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6.5: The Rest of the Screen Menu   
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6.5: The Rest of the Screen Menu
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The rest of the items in the Screen, Keyboard, and Mouse menus differ from each other, so let us continue this section, discussing them separately, starting with the Screen menu.
Reading Numbers
With the next item of the Screen menu, you can determine how Window-Eyes reads numbers from the screen:
N = Numbers-Default =On.
Choosing this item opens the Select Number Pronunciation Mode dialog box with a list box that includes:
• Off
• On
• Synthesizer
When numbers is set to Off, Window-Eyes pronounces digit names, for example 1 7 5 0 1 1 7.
When numbers is set to On, Window-Eyes pronounces numerical names, for example one-million-seven-hundred-fifty-thousand-one-hundred-seventeen.
When numbers is set to On, and Window-Eyes encounters a number containing at least one hyphen character, it voices the number in digits. This is for ease in reading telephone and social security numbers, for example.
When numbers is set to On, four-digit numbers that do not contain a comma are pronounced in pairs of two-digit numerical names. The purpose of this feature is for ease and convenience in reading year numbers and street addresses, etc., which are popularly pronounced in the United States as two pairs of numerical names. For example 1995 is pronounced as nineteen ninety-five and 7433 is pronounced as seventy-four thirty-three. Four-digit numbers containing a comma are read with numerical names unsplit. For example 7,433 would be pronounced as seven-thousand-four-hundred-thirty-three.
When numbers is set to On, money values noted with dollar sign and decimal point are read in terms of dollars and cents, euro sign and decimal point are read in terms of euros and cents or pound and decimal point as pounds and pence.
When numbers is set to Synthesizer, numerical characters are passed directly to the synthesizer without any processing. The synthesizer is then free to manipulate numerical data in whatever method it chooses.
This option can also be modified with the Numbers Rotor hot key (undefined by default). Hot keys will be discussed in Section 8 and Appendix A.
Distinguishing Between Uppercase and Lowercase Letters
C = Capitalization Alert-Default = Off
Choosing this item opens the Select Capitalization Alert Mode dialog box with a list box that includes:
• Off
• Say Cap
• Pitch
When capitalization alert is set to Off, Window-Eyes does not distinguish between lower-case and capital letters when reading.
When capitalization alert is set to Say Cap, Window-Eyes says "cap" just before pronouncing a word which begins with a capital letter. If a particular word is written in all capital letters, Window-Eyes says "cap cap." If a word contains a combination of capital letters and at least one lowercase letter, Window-Eyes says "cap cap cap."
When capitalization alert is set to Pitch, Window-Eyes raises the pitch of the voice as it pronounces a word beginning with a capital letter. If a particular word is written in all capital letters, Window-Eyes raises the pitch higher still. If a particular word contains a mixture of capital and lowercase letters, Window-Eyes raises the pitch to a level highest of all capitalization indicators.
This option can also be adjusted with the Capitalization Alert Rotor hot key (undefined by default). Hot keys will be discussed in Section 8 and Appendix A.
About Blank Spaces
There is a difference between empty areas of the screen that have no information and blank spaces in a line of text that are there to separate words, sentences, etc. The latter kind are inserted as invisible Unicode characters by the SPACE BAR of the keyboard. Empty space on the display screen can also be created with the TAB key or by using your application's indentation feature. Through the next item of the Screen menu, you can instruct Window-Eyes how you want blank spaces and indentations spoken or not spoken, as follows:
F = Format Alert-Default = Off.
Choosing this item toggles this feature Off or On.
When format alert is set to Off, changes in format such as indentations and extra blank spaces are not identified.
When format alert is set to On, Window-Eyes says "Indented x inches" when it encounters a left indentation. When Window-Eyes encounters more than one space after a word, it says the number of spaces immediately after it says the word. This feature is ideal for identifying more than one space between words, or identifying indented lines.
In order to account for margins and borders of blank space which Windows applications often display, Window-Eyes has a Set Format Alert Offset hot key. Hot keys will be explained in detail in Section 8 and Appendix A, but suffice it to say for the present that pressing this key (which is undefined by default) will set the border to the indentation of the line the cursor is on, allowing Window-Eyes to differentiate between wide margins and indented text.
This option can also be toggled with the Format Alert Toggle hot key (undefined by default). Hot keys will be discussed in Section 8 and Appendix A.
H = Spell Alpha/Numeric-Default = Off.
Choosing this item toggles this feature Off or On.
This item sets the method of spelling items such as ham sign calls that contain both letters and numbers.
For example, with this option On, KA9UDN would be spelled out as K-A-9-U-D-N.
X = Split Mixed Case Words-Default = On.
Choosing this item toggles this feature Off, On, On with acronyms.
This item sets the method of speaking concatenated words with multiple capitalization. For example, with this option On, the word "FileOpen" would be spoken as "File Open." With this option On with acronyms, words will be spoken as mentioned in the On setting, and acronyms in all capitol letters will be spelled out. This will help when reading programming code.
Skimming Through an E-mail Message
E-mail messages are full of back-and-forth communication. Consider this example: Harry sends Martha an e-mail message through the Internet. After reading Harry's message, Martha chooses the Reply button in her e-mail client and types a response to Harry and then chooses the Send button. The e-mail client patches Harry's and Martha's writing together-Harry's first, then Martha's-before sending the message back to Harry through the Internet. It also puts greater-than characters or perhaps hyphen characters in front of each of Harry's lines. This helps guide Harry's eye past his own writing and straight to Martha's writing when he gets Martha's response message. Harry can simply look for the first line that doesn't have a greater-than character and start reading there. But if he wishes to do so, he can look back to lines that have the greater-than character in front of them so that he can refer back to what he had written originally.
This is the simplest example. Things get more complicated when we start talking about e-mail lists, where three or more people may get into the act. Here the text of the original message may get displayed on the list a dozen or more times, often with three or more greater-than characters at the beginning of several lines of text. This occurs because the message has been run through several list members' e-mail clients and each has added its greater-than characters. Or maybe some user has manually added his or her own characters-whatever they may be.
Window-Eyes' Line Filter gives the speech-access user the power to filter out lines of text that begin with specified characters in specified places. This is done through the next item of the Screen menu.
I = Line Filter
This pull-down menu contains the following three items:
S = Status-Default = Off
P = Position-Default = 0
C = Characters (blank by default)
When Status is set to Off, the Line Filter is nonfunctional; that is, it does not filter any line from being read.
When Status is set to Read to End, Window-Eyes applies its Line Filter to the Read to End hot key, CTRL-SHIFT-R, which instructs Window-Eyes to move the cursor downward line by line through the end of the document, reading along the way.
When Status is set to On, Window-Eyes applies its Line Filter to keys you might use to read one line at a time, such as UP and DOWN ARROW keys and Read to End. Window-Eyes also filters lines when you read a window with one of the window reading hot keys.
If you use the Line Filter, you have to tell it where to look for the characters that indicate a line you want to filter out. You do this by choosing Position and entering a numeric value 0-4 in the edit box of the dialog that appears when you choose this item. This instructs Window-Eyes to begin looking all the way from the left edge of the application window and count characters 0-4.
If you use the Line Filter, you also have to tell it what characters to look for in order to identify a line you do not want to read.
The Characters item works just like the Position item, except that in this edit box you can enter up to five characters, using any Unicode characters you might want to use as filtering signals. Most always, however, this will be the greater-than character, also known as the right angle bracket. Window-Eyes will look for any or all of the characters in any order in the relative positions you indicated for the Position item of this pull-down.
This option can also be adjusted with the Line Filter Status Rotor hot key (undefined by default). Hot keys will be discussed in Section 8 and Appendix A.
Squelching Textual Ornamentation
Rows of dashes, asterisks, diamonds, and other Unicode characters are often used by application software designers to decorate the display screen or separate and emphasize text. While visually appealing, these characters can clutter speech. Window-Eyes lets you squelch these characters through the next Screen menu item:
E = Repeat Filter-Default = Off.
Choosing this item opens the Select Repeat Filter Mode dialog box with a list box containing the following items:
• Off
• Say Repeats
• Ignore
When Repeat Filter is set to Off, Window-Eyes speaks every character. For example, a row of asterisks that extends clear across the screen would cause Window-Eyes to say "star star star star . . . " many times.
When Repeat Filter is set to Say Repeats, Window-Eyes voices the repeating characters a given number of times and then says, "Repeats X times," where X equals the number of consecutive identical characters.
When repeat filter is set to Ignore, Window-Eyes screens out repeating characters and does not voice any of them.
The next menu item lets you decide how many identical characters in a row you want Window-Eyes to allow before it activates the Repeat Filter, as follows:
L = Repeat Value-Default = 3
Choosing this item opens the Screen Repeat Value dialog box with an edit box where you can enter number 1-9.
When the Repeat Filter is set to Say Repeats, Window-Eyes recognizes characters that are displayed and then repeated the number of times set by Repeat Value or more. For example, three occurrences of a backslash would be recognized as "backslash backslash repeats three times" if the repeat value were set to '2.'
Identifying or Ignoring Blank Lines
Window-Eyes lets you choose whether or not it should give you an indication when you cross a blank line when reading. A good example of an occasion when you might need to have this information would be when you are editing a document and need to know where the paragraph breaks are. But if you do not need this information and the document you happen to be reading contains many blank lines, you may not want to be informed every time you cross a blank line. The next Screen Menu item lets you make this choice, as follows:
B = Blank Lines-Default = Off.
Choosing this item displays a dialog with the following choices: Off, Say Blank and Read to End Off
When Blank Lines is set to Off, Window-Eyes ignores blank lines.
When Blank Lines is set to Say Blank, Window-Eyes says the word "blank" when it comes to a blank line. This is the case if you are moving up and down with arrow keys, reading with Window-Eyes hot keys, or reading through the end of a document with the Window-Eyes Read to End hot key, CTRL-SHIFT-R.
When Blank Lines is set to Read to End Off, Window-Eyes says "blank" when it comes to a blank line for all cases except for the Read to End hot key.
Locating the Cursor Position within Text
The next item of the Screen menu lets you instruct Window-Eyes to alert you to the presence of the cursor when it is located within text being spoken, as follows:
S = Signal Cursor Position-Default = Off.
Choosing this item toggles this feature Off and On.
When signal cursor pos is set to Off, this feature is disabled.
When signal cursor pos is set to On, Window-Eyes says "cursor," immediately before the text being spoken crosses the character containing the cursor. For example, if the cursor were on the N of "nimble" in the phrase "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick," Window-Eyes would say, "Jack be cursor nimble, Jack be quick." If the cursor were on the B of "nimble," Window-Eyes would say, "Jack be nim cursor ble, Jack be quick."
This option can also be toggled with the Signal Cursor Position hot key (undefined by default). Hot keys will be discussed in Section 8 and Appendix A.
Monitoring Changes in Attributes
You can instruct Window-Eyes to alert you to changes in color, font, size, or style as you read from the screen by setting the next item of the Screen menu, as follows:
A = Attribute Changes-Default = Off.
Choosing this item toggles this feature Off and On.
When Attribute Changes is set to Off, Window-Eyes does not announce changes in color, font, size, or style on the display screen.
When Attribute Changes is set to On, Window-Eyes announces any changes in attribute presented within text being spoken. Which attributes are announced is determined by settings in the verbosity dialog, explained in detail in Section 6.8. By default, font, size, color, and style are all announced when attribute changes is turned on.
Application programs use color changes in text for a variety of purposes-to indicate changes in text to be printed such as bold or italics, to group or emphasize text, to indicate that text is part of a status line or box and not part of text in an editor, etc.
This option can also be toggled with the Attribute Changes Toggle hot key (undefined by default). Hot keys will be discussed in Section 8 and Appendix A.
Removing the End of Line Pause
The following feature only works for DECtalk Access32, DECtalk PC, DECtalk Express, and SAPI synthesizers.
D = Read Paragraph Style-Default = Auto.
Choosing this item presents a dialog with the following options:
• Off
• On
• Auto
When Read Paragraph Style is set to Off, Window-Eyes will pause (with most synthesizers) at the end of lines, most notable with the DECtalk and SAPI synthesizers.
When Read Paragraph Style is set to On, Window-Eyes will eliminate pauses at the end of lines.
When Read Paragraph Style is set to Auto, Window-Eyes will eliminate pauses at the end of lines during Read to End, or when using any of the twelve reading keys: Prior/Current/Next Sentence for cursor and mouse, and Prior/Current/Next Paragraph for cursor and mouse.
Many DECtalk and SAPI users will want to set this feature to Auto so that the pause will be present during CTRL-SHIFT-W, cursoring through menus, and tabbing through dialog boxes, and absent during reading a sentence, paragraph, or Read to End.