[gui-talk] Fwd: Guess What? - Window-Eyes 7.5 Beta 1 - New User Interface

[Steve Pattison]

From:	jeremy at gwmicro.com
To:	gw-info at gwmicro.com

Guess What? – Window-Eyes 7.5 Beta 1 - New User Interface

Disclaimer

The following message includes information regarding Window-Eyes 7.5
Beta 1. Please note that Window-Eyes 7.5 Beta 1 HAS NOT been released
at this time. We are, however, providing you with some small glimpses
into the features that Window-Eyes 7.5 Beta 1 will contain. We are
currently not answering any questions regarding the functionality of
the beta. The only things we're going to talk about will be what we
have included in our new Guess What series, which will continue daily
up to the beta release date. We will answer all questions at that time.
Please be patient; you will be rewarded.

If you're subscribed to the GW Micro or Guess What podcast feed, you'll
automatically receive this Guess What in MP3 format.  Check out
www.gwmicro.com/podcast for more information.  For sighted users, go to
our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/gwmicro to see the video of the
Guess What.  If you want to download the MP3, read this article online,
or view more Guess What articles (when they are released), please visit
www.gwmicro.com/beta.

Enjoy!

--
Welcome to GW Micro's "Guess What?" series, an introductory look at the
highly anticipated release of Window-Eyes 7.5 Beta 1.  Window-Eyes 7.5
Beta 1 boasts many new features.  The first of these features that you
will immediately notice with Window-Eyes 7.5 Beta 1 is the completely
redesigned user interface.  One of our goals at GW Micro is to make our
customers more efficient in their everyday use of Window-Eyes.  In
addition, significant customer feedback revealed that it was time to
upgrade our user interface, so with the goal of efficiency and the
feedback we received, we put a lot of effort into making the new and
improved user interface.

As an example of how we made it easier to use Window-Eyes, let’s look
at the Screen menu.  In Window-Eyes 7.2, you used to have to press
Control-Backslash, then Alt-S to open the Screen menu.  Once there, if
you wanted to change the rate, you would have to press Enter on the
rate, and use the Arrow keys to increase or decrease the rate, and
press Enter again.  After that, you would have to go into the File menu
and save the Set File.  While it was a good solution if you did not
know the hotkeys, it was a lot of steps.  Let’s investigate how it
would work with the new user interface.

1.    Press Control-Backslash
2.    Press S for Screen
3.    Right Arrow to open the Screen node, and Down Arrow to Voice
4.    Tab to the Rate edit box, and use the Arrow keys to adjust the
rate up or down.
5.    Once you have the rate you want, just press Control-S, and
Window-Eyes will say, “Settings Saved.”  Your settings are saved, and
you can continue doing your work on your computer.  Reducing steps to
make changes to Window-Eyes allows you to focus on doing your work,
instead of focusing on using your screen reader.  Besides pressing TAB,
you can also press F6 to toggle between the Right pane and Left pane.
Let’s press F6 to put us back on the tree view for now.

The amount of steps were greatly decreased, and it is much easier to
save settings. In the old interface, if you wanted to make multiple
changes, you would need to go back in the Screen menu multiple times to
make changes, but this is no longer the case with the new user
interface.  For sighted trainers, they can now visually see all
settings for each selected node in the left-hand pane, making it easier
for sighted trainers to learn the user interface, which in turn makes
it easier for their blind clients to learn the new user interface.

In this instance, the user interface was in Beginner mode.  The UI no
longer has an Intermediate mode, since most customers were either in
the Advanced menu or Beginner menu.  So, we made it even easier to
change between modes.  Under the Help menu, you can select Show
Advanced Options by simply doing the following:

1.    Press Alt-H to open the Help menu
2.    Down Arrow to Show Advanced Options and press Enter

The Advanced mode doesn’t add functionality to Window-Eyes, but there
are more options displayed in the UI, just as in version 7.2.  

Much of the feedback we received let us know that customers were having
a difficult time making changes that were program specific or global. 
In the Beginner mode, we hide these options from the user to avoid
confusion.  To eliminate any confusion when these options do show up in
the Advanced mode, and to enhance all of the Window-Eyes settings,
there was a lot of effort put into making every option have the ability
to be program specific or global.  Let’s go back to the Screen rate as
an example.  To do this, we are already in Window-Eyes in the Left pane,
and on Voice, so we will press Tab to get back to the Rate edit box. 
You will first note a checkbox here that will make the other two voices
match this voice.  Yet again, this is another way we are making it
easier to use Window-Eyes.  Tab again, and you hear, “Rate – Global.
Toggle Scope button.”  This allows us to change the rate either
specifically to the program we are in or make it global simply by
pressing Space or Enter on this button.  If you press Enter, you will
hear “Rate – Program.”  This is true for every option in the new user
interface.  If you Tab to Pitch, you will have the same button, and if
you Tab to Tone, you will have the same button.  These buttons are
independent of each other, and allow you to change each setting
independently.  No more messing with Voice and Verbosity global and
local options.

And, it doesn’t stop there.  We have been getting constant requests to
have the ability to make hotkeys both local and global.  You could
always make hotkeys global by using the Text to Set and Set to Text
utilities, but with the new UI, there is no need for these special
utilities anymore.  Let’s check out how we can make a hotkey global or
local.

First, press F6 to go back to the tree view.  Then, press H to get to
Hotkeys.  Press the Right Arrow to open the node, and then press the
Down Arrow to get to Browse Mode.  Suppose you wanted to change a
Browse Mode hotkey.  Press Tab to get to Link Next.  You will hear that
this is for Link Next, the hotkey is L, and the Scope is Global.  If
you want to make this hotkey specific to my current program, press Tab,
and you will hear, “Link Next – Global. Toggle Scope button.”  Press
Space or Enter on this button, and you will be placed back on the Link
Next hotkey, and this time, you will hear that the hotkey is specific
to the Program.  However, all other hotkeys are still global unless you
tell them otherwise. For example, if you press the Down Arrow, Link
Prior is still set to Global.  The flexibility added by the new UI
makes the possibilities almost endless.

Window-Eyes 7.5 Beta 1 also gives you the ability to preview both your
synthesizer and Braille display.  Press F6 to get back to the tree view,
and then press D until you get to Devices. Once at Devices, press the
Right Arrow to open the node, and Down Arrow to Braille Displays. 
Press Tab to get to the list of displays, and then Down Arrow to Alva
240.  If you wanted to select this Braille display, press Enter. 
Window-Eyes 7.5 Beta 1 prompts you to either keep these settings or
revert.  If you do not select to keep them in 15 seconds, Window-Eyes
will revert to the previous settings.  This will keep you from losing
Braille.  The same is true of a synthesizer.  Press F6 to go back to
the tree view, and then Up Arrow to Synthesizers.  Now, press Tab, and
you are in the list of synthesizers.  Press the Up Arrow to the Echo PC
or GP and press Enter.  You will note that you do not hear anything,
assuming you do not have this synthesizer.  However, the same dialog
came up that came up for the Braille display.  You will hear tones, and
after 15 seconds, Window-Eyes will revert to your last synthesizer. 
Again, the power of Window-Eyes 7.5 Beta 1 is shining through.

While there are still many options we have not covered in the new UI,
one of the best tools to help you as you begin to learn the new UI is
F1.  If you are anywhere in the Right pane, press F1, and you will hear
about the option you are on.  If you want to know about a verbosity
option, for example, Window-Eyes can easily tell you about it.  Let’s
first press F6 to get back to the tree view.  Then, press V until you
get to Verbosity.  Press Right Arrow to open the node, and then Down
Arrow to Common, and press Right Arrow to open the node.  Down Arrow to
Activated and press Tab until you get to the first radio button.  Do
you know what Activated means?  If not, just press F1, and you will
hear exactly what Window-Eyes will or will not say when this option is
selected.  Or, if you are in the tree view, and you want to read about
those items, simply press F1 on that item and the Window-Eyes manual
will open to the section that talks about the node that you are on when
you press F1.

We still have a few more items that make Window-Eyes 7.5 Beta 1 an even
more well-rounded, well worth it upgrade, including some additional
features, and a solid collection of bug fixes. Stay tuned for
tomorrow's "Guess What?" to learn more about Window-Eyes 7.5 Beta 1, as
well as an exciting promotion to help you upgrade from 7.2 to 7.5.

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