I personally like option three, even though some people might not like the
gymnastics required to execute all the key strokes. I guess there's a
downside to everything. (smile)
-----Original Message-----
From: studiorecorder-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:studiorecorder-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of ROB MEREDITH
Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2006 2:26 PM
To: studiorecorder@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [studiorecorder] Access Ideas Needed
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
