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
