I like option 1 the pressing of a given keystroke a number of times,
since mostly I, for example with to know my current place in the file
in time, secondary, the total time of the file, and the time
available on disk is hardly ever a problem so that should, in most
circumstances be of tertiary concern, since bigger and bigger hard
drives are the norm these days.
You could write that dialog so we can determine which items are
relayed to speech I.E. number of marks, etc, or whatever the items
which can be called from the status bar to speak with the given
keystroke. A defalt, of course, might be nothing, just as toggles is
off, by defalt.
Curtis Delzer
We are considering adding a few more features to be spoken through JAWS or Window-eyes. Since the peak hold was a big hit, we are thinking that direct access to specific status bar items might be of use. The question is, how do we present this information?
Imagine that you want to know the following things frequently: 1. The current position in time 2. The length of the document in time 3. Free space on the hard drive
Of course you could arrange the status bar to show only these three items, and use your screen reader's command to read the status bar. We could also add a Read Status Bar command. But, what if you just wanted to hear one of the items, and quickly?
Here are three ways we have considered. Feel free to express your views, or even suggest an entirely different way:
Option 1. Use a single key for speaking preferred information. When pressed once, the most preferable information would be spoken. When pressed twice quickly, the next most preferable information would be spoken. Finally, pressing the key three times quickly would speak your number three preference. This is very JAWS-like. Problems: 1. A dialog would be needed to specify what should be spoken, and in what order. 2. Only three functions would be available, since pressing a key four times quickly would be annoying at least. Pressing a key three times is already pushing the limit.
Option 2. Use a single key followed by a letter key which specifies what is to be spoken. For example, you would press a certain key, then T for total time, C for current time, or F for free hard drive space. Problems: 1. Very non-Windows like, since program would be in a "mode."
Option 3. Just use key combinations, such as Ctrl+Shift+F1 for current time, Ctrl+Shift+F2 for total time, and so on. Problems: 1. We could run out of keys quickly, since many keys are already in use. 2. Using a lot of modifiers would annoy some people, for example, Ctrl+Alt+Shift+F5.
Ok, have your say!
Rob Meredith
