[nfbcs] JAWS and Office 2007.

[Steve Jacobson]

I probably shouldn't reply because I am a Window-Eyes user, but my understanding is that JFW has a feature that lets the ribbon look like the classic menus 
in later versions.  Window-Eyes does not have this feature, though, which has caused me to deal with the ribbon directly.  My gut feeling is that the ribbon 
can be mastered even though it is a bit of a change, and I don't know that I would want to trust my screen reader to correctly remap every single item on a 
ribbon as JFW tries to do.  In addition, the ribbon pops up in more places as time goes by, so one might as well get used to it.

What I would do is to take the approach that is given below, except that I would concentrate on getting the keystrokes for those things that one uses most 
often.  Navigating the ribbon is also possible but there are controls that act a little like pulldowns so I find that the ribbon takes longer to explore.  While 
Microsoft did include keystrokes to access parts of the ribbon directly, they are not very easy to remember, and I feel there should have been more cases 
where keystrokes get you directly to items without the use of multiple keystrokes.  However, in their defense, there are so many things on a ribbon that we 
would never all agree on what should be given priority.  Also, many of the items that used to be on the file menu can still be found by using ALT-F.  This 
does not apply to other menu items, though.  I think there are some tutorials around on using the ribbon and they might be helpful, too.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Thu, 14 Jul 2011 18:52:28 -0500, Mike Jolls wrote:

>Jaws 12 is what she needs.  It has the program logic to navigate the ribbon.
>I'm in the process of upgrading to Jaws 12 but I haven't fully explored the
>keystrokes yet and I can't give you a full report.  If you'd like, I'll give
>you more details when I know more.  Also, I haven't explored the possibility
>that there might be a "classic" view.  That's not a bad way to go if it's
>available.  However, one drawback I can see with that approach is if all the
>menu items don't have hotkeys.  For those options, then you have to go to
>the menu where the option is located, then arrow down to that item in the
>list and listen to each menu item until you find what you want.  That's a
>sequential access method and sequential is always the slowest even though
>once you're familiar with the menus, it's not too bad.  What you'd like to
>be able to do is have a keystroke for every single menu item so as you learn
>them, you don't have to keep navigating the menus but rather one or two
>keystrokes gives you direct access to the option.  From what I've seen,
>every option on the ribbon has a direct key combination such as "alt-H" to
>go to the home menu group, then "E" for edit.  You type the keystrokes in
>that order as I recall.  Direct access is always faster than sequential, so
>perhaps the creators of the ribbon had the blind and visually impaired in
>mind.  I haven't learned all the keystrokes that I use yet, but this is how
>it appears to work.  Once you learn the keystrokes you need, it's direct
>access with no sequential navigation.  Provided I'm right and there's a
>navigation key sequence to every option, then using the ribbon bar (once
>you've memorized the options you use) would be superior to the classic view
>and having to navigate and listen to all the options that you don't want.

>Then again, there's the upgrade price to Jaws 12, plus a learning curve.
>Always a price to pay when technology changes!!

>-----Original Message-----
>From: nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
>Of Alan Wheeler
>Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2011 6:30 PM
>To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List'
>Subject: [nfbcs] JAWS and Office 2007.

>Is there a way to have the classic Office view in Office 2007 while using
>JAWS? My fiancee is having difficulty accomplishing things what she needs to
>do using the ribbons. Is there any help for this?
> 

>"Grace is getting a high five from God even when you know yourself to be a
>sinner." Smuts Van Rooyen Seventh-day Adventist Kansas/Nebraska camp meeting
>Psalms 33:3 Psalms 150:5


>Alan Wheeler 
>Lincoln, Nebraska 
>awheeler65 at windstream.net 


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