Guess What? - Window-Eyes 6.0 Beta 1 and Window-Eyes Tip of the Day, Key Describer, and Application Help
Oct-13-2006Disclaimer
The following message includes information regarding Window-Eyes 6.0 Beta 1. Please note that Window-Eyes 6.0 Beta 1 HAS NOT been released at this time. We are, however, providing you with some small glimpses into the features that Window-Eyes 6.0 Beta 1 will contain. We are currently not answering any questions regarding the functionality of the beta. The only things we're going to talk about will be what we have included in our new Guess What series, which will continue daily up to the beta release date, October 16, 2006. We will answer all questions at that time. Please be patient; you will be rewarded.
If you're subscribed to the GW Micro or Guess What podcast feed, you'll automatically receive this Guess What in MP3 format. Check out www.gwmicro.com/podcast for more information. If you want to download the MP3, read this article online, or view more Guess What articles (when they are released), please visit www.gwmicro.com/beta.
Enjoy!
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Welcome to GW Micro's "Guess What?" series, an introductory look at the upcoming release of Window-Eyes 6.0 Beta 1.
We’ll be covering a new feature in Window-Eyes 6.0 Beta 1 every day until its release, so stop by our web site (www.gwmicro.com/beta) daily to make sure you don't miss any of the exciting new features.
Through this Guess What series, we have been talking a lot about Microsoft products, and making them more accessible than ever before. Today, we are going to shift gears a little bit. As a consumer, many of you use Window-Eyes because it allows you to gain access to employment, or because it helps you in the educational realm. You already know that Window-Eyes is rock solid, which is one of the reasons that you use it. In this series, we have focused on how Window-Eyes can make technology far more accessible, and how it can increase your efficiency and productivity. Today's features are going to show you how Window-Eyes takes you to the next level, and can help hone your skills as an advanced user or as a beginner.
The first thing that can help both beginners and advanced users help use Window-Eyes more effectively is the Tip of the Day dialog. Each time Window-Eyes is started, the Tip of the Day dialog appears. I'll start Window-Eyes, so you can see what the dialog looks like.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
The tip is different each time you start, so you can learn a new feature every day to help you improve your skills with Window-Eyes. Since this is a read-only edit box, you can navigate through the text to listen to the tip as fast or as slow as you want to.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
After listening to the tip, if you are very interested in it, you can Tab to the View Help Topic button.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
If I were to press Enter here, the Window-Eyes manual would open up to the specific section that the tip refers to. If a tip has a web site associated with it, it is important to note that a View Web Site button will also be available. When the View Web Site button is selected, the associated page will load in your default web browser. When the public beta is released on Monday, feel free to try this out, as it is very easy to do. But, let's keep moving forward. If I Tab again, I'll hear the Next Tip button.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
This button, obviously, allows you to move to the next tip. This could be useful if you are an advanced user, and already know about the tip that was displayed first. This way, you can still teach yourself new skills that you can practice to continue to enhance your Window-Eyes skills. If I Tab again, I'll hear the Previous Tip button.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
Just as with the Next Tip button, this button will move you to the previous tip. I'll Tab again.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
That time, you heard the Close button. Pressing Enter on this button will close this dialog. And, if I Tab one more time . . .
<Window-Eyes Speech>
You can check or uncheck this box to either continue receiving tips upon each launch of Window-Eyes, or, if you are extremely advanced, you can turn them off. Keep in mind that these tips are taken from a wide variety of topics, so beginner users and advanced users should find them both very helpful. And, if you shut off the Tip of the Day, you can always get to it later in the Window-Eyes Help menu.
Next, let's move to the Key Describer. Again, this is a feature that one might think is only for beginners, but it can also be very useful for advanced users that are learning new applications. The Key Describer does exactly what its name indicates: it describes keys. This can be a very useful feature for someone just learning the keyboard. I'll turn the Key Describer on by pressing INS-1.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
You hear Window-Eyes say "Key Describer on." Now, almost every key we press, Window-Eyes will read it back to us. I'll press the letter A.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
There was no text that was inserted in to any application, Window-Eyes is simply reading the keys back to me. Now, an advanced user is probably thinking, "How can this be useful to me?" Well, suppose you have never used PowerPoint before, so you do not know the Window-Eyes keystrokes. And, you don't want to mess anything up while learning how to use some of the Window-Eyes keystrokes that are for PowerPoint. Let's see how this can be useful. First, I'm going turn the Key Describer off, and then open PowerPoint.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
Now that I am in PowerPoint, I'll turn the Key Describer back on.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
Ok, suppose I'm an advanced user, and I have never used this application before. After I turn the Key Describer back on, I can now press almost every button on the keyboard, and information will be read back to me. Let's try pressing something like INS-TAB in PowerPoint.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
Wow, wasn't that great to know? I didn't affect the application, and I can still learn how to use the Window-Eyes keystrokes with it; even if I'm advanced! Now, I simply turn it off, and I can start using PowerPoint. What a great feature to have at your fingertips and you can use it anywhere you are!
Let's close PowerPoint, and take a look at our new Application Help. This is another part of Window-Eyes that we have revamped in order to make it more useful. The Application Help can be used to save information you want about a control, dialog, or application. And, by default, Window-Eyes even gives you generic information about the control that you are on. Let's take a look at how this works. First, I'm going to open the Window-Eyes Control Panel.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
Then, I'll open the File menu and the Select Synthesizer dialog.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
Once I'm here, I can press CTRL-SHIFT-? (our new hotkey for the Application Help dialog). This new dialog replaces the old Application Help dialog, and thus, CTRL-SHIFT-F1 will no longer work. This also helps consumers from accidentally just pressing F1, and accessing Windows help, instead of Window-Eyes help.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
I'm automatically put into the Application Information edit box. If I wanted to input information to remember later about the application, I could type it here. I'll press Tab next.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
I'm now in the Help Applies To portion of the dialog. I can use the RIGHT or LEFT ARROW keys to choose either Control, Dialog, or Application. This way, I can keep track of all of these items separately. For example, if I just wanted to keep information about the application, I would leave application selected, and go back to where I was previously to type in information. Or, I could select Control or Dialog, and insert useful text about these items as well, which would be specific to the Control or Dialog; just like we talked about with the application. I'll Tab again.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
Here is generic information about the specific control you are in. As you can tell, there is a lot of information here, and it will change depend upon what control you are on. Then, you can Tab again in order to save the information.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
If you press Enter here, the next time you open up this dialog (in this example), the information will still be here. Since you can make any notes that you want, this is again, yet another feature that will benefit both beginners and advanced users.
Now that you know a little bit about how this dialog works, let me show you how it can work for you by showing you a common example to help you remember important information. First, I'll exit out of where I am.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
Next, I'm going to open the page that will allow us to access GW Micro's wireless router administration page.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
As you can tell a dialog has popped up, and it asks for a username and password. Since most people rarely access their wireless router very often, you might forget your username and password. So, I'm going to use the new Application Help to keep track of my username and password for the router. Since I'm in the Username edit box, I'll press CTRL-SHIFT-? to open it.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
Now, I'll Tab to make sure I am on Control, so the information is kept specifically for this control.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
Then, I'll SHIFT-TAB back to where I can insert text.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
I want to remember my username, so I'll type it in here.
<Window-Eyes Speech>
Now, all I have to do is Tab to the Save button, and press Enter, just like we talked about earlier, and the next time I am in this specific dialog, all I have to do is bring up Application Help, and voila; my username will be available. Of course I could do the same thing for my password. Just think of all of the information you could save, so you'll never forget it. What an excellent feature!
We hope today's "Guess What?" has given you a glimpse into the power of Window-Eyes 6.0 Beta 1, and its innovative new Tip of the Day, Key Describer, and Application Help.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's "Guess What?" to learn more about Window-Eyes 6.0 Beta 1.
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