Re: Need instructions for Winamp 5.08
- From: "Yardbird" <yardbird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2005 23:53:15 -0700
Hi Chris,
I'm more familiar, or less unfamiliar, with a lot of this stuff than I must
have given the impression of being. I'm fine with tree views, fine with
toggles, and so forth. And when I installed Winamp I took care to make sure
I was choosing the classic skin, not the modern. Unless I somehow changed
the skin selection by accident when I was bumbling around in that area where
I got stuck, and I don't think I did change it, then that isn't what's
causing me such confusion.
One thing you say below, helpfully, bears out my earlier conjecture that the
Winamp interface is really awfully idiosyncratic. And that's your advice to
alt tab out of that tricky area with the skins radio buttons and then do all
that in order to bring focus back and allow you to work in that area and get
out of it. That is pretty extreme workaround stuff, I think you'll agree.
I don't mean I can't deal with it; I'm just saying, these are skillful moves
that an experienced Jaws user resorts to only when a program really behaves
badly and loses focus and needs not only to be escaped and returned to but
more trickery as well, just to regain control of it. I don't mind. It is
what it is. but this is pretty far outside the usual characteristics of a
Jaws-friendly interface. I can only guess that once you train yourself to
remember all those hotkey combinations and focus gymnastics, there's
something so nicely congenial about the program that it has won the love of
a lot off blind people despite this initial weirdness.
So I'm ready to spend a little time learning this wild mustang of a player,
just for the fun of it.
Thanks again.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Skarstad" <toonhead5@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 11:33 PM
Subject: Re: Need instructions for Winamp 5.08
Hi Daniel
i am betting that when you installed Winamp 5.08, that you also installed
the modern skin. This is why you are so confused. If you are using the
modern skin, nearly all of the accessibility is taken away, leaving you
confused and frustrated as you are. With Winamp, you must understand the
concept of a tree view to manipulate things. Hey, nobody ever said it was a
normal program. It is accessible in it's own peculiar way. Once you are
able to get to the skins section, you are going to have 2 choices. you'll
have modern skin and classic skin. you'll be in a list view so arrow up to
classic skin. then, press your tab key until you hear, close button. then
press your space bar. Your library issue is also easily fixed. hit alt
plus l and that makes the library appear. pressing alt plus l again will
make it disappear. This like a lot of other things in Winamp is a toggle.
in other words, press the key combo once to turn something on or make a
window appear, press that same key combo once again to turn it off. the
biggest and best hint I can give you is, when you hear JAWs say, tree 1
tree view, this is where all your options are. the skins section of the
tree view is the trickiest. sometimes you can get caught in there. The
trick around that is toalt tab away from it, and then press insert plus f10
to bring up your JAWS window list dialogue and arrow down until you hear
Winamp 5.08 and press enter which brings the window back into focus. you
should then be able to get around in the tree view if you hear, tree 1 tree
view, skins. if this section is open and you have chosen the classic skin,
press your left arrow to close that section of the tree view and then tab
around to the tree view again and you can then move using your up and down
arrow to explore. also, insert plus the letter h will give you instructions
for that particular window. Winamp has many different windows and there are
keyboard shortcuts for each window. when you're in the JAWS help, and you
hear a feature in the list box, pressing enter on that item actually
performs that function. so that also may be a source of help for you.
At 12:14 AM 4/28/2005, you wrote:
>I just downloaded winamp 5.08 from the winamp4theblind site. And, as I
>remembered from an earlier attempt to add Winamp to my software arsenal, I
>can't for the life of me figure out how to operate it except to play an
>.mp3
>file and use the z, c and x keys for play, pause and stop. But I want to
>explore the menus to get an overview of its functions and adjustments, and
>every time I try to do that I wind up in trouble. Once I somehow changed
>the interface so that it enlarged (I could see this happen) and then kept
>saying I was in the Library, and I couldn't understand the few controls
>that
>spoke when I tabbed around, and I couldn't exit the area, nor exit the
>program, as Alt F4 didn't do anything. Another time, I got stuck in that
>library thing again, but Alt F4 exited for me.
>
>Anyway, I even managed to blunder my way into the help file, but I couldn't
>navigate this worth a damn, either, no matter how I tried to use what
>sounded like a tree or book structure, use F6 to switch panes, or anything.
>It was a Jaws nightmare.
>
>I don't recall seeing a link for just some instructions for screen reader
>users on that winamp4the blind site, don't know why. Can anyone point me
>to
>some way I could read up on how to master this program, which for some
>reason is so popular among blind users?
>
>thanks,
>daniel
>
>
>
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