JFW and Braille

The topics listed below are found in JFW and Braille.

A. Introduction.

B. Braille Display Modes.

C. Structured Mode and Jaws for Windows.

D. Line Mode and Jaws For Windows.

E. Description Of Common Braille Keystrokes.

F. The Status Cells and Jaws for Windows.

G. Jaws-Specific Braille Abbreviations.

H. Configuring JFW and Braille.

A. Introduction.

The JFW screen reader offers the user a vehicle for tactual access. A blind person who uses a Braille display with JFW adds an essential dimension to his/her technological experience. Drop-down menus, dialog boxes, and edit fields are brought to life for the computer user who can more fully conceptualize what the sighted computer user sees on the screen. This reduces frustration when navigating throughout a highly graphical operating system such as Windows. Additional tools are brought to the technological table when the computer user who is blind takes a multi-sensory approach to technology and uses a Braille display and speech with JFW.

A refreshable Braille display offers the Braille user a tactile window that can be moved around on the PC screen. The device is connected to the computer by a cable and produces Braille output on the Braille display. You can use your Braille display to move around the screen in all four directions. The keys used to navigate the screen are specific to each model of Braille display.

All Braille displays have at least two basic types of keys. They are the Braille up and down keys, used to move up and down the screen, and the panning left and right keys, used to move the display left and right according to the number of cells on a particular display. For example, if you were using a 40-cell display, a pan left would move back 40 cells. If there is no text on the current line to be moved to when panning, the display wraps to the next or prior line.

It is best to contact the vendor of your Braille terminal to find out how to get the most out of your Braille display with JFW.

B. Braille Display Modes.

The Braille display can be in Structured, Line or Speech Box mode. On most displays, there is a key to cycle between all three modes.

The Structured mode is more descriptive in nature and gives the user information about the current control. If there is no need to display special descriptive information, such as in a word processor document, the Braille display will behave as if it were in Line mode. See the Structured Mode and Jaws for Windows section for greater detail on the components and uses of this mode.

The Line Mode is designed to give an exact representation of the information on the screen, in the same way as does the Jaws Cursor.

See the Line Mode and Jaws For Windows section for greater detail.

The Speech Box mode is strictly a Braille representation of whatever comes out of the speech synthesizer. In Speech Box mode the Braille movement keys let you review what has been spoken, but the cursor routing buttons have no effect. By default, your JFW will be configured to use Structured Mode.

C. Structured Mode and Jaws for Windows.

Structured Mode is designed to provide you with descriptive information about controls on the screen, all in one or two lines. This requires that we present text on the display that doesn't come from Windows itself, but from the information Jaws has about Windows. When a Structured Line is not present, the display behaves as it does in Line Mode.

This section will help you understand the Structured Line, and the order of information in which JFW presents it. The Structured Line is a special Braille environment built by Jaws only when specific dialog and/or control type information is necessary. When Jaws builds a structured line, you no longer see an exact representation of what is on the screen. Instead, you get descriptive information, ordered by Jaws, about the current dialog and focused control.

Example of Structured Line

After pressing alt enter on the task bar, the following information will appear on the Braille display:

Task Bar Properties dlg Start Menu Options page <x> Always On Top check box

This is similar to what the speech user hears:

Task bar Properties dialog Start menu Options page Always on Top check box checked

Note the special symbols and abbreviations used in the Braille example. See the Jaws-Specific Braille Abbreviations section for a complete list and descriptions.

Obviously, the words Dialog, Page and Check Box not checked never appear on the screen in this situation. Also, as Windows is a three-dimensional graphical environment, the information both seen on the Braille display and heard by the speech synthesizer does not visually appear in that order.

See the Line Mode and Jaws For Windows section to observe what the information looks like without structured mode:

When the structured line appears on the Braille display, you may need to pan left on the display to see the entire information. This allows you to see the focused control first. When in a structured line, your panning keys allow you to see any information about the structured line not showing on the display. This is especially helpful with 40-cell displays.

The Braille Up and Down keys will move between controls in the same way as do your arrow keys in the current control. If in a list or tree control, you will navigate between the items in the list or tree. When on a control in a group box container or group of radio buttons, you may navigate between other controls in the container. However, in most cases, these keys won't navigate around when a structured line is present. The Braille Routing keys will allow you to activate buttons, highlight text in an edit field, or toggle the state of checkboxes. How to use Braille keys in and out of structured mode will be described in greater detail in the Description Of Common Braille Keystrokes section. It is important to note, however, that you interact differently with your display when the Structured Line is present than you do otherwise.

Often the information on a windows screen overlaps other information or it has icons that express meaningful information without using specific words. Virtually all of the Braille displays in the world today are one dimensional. The structured mode is the Jaws answer to this issue. It builds a one dimensional line to represent the significant information on the computer screen.

D. Line Mode and jaws For Windows.

When in line mode, Jaws uses screen coordinates to determine what

information is sent to the Braille display. This lets the Braille user better understand screen lay out and print format. Jaws uses its Braille cursor to relay information directly from the screen. The Braille cursor works much like the Jaws cursor in that is sees exactly what's on the screen. This means that you will see text exactly as it is formatted, whether or not it lines up correctly. Remember that in Windows, text can appear just about anywhere, and may or may not make sense in terms of Braille formatting.

Using the example dialog from the Structured Mode and Jaws for Windows section, the following would appear on the display:

When first opening the Task Bar Properties dialog:

Check mark Always On Top

Move up one line:

Task Bar Options Start Menu Programs

Moving up one more line:

Task Bar Properties help symbol close symbol

By default, none of this text will line up, but show exactly as it does in Windows. You may need to use the Pan Right and Pan Left keys to see it all.

Jaws provides a way for you to format how the text looks on the display. See your Braille display's help topic for information on the Toggle8PixelsPerSpace keystroke. By default, the setting is 8 pixels per space. This means that 8 pixels of white or blank space will be shown as a cell on the display. This makes proofreading easier, if you need to see the format of your document. Press the keystroke, and the message "unlimited pixels per space" will be spoken and, if the display is set to Speech Box mode, sent to the display. This setting means that Jaws will not display extra white space. Only space and tab characters written into the document or on the screen itself will show up as blank cells. Whereas the text may not appear as it does on the screen, it will be lined up as if in a Braille book. Since this keystroke is a toggle, you can change it on the fly as you're reading. By doing so, your Braille viewing options are more expanded. When 8 pixels per space is selected, using the Braille up and Braille down keys may not place you at the same character location on the preceding line, as the two lines may differ in pixel length. However, using the Unlimited Pixels Per Space option allows you to move up and down through the text, viewing it without the spacing discrepancy.

E. Description Of Common Braille Keystrokes.

For the location for exact keystrokes, see the appropriate help topic for your display. What follows is a description of some common keystrokes you will find on your display.

Navigation:

Some common keystrokes you will find on your display are:

Braille Up (BraillePriorLine)

Braille Down (BrailleNextLine)

BraillePanLeft

and

BraillePanRight

To see the behavior of these keystrokes in a structured line, check out the Structured Mode and Jaws for Windows section of this topic.

In Line Mode, the BraillePanLeft and BraillePanRight keystrokes display prior and next information on the line at the position of the Braille cursor. If there is no more information on the line, these keystrokes wrap like the arrow keys do with the Jaws cursor.

The Braille Up and Braille Down keys navigate from line to line with the Braille Cursor.

In Speechbox Mode, the BraillePanLeft and BraillePanRight keystrokes navigate the buffer of information sent to the synthesizer. The BraillePriorLine and BrailleNextLine keystrokes do not serve a function in Speechbox mode.

Linking And Unlinking The Cursors

You have seen reference to the Braille cursor in the section on navigation. This cursor is invisible, and represented usually by dots 7 and 8 blinking at the cell where the cursor is located. It is possible to change the shape of the cursor in the Jaws Configuration Manager. Jaws can have the PC or system cursor follow the Braille Cursor or allow the Braille cursor to roam freely. This functionality is represented by the toggle keystroke ActiveMovesBraille. When turning this setting on, note the message "The Braille display will follow the active cursor", both spoken and, if Speechbox Mode is on, sent to the Braille display. When turning this setting off, the message "The active cursor will not follow the Braille cursor" is spoken, and, if Speechbox mode is on, sent to the Braille display.

When you allow the cursor to roam, it is possible to explore the entire screen either when line mode is on, when the Jaws cursor is on, or when there is no structured line present. However, when the active Cursor follows the Braille display, document reading is more convenient, and it is easier to proof text in a document. The screen will scroll with you, as it does when using the arrow keys.

You can also select whether or not the active cursor will move the Braille Display. This functionality is represented in the toggle keystroke: ActiveMovesBraille. When turning on this setting, note the message "The active cursor will move the Braille display" spoken, and if Speechbox mode is on, sent to the Braille display. When turning this setting off, note the message "The active cursor will not move the Braille display", spoken, and if Speechbox mode is on, sent to the Braille display. If the setting is on, any new information brought to focus in Windows will cause the display to show the focus information. Turning it off allows you to park the display in one place while editing or reading in another. Both toggle keystrokes allow you to more easily customize your reading with JFW.

Cursor Routing Buttons

These keys, located above each cell on the display perform the single-click operation in Windows. There are some keystrokes which use the cursor Routing buttons in combination with other Braille keys to select text, describe the active item, or describe the font at the cursor position.

Braille Formatting

As mentioned in the Line Mode and Jaws for Windows section of this topic, the Toggle8PixelsPerSpace option allows the user to see the text as it appears on the screen, the 8 pixel setting, or view it as she would a Braille book, Unlimited Pixels per space. This is a toggle keystroke, designed to increase the efficiency and convenience of your Braille viewing.

F. The Status Cells and Jaws for Windows.

If your display has status cells, they are generally located at the left edge of the display. There is generally some separation between them and the rest of the display. They have cursor routing buttons, but these buttons serve as Braille keystrokes, and do not perform as routing buttons.

On all the status cells, dots 7 and 8 represent the position of the display on the current line of text, or within the structured line. If dots 7 and 8 are up on all the cells, the current line or structured line is completely displayed on the Braille display. If there is text to one side or the other, as is typical on 40-cell displays, dots 7 and 8 will be down on the respective status cells. For example, if there is one more display full of text on the line to the right, the last status cell will be down. If two or more, the last two will be down. Note that one more can mean only a few characters if there is either a lot of white space (with 8 pixels per space selected) or just a few characters to the end of the line. It is easy to see, then, how with the status cells, you can see whether there is text to the left or right.

What is displayed on the top six dots on the status cells depends on how many you have. In all cases, the first three status cells show the horizontal pixel position. This occurs when a structured line is not present, or when in the Virtual cursor. If a structured line is present, the cells will be blank. If the Virtual Cursor is active, the character position will be displayed, i.e., 001 for first character on line, etc. The status cell position information reflects the position of the Braille cursor, which is blinking Dots 7 and 8 under the cell displaying the corresponding character on the screen.

The information displayed in the next status cells depends on how many you have. If you have 4, the fourth cell displays the current mode. The characters are as follows:

s structured mode

l Line Mode

x Speechbox Mode

If you have 5 or more, this information is displayed in cell 5, whereas the active cursor is displayed in cell 4. Cursor symbols are as follows:

p Pc Cursor

j Jaws Cursor

i Invisible Cursor

These cells can greatly enhance your Braille viewing and understanding of text formatting.

G. Jaws-Specific Braille Abbreviations.

The following symbols are used in Structured Mode to indicate different control types:

dlg = dialog

gb = group box

< > = Check control (checkbox, radio button)

When a space is inserted between the less (<) and greater (>) symbols, the control is checked.

The following are common Braille graphic abbreviations:

btn button

rdmsg read message

unrdmsg unread message

H. Configuring JFW and Braille.

Below is a brief description of the Braille options in the Braille Options or the Advanced Options dialog boxes in the JFW Configuration Manager.

Default Braille display. If multiple Braille displays are installed you can choose the default Braille display here.

Translation table. This option is used to select the proper language. For example: if using American English this is set to US437.

Braille verbosity. This option is used for choosing the amount of text presented on the Braille display. There are three levels, with Beginner displaying the highest level of verbosity, followed by Intermediate, and Advanced displaying the least verbosity.

Braille marking. In JFW the Braille display can be set to underline text of a certain attribute with dots 7 and 8. For example, if a piece of text or an option were highlighted dots 7 and 8 would be raised under it. The default is Highlight but it can be changed to None, Bold, Underline, Italic, Strikeout, and All.

Show Braille load error. If a previously selected Braille display is not found, JFW will display a Braille load error. Since there are times when this message can be annoying, JFW allows the error message to be turned off.

8-dot Braille. If this box is checked JFW will display using 8-dot Braille.

Grade two. You have two check box options for grade two Braille. Enable Translator simply toggles grade two ON and OFF. The Expand Current Word toggle expands the word where the active cursor is placed so that you can edit that word.

Braille mode. Choose one of the three Braille modes: Line, Structured, or Speech Box.

Braille dot patterns. Used for setting the patterns used to display attributes in Attribute mode.

Sleep mode. This option is in the Advanced Options dialog. If this is checked the display will be inactive for the current application.

Pixels per space. This option is in the Advanced Options dialog. The default setting is 8, which means that JFW will consider one space to equal 8 pixels. If this option is increased, the amount of white space represented on the Braille display will be decreased. A setting of 99 will yield almost no white space, with the exception of the spaces between words and graphic labels.