Screen Readers ***sr also uses the numeric keypad on the right side of the Desktop keyboard for the most of its commands. In order to make the name shorter I use NUM PAD for it.

The Braille foil no. 15 brings among the rest the NUM PAD labels in its ON state.

***sr uses NUM PAD key labels active in the OFF state of the NUM LOCK key.
Click here to see them in a text version.

***sr uses NUM PAD key labels active in the ON state of the NUM LOCK key.
Click here to see them in a text version.

You can switch the NUM PAD ON and OFF with the toggle key NUM LOCK located in the upper left corner of the NUM PAD.

Controlling Speech in Text Windows

To exercise the following commands open the file "Moving around.txt" in the Accelerate folder.

The elementary speech control commands are:

Say Character on the insertion point: ***Say_Character
Say Previous Character: ***Say_Previous_Character
Say Next Character: ***Say_Next_Character
Say Word containing the insertion point: ***Say_Word
Say Previous Word: ***Say_Previous_Word
Say Next Word: ***Say_Next_Word
Spell current Word: ***Spell_Word
Say Line containing the insertion point: ***Say_Line
Say Previous Line: ***Say_Previous_Line
Say Next Line: ***Say_Next_Line
Say All: ***Say_All

All listed commands containing the words next and previous as well as the command Say All move the insertion point to the object before reading it.

The next group of speech commands let the insertion point on its place:

Say from the beginning of line to Cursor: ***Say_to_Cursor
Say from Cursor to the end of line: ***Say_from_Cursor
Say Top Line of Window: ***Say_Top_Line_of_Window
Say Bottom Line of Window: ***Say_Bottom_Line_of_Window
Say Window Title: ***Say_Window_Title
Say Text without moving the insertion point: ***Read_Window_without_Movement

When you will control the visual characteristics of text passages, move the insertion point to the character within the area of interest and issue the command Say Font: ***Say_Font.

You can also always interrupt speech by pressing ***Interrupt_Speech.

Controlling Speech in Dialog Boxes

When you tab through a dialog box ***sr reads the label of the control which has a focus and its value. For example in case of a list you will hear that you are in a list view with the name so and so and on the end will follow the name of the currently selected list item. If you focus a check box the speech synthesizer will say its name and status (checked or not checked) etc.

The following list brings some speech commands helping you to get information about where you are in a dialog box and to speed up you working with it.

Say Current Control's Hot Key: ***Say_Current_Control_Hot_Key
Say Window Prompt and Text: ***Say_Window_Prompt_and_Text

Click here for a complete list of ***sr speech commands.

Braille Output

With the refreshable Braille display ***bd you have in a way a Braille window which you can virtually draw over the content of the computer screen to view it. All the time ***sr tries to find the most important information on the screen and to automatically put it on you Braille display. If you have not switched off the ***sr cursor tracking, ***bd will display the area containing the insertion point in a text and the control which has currently the focus in a dialog box.

Aside of all automatic intuition of ***sr you can use the keys on the ***bd panel

to navigate the Braille window around the computer screen
to emulate mouse actions
to activate some ***sr speech output functions
to emulate some main keyboard shortcuts.

***bd Panel

Basic ***bd Functions

This section explains which keys or key combinations on the Braille Display you need to press in order to activate certain ***sr functions. For each function a short explanation is given about what this function does.

Only the very basic key bindings are listed here to give you the kick-off for your further learning. Consult the ***sr on-line help to find out all ***sr commands currently assigned to the keys on your Braille Display and to learn how to change or add key assignments.

Move left by one Braille segment: ***Braille_Back: This command pans your Braille display to the left exactly the number of characters on the reading part of your Braille display. It can happen that words are simply cut of at the beginning or at the end of the Braille display. If there is no more text to the left of the current Braille segment, the Braille display is moved to the rightmost segment of the previous line.
Move right by one Braille segment: ***Braille_Next: Like the previous command, only now your Braille display is panned to the right. If there is no more text to the right of the current Braille segment, the Braille display is moved to the leftmost segment of the next line. This key is the most commonly used key on the Braille display, since it enables you to read on a piece of text.
Move to previous line: ***Braille_Up: This command moves your Braille display up one line vertically.
Move to next line: ***Braille_Down: This command moves your Braille display down one line vertically.
Move Braille display to top of Window: ***Braille_Top: The Braille display is moved to the top of the window the active cursor is in. In most cases this command brings you to the window's title bar.
Move Braille display to bottom of window: ***Braille_Bottom: The Braille display is moved to the bottom of the active window. In most cases this command brings you to the status bar if it is visible.
Move Braille display to the left edge of window: ***Braille_Left: In MS Windows it is possible, that a line of text contains more than hundred characters. If you work with a 40-cell Braille Display, so a line will fill 3 or 4 Braille lines. ***Braille_Left brings you immediately to the beginning of the line - to the left edge of the window.
Move Braille display to the right edge of window: ***Braille_Right: In MS Windows it is possible, that a line of text contains more than hundred characters. If you work with a 40-cell Braille Display, so a line will fill 3 or 4 Braille lines. ***Braille_Right brings you immediately to the end of the line - to the right edge of the window.
Route Braille display to position of active cursor: ***Braille_To_Cursor: If you are browsing the window with the Braille cursor in geographical mode, this command takes you back to the active cursor or mouse pointer depending on which ***sr tracking mode is active.
Left mouse button click or insertion point routing: ***Braille_Mouse_Left_Click: Use the touch cursor to perform a mouse click on the screen at the location that corresponds to its position. In a word processor or a text editor this will result in routing the insertion point to that position. If you click the ***Braille_Mouse_Left_Click on for example a button, a hyperlink or a menu item, this will have the same effect as performing a mouse click on these items.
Right mouse button click: ***Braille_Mouse_Right_Click: This function performs a right mouse click on the screen, at the location corresponding with the position of the DTC on the Braille display. This can be particularly useful to get a context menu on items that provide one.
Toggle attribute mode: ***Attribute_Mode: In the attribute mode ***bd shows the special dot patterns instead of the normal text. these patterns represent different text attributes on this computer screen position. Learn more about it in the ***sr on-line Help.
Toggle Display mode: ***Braille_Display_Mode_Toggle: You can use this command to toggle between different navigation modes.
Toggle Braille keys move active cursor: ***Braille_Moves_Cursor_Toggle: Normally you can use the Braille navigation key on front of your ***bd Braille display to browse the window without moving the focus or the mouse pointer. If you turn on this function, you can use the Braille navigation keys to move the active cursor. It can be especially useful for reading a document in Braille. You can just keep pressing ***RIGHT whenever you are finished reading a Braille segment and read until the end of the document this way. Each time you press ***RIGHT, ***sr will take along the PC cursor.
Toggle Follow-Mouse Mode on and off: ***Braille_Follow_Mouse_Mode_Toggle: This key changes the Navigation mode from Follow-PC-cursor Mode to Follow-Mouse Mode and vice versa.

Controlling Speech with ***bd keys

***sr sets up some ***bd keys to control speech. So you can let your fingers on the Braille display and even so control some ***sr speech functions. These key bindings should optimize using ***sr simultaneously with both: Braille display and speech output.

Here follows a list of most common speech functions which you can invoke from the ***bd panel:

Read window title in speech: ***Braille_Speech_Top
Read bottom line of window in speech: ***Braille_Speech_Bottom
Read current word in speech: ***Braille_Speech_Word
Read current line in speech: ***Braille_Speech_Line
Read All in speech: ***Braille_Speech_All: If the PC cursor is active JAWS will read the complete document, beginning from the line the active cursor is on. The PC cursor will be dragged along the document. The speaking will not stop until the end of the document is reached or the user interrupts with the stop speech command. In that case the active cursor will be placed right at the beginning of the last spoken word. When the JAWS cursor or the invisible cursor is active the current visible Window will be read instead of the document, starting from the line the active cursor is on and ending at the bottom of the Window.
Read selected text: ***Braille_Speech_Selection
Mute Synthesizer: ***Braille_Speech_Mute
Read font at touch cursor position: ***Braille_Speech_Font: This function will produce a speech message containing information about the font, attributes and possibly color of the character at the position of the touch cursor.

Emulating Main Keyboard with ***bd

UP ARROW key: ***Braille_Arrow_Up
DOWN ARROW key: ***Braille_Arrow_Down
LEFT ARROW key: ***Braille_Arrow_Left
RIGHT ARROW key: ***Braille_Arrow_Right

CONTROL+HOME: ***Braille_Control_Home: The PC cursor is activated and routed to the beginning of a document or to the first item in a list, depending on the context in which this command is used.
CONTROL+END: ***Braille_Control_End: The PC cursor is activated and routed to the end of a document or to the last item in a list, depending on the context in which this command is used.
ALT key: ***Braille_Alt: This command activates the menu bar.
WINDOWS key: ***Braille_Windows: This command opens the Windows Start menu.
TAB key: ***Braille_Tab: This command moves the focus to the next control in a dialog box, according to the tab order. This function actually emulates the TAB key. So you can also use it to enter a tab stop in a Word processor.
SHIFT+TAB: ***Braille_Shift_Tab: This command moves the focus to the previous control in a dialog box, according to the tab order. You can use it for example, to move from the filename edit to the folder list view in the standard Open dialog.
ENTER key: ***Braille_Enter: You can use this command to press a button for example. You can also use it in a Word processor to enter a carriage return.
ESCAPE key: ***Braille_Escape: You can use this function to move up one level in any menu. For example when you are in a pull down menu, this function brings you back to the main menu bar.
BACKSPACE key: ***Braille_Backspace: This command can be used to move to the parent folder in the Windows explorer/My Computer application.

***sr provides even the functionality to select text with the keys on the ***bd panel. Here are the keys:

To select a text:

Press ***Braille_Selecting_Start where you will the selection to start

Press ***Braille_Selecting_End where you will the selection to end.

CONTROL+X: ***Braille_Control_X

Cut to clipboard
This command removes the selected text or items and copies it to the clipboard.

CONTRL+C: ***Braille_Control_C

Copy to clipboard
This command copies the selected text or items to the clipboard.

CONTROL+V: ***Braille_Control_V

Paste from clipboard
This command pastes the clipboard contents to the position of the active cursor.

Using Virtual Mouse Device

***sr has the ability to emulate the mouse device by using keyboard. You have so the possibility to move the mouse pointer around and to click mouse buttons on the screen spots you want without any physical contact with a mouse device.

There are two main reasons for blind users to use the virtual mouse:

If you are a speech-only user you have to switch to the Follow-Mouse Mode to explore and/or read windows without cursor such as for example in some flowers of the Windows Help System.
In many applications there are commands and options unavailable through the menu system which you can activate only by clicking on a corresponding button. One example for this behavior is choosing between Normal and HTML view in Microsoft FrontPage.

Different Screen Readers use different names for the Follow-Mouse Mode.

***sr calls it Jaws Cursor on the contrary to normal state of following the cursor or focus (in Jaws terminology named PC Cursor).

***sr calls it Navigation Mode.

Follow-Mouse Mode On: ***Mouse_Mode_On
Follow-Mouse Mode Off: ***Mouse_Mode_Off
Restrict Mouse to Window (Toggle): ***Restrict_Mouse_to_Window: With this command you can forbid the mouse pointer to leave the active window. After doing it you can move the mouse only inside the borders of the active window.
Left Mouse Button Click: ***Left_Mouse_Button_Click
Left Mouse Button Double Click: ***Left_Mouse_Button_Double_Click
Right Mouse Button Click: ***Right_Mouse_Button_Click
Route Mouse to Cursor: ***Mouse_To_Focus: Use this command when you will get the mouse pointer to the focus position to click there. You need it usually to activate the context menu (right mouse button click).

Combining Speech and Braille

The best results in interfacing with your computer you can accomplish by using speech output and Braille display at the same time. It depends often on your working environment whether you can afford it or not. In an office where you are not alone, you had to put on the headphones to use the speech. Because of it many people prefer to work there Braille-only.

If you are in the lucky position to freely use both kinds of ***sr output, think about the following recommendations.

Use speech output to read long text passages where you have not to care about mathematical formulas or program code which must be meticulous.
Let you support from the speech in situations such as Find and/or Replace dialog in Word, where multiple areas on the screen contain at the same time important information.
Use Braille to fast check the correctness of your writing at times you perceive that you made a mistake.
Use the keys on the ***bd panel to hear some important information without moving the Braille segment away from its current screen position.