I’ve had a lot of trouble trying to meet up with my musician friend to start this recording, but he’s very busy and I’ve been looking at alternatives. I’ve ended  up with  a fairly good recording with a headset and microphone.

The modifier keys are the main keys which we use with other keys to save, print, start a new document; many actions can be done through just using the keyboard alone, and is quicker than a mouse. The most used modifiers are on the left side of the keyboard.

If you have any questions, comments or thoughts, please get in touch.
reminder2_finding the modifier keys

As a result, I go over an activity again, recording the audio as I describe what is going on, and what needs to happen next. As a result, these little ‘audio reminders’ are quite often very personal, but then again, I find that a lot of problems are very common.

That’s why I spent some time with a musical friend and recorded an ‘Introduction to Keyboarding’. If you find this useful, please let me know, if you would like to offer some criticism, or you thought I missed something, let me know too. I did the piece in a few takes, and if the recording sounds a bit loud then quiet, that will be because I made a few mistakes and had to cut and paste to make it sound sensible. Enjoy.

introducing keyboarding

Every week I’ll be doing a presentation to start a conversation; the first is “Using Wifi at home and out/about”, 12th September. Come along from 7-9pm.

Mycenae House Website

Download Flyer (with map)

Nonetheless,I thought I would report on the good day spent talking to many attendees of the event about the training service I offer though  the UcandoIT charity. I ran out of business cards at one point, and my stock of application forms definitely dwindled, an indicator of the amount of interest. There was talk of starting another run of club sessions in another venue and attempting to garner further funding.

The event also provided me with an opportunity to chat with with various other service providers and companies offering access technology; all in all a good, interesting and inspiring day.

Blind Independence in Greenwich website

I’ve been very careful to not call these ‘training sessions’ and as such want a club-like environment where everyone can be relaxed, talk about their experiences and share their knowledge or even ask some questions about their lack of it.  The theme this week was about using a talking computer with the Thunder screen reader software, and how this can be used with WebbIE, a text based web browser.

I recorded the initial presentation to assist me in my presentation delivery, and also to give others an insight as to what the sessions are about. I hope that comes across – I talked for so long, I’ve split the presentation into two parts.

Talking about talking computers

Still talking about talking computers

Whatever type of computer you use, there is accessibility help which can help you communicate, learn and entertain yourself with a computer.

My web, my way by the BBC is a great place to start looking into making your internet experience more enjoyable and useful. You can also adjust various settings in  your Operating System settings to make your keyboard, mouse and monitor suit your needs. As this is a huge subject (and many people have different requirements),

I’m going to introduce some system settings which will be of use if you are learning to use a computer, and can even improve how you work with your office in a box; I’ll provide a few links into specific parts of the My Web, My Way site.

Keyboard settings

These options are to help you get the best out of your keyboarding experience, and you’ll find that both Apple and Microsoft have these features built in…

Sticky keys

I’m including this first as it will be the option that causes the most bemusement. This setting is turned on really easily by pressing the shift key 5 times (in Windows). This is the first reason why it causes problems, as most people don’t know what they’ve done when pressing the shift in desperation when something ‘just won’t work!!’

Windows sticky keys - for everyone when you know what 'sticky' means...

This function doesn’t always mean too much to most people, but if you have problems with your hands and you want to make the computer easier to use, it is very, ahem, handy. Also useful for people with a broken arm who can’t use both hands, or have limited movement. Even if you don’t need to be using the modifier keys (Ctrl,Shift, Alt and Windows key) making capital letters becomes straightforward. For example, making a document print quickly would be pressing the Ctrl key and p together. Sticky keys would enable you to press the Ctrl key first, then the letter p. This is one of those situations when you have to do it to see what it does, as instructions don’t really describe this very well…or is it my level of writing? Anyway, anyone can practice this, be my guest.

Keyboard sensitivity

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, not everyone gets to work in an office, and not everyone learns to type. I have taught many people in this scenario, and many tend to think the keyboard is just like the typewriter of old, needing some muscle application to get the letters imprinted onto the screen… There are also many people just learning to type, and may need to change the keyboard sensitivity so letters aren’t flying across the screen, causing more spelling mistakes than usual. This feature was made to enable people of differing levels of muscle control to use the keyboard. Windows has the ‘Filter Keys’ feature which also stops accidentally duplicated keystrokes, Apple OSX has the ‘Slow Keys’ feature which does the same thing. both systems have very similar attitudes to assisting keyboard use, although I can’t seem to find the  switch to make the text cursor wider, or to change the speed of its flashing in a text area.

Apple OSX does a good job of putting all the settings in one place, but seems to miss a couple of tricks (screenshot from Leopard)

More keyboard accessibility here and here.

Mouse settings

A mouse doesn’t have to be the only way to move the pointer around the screen.

I have a friend that had ongoing troubles with his wrist, and the mouse made it worse. I recommended he tried using a graphics tablet instead – I lent him my trusty tablet to try out, and in days had bought his own. As it is, he’s a keen digital photographer, and the tablet has increased the enjoyment of his hobby. A tablet is not for everybody though, and there are many ways of moving the pointer around the screen. A trackball is a neat way to move the mouse too, but these are only a couple of options…have a look here to see a more complete list.

Are you a leftie?

I am. This is not about politics, but about which hand you favour – for writing mostly. I often say that left handed people are in their right minds, and indeed they are, as we all use one side of our brain to work the opposing hand; so the right side of my brain is controlling my left hand. So besides my smug comments, this issue affect many computer users as this is the most simple option to change around on a mouse and can improve your experience immensely. This runs into the next option for making life easier, changing the double click speed. Just to clear something up, double clicking indicates 2 actions to the computer – select something and open it. Web pages have links with one click buttons because they are not on your computer which confuse things, but actually double clicking can be awkward if the speed is too fast.

On Apple OSX

Hmm, not too friendly the language here for OSX :The tracking speed is the actual speed of the mouse across the screen, the Primary Mouse button is the one you do clicking with.

Some essential mouse settings are sitting in the Mouse option in the system preferences. Apple have decided to split the settings up for fine tuning how you use the mouse. Not very much to see here, but changing the mouse from right to left handed could change how well you get things done. Look at the Universal Access window for more options.

On Windows machines: Depending on the version of Windows, you need to get to the control panel and then to the mouse icon which needs to be double clicked to open (unfortunately). When that’s opened you will see a new window with a bunch of tabs.the language here is not too friendly, but if you’re left handed you need to tick the box and see the buttons switch over.

More about using a mouse at My Web, My Way

 Seeing what’s on the screen.

This is a many layered situation, as even people with 20/20 vision need some help now and again, especially with high resolution settings making everything smaller.

Firstly things need to be bigger (or just usable) on the screen, then the level of contrast and the colour scheme can be adjusted to suit your individual needs. The size of windows in general can be controlled by the screen resolution – the more pixels, the smaller (and sharper) the items on the screen are. This is not an ideal situation, and fuzzy edges don’t make text easier to read. Windows 7 and Mac OSX both have built in magnifiers to make the screen bigger, but you may just need to make text easier to read, and just being able to read pages on the internet. Even though the Mac has had the magnifying software for longer (they call it zooming) it seems that Microsoft learned some lessons after their very poor offering on Windows XP.

Not too many options in Mac OSX, although strangely there are some really interesting visual aids in the VoiceOver utility

The options for OSX are  not as comprehensive as the Windows accessibility options, especially as Windows has offered high contrast window themes for many years, going back to Windows 95. These features can be of use to a lot people, including those of us who wear glasses – there are many of us in that group. These settings can also make various colour combination to get the best possible reading screen for anyone, not just those with visual impairment. Dyslexic sufferers could also benefit from having a differently coloured set up. More details on setting up your display.

Final Thoughts.

I’ve tried to write this post as an introduction to getting the Accessible features out of your computer; I could go on for a lot longer, but like abilities and disabilities, it can be a personal situation to address. The links I’ve given to the site will hopefully make it easier for some to get to some useful info straight away. In addition I do have a document I created for Lambeth library as a reference for their librarians working with Visually Impaired Library users. It outlines the key short cuts and general access for Windows XP:  Thunder and Webbie in Lambeth Library

As the name suggests, this is software which allows the screen display to be magnified, giving a Visually Impaired (VI) user  an equal chance in moving around the computer with a mouse (or keyboard) to use the Graphical User Interface (GUI – pronounced ‘gooey’). The GUI includes all of the buttons, windows, icons and menus we take for granted on pretty much all modern computers. It make the whole computer experience easier to use if you know what the ‘window furniture’ does.

Something to bear in mind…

Working with computers needs to have a monitor…or a TV to plug into. If you want to enjoy pictures, music or films a modern TV can be plugged in to have some entertainment and fun stuff.  Depending on your vision requirements you may need to have different distances to use a computer. You may not need a computer at all, and an iPad or cheaper Android tablet may be a better option for you.

More to come about that another day, but you could always contact me to discuss this.

Windows 7 Magnifier
Dolphin Magnifier Reader (Supernova)
Apple Mac OSX and a difference
Ubuntu and Orca
Conclusion

Windows 7 magnifier

This has to be the best improvement in accessibility that Microsoft has done. Previous versions of the magnifier in XP (I will forget Vista if you don’t mind) and before were very poor, with no full screen option, and it was very clunky to use generally. The latest upgrade is stunning, and to get the best out of it needs a little tuning in the options .

just click on the lens and bring up the control panel

Supernova

I installed the XP version on my windows 7 machine by mistake,and it worked well for a minute or so before crashing…I mention this because when I went through the process of installing the latest version as a trial which didn’t crash, but was very sluggish on my machine.

Admittedly I didn’t have a 2ghz dual core cpu or a decent graphics card as it recommends on the Dolphin site.

Interestingly Dolphin now tout systems as well as the software, but the default settings were not very good – no moving around with computer focus was the most noticeable. A steep learning curve makes it hard to recommend to an elderly learner, or someone that needs a straightforward set up and may not need fractional magnification (instead of jumping from 2x to 3x the screen, the magnification can jump in 0.5 increments). The log in screen is also magnified. Some very useful features to promote productivity such as screen hooks to navigate around the screen quickly and a document reader. It is expensive (prices seem to be £800-£1100), but a quick look shows that there is a licensing option for young users to use in school and home.

I would generally recommend this to a company with a VI computer user needing a useful productivity set up to help in the workplace, but not for a casual home user. Too expensive, like I say. It’s actually cheaper to buy a decent machine second hand and buy a copy of Windows 7 home premium to use a decent magnifier.

Mac OSX and the difference.

I’m going to take this opportunity to expand on the Universal Access panel and how the OSX works with the VoiceOver functions to magnify menu labels and buttons.

This panel is definitely the best I’ve seen, but it can be too much for someone learning to get around a computer. The zoom function is a great feature, with the ability to jump to the general magnification you require, although the edges can become ‘fluffy’ and not well defined, which then means you have to change the contrast of the screen, which then impacts on colours and picture viewing. I also notice a big issue, which Microsoft have addressed for years and Apple don’t want to – Font resizing and scheme colours. It seems that only black on white, white on black or greyscale are options for the screen, which affects EVERYTHING, not just text. Very poor for VI users with some vision,  do treasure what they can see- this is very important to remember. Having different colour schemes can also be beneficial to dyslexia users too. The issue with Font resizing in the system? It doesn’t happen. It seems that it would disrupt the prettiness of the layout and that can’t happen in OSX. The only other option is to dig into the VoiceOver options and bring up the large labels, which incidentally make the system navigable by keyboard, another aspect sadly missing as standard…sigh. Please note that these options were tested on Leopard, and I hear good things about Lion.

Ubuntu : Orca

Ubuntu has a number of screen readers and Orca seems to be the most integrated with the system that I’ve found. It works, but in a fashion that I’ve related before. The speech aspect of the software is truly impressive (UK English from the midlands anyone?), but the magnification seems to not completely render sub menus. This then places more focus on the voice which is okay to a degree – better than the standard windows voices, but not as good as OSX.

This screenshot from my netbook - as you can see the magnifier seems to make viewing not that easy. Nice voice though.

People with visual impairment do tend to try and use as much of their vision as possible, and means that only the advanced and confident computer users will benefit.  I’m a big fan of Ubuntu and look forward to seeing how this develops, and especially in the new interface which I have only tried in previous versions.

Conclusion

It seems that Windows is best served for the average VI learner as it has a respectable magnifier built in to Windows 7, the next version of windows being much more touch friendly. Having touch built in could be a real deal breaker – although upgrading the very capable Dolphin magnifier with each new release is not what I call friendly to the average pocket, or something a small company can manage.

That said, the systems have different pros and cons in terms of what people want. I work with a client that is a musician and she wants an Apple Mac for the apparent simplicity of use and the number of recommendations (other musical folk have said that it ‘just works’ which is the usual).

As usual, it boils down to what you can afford (and if you can garner extra monies), and what your goals are – as mentioned right at the beginning, an iPad  or a big TV may be your best bet if you just want to be on-line. If you want to chat about your needs, please use the contact form.

I’ve made a hobby of looking around for free and open source software, and had to download the up to date versions to keep myself and others up to date. Now I use Ninite, which is a fantastic and truly great website to install the latest versions of all my free favourites. It truly is simple: go through the list, choose your programs, download and run your custom installer. Depending on the number of programs you’ve chosen, the installations are done straight away and you can have a full set of useful programs to look after and run your machine for most tasks. Run the installer every now and again, and it will update your chosen programs…superb.

http://www.ninite.com