[the-facts-machine] Jaws 16 Public Demo Released
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "A list for technology" <blindtech@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, <the-facts-machine@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 12:24:26 -0400
BlankWhat's New in JAWS 16 Public Beta
JAWS 16 Beta Report Form Web Page
Go to the
FSCast Web page
and listen to Eric Damery, Vice President of Software Product Management,
introduce and demonstrate the new and exciting features available in the
upcoming
JAWS 16 release.
Thank you for participating in the JAWS 16 public beta test. This page
provides all the necessary details that you need to know and at the end of
the page,
you will find links to download JAWS 16 Beta now. Please take a few moments
to review this information and take advantage of the beta report form link
to provide Freedom Scientific your feedback during the public beta.
Quick Notes About the Public Beta
Thank you for your help during the public beta period. Please note that this
is beta software, and its accuracy and reliability are not guaranteed. You
should not rely exclusively on the beta software for any reason.
list of 5 items
• This JAWS 16 public beta is available in English, Spanish, German, and
French Canadian.
• Please note that while the final release of JAWS 16 will be a Software
Maintenance Agreement (SMA) upgrade, this public beta version will run for
anyone
with a JAWS license that provides access to JAWS 15.
• If you do not have JAWS 15 authorization, you can still install the public
beta version and run it using 40-Minute Demo mode.
• This public beta version will expire later this year. To use JAWS without
interruption, you must continue to update to later versions of the public
beta
and then to the final release.
• You do not have to remove earlier versions of JAWS to install the JAWS 16
public beta. Your previous versions will continue to function when you have
JAWS 16 installed, just as each new major version release of JAWS has in the
past.
list end
Technical Support During the Public Beta
While in public beta, general technical support of JAWS 16 is not available
using our direct support phone lines or e-mail. However, you may use normal
support lines in order to resolve any problems you experience related to
installation or authorization using the Public Beta. For all other issues
you
may discover, we ask that you send feedback directly to Freedom Scientific
using the
JAWS 16 Beta Report Form Web Page.
Please bookmark the report page in your Web browser so that you can easily
locate it if you need technical assistance. Also, please submit one problem
per report.
New Features Added in JAWS 16
The following features are new to JAWS 16. For more information and complete
demonstrations, go to the
FSCast Web page
and listen to episodes 94, 95, 96, and 97.
JAWS Command Search, a Built in Search Engine for JAWS Keystrokes
JAWS provides many keystrokes to perform a variety of commands. Many
commands can be performed anywhere in Windows, such as reading the window
title or
current line, while other commands are only available in specific
applications like Microsoft Word or Internet Explorer. If you are using JAWS
with a refreshable
braille display, there are even JAWS commands that can be performed using
the controls on the braille display. To search for JAWS commands, press
INSERT+SPACEBAR,
J to open the Search for Commands dialog.
While there are certain commands that are used by the majority of JAWS users
on a daily basis, such as reading the current line (INSERT+UP ARROW) or
reading
the current window title (INSERT+T), there are numerous commands that even
the most experienced users do not use regularly and need to be looked up.
Certain
types of commands can be especially difficult to remember as some of them
require pressing several keys at once. The JAWS Command Search feature
enables
you to enter a full or partial description of a command whose keystroke you
do not remember. JAWS will display all commands that match your search
criteria,
the description of the feature, and all the associated keystrokes, including
braille commands if a refreshable braille display is currently connected.
For example, you may need to locate a keystroke for working with formulas in
Excel. Instead of opening the JAWS help topic for Excel and searching
through
all of the available keystrokes, or starting Keyboard Help (INSERT+1) and
pressing various keystroke combinations until you find the correct one, you
can
open the Search for JAWS Commands window while focused in Excel, type
"formulas" in the search edit box, and then view a list of all keystrokes
related
to working with formulas. Similarly, if you are browsing the Web and you
need to find the keystroke for displaying a list of headings on the current
page
(INSERT+F6), you can open the Search for JAWS Commands window from Internet
Explorer or Firefox, type "list headings" in the search edit box, and this
command will be the first result.
To search for a command, press INSERT+SPACEBAR, followed by J, to open the
Search for JAWS Commands window. Alternatively, you can choose Search for
Commands
from the Run JAWS Manager dialog box (INSERT+F2) or the JAWS Utilities menu.
An HTML window opens and places you in an edit field. If Forms Mode is set
to Auto or Semi-Auto, Forms Mode will be activated when the edit field gains
focus. Begin typing the description of the command you are looking for and
the results area in the lower part of the window automatically updates. As
you type, the first result in the list is spoken automatically. Pressing
ENTER
turns off Forms Mode and places you on the first result.
Note: If Auto Forms Mode is set to Manual, you will need to first press
ENTER to activate Forms Mode before you begin typing in the edit field.
Since this is an HTML window, you can use standard reading commands to
review the search results. Each command name along with the most common
keystroke
used to perform it is displayed as a heading so you can quickly move between
results using the H and SHIFT+H Navigation Quick Keys. When you locate the
command you want, press DOWN ARROW to move to a brief description of what
the command does, and any additional keystrokes that can be used to perform
the
command. This will include non-layered, layered, and braille keystrokes. If
a particular command offers a braille keystroke, but a braille display is
not
currently connected when you performed the search, the braille keystroke
will not be listed.
Each JAWS command name and its associated keystrokes are also displayed as
links. This allows you to press ENTER on the command name heading, or any of
the associated keystroke links to close the Search for JAWS Commands window
and activate the command. You can also exit this window by pressing ALT+F4,
or the ESC key.
Note: When performing a JAWS command search, the search results only
contains JAWS keystrokes. Microsoft Windows keystrokes, such as CTRL+A for
select
all, are not included in the search results.
Standard Licenses Become "Home Use Edition for Non-Commercial Use"
Most end users who are buying new computers today, end up purchasing systems
that come with professional editions of Windows 7 or Windows 8. In order to
make this easier and more affordable, we have changed the traditional JAWS
Standard so it will now work on either Home or Professional versions of
Windows.
At the same time, we are changing the name from Standard to JAWS Home
Edition and it is intended for Non-Commercial Use as well as ideal for
anyone who
intends to use JAWS on their personal laptop or desktop computer. Just like
the JAWS Professional licenses, JAWS Home Use Edition licenses will allow
JAWS
16 to install and run on both Home and Professional editions of Windows.
When running a JAWS Home Use Edition license, JAWS will announce in both
speech and braille "JAWS Home Use Edition" at startup. Also, the JAWS
application
window has been changed. The Title of the JAWS Window now says "JAWS Home
Use" and in the main window area, it will display graphical text that says
"Noncommercial
Use Only". Finally, Home Use Edition is also displayed in the JAWS About
dialog box which is accessed from the Help menu.
JAWS 16 is designed to recognize all existing Standard licenses and will
automatically work as a Home Use Edition now on both Home and Professional
machines.
All new licenses of JAWS 16 that are shipped will be set up using either the
new Home Use Edition license or the traditional Professional license. In the
case of Professional Licenses, JAWS 16 will now announce "JAWS Professional"
in speech and braille at startup as well.
Finally, we have included the option to purchase and use the JAWS Remote
support to the Home Use Edition Licenses. This will allow your license to
work
in Remote Desktop, Terminal Services, or Citrix connections with other
computers. Previously, this option was only available for purchase with JAWS
Professional
Licenses.
Semi-Auto Forms Mode
The new Semi-Auto Forms Mode feature offers users the convenience of Auto
Forms Mode, but the benefits of manual operation.
With Auto Forms Mode, JAWS automatically enters Forms Mode so you can
immediately begin typing when you move to an edit field using the ARROW
Keys, or
TAB and SHIFT+TAB. When you move away from the control, Forms Mode turns off
and you resume navigating using the Virtual PC Cursor. This can be very
useful
especially for new and sighted users and is the default setting. When you
move to an edit field in Manual Forms Mode, you must first press ENTER to
turn
on Forms Mode, and then press NUM PAD PLUS or ESC to turn it off once you
are finished typing.
With Semi-Auto Forms Mode, JAWS will only turn on Forms Mode automatically
when you move to an edit field using TAB or SHIFT+TAB. This allows you to
have
the benefits of Auto Forms Mode and still be able to read through a Web page
using the ARROW keys and not be interrupted by Forms Mode turning on and
off.
Additionally, Navigation Quick Keys will not turn on Semi-Auto Forms Mode.
To cycle through Manual, Auto, and Semi-Auto Forms Mode, use the Auto Forms
Mode option in Quick Settings (INSERT+V) or the Select Forms Mode option in
Settings Center.
Enhanced Convenient OCR for PDF Documents
The Convenient OCR (Optical Character Recognition) feature now allows you to
recognize entire PDF documents. Convenient OCR was first introduced in JAWS
13 and allows you to recognize any images visible on the screen in order to
access text contained in the image that would normally be inaccessible to
JAWS.
This included inaccessible PDF documents where you could only recognize the
currently visible text.
In JAWS 16, if you open a PDF document and you do not find any text to read,
press INSERT+SPACEBAR, O to access the OCR layer and then press the letter
D. JAWS begins recognizing the text of the entire document featuring a very
high degree of accuracy as the results are not affected by the current
screen
resolution, as they are when recognizing the current screen or window. After
several seconds, the contents of the PDF file are displayed in the Results
Viewer for reading. Use standard reading commands to review the text or
select and copy sections of content for pasting in other applications. For
example,
you could select all, then copy and paste into a Microsoft Word document,
which you could then save.
Note: The OCR process takes longer for larger PDF files. As text is
recognized, it is added to the end of the existing text already in the
Results Viewer.
This allows you to continue reading without interruption as the document is
processed.
Improved JAWS Performance with Microsoft Word 2013 using UIA
JAWS now takes full advantage of the UIA (User Interface Automation) support
in Microsoft Word 2013 to offer more robust performance when using Word. You
will notice a significant increase in responsiveness when navigating and
editing documents. In addition, the JAWS cursor can now be used to read the
currently
visible text in the document area.
Braille users will also notice significant improvements with navigating
documents in braille, including the ability to pan through a document
without losing
your place where you are currently editing when Active Follows Braille is
off. In addition, the alignment of text is more accurately shown on the
braille
display when navigating by line.
Enhanced Language Support in Voice Profiles
If JAWS detects language tags in a document or Web page, JAWS has had the
ability for the last several versions to automatically begin speaking in the
specific language, if a voice for that particular language is installed. For
example, if an English voice is currently in use and you open a Web page
that
contains text in Spanish, if a Spanish voice is available, JAWS will switch
to the Spanish voice to read the text. However, if more than one voice for
a language was available, you could not specify which voice was used or
configure individual settings such as rate or pitch for the additional
language.
In addition, if you wanted to configure voice settings for another language,
you would have to create a whole new voice profile just for that language.
In JAWS 16, the Voice Adjustment dialog box has been modified to enable you
to configure individual settings for each available language and save them
in the same profile. For instance, if you are using the English version of
JAWS, English will be set as your primary language by default and you can
configure
the usual voice settings such as the current voice person, rate, pitch, and
so on. If you read documents in Spanish and one or more Spanish voices are
installed, you can then choose Spanish from the Synthesizer Language combo
box and configure the person as well as speech settings which will be
applied
when JAWS detects Spanish text while reading. After making your settings
changes for each language, you can use the new Speak Sample button to have
JAWS
speak a sample of text in the current voice so you can determine whether or
not you want to use the particular settings before you save the profile.
By default, each voice profile has a primary language that always matches
the language of the installed copy of JAWS. If you are using English JAWS,
the
default voice language is English, or if you are using Spanish JAWS, the
primary voice language is Spanish. If you choose a language from the
Synthesizer
Language combo box other than the primary language, you can set it as the
primary language for the current voice profile using the new Set Language as
Primary button.
Note: Changing the primary synthesizer language does not affect the language
used to display information in the JAWS main window or dialog boxes. For
example,
using a Spanish voice when navigating menus with the English version of JAWS
may not speak items as expected.
When using the JAWS commands to temporarily or permanently increase or
decrease the speech rate on-the-fly, only the rate for the primary language
in use
in the currently active voice profile is affected. For example, if the
primary language is English, the speech rate for all available English
voices will
be changed. All other languages in the profile will continue to use the rate
that you configured in the Voice Adjustment dialog box.
You can also now manually switch to another language in the current profile
using the Select a Language dialog box (CTRL+WINDOWS Key+L). This displays
a list of all currently available languages. Select the language you want to
use and choose OK. JAWS will switch to that language and apply the
appropriate
settings you specified in the Voice Adjustment dialog box. The selected
language will remain active until you change to a different profile, or
press CTRL+WINDOWS
Key+L again to change languages.
The number of languages that are available depends on the active profile.
The Eloquence synthesizer installs all languages, while with Vocalizer
Expressive,
you must manually download and install the language voices you specifically
want to use.
Note: Due to the extensive changes to voice profiles in JAWS 16, the JAWS
Merge utility will not merge any voice settings from versions of JAWS prior
to
version 16.
For more information, refer to Voice Adjustment in the JAWS help file.
JAWS 16 Discontinues Support of Windows XP
Microsoft discontinued support for the Windows XP operating system in April
of 2014, 13 plus years after its initial release. Based on this decision, we
have decided to discontinue the on-going development and testing for Windows
XP as of JAWS 16. Starting with the initial release of JAWS 16, it will only
install on computers running Windows Vista or higher. For all of our
customers who may continue to maintain a Windows XP computer, you can
download the
current JAWS 15 release, along with earlier versions of JAWS, from our
archive download pages on the Freedom Scientific Web site. These earlier
versions
will remain available for our customers in the future as well.
Windows 8.1 Reading List App Support
Reading List is a Windows 8.1 Modern App from Microsoft that allows you to
gather articles and other online content from various apps and provides a
centralized
location for all your reading material. JAWS 16 offers enhanced support for
Reading List using the Touch Cursor.
The Touch Cursor is active by default when Reading List starts. Using the
RIGHT and LEFT ARROW keys or flicking left and right with one finger on the
touch
screen will move through all elements on the screen.
Using the UP and DOWN ARROW keys or flicking up and down with one finger on
the touch screen will move to the previous or next separator by default.
This
allows you to quickly move to articles from the current day, the past week,
past month, or the most recently read article, called the Spotlight. You can
also choose to move by list items, buttons, or form controls. To change the
navigation type, press PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN or flick left or right with two
fingers on the touch screen.
Press the SPACEBAR to select or unselect an article, or press ENTER to
activate menu items or open articles for reading.
Windows 8.1 People App Support
The People app in Windows 8.1 provides a central location for managing your
contacts in E-mail accounts and other services, whether stored locally on
your
computer, or remotely on a service like Gmail, Yahoo, or Skype. If you have
an account on a social network such as Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, you
can also add these accounts and keep track of posts from your friends on
these sites right from the People app.
JAWS 16 enables you to access the main features of this app using both
speech and braille. When using JAWS with People, you will be able to:
list of 5 items
• Add or delete a contact, as well as edit the information for an existing
contact.
• Use the Search edit field to find a specific contact.
• Add your social networking accounts and post messages to them. For
example, send a tweet, or post a Facebook status.
• View the latest social networking posts from your friends and respond to
them. For instance, like or comment on a Facebook status, or reply to a
tweet.
• Add a contact to your Favorites, or pin it to the Windows 8.1 Start Screen
for quick access to their information and social network updates.
list end
The PC Cursor is active by default when People has focus. Use TAB and
SHIFT+TAB to navigate between controls and use the ARROW keys to navigate in
list
boxes. Pressing the APPLICATIONS key while focused on an item will open a
context menu containing additional actions you can perform.
When typing in the Search edit field, such as when searching for a
particular contact, JAWS will automatically announce and show in braille
whether there
are results or not. When typing a tweet, JAWS will automatically announce
and show in braille the number of characters entered as Twitter messages
have
a maximum limit of 140 characters.
New Touch Screen Gesture for Unloading JAWS
You can now perform a five-finger triple tap on your computer's touch screen
to exit JAWS. This is similar to pressing INSERT+F4 on the keyboard.
New Research It Lookup Source for Tracking USPS Packages
A new lookup source has been added to Research It that enables you to obtain
progress and delivery status for packages shipped through the United States
Postal Service.
list of 4 items
1. Press INSERT+SPACEBAR, R to open the Research It dialog box.
2. In the edit combo box, enter a valid USPS tracking number and press TAB.
3. Use the UP and DOWN ARROWS or first letter navigation to select USPS
Tracking and press ENTER.
4. After a few seconds, the Results Viewer window opens and displays the
tracking information for your package. Press ESC to close the Results
Viewer.
list end
New Focus Braille Display Command for Panning
You can now press the left or right panning button along with the SPACEBAR
on the Focus braille displays to pan left or right on the current line. This
will allow you to see all of the text on the current line without the
display wrapping to the next line.
Updated Third-Party Braille Drivers
JAWS 16 includes the following updated third-party braille drivers. These
drivers are automatically installed with JAWS and are available for adding
through
the Synthesizer and Braille Manager as soon as the JAWS installation is
complete.
list of 4 items
• New EuroBraille drivers for the Esys and Iris braille displays.
• New Humanware drivers for the Brailliant family of displays.
• New Optelec drivers updated for the new 640 display.
• Updated Handy Tech drivers.
list end
More Voices Option Added to the JAWS Help Menu
Select the More Voices option from the JAWS Help menu to open the Vocalizer
Expressive Web page where you can download additional voices in a wide
variety
of languages. In prior versions of JAWS, this option was located under the
Web Resources submenu, but is now located near the top of the main Help menu
for more convenient access.
Vocalizer Expressive High Premium voices on the DVD
A subset selection of Vocalizer Expressive Premium High voices will now be
included on the distribution DVD. These voices can be installed by selecting
the "More Voices" button on the main JAWS DVD setup screen. For the English
DVD, these include:
list of 3 items
• American English Tom
• American English Allison
• Mexican Spanish Paulina
list end
Additional voices can be obtained by downloading them from the
Vocalizer Expressive Voices
Web page.
Improved JAWS Recovery
If a problem with an application causes JAWS to become unresponsive and the
JAWS process has not resumed after approximately 15 seconds, JAWS will
automatically
restart after approximately 30 seconds.
Back to top from JAWS Features
Download JAWS 16
The following briefly describes how to download, save, and install the JAWS
public beta release.
list of 3 items
1. Select the appropriate download link that appears at the end of this
procedure.
2. When the dialog box opens, choose Save and select a location where you
can easily find the downloaded executable file.
3. Run the executable and follow the talking installer.
list end
English
list of 2 items
• JAWS 16.0.1102 32-bit – September 2014 English (126 MB)
• JAWS 16.0.1102 64-bit – September 2014 English (133 MB)
list end
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