[gui-talk] Fwd: Jaws FAQ: Did you know there are 2 ways to view web sites with Jaws?

[albert griffith]

Has anyone come across a situation when the screen layout worked better?
thanks

-----Original Message-----
From: gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Steve Pattison
Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 9:57 AM
To: Access L
Subject: [gui-talk] Fwd: Jaws FAQ: Did you know there are 2 ways to view web
sites with Jaws?

 From:    Daniel Keogh DKeogh at quantumtechnology.com.au
 To:      vip-l at softspeak.com.au

Did you know there are 2 ways you can look at web pages in Jaws? This
applies to Jaws version 7.0 or later. If you have an earlier version
this function is not available.
 
When you go to a web page a lot of things happen in the background you
may not be aware of. I'll try to explain in basic terms what happens.
You will need this introduction to understand the differences between
the 2 reading modes Jaws has for web sites.
 
Most of you have probably noticed that your cursor changes from the PC
cursor to the Virtual cursor. In it's default state Internet Explorer
and Firefox don't allow you to arrow through a web site. Jaws and other
screen readers have got around this limitation by loading the page into
what's called a virtual buffer. Think of it as similar to an edit field
but you can't actually change any of the text.
 
Jaws formats everything in a single column down the left hand side. In
most cases it goes from the top left to the bottom right of the web
page. Links are always on a line of their own. Each cell of a table is
on a line of it's own but there are commands available to help you
navigate tables and find out how they're meant to look. You need to
remember however this does not change how the page looks on the screen.
A sighted user will not see any change when you run Jaws.
 
There are 2 main advantages to this way of viewing web sites:
 
1. You don't have to move the cursor to activate a link. When you're on
the line containing the link just press enter or space and it will
activate.
 
2. In a table it's easy to tell where the data in each cell begins and
ends.
 
This is the default mode for the virtual cursor. It is called Simple
Layout and for most users it will be the one they use all the time. 
 
There is another way to look it web sites however called Screen Layout.
Keep in mind this is not an accurate representation of what the web page
looks like on the screen. If you had that with the virtual cursor it's
pretty likely it would make no sense since web sites are usually set up
in columns, tables etc. If you want to know how it actually looks on the
screen then you'll need to use the Jaws cursor.
 
Screen Layout mode can be set up in 2 ways. You can either have it as
the default for all web sites or only for the ones you specify. For
those of you who aren't aware, Jaws does allow you to have settings for
specific sites as well as defaults for all sites. To change the settings
for all web sites in Internet Explorer or Firefox press Jaws key V. To
change the settings only for the web site you're currently on press Jaws
key shift V. To change to screen layout arrow down until you hear jaws
say "document presentation - simple layout". Press the space bar to
toggle this to Screen Layout. Now press enter to save the change.
 
Some of the things you may notice about web pages in this mode are:
 

*	Links are not all on separate lines. You can still tab to links
or use your arrow keys to get to them. Pressing enter or space on the
link will activate it as normal.
*	Tables appear in the virtual buffer in their actual columns and
rows. Each column is separated by the | symbol. You can still use your
normal table navigation commands to access the data. Note that if your
Jaws punctuation setting is set to anything below "most" then you will
not hear the | symbol.
*	Links embedded in text are not on separate lines. Again you can
use your arrows or tab key to get at them. Pressing space or enter on
the link will activate it as normal.
*	There may be less blank lines than you're used to.

 
The best thing you can do now is play around with this and see which
sites it works on and which it doesn't. There are probably sites where
it makes an even bigger mess than you already have using the simple
layout but there may be sites where it makes life a lot easier.
 
If you want to switch back to the old layout simply follow the steps
above to switch Document Presentation to Simple Layout.

 
Regards,
 
Danny Keogh
Quantum Technology
Blindness Software/Hardware Sales and Support
 
Phone:  03 9545 4102
Mobile:  0439 022 146
 
Email  dkeogh at quantumtechnology.com.au
 
www.quantumtechnology.com.au

Regards Steve
Email:  srp at internode.on.net
MSN Messenger:  internetuser383 at hotmail.com
Skype:  steve1963

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