jaws with that attitude of yours:
- From: "david poehlman" <poehlman1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "jfw users email list" <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 27 Jun 2004 09:21:02 -0400
Remember the good old days when we were crawling out of dos into windows?
Well, some of you will I'm sure. Remember how jaws shaped the way screen
reading and interacting with the computer was done and how it was all brand
new, frustrating, exciting and challenging and how it opened up a whole new
world albiet it slowly to us and how it closed it again and then opened and
closed it again? Well, some of you will I'm sure.
We now live in a world where jaws is concerned where those of us who use
jaws are dictated to by it what software and in some cases, hardware we can
use even though there is a lot out there that we could use if only... We
also live in a world where jaws is concerned that though the learning curve
is steep and in some cases even too steep for some with a technical bent to
climb, we have tremendous power at our finger tips.
I'll take this last bit first and stop along the way to my main poiint to
say that I well remember the use of the jaws cursor for doing a lot of
things that could not be done in any other way. One of my tests with jaws
was to find ways to do as much as possible without the jaws cursor or custom
scripts. Now though it seems that there are people who want scripts for
things that jaws can already do because of either a lack of understanding
that jaws can do them or a lack of willingness to apply the power of jaws to
get it to work for them. This attitude has to change. Folk, we need to
work smarter with jaws than to want a script or some special customization
to do something that jaws can already do for us if we are to really get our
time and money's worth out of it. This is a fact in that if we take the
approach that everything needs to be scripted we will limit ourselves to far
less than that which we can achieve with the current and growing power of
jaws. Rather than asking if there is a script for this or that or can this
be scripted, First, find out if there are good ways to do things without
scripting. Do this because if you go to a computer that does not have the
script for what you want to do and it can be done, or if you loose the
script you will be able to do it. I know there is a lot that needs to be
scripted and other wise customized from within and with jaws and I'm getting
to that but this is one of the most powerfull ways to approach jaws that
there is. If efficiency is what you require and there is no approach
besides scripting that achieves that efficiency than I'd say that
customization is called for but I have found little that can be done with
jaws without scripting that needs to be scripted for the sake of efficiency.
jaws has a lot of power and if you don't know how much power it has, just
read its documentation, listen to its new features cds, explore the web
site. If you are concerned with a particular environment such as office or
the internet, learn about all that jaws has to offer in that environment
from the resources provided including this list.
We are faced with a shrinking world who use jaws while others are moving to
broader and broader horizons and I hope this will be noticed by fs and
corrected as soon as possible. We need access to mozilla, netscape, opera,
better access to java application suites and many many more. If we don't
get this access, we will be looking else where for our access so that it can
be provided to us. This is the way of the world and the market place. We
are now at a cross roads as we were when windows became usable by those with
screen readers in that it is becoming increasingly possible for screen
readers to interact with other platforms. I'm not even sure that the next
itteration of windows will be as accessible as this one is. It seems that
even though they are accessible, each new itteration of windows becomes less
accessible in some ways and this is certainly true of many other microsoft
products which is what jaws seems to be primarily focused on. So, like it
or not, those of you who see a long future of screen reading ahead for you
will find yourself increasingly looking for alternatives to what you have
and the potentially less than what you have now than what you will have.
I will stay with jaws as long as possible, but when you look around for
where to migrate, I'll most likely be there too. I have always and will
continue to strive for excellence in the use of jaws and will continue too
help those who wish to achieve that excellence at no cost to the best of my
ability. When you find your self migrating to a new environment, if I can
help, I will. Amazing things are happening and I hope we can all enjoy them
together for as astounding as jaws is and it is becoming even more
astounding with each new itteration enriching its feature set and providing
access in ways we never thought possible, the face of screen reading and
interacting with the computer will change forever in the not too distant
future.
David Poehlman
poehlman1@xxxxxxxxxxx
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