[gui-talk] Fwd: Jaws FAQ: JAWS and FaceBook

[Steve Pattison]

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

Hi All,
 
There have been a few questions over the last couple of weeks on this
list regarding JAWS and FaceBook. I'll see if I can clarify a couple of
things here and also suggest a couple of ways to make FaceBook work a
bit better. I won't be telling you how to use FaceBook since there are a
lot of aspects of it I haven't even looked at myself and probably never
will.
 
This information assumes you're using JAWS version 11. Jaws 10 may work
ok but FaceBook is using technology it doesn't work with very well. Also
you'll probably have issues if you're not yet running Internet Explorer
8. I have been told that you can access it using Firefox but have not
tested this myself.
 
The standard FaceBook page is accessible. You do not need to use the
Mobile version although you can if you wish to. Navigating the standard
one however is actually easier since it uses headings to separate each
section of the page. The mobile version does not do this which makes it
harder to get around. FaceBook's pages don't have too much clutter so
it's not hard to skip things you don't want to look at.
 
Learn your JAWS navigation keys for the web especially heading
navigation. Pressing h will skip you forward through headings and Shift
h will move you back up the page. If you reach the last heading and
press h again it will wrap around to the top again.
 
Learn how to use Place Markers. These can be extremely useful on a lot
of sites. JAWS Place Markers can be anchored to text so even if that
part of the page moves you will still find it.
 
Finally I strongly suggest you make a change to your JAWS configuration.
This will allow some of the links that don't read properly to work.
 
1. Go to www.facebook.com.
 
2. Press JawsKey Shift V. this will set up a configuration for FaceBook
only. Anything you change in here won't affect other web sites. You can
do this for any web site and it will override the default settings.
 
3. Press L until you hear JAWS say "Links Options". Arrow down to "Text
Links". This is most likely set to "show - using screen text". Press the
space bar until you hear JAWS say "show - using title". Now press enter.
 
That should allow some of the links at the top of the FaceBook page that
may not be reading properly to work as they should.
 
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
 
Quantum Technology Home:  www.quantumtechnology.com.au

Regards Steve
Email:  srp at internode.on.net
MSN Messenger:  internetuser383 at hotmail.com
Skype:  steve1963
Twitter:  steve9782