[gui-talk] Fwd: Preview of JAWS 12

[Steve Pattison]

From: Gerald Levy
To: blindgeekzone at yahoogroups.com

Here's a brief preview of JAWS 12 I just came across:

by Curtis Chong

In early July, I attended a three-hour session conducted by Freedom
Scientific during which the company provided a sneak preview of JAWS
for Windows Version 12. Freedom Scientific has been working on this
newest release of JAWS for more than a year, and it is hoped that JAWS
12 will be released before the end of 2010.

Long-time JAWS users will be interested to know that in JAWS 12,
Freedom Scientific proposes to replace the familiar JAWS Configuration
Manager with something called the Settings Center. In the Settings
Center, you can search for the setting that you want to change and
then simply make the change. It is no longer necessary to explore a
variety of menus to track down where, for example, you can change the
level of punctuation that JAWS speaks or increase the speaking rate of
JAWS. Also, in the Settings Center, your last 25 changes will be
displayed at the bottom of the tree view, making it easier for you to
fix a setting that might have been adjusted incorrectly or adjust
settings that you change frequently.

Another feature included in JAWS 12 is the ability to operate your
computer from the Braille keyboard of any connected refreshable
Braille display. Using the Braille keys, you can enter any character
that would be entered through a standard QWERTY keyboard, and this
includes all JAWS commands as well.

Also, a proficient Grade II Braille user will be able to enter text in
contracted Braille and have the result reverse-translated on the fly.
I do not see much value in this feature for me, personally, but I
hesitate to criticize the investment in time and effort that has been
made by Freedom Scientific; I simply do not know how many Braille
users out there have been longing to operate their computer from a
Braille keyboard.

The final noteworthy feature in JAWS 12 is the ability to use a Virtual
Ribbon in Microsoft Office. Some blind computer users have expressed
frustration with the ribbon that has been incorporated into Microsoft
Office 2007 and now into Office 2010. What Freedom Scientific is
proposing for JAWS 12 is to give the Office user the choice of whether
to use the ribbon as is or to use the Virtual Ribbon provided by JAWS.
This Virtual Ribbon provides a user experience that feels more like
the traditional menus with which a lot of people are familiar. Time
will tell whether this feature is worth the investment. As for me,
since I feel quite comfortable with the Office ribbon as it is, I will
probably choose not to use the JAWS Virtual Ribbon that comes with
JAWS 12.

In all, JAWS 12 seems like a bit of an improvement over JAWS 11.
Certainly, Freedom Scientific has incorporated some new features which
some people will like. As for me, I would wish for features in JAWS
which make it easier for blind people to compete in the workplace-
something which Freedom Scientific seems to have lost sight of over the
years.

Gerald

Regards Steve
Email:  srp at internode.on.net
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