[real-eyes] 5 Wonderful JAWS Tips
- From: "Reginald George" <sgeorge@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 04:21:59 -0500
The following information is shamelessly borrowed from the latest Freedom
Scientific Newsletter. It contains much of what I use to train folks to get
the most productivity from using JAWS on the internet and, the last tip I
wasn't even aware of. Using the N key in E-mails is helpful for skipping lots
of addresses as well. Please don't forget to use insert H and insert W to help
you remember all those important program hot keys in Internet Explorer and
Outlook. Enjoy! Please consider passing this on to those you think might
benifit from this information.
Reg
From the Training Department:
Five Tips for Navigating Web Pages with JAWS
We've all been there, right? You're browsing the Web with JAWS, looking for the
perfect birthday present for Aunt Mable or researching some last minute
information for a school report, and you just can't seem to find information
that you know is on a Web page. You stumble around, scrolling through the
page, and it seems as if there are a million links, graphics, and
advertisements - but none of it is useful to you. These five tips may help you
find what
you are looking for on those huge and cluttered Web pages.
Listen Carefully to JAWS when a New Page Loads
We all get "Control key happy" sometimes, and we just want to press it to make
JAWS hush up. However, when a Web page finishes loading, JAWS will announce
information about the page that can be very useful. JAWS will always announce
the number of links on a page, and will also announce the number of frames
and headings, if they exist. This gives us some idea of the size of the page.
.
H is for "Heading"
Sometimes Web page designers use headings to separate pages into sections. You
can use JAWS to quickly read the headings on a page. This may help you to
find the content you are looking for - or at least get an idea of how the page
is organized. Press H to make JAWS cycle through and read all the headings
on a page. You can also bring up a list of all headings by pressing INSERT+F6.
You can navigate to the heading you want to move to and then press ENTER.
If the page is laid out with a logical hierarchy of headings, this can be a
really easy way to find what you are looking for.
Putting the N Back in Navigation
Many pages contain large navigation menus with links designed to help users
quickly move to different pages on a site. Listening to these links every time
you visit a new page on a site can become very tiring and can take up valuable
time. Fortunately, JAWS allows you to quickly jump past a group of links
by pressing the letter N. Each time you press N, JAWS moves to the next block
of text that is not a link. The default behavior of JAWS is to look for a
block of text that is at least 25 characters long that is not a link. This
length can be changed in the HTML Options section of the Configuration Manager.
For example, if you were searching for a CD on
www.amazon.com,
you could press the N key several times to move to the search results, instead
of scrolling down with the arrow keys through hundreds of links. This technique
is effective on any page with lots of links that you want to quickly move past.
Let the JAWS Find Work for You
Why should you have to scroll down through an entire Web page just to find a
certain word or phrase? The JAWS Find can do that for you. Press CTRL+F to
open the JAWS Find dialog box, and type in the word or phrase you want to
locate on the page. Press ENTER, and let JAWS do the work. If JAWS finds the
text you searched for, you will immediately be taken to that spot on the page.
You can then press F3 or SHIFT+F3 to cycle forward or backward through other
instances of your search string on the page. Using the example of finding a CD
on amazon.com again, if you've selected a CD and land on the page with the
CD information and track listing, you could use the JAWS Find to move directly
to the track list rather than trying to find it on your own. You could simply
search for "1" because it's safe to assume that the number one will be in front
of the first track name. This quick trick can save tons of time.
Ever Heard of INSERT+F3?
This keystroke often gets lost in the shuffle, and can be quite handy. Pressing
INSERT+F3 brings up the Virtual HTML Features dialog box. This is a list
of all the different page elements you would find on a Web page. Pressing ENTER
on any of the items in the list will display a list of those particular
items found on the page. To view a list of tables on a page, just choose
"Tables list" in the dialog box. To view a list of paragraphs, choose
"Paragraphs
list." To view a list of form fields, choose "Form fields list." All of these
lists can be activated through other keystrokes but with the INSERT + F3,
you don't need to remember all those other keystrokes.
Remember, when dealing with Web pages, be patient, persistent, and try and find
patterns to help you find the information you are seeking. You'll also find
additional tips and techniques for navigating Web pages with JAWS on Freedom
Scientific's
Surf's Up
Web page.
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/Surfs_Up/_Surfs_Up_Start_Here.htm
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