GWKB1089 : Special Steps to Use Window-Eyes with ZoomText

Product: Window-Eyes
Author: Jeremy Curry
Date Added: 07/10/2008
Last Modified: 12/09/2010

Symptom: When using Window-Eyes and ZoomText at the same time, you may have hotkey conflicts.

Cause: Since Window-Eyes and ZoomText are made by two different companies, some hotkeys many conflict with one another.

Solution: There are several different ways to approach this issue. You can redefine hotkeys in both ZoomText and Window-Eyes. Or, you can disable hotkeys in either ZoomText or Window-Eyes. We assume that since you are using a full-fledged screen reader, you will want to use the hotkeys that Window-Eyes provides rather than those provided by ZoomText. Using that assumption, we have created a ZoomText configuration file that disables all currently known hotkey conflicts with Window-Eyes. Note that we also assume that you are using the default keyboard layout for Window-Eyes. During this process, we also found that several ZoomText hotkeys conflicted with the way our typical customers use applications. For example, Alt-Left Arrow is defined in ZoomText by default to move the Zoom Window to the left. However, many of our users use Window-Eyes and ZoomText together while browsing the web. In a web browser such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, Alt-Left Arrow moves to the previous page. Thus, we have also disabled some ZoomText keystrokes that would most likely affect most of our customers. Another assumption was made that since a user of Window-Eyes/ZoomText combination is probably very low vision, the default magnification rate was increased from 2x to 4x. To install the ZoomText configuration file that we have created, perform the following steps:

NOTE: If you save the following configuration as your default settings, your current settings will be overwritten. Also note that this keyboard layout has been designed using Window-Eyes 7.2 and ZoomText 9.18.8.58.

1. Download the ZoomText configuration file to a known location. The default name of the file is Window-EyesConfig.zxc.
2. Open ZoomText via your preferred method.
3. Once ZoomText is open, press Alt-F to open the File menu.
4. Press Enter on Open Configuration.
5. Navigate to the Window-EyesConfig.zxc file, and open the configuration.
6. You can make this your default configuration. NOTE THAT THIS WILL OVERWRITE YOUR DEFAULT SETTINGS. To make this your default, open the File menu in ZoomText by pressing Alt-F.
7. Down Arrow to Save As Default.
8. Press Enter
9. You will be asked if you want to save the current ZoomText settings as your default. Press Tab until you get to the Yes button.
10. Press Enter.

All known hotkey conflicts will then be disabled in ZoomText. If you want to re-enable those hotkeys, or if you want to change the hotkeys to a different hotkey that does not conflict, you will need to access the Hotkeys dialog in the Settings menu in ZoomText. GW Micro cannot provide support for ZoomText. If you have ZoomText questions, you should contact the manufacturer of ZoomText (www.aisquared.com).

There are also settings that you may need to change in Window-Eyes. Screen readers use a different method to access the Internet than screen magnifiers. Since Internet browsers provide little or no access via the keyboard, Window-Eyes provides special access to the Internet via Browse Mode. However, using this mode means that the screen will most likely not track visually with ZoomText. So, as a low vision user, you must make a choice with the Internet: You must either use Browse Mode in Window-Eyes to access the Internet, and listen to the webpage, or you will need to turn off Browse Mode to access the Internet. To learn more about how to use Browse Mode, you should access the Window-Eyes manual located in the Window-Eyes Help menu.

If you are using Browse Mode, you will notice that when you click your mouse in an edit box, such as the Search edit box found at www.google.com, the text will not appear in the edit box when Browse Mode is on. This is correct behavior for Browse Mode. If you want to turn off Browse Mode to access the Internet, you can turn if off one of two ways:

1. You can temporarily turn off Browse Mode by pressing Ctrl-Shift-A. Note that Browse Mode will turn back on every time you access a new web page.
2. You can turn off Browse Mode permanently.

If you want to turn off Browse Mode permanently, perform the following steps:

1. Open your web browser.
2. Press Ins-V.
3. Down Arrow until you hear Browse Mode and press Tab.
4. Down Arrow until you hear Miscellaneous.
5. Tab until you hear Auto Load.
6. Press Space to uncheck the checkbox.
7. Press Enter.
8. Open the Window-Eyes Control Panel with Ctrl-Backslash.
9. Press Alt-F.
10. Down Arrow to Save.
11. Press Enter.
12. Press Enter on Set File.
13. Close your web browser.

When you open your web browser, Browse Mode will no longer load automatically. You will still hear anything your mouse moves over top of. You will also be able to hear any text that you type into edit boxes. However, without Browse Mode, you will not be able to perform a read to end. This function can only be used when Browse Mode is active.

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