[access-uk] Re: Why I hate Word - from a JAWS user
- From: "Damon Rose" <damon.rose@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:29:04 -0000
I vote this best post of the year so far.
________________________________
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Tristram Llewellyn
Sent: 14 January 2010 10:11
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Why I hate Word - from a JAWS user
If you have found something else that makes you more productive than
Word that is absolutely fine not everyone may fall into the Microsoft
Word hegemony. However, if you have no choice then there may be things
to investigate. Twenty seconds to edit window from start seems a little
long typical of perhaps Word 2002 or 2003 and not so well specced PC
perhaps.
Sighted people do get into trouble with Word and formatting it is just
probably that you are not in a position to notice and I have to say that
the Windows versions of Word are often far more tolerant than say on the
Mac in this regard (I have used Word 2004 and now 2008 for Mac).
However, I think there are a couple of things that can help especially
regarding formatting. The first is an obvious thing but is often missed
especially among a sighted crowd which is this, leave the formatting
until you have the text sorted. As a blind user this should be a less
difficult adjustment to make since you will be more interested in the
ideas rather than the eye-candy.
When you are creating what might be a list of some kind write the first
item, then hit return and create second item and hit return etc. (ad
nausium). If you leave the formatting until you have got things right
and leave a blank line especially for a bulleted list you should be
fine. When you come back to format put yourself at the top of the list
and use control+shift+down arrow to hear each item in the list you wish
to bullet and then select your bulleting style etc.
You could take the same the same approach with numbered lists although
this is where you frequently find you have missed an item and automatic
numbers themselves can be helpful. If this is the case the best tactic
is to locate your cursor at the end of the numbered item after which you
need to insert your new item (right at the end of the line) and then
press ENTER. The secret of the bulleted and number lists are the hard
returns, If you wish to create a line without incrementing the numbers
or putting in another bullet you can press shift+return to create a soft
return.
As far as font formatting is concerned try to use the built in styles
because that way you will get a consistent look rather than having to
remember what you did with the last title or section. On Word 2000-2003
you can press control+shift+S to get into the style list whilst ALT+H, L
will get you into the style list in Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010.
When highlighting a title (which usually just sits on one line) put
yourself and the beginning of the line and press shift+end which will
ensure you only highlight that line rather than any subsequent lines
then apply formatting or style to taste.
I wouldn't expect this to solve all your problems, and I may be teaching
to suck eggs in which case excuse the post but it may be helpful to
someone else on the list just starting out in any case.
Regards.
Tristram Llewellyn
Sight and Sound Technology
Technical Support
www.sightandsound.co.uk
Mail:
Tristram: tristram.llewellyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Technical: Support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
General - info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Phone:
Support line: 0845 634 7979
Sight and Sound Technology Limited is a company registered in England
and Wales, with company number 1408275.
Sight and Sound Technology
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NN3 6WD
VAT Number - GB 860 2121 66.
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Damon Rose
Sent: 14 January 2010 09:38
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [access-uk] Why I hate Word - from a JAWS user
Microsoft Word is meant to be brilliantly accessible. And indeed you can
tell that Freedom Scientific have put a lot of work into it to make it
as accessible as possible, it being a fairly indispensible part of the
software port folio in your average office.
Tables are accessible. You can increase font and change colours. You can
alter margins, add page numbers, use hyperlinks, there's a hundred
things you can do with it and they're all accessible. However, if you
aren't a mouse user and can't whizz your way across the screen and
appreciate the results once you've altered them, then it takes
absolutely blinking ages to read and create documents that your sighted
colleagues take minutes to create.
Want to make your heading a bit bigger? And perhaps embolden it too?
Well if you're not too careful, you might accidentally do same to the
text below it in a last minute change of heart about the content.
Result: it looks embarrassingly rubbish.
Create a bullet point list and find yourself playing around with it for
several minutes because you've got one too many bullet points and you
can't get rid of the unnecessary bullet, or Word decides it wants to
bullet point things that you didn't want.
The best most accessible documents are the ones you create. You know
them, you know your way round them. But it's still difficult. The
documents that your colleagues like the most because they're 'at a
glance' user friendly, are the ones you find most difficult to access.
Access to Word is a myth because it's so time consumingly unusable.
When you launch Word it takes 20 seconds before a blank document opens,
longer if you're clicking on a pre-existing document. There's so much
lag and there's a lack of control that makes me want to scream.
So that's why I use Metapad and .txt files for as much of my work as
possible, only transferring to Word if I need to spellcheck or format it
in a fancy way. It's faster, unbelievably faster. Or that's my finding.
And yes, I have had Word training, I do understand how it works, but
there's so much darn pussyfooting around when creating documents that I
can't help but think there must be a better way.
That's all I wanted to say. Do have a nice day. Xxx
Damon Rose
Senior Content Producer bbc.co.uk/ouch
BBC Vision Learning
Tel: 020 8752 4427 (x0224427)
email: damon.rose@xxxxxxxxx
Have you heard the award-winning Ouch Podcast yet? A razor sharp
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