[jaws-uk] Re: MS Office 2007

Barbara,

Here are a few notes on the new Microsoft Office interface. There is a lot of 
helpful material regarding Office 2007 contained in the Help files on a JAWS CD 
which can be loaded when JAWS is installed. These take the form of DAISY files 
that can be read with the FS reader and a standard help application; they both 
live on the Help menu. If you've installed JAWS via a download from the Freedom 
Scientific website, you can get the DAISY files from
http://www.freedomscientific.com/training/JAWS_training_hq.asp

Office 2007 mainly uses the Office Fluent user interface. This appears in Word, 
Excel, PowerPoint, Access and parts of Outlook (items, but not folders).  The 
Ribbon replaces menus and toolbars. The Microsoft terminology for the ribbon 
elements is that it contains "tabs", "groups" and "commands". Tabs are the 
equivalent of menu headings. Choosing a tab changes the groups and commands 
that are visible and available. A group is a set of commands. Commands are the 
equivalent of individual menu items. The Office button and the quick access 
toolbar (QAT) offer fast ways to get to other features. Items can be added to 
and removed from the QAT. Keytips are similar to access keys; one or two letter 
accelerators to a tab, group or command.

JAWS refers to the row of tabs as the ribbon toolbar, and the groups and 
commands that appear below this row as the lower ribbon. It also refers to 
groups as toolbars. 

Other important changes from Office 2003 are:
* the grouping of commands, for instance there are no Format or Edit tabs, and 
* new command types such as split buttons, which can be actioned in two ways - 
Enter or RightArrow/SpaceBar. The Save As command on the Office Button menu is 
an example of a split button.

To navigate the ribbon with the keyboard, press Alt to move to the ribbon, 
LeftArrow and RightArrow between the tabs and the office button, then Tab 
through the controls on a tab or through the office button and QAT. It is also 
possible to use Shift + LeftArrow/RightArrow to move from one group to another, 
but you don't have to go far to find limitations with this keystroke; it's the 
same as selecting by letter. For instance, if focus lands on a combo box such 
as the Font edit combo which is the first command in the second group on the 
Home tab, the Shift + RightArrow command fails to work in moving to the 
following group; it is necessary to Tab twice to get to the next command which 
is not a combo before Shift + RightArrow can be used.

Another part of the Office Fluent user interface that differs from earlier 
versions of Office is the status bar. You can still read the status line with 
Insert + PageDown, but you can now also use F6 to move focus to the status bar 
and then RightArrow and LeftArrow through the items that appear on it.  While 
on the status bar, it is possible to choose what information appears on it by 
pressing the Applications key to get a list of options and moving down it, 
toggling the setting for each options with SpaceBar.

There is no option in Office 2007 to turn off the ribbon. It is possible to 
purchase a utility which says it installs what it calls "classic 2003 menus". A 
3.2MB 15-day free trial is available from 
http://www.addintools.com/english/menuword/. This puts a tab onto the ribbon 
which holds a set of menus that look like those from Office 2003 but work 
differently with the keyboard. For instance you have to press Enter on a menu 
heading to open it, RightArrow doesn't move to next menu, and no shortcuts are 
given. 

I'd agree with what George says in his reply to you; if you're going to use 
Office 2007 it's better to learn the new interface. There are benefits as well 
as drawbacks to it; as well as being able to structure the status bar to your 
preferences, the ability to put commonly used commands on the QAT is brilliant. 
To do this, when you have focus on a command press the Applications key and 
choose the first item. The shortcut associated with it is determined by the 
order in which commands are added, and to remove an command from the QAT, get 
focus onto it and use the Applications key again.

One other comment to make is that although most of the Office 2003 keyboard 
shortcuts are valid, you get no feedback on them until you have pressed all of 
them. For example, to convert a table to text in Word 2003, with your focus in 
the table you can press Alt + A to open the table menu, V to open the Convert 
submenu and then B to choose "table to text". I never bothered to learn the 
last keystroke, rather I used Alt + A, V to get to the submenu and then arrowed 
to the item I wanted and pressed Enter. In Word 2007 you have to use the letter 
B to choose the correct item.

Hope this helps,
Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Barbara Wilson
Sent: 01 March 2008 00:35
To: jaws-uk
Subject: [jaws-uk] MS Office 2007


Hi All

I've just installed MS Office 2007. I believe someone a while back commented on 
the rather complicated ribbon structure of the menu. Complicated is putting it 
mildly!

Firstly, is there some way of changing it to the classic structure as with 
older versions of MS Word? And if not, is there somewhere I can get simple 
instructions on how to navigate through the ribbon layout?

Many thanks for advice received.

Barbara



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