Thinks to ponder:
Why is abbreviated such a long word?
Fact of the day:
A 'clue' originally meant a ball of thread. This is why one is said to
'unravel' the clues of a mystery.
The act of snapping one's fingers has a name. It is called a 'fillip.'
Dolphin Guide from Dolphin Computer Access, A Suite of Access Programs that
Simplify Computer Use
Jamie Pauls
Every person who is blind or visually impaired and reading AccessWorld would
probably be more than willing to attest to the importance of technology in
their daily lives. An accessible computer plays a prominent role in reading
books, dealing with mail, managing finances, and completing job-related
projects. Advancements in mobile technology from the smartphone to the Apple
Watch have only increased the power and freedom of the blind and low vision
community. It's not uncommon to find people who are blind comparing notes on
how many screen readers are installed on their systems, or lamenting the
fact that 800 words per minute is just not quite fast enough to skim through
all the documentation that needs to be read in one day.
But what about those who, through motor or neurological impairment, find it
difficult to quickly navigate a computer keyboard or remember a large number
of screen reader commands? What options are available to the newly blinded
veteran who is in the process of adjusting to significant injury, or the
senior citizen who finds herself quickly losing her vision with no prior
computing experience to rely on at all? In this article, we will take a look
at Dolphin Guide, hereafter referred to simply as Guide, a screen reading
solution from <http://www.yourdolphin.com/> Dolphin Computer Access that
seeks to meet the needs of those who might find traditional mainstream and
access technology to be difficult to master.
http://www.yourdolphin.com/
What Is Guide?
More than just a screen reader, Guide is a suite of applications intended to
help users with visual impairments who are brand new to computers, or who
are unable to complete complex, multistep tasks. The application strives to
meet the needs of someone who has never touched a computer, while providing
the flexibility for that person to improve his computing skills in order to
move on to fairly advanced computing tasks such as managing files, taking
care of finances, and engaging in leisure activities such as making Skype
calls and enjoying movies and music. While providing as much flexibility as
possible, the developers of Guide have been careful to break all tasks down
into simplified steps, and to provide clear, consistent feedback about what
is happening on the computer screen at all times. When evaluating Guide, it
is important to remember that the software has been developed for three
types of user:
1. Someone who has no prior computing experience whatsoever.
2. Someone with a motor impairment who would find it difficult to carry out
a series of keystrokes.
3. Someone with a neurological impairment who would have difficulty
remembering keystrokes and/or multistep actions.
How Guide Presents Information
Guide presents all tasks as numbered menu items. At the main menu, for
example, you will hear instructions such as "Press 1 for E-mail; Press 2 to
write a letter or document." It is possible to access these menus using the
Arrow keys or by directly typing the appropriate number on the keyboard.
There are nine items on the main menu, with submenus under the main items,
so all choices are easily available via direct number access.
Installing Guide
I installed the 30-day demonstration of Guide, available from the
<http://www.yourdolphin.com/productdetail.asp?id=30> Dolphin Website.
http://www.yourdolphin.com/productdetail.asp?id=30
As is typical of most programs, there is a simple install along with the
option to customize the installation if you're comfortable with that kind of
thing. I chose the simple installation option and followed the prompts with
no difficulty. Guide provided a recurring "please wait" message as files
were being installed. <http://www.nvaccess.org/> NVDA was running during
the Guide install,
NVDA website:
<http://www.nvaccess.org/> http://www.nvaccess.org/
so I had the benefit of NVDA's progress beeps as well as Guide's prompts. I
instructed Guide not to load at start-up. Guide loaded with Nuance's
familiar Vocalizer Tom voice after I rebooted my computer following initial
installation, but did not load on subsequent reboots, which was my
preference. Guide can be started at any time with CTRL + Shift + G. The
program can be shut down by pressing the ESC key until a menu is reached
which allows the user to either shut down Guide and leave the computer
running, or shut down the software and turn off the computer. A chime and
message announce the launch and exit of Guide.
Using E-mail with Guide
It is almost impossible to think about using a computer without considering
e-mail. Guide handles e-mail in a straightforward manner that also allows
for some flexibility. A <http://www.gmail.com/> Gmail account is
recommended,
<https://www.gmail.com/intl/en/mail/help/about.html>
https://www.gmail.com/intl/en/mail/help/about.html
although other providers may work as well. It is possible to use a
wizard--which will provide step-by-step assistance--to set up e-mail, or
customize settings as needed. Guide announces the number of the message that
is being downloaded, and reads the entire message on request. The F8 key
starts document reading if Guide's automatic reading has been interrupted,
and F9 stops reading. Standard Arrow key navigation and text selection is
possible, but Guide provides an interesting alternative to traditional
document navigation. The F4 key moves back one word at a time in the
document, while F5 moves forward one word at a time. The F3 key moves back a
sentence at a time while F6 moves forward through the document by sentence.
This key placement allows for an identifiable gap between the backward
navigation keys and the forward navigation keys. The F1 key can be pressed
at any time when using Guide for help. If the user doesn't remember how to
work with a message, F1 will provide a comprehensive set of commands for
working with messages.
While Guide's e-mail client might not appeal to the power user who reads
hundreds of messages per day, the beginning or more novice user who simply
wishes to communicate with friends and family will find it more than
adequate. It is possible to act on several messages at once by selecting
them with the spacebar. They can be deleted, moved to folders for later
action, and pretty much anything else one would expect.
Working with Documents in Guide
If e-mail is important to every computer user, working with documents has to
tie for first place. Whether it's writing a letter, making a grocery list,
or blogging, we all spend quite a bit of time using our word processor of
choice. Guide covers the bases where this is concerned as well. Guide
provides a letter-writing wizard that will make sure the document is
properly formatted. If you've already entered addresses into Guide's address
book, it is simple to fill in all of the pertinent information for the
recipient of the letter from there, or the address can be typed manually.
Once the letter has been written, Guide will assist with printing the letter
as well as addressing and printing an envelope. While working with
documents, a press of the ESC key shows all the actions that can be
performed on the document. If more information is needed, the F1 key brings
up help.
A dictionary, thesaurus, and spell checker are also available, along with a
friendly duck quack sound to let you know that a misspelled word has been
detected. Finally, Guide provides ascending and descending tones as one
moves through a document with the Up and Down Arrow keys. The lower the
tone, the farther down you are in the document. It is possible to select
text and apply formatting such as bold, italics, underlining, etc. In short,
I found document creation to be quite satisfactory with Guide.
Surfing the Web with Guide
Using a computer without being connected to the Internet is hard to imagine
these days. The Internet continues to expand and provide an enormous amount
of information from trivia to the latest world news. Guide provides its own
Web browser that can be operated in text-only mode, or as a more traditional
browser showing both text and images on a webpage. I chose to use the more
traditional mode, and found the browser to be quite useable. By default,
Guide loads a homepage that provides a description of how to surf the Web
with Guide. In addition to entering a URL from the address bar, you can
search the Web from there as well. Additionally, you can perform commands
from the address bar such as typing the word "close" to exit the browser,
and "links" to show a list of links on a webpage. Guide's browser is
optimized for those who will surf the Web using the Arrow keys, although
other keys such as the Tab key and the letter H to move from heading to
heading are also available. I found that while I was able to move between
headings on a webpage with the letter H, Guide did not announce heading
levels as most screen readers do.
I did not browse the Web extensively with guide, but I was able to navigate
<http://www.foxnews.com/> the Fox News site with no issues. This site is
rather large, with a lot of links on the front page. Guide loaded the page
quickly and performed all tasks as I would have expected.
Scanning and Reading Documents with Guide
Guide offers a full-featured scanning and reading solution for those who
want to read a good paperback novel or check the day's mail. As with
everything else I explored using the program, I found Guide's step-by-step
instructions for scanning and reading documents to be straightforward and
easy to understand. Using Guide, it is possible to scan and read a single
page, scan pages for later reading, and scan multiple pages while reading
previously scanned material. Guide handles the reading of PDF files as well.
Reading Books and News Articles with Guide
Although a scanner is still a very useful tool in the blind computer user's
arsenal, there is no question that online publications have made reading
books, news headlines, and magazine articles much easier for our community.
There are a variety of options available to the Guide user. I browsed
Bookshare with guide, downloading a book and reading articles from a local
newspaper. It is possible to move from section to section in an article with
Guide, or to simply read from the beginning. I found Guide's search
functions and its handling of downloaded books to be quite speedy and easy
to work with.
Accessing Music, Movies, and Podcasts with Guide
As important as it is to be productive with our computers, it is nice to be
able to enjoy leisure activities as well. Guide facilitates the playing of
music in digital format or from a CD. It is possible to rip CDs to your
computer for later listening as well. One area where Guide stood out from
the crowd for me was when I played a DVD of the Michael Jackson documentary
"This Is It." When I played the DVD on my Mac, there was a lot of
information on the DVD that was difficult to wade through in order to get to
the actual program. Guide was able to skip all of those unwanted extras and
jump straight to the beginning of the program. It is also possible to move
through a DVD by chapter or title. Guide's Help function even told me that
DVD chapters are often divided into five or ten minute increments, something
of which I was not previously aware.
In addition to listening to music and movies, it is possible to subscribe to
podcasts with Guide. Several podcasts are available by default, including
CNN Hourly News and Reuters Top News. Guide provides feedback as podcasts
download, and the media player is very simple to operate. Finally, Guide
provides several Internet Radio stations to round out the audio
entertainment experience.
Other Guide Features
Guide's address book was mentioned earlier in this article, but it is worth
stating that adding addresses is quite easy to do. The only thing that I
found a bit disconcerting was the fact that there are four lines for address
details simply labeled as "line 1, line 2, line 3, and line 4." I was
expecting labels such as city, state, and zip code. This is probably due to
the fact that I live in the United States and tend to think in those terms.
Not all users are from the US and addresses are handled differently in other
countries.
Guide's finance management options are very basic, taking a "money in and
money out" approach. It is possible to view a summary of financial
transactions within a range of dates as well. A calculator is also available
from within Guide, and works as expected.
A basic appointment scheduler comes with Guide. I set an appointment and was
given the option to be reminded five minutes beforehand if I desired. There
was no chime, but only a verbal confirmation.
For the user with low vision, it is possible to scan handwritten text. It is
also possible to make color or black-and-white photocopies of documents with
Guide.
Very basic Skype functionality exists from within Guide, but it is not
possible to view a list of contacts. It is, however, possible to enter a
Skype username or dial a phone number if you have Skype credit.
There are several games included with Guide, including an anagram game and
Hangman. Also, a typing tutor allows for improving your keyboarding skills.
It is estimated that it takes between 12 and 20 hours to work through all
the provided lessons.
No two people use their computers in exactly the same way, and Guide allows
various settings to be changed including various low vision options and
voice rate, pitch, etc.
Overall Impressions of Dolphin Guide
Guide contains an array of programs and utilities for someone who is not an
experienced computer user or who, for various reasons, may not be able to
complete complex computing tasks. Guide provides simple, step-by-step
instructions for completing projects in a safe, uncluttered environment.
I found that Guide did not sacrifice functionality for simplicity. Users of
the product should be able to learn and gain confidence while completing
tasks from the most basic keyboarding to more advanced actions such as
creating folders, moving files, and working with multiple e-mail messages at
once. Along with Guide's aforementioned help facilities, remote assistance
is possible if needed. Also, a user manual can be downloaded from the
Dolphin website.
I would like to have received a bit more feedback when installing Guide,
such as the percentage of the installation completed and possibly what
components of the program were being installed. I would also like to have
heard a chime of some sort when my appointment reminder came due. If the
developers of Guide were able to provide a simple interface for Facebook, I
believe that would be a real benefit to Guide users, but I realize this ball
may be in Facebook's court and not in the hands of the Guide development
team. Finally, a basic Twitter client would also be beneficial to Guide
users.
Overall, I was impressed with Guide's consistent interface and attention to
detail in every area. I would definitely recommend this product for anyone
who needs assistance with basic computing skills, and who may not become a
"power user" for any of the reasons mentioned previously in this article.
Product Information
<http://www.yourdolphin.com/productdetail.asp?id=30> Dolphin Guide from
Dolphin Computer Access
Price: $795
Phone: 866-797-5921
Email:
<mailto:info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=Dolphin%20Guide%20from%20Dolphin%20Compu
ter%20Access:%20A%20Suite%20of%20Access%20Programs%20that%20Simplify%20Compu
ter%20Use> info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe to Dan's tips or HotSpot with God Daily Devotional, send a
blank message to dthompson5@xxxxxxxxx and include "subscribe Dan's Tips" or
Subscribe HotSpot with God" in the subject line.
"I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in grate
riches.
I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.
I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word."
Psalm 119:16:
Robert Acosta, President
Helping Hands for the Blind
(818) 998-0044
www.helpinghands4theblind.org
