Re: New JAWS 8.0 Update Now Live

  • From: "Peter Holdstock" <peterholdstock@xxxxxxx>
  • To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 23:01:21 +0100

Well this is a welcomed upgrade. It is much improved.

However I'm disappointed to find that I still struggle to move between several Vista dialogues such as the Auto Play screen. I can't seem to select different items in lists even though JAWS says there is more than one option.

Anybody else have this problem in Vista.

Also found that I couldn't get focus on the startup wizard when the new update installed. Took me ages to get it on.

But it does seem a lot better though. It is still a beta after all, but I think Freedom Scientific should have been past this point already.
Peter

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Toews" <dogriver@xxxxxxxx>
To: <blindtech@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <jawslite@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2007 9:22 PM
Subject: New JAWS 8.0 Update Now Live

The following is from Freedom Scientific:

From: Eric Damery
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2007 3:36 PM

All,

We have just posted a new English Update for all JAWS 8.0 customers. It
is version 8.0.2107.

This release is for all XP and W2K customers as an official release. For
our customers with Vista, this is Public Beta 2. It has many things
addressed but
the most significant is that JAWS is working at the Login screens and
with the User Account Control (UAC) security features in Vista. In
addition, we now
offer support to the Sidebar and Gadgets feature in Vista and we are
fantastic now on the start menu in both speech and Braille.

If anyone has installed one of the previous versions of JAWS that we
released to the public, they can use the "Check for Updates" feature in
the Help Menu
to get this update or they can just download the latest full release
from the Web and install right over top. Below is the details of the
enhancements
in this update.

Regards,

Eric Damery

Enhancements in JAWS Version 8.0.2107 (26 April 2007)

The following items were addressed in this update:

JAWS
. Numerous enhancements were made to improve JAWS performance with
Windows Vista. See
What to Know About the JAWS Public Beta in Windows Vista
for a list of improvements.
. JAWS is more accurate when navigating or toggling various controls in
.NET applications.
. Fixed the issue where JAWS was announcing bad font in several
applications.
. JAWS no longer repeats words when using Next Word and Previous Word
navigation in Microsoft Outlook 2007 or Microsoft Word 2007.
. JAWS correctly reads all text that appears in the Startup Wizard
dialog.
. Corrected the INSERT+F1 help message that is spoken for the radio
buttons appearing on the Attributes page of the Speech and Sounds
Manager.
. When entering the time for a scheduled task, JAWS now announces the
hours and minutes as you use the LEFT and RIGHT ARROWS to move through
the Start Time
list box.
. When the SAPI 5 During Say All check box is selected, and you exit and
reenter the Say All Options dialog in Configuration Manager, JAWS now
announces
the name of the check box.
. When using JAWS and a braille display to read the Freedom Scientific
Developers Network scripting manual, a flash message no longer appears
as you navigate
through the document's many tree view levels.
. JAWS now correctly shows in braille when multiple user accounts appear
on the Windows XP Welcome screen.
. The SAPI 5 voice synthesizer and the Eloquence voice synthesizer no
longer speak simultaneously when the case sensitive spelling option is
selected in
HJPad.
. When using the Rank Your Computer Knowledge slide bar in HJPad, the
PAGE UP key now increases the value on the slide bar, and the PAGE DOWN
key now decreases
the value on the slide bar.
. When using the Dot Firmness slide bar, which appears in the Advanced
Braille Display Options dialog in Braille Options, the PAGE UP key now
increases
the slide bar value, and PAGE DOWN decreases the slide bar value.
. The Control Group Name, Control Name, and Control Type preferences of
the Verbosity Options dialog now function independently. If you turn one
off, it
does not affect the other two settings.
. Fixed the scripting function StringSegmentIndex.
. JAWS now speaks the menu items for 16-bit applications. Previously,
only the access keys were spoken.

Adobe Acrobat Reader
. When in Forms mode in a PDF file, JAWS now correctly announces the
name of the new field as you navigate from one field to the next.
. In a PDF file, JAWS only announces the color of the text and not the
page due to Acrobat Reader limitations.

FSReader
. An error message now appears if you try to use the Find command
(CTRL+F) when focus is in the tree view of a DAISY book instead of the
text area.

Internet Explorer
. Resolved an issue for the Social Security Administration where JAWS
was not correctly moving to subsequent links when using the TAB key to
navigate a
Web page table.
. Made improvements in how JAWS interacts with HTML-based applications
in non-virtual mode. These adjustments were specifically made for
Libera, Inc.
. JAWS successfully handles and reads Ajax-enabled Web pages when using
Internet Explorer 7.
. After confirming to close Internet Explorer 7 when multiple tabbed
pages are open, JAWS no longer announces information from one of the
open Web pages
as the browser closes.
. Frames are now announced when tabbing through a Web page.
. JAWS now correctly announces when you have changed a search engine in
Internet Explorer 7.
. When you first open the Favorites Center (ALT+C), JAWS now announces
that you must press the UP or DOWN ARROW keys to select an available
item.

JAWS and MAGic
. When JAWS and MAGic run simultaneously, the Alternative Say All
function now works correctly when you issue the ALT+INSERT+DOWN ARROW
command.
. Screen saver and power saving features no longer interrupt Say All
reading when using JAWS with MAGic.

Microsoft Excel
. JAWS is no longer limited to a maximum of nine regions when labeling
columns and rows as titles in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
. JAWS correctly announces the contents of merged cells rather than
indicating that the cells are selected when they are not when you
navigate out of and
back into the cells.
. JAWS correctly speaks different color fonts when using the PC Cursor
to move around a spreadsheet.
. JAWS can detect if worksheet cells contain conditional formatting.
. You can now open a dialog that shows a list of cells containing
formulas in an Excel worksheet. To do this, press CTRL+SHIFT+EQUALS.
. If you use the Custom Auto Filter feature in a populated cell, JAWS
correctly speaks what appears in combo boxes.

Microsoft Office 2007
. JAWS now reads the value as you scroll up and down through the history
of the Help search combo box.

Microsoft Office 2003
. The Ask a Question combo box that appears in the Menu bar of Office
2003 applications is now read correctly by JAWS. Previously, JAWS would
read the entire
Menu bar when focus was placed on this combo box.

Microsoft Outlook 2007
. JAWS now announces all available access keys when moving through the
Ribbon of an Office 2007 application.
. JAWS now correctly announces the controls that appear on the
Send/Receive Groups dialog.
. Headers are now announced when Say All is enabled to start when you
open an e-mail message.

Microsoft Outlook 2003
. When in the Rules and Alerts dialog of Outlook 2003, JAWS now only
announces the name of the tabbed page once instead of twice when you use
CTRL+TAB to
switch between pages.
. JAWS now automatically announces any highlighted item when adding a
new contact to Outlook 2003.
. When entering an address that does not appear in the Outlook 2003
address book, JAWS now announces "no suggestion" when CTRL+K is pressed.

Microsoft PowerPoint
. The Virtual Viewer no longer remains active after you close a
PowerPoint presentation.
. The CC: field is now announced and shown in braille when e-mailing a
presentation from within PowerPoint.
. When exiting a slide show, it is no longer necessary to press ESC
twice to leave virtual PC Cursor mode. Pressing ESC once closes virtual
PC Cursor mode
and returns JAWS to PC Cursor mode.

Microsoft Word
. JAWS now uses the same synthesizer voice to indicate horizontal
movement (for example, an indent or hanging indent) in a line of text.
Previously, different
voices were used to indicate an indent (CTRL+M or CTRL+SHIFT+M) and a
hanging indent (CTRL+T or CTRL+SHIFT+T).
. JAWS can now use Voice Aliases to distinguish between inserted and
deleted revisions in a Microsoft Word document. The DeletedTextVoice
alias is the default
for deleted text revisions. The InsertedTextVoice alias is the default
for inserted text revisions.
. JAWS correctly identifies inserted or deleted text when you use the
Say Font command (INSERT+F).
. When you create a table with column headings in Word, JAWS will
announce the column and row count in addition to the column heading.
. The default Verbosity setting for Track Changes is now Speak Type
instead of Off.
. When navigating through a table using the TAB key or the LEFT and
RIGHT ARROWS, JAWS will announce the word that appears before the cursor
when you use
the Say Word command (INSERT+NUM PAD 5)
. If you have Spelling and Grammar enabled, JAWS will now consistently
report that a word is misspelled no matter if you pass by it by one or
several words
using the Move to Next Word (INSERT+NUM PAD 6) or Move to Prior Word
(INSERT+NUM PAD 4).
. JAWS will now speak numbers that are automatically generated when you
create a numbered list in Word.

Mozilla Firefox
. As you toggle between multiple tabbed pages in Firefox, JAWS announces
the name of the tabbed page that has focus.

PAC Mate Desktop
. Previously, when using PAC Mate Desktop (a program that allows you to
establish a connection between your PAC Mate and a computer with JAWS
installed),
characters entered on a PAC Mate BX were intermittently lost. This no
longer occurs using the latest JAWS release.

Windows Live Messenger
. As you navigate through menus, JAWS now announces when focus is placed
onto an menu item.

New items for public beta 2

. What's new in this public beta?

This public beta release now supports the User Account Control (UAC)
security feature in Windows Vista. The purpose of this security feature
is to stop
malicious software from secretly installing on your computer. Based on
user privileges, when an application is installed, UAC shows either
consent or credential
(password) dialogs in what is known as Secure Desktop mode.

JAWS speech and braille is now available when the log on screen or the
CTRL+ ALT+DEL security screens appear.

The Automatically Start JAWS option is now available in the Basics
Dialog with the additional choice of user specific login preferences.

In Windows Vista, gadgets are desktop applications and tools that
provide quick visual updates for such items as computer performance,
weather, time, and
news feeds. JAWS is constantly reading gadget updates to provide you
with real time information. For example, when monitoring the CPU meter
gadget, JAWS
reports immediate CPU performance rather than an expired snapshot.

Gadgets appear in an area of the desktop known as the Sidebar. To open
the Sidebar, do the following:

. Press WINDOWS Key.
. Type Sidebar in the Start Search edit field and press ENTER.

To bring the Sidebar and all gadgets to the foreground, press WINDOWS
Key+SPACEBAR.

To cycle forward through Sidebar gadgets, press WINDOWS Key+G.

To cycle backward through Sidebar gadgets, press WINDOWS Key+SHIFT+G.

When using and navigating the Start menu, JAWS provides speech and
braille support for Windows Vista functionality and keeps pace with
Windows Vista as
it announces what is happening as the operating system updates the Start
Menu. This means that when you open the Start menu, JAWS speaks and
shows in braille
that the focus is in the Start Search edit field. JAWS also announces
text that you enter into the edit field and the associated Start Menu
item.

For example, when you open the Start menu, JAWS announces Enter Search
Term. If you type the letters c o n in the search field, Windows Vista
associates
this entry with the Control Panel and its associated group, and moves
its focus to that item. As a result, JAWS announces Programs, which is
the group,
Control Panel, which is the item, and then the list index, such as 1 of
3. This is far superior to what the competition is currently able to do.

Finally, if you navigate up and down the Start menu, JAWS not only
announces the highlighted items with speech and braille, but it will
also announce when
you enter a new item group and the number of items in that group.

In Microsoft Outlook 2007, the AutoComplete feature is turned on by
default. As you enter an e-mail address, Outlook begins to populate the
To, CC, or
BCC edit box with suggested e-mail addresses that you have previously
entered. JAWS now announces these addresses as they appear in the edit
box.

JAWS now correctly announces the Volume Slider controls available in
Windows Vista.

--
Bruce Toews
E-mail and MSN/Windows Messenger: dogriver@xxxxxxxx
Website: http://www.ogts.net
Radio Show and Podcast: http://www.totw.net
Info on the Best TV Show of All Time: http://www.cornergas.com

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