[nfbcs] When to turn off the Jaws virtual cursor

Sun May 31 21:53:50 UTC 2015

Hello listers,

This information is very helpful.

This brings up a question on my part regarding the on mouse over attribute.
I encounter this on a lot of city government web sites, and sometimes
pressing control, insert, enter works in terms of JAWS announcing changes,
but other times, nothing happens. If anyone has suggestions, feel free to
pass them along.

Best.

Liz

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tracy Carcione
via nfbcs
Sent: Sunday, May 31, 2015 9:17 AM
To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List'
Cc: Tracy Carcione
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] When to turn off the Jaws virtual cursor

Thanks Nicole for this thorough and clear explanation.
Tracy

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Nicole Torcolini
via nfbcs
Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2015 11:55 PM
To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List'
Cc: Nicole Torcolini; 'Nancy Coffman'
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] When to turn off the Jaws virtual cursor

Okay, I do not know who knows what, but I am going to start with the basics
to make sure that we are all on the same page.

When using the internet with JAWS, the web page is loaded into a virtual
buffer, which allows the user to use the arrow keys as though it was a
document and to jump to different object types on the page using the quick
navigation keys. JAWS intercepts all keys that are JAWS commands, including
the arrow keys. If a control that JAWS recognizes  comes into focus, JAWS
switches into forms mode and stops intercepting keystrokes. When not in
forms mode, single letter shortcut keys on web sites generally do not work.
Often, it is enough to turn off quick navigation keys, but, if you need to
use the arrow keys on something that is not a control, it is necessary to
either use pass through (JAWS key 3) or turn off the virtual cursor.

The only time that I would recommend turning off the virtual cursor is if
you need to press keys that JAWS intercepts even with quick navigation keys
turned off, such as the arrow keys. Also, JAWS does not always stay in forms
mode when expanding/collapsing menus, but this can usually be fixed by
changing the forms mode type.

It was mentioned earlier in this thread that pressing enter performs a
click. For those of you who do not understand why this is, when you press
enter with JAWS, JAWS does not send the enter key but rather an
accessibility event. I do not know why this is; perhaps to compensate for
those controls that have click handlers but not keyboard handlers or to
mimic the behavior of native HTML controls where pressing enter triggers the
onclick handler. One note about this behavior, though. What the
accessibility event actually does is left up to the browser to decide.
Firefox and Chrome correctly send mouse down, mouse up, click, but Internet
Explorer only sends click. If you find that a control works in
Firefox/Chrome but not Internet Explorer, try either changing the setting in
newer versions of JAWS that allows for sending enter instead of click or
using pass through. If both of those fail, then use the JAWS cursor to find
the control and fire a click.

Going back to the original question of if turning off the virtual cursor
will help. I do not know. If it is a control that is on the tab order but
does not have an ARIA role, then yes. Otherwise no.

Nicole

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Nancy Coffman via
nfbcs
Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2015 6:51 PM
To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List'
Cc: Nancy Coffman
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] When to turn off the Jaws virtual cursor

Sometimes when you heed to "click", I have read that you need to use the
jump to line command and then click from there.  I don't exactly remember
the sequence but if you look up click in internet explorer help, the
sequence should be there.

Nancy Coffman

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Steve Jacobson
via nfbcs
Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2015 11:02 AM
To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List
Cc: Steve Jacobson
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] When to turn off the Jaws virtual cursor

Tracy,

First, there isn't any absolute rule when to turn off the JAWS Virtual
Cursor or turn off the Window-Eyes Browse Mode.  On web sites that use newer
HTML, some web controls are now made to work better directly.  For example,
sometimes the arrow keys will navigate what appear to be list boxes and
allow one to interact with them.  This can be seen on some of the newer
webmail sites where you can move up and down a list of messages without the
virtual cursor and press a key to delete a message.  Whether that helps you
in this case is hard to know, though.  If you are clicking on one item of
what appears to be a list, it might be worth trying with the virtual cursor
off.  

Another thing to try with newer websites is that sometimes pressing ENTER on
an area that would normally need to be clicked will cause the action to
occur even if the area is not identified as a link.  This, of course, is
with the virtual cursor on.

Finally, Mike's advice of routing the JAWS cursor to PC and then clicking
might be easier than the approach you are currently taking.  It is at least
worth a try.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Thu, 28 May 2015 10:32:36 -0400, Tracy Carcione via nfbcs wrote:

>I have heard people here say they sometimes turn off the Jaws virtual 
>cursor to make a website work better.  Could someone give an example of 
>when to try this?

>The MS Web Publishing website I was being trained on seems to require 
>clicking with the Jaws mouse, and the Jaws mouse is not where the PC 
>cursor is.  I was switching to the Jaws cursor, finding the place I 
>want, then clicking.  Would this be the kind of thing where turning off 
>the Jaws virtual cursor might help?

>Thanks.

>Tracy

> 

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