JAWS Techniques for Examining Text Formatting

NOTE: For those of you participating in the live Webinar, the following link will open the documentation in a new browser window.

Keystrokes

The following keystrokes may be useful in determining the font information at the current cursor location.

INSERT+F - speak font information at the cursor: Use this keystroke to have JAWS announce the font information at the location of the cursor. In Microsoft Word for example, the following information may be spoken:

Attributes such as bold, underline, or italic
Font size
Font color
Font name
Current style
Line spacing
Paragraph alignment
Outline level

NOTE: Press INSERT+F twice quickly to display the font information in the virtual viewer.

INSERT+5 on the numbers row - Speak font color: This command reads the font and background colors at the current cursor location. For example, if JAWS announces "black on white," this indicates the text color is black on a white background. Press the command twice quickly to have JAWS speak the RGB color values as well.

Options in Quick Settings

The Quick Settings dialog box, introduced in JAWS 13, is a replacement for the former Adjust JAWS Options dialog box. It is designed to make it easy to change application-specific settings. To open the Quick Settings dialog box press INSERT+V.

EXERCISE: Open Microsoft Word on your computer and follow along with the instructor to explore the Quick Settings available for Word.

Remember that any changes you make in Quick Settings will be saved for that application the next time you switch to it. The default for Quick Settings is to save changes to disk.

First, I will open Microsoft Word on my computer. Go ahead and do that on your computer as well.
Press INSERT+V. The JAWS Quick Settings dialog box opens. Focus is in the search edit box. Notice that the title bar reads, "Quick Settings - Word." This is your indication that any changes you make in the Quick Settings dialog box only apply to Microsoft Word.
Press DOWN ARROW to explore some of the following items that you can change for how JAWS looks at text in Microsoft Word:

NOTE: Remember to press TAB to move to the read-only help text for any item in the tree view of Quick Settings, where you can find out more information about each particular setting. Press SHIFT+TAB to return to the tree view and continue exploring.

Style changes - off
Grammatical error detection - off
New lines and paragraph indication - off
Track changes - speak type
Border changes - off
Line spacing detection - not checked
List nesting announcement - not checked
Smart tags indication - not checked
Punctuation - most

Note that some of the items have to be enabled in Word also for all of these to work. For example, paragraph markers must be turned on in Word so that they show visually. The keystroke for Word 2007 and later is ALT+H followed by 8. Track changes can be turned on by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+E. Both of these are toggle keystrokes.

Text Analyzer

When editing a document using speech only, inconsistencies such as unmatched parentheses, unintentional format changes, extra whitespace, and stray or unspaced punctuation can often be missed. The Text Analyzer feature is a tool that notifies you of these errors in your document by using a spoken message or WAV file. You can configure JAWS to announce discrepancies by count, by description, or by sound while proofreading the document by line, sentence, paragraph, or Say All command. Braille users will benefit from this since a sound can be emitted before the user has time to read the entire line looking for errors.

Text Analyzer Modes

The Text Analyzer has the following four modes which you can get to by pressing INSERT+V. Type the word "text analyzer" in the search edit box.

Indicate with sound - JAWS will play an audible sound when the cursor moves to a line where an inconsistency is found. This works when scrolling up and down through text or when using SayAll mode.
Speak count - JAWS will speak the number of inconsistencies found on each line.
Describe inconsistencies - JAWS will announce the type and location of any inconsistencies found on each line of the document. This is the most descriptive of the different Text Analyzer modes.
Off - Text Analyzer is off and no inconsistency information will be spoken.

NOTE: You can also press ALT+WINDOWS KEY+I at any time to have Text Analyzer move the cursor to the next inconsistency. This can be done even when Text Analyzer is turned off, and is an easy to quickly find potential errors in your document.

Here are two resources to help you learn more about Text Analyzer:

Review the recorded archives of the prior Text Analyzer free webinar

Use FSReader to read the Text Analyzer DAISY book.

Press INSERT+J to switch to the JAWS window.
Press H for Help Topics.
Press ENTER on Training. FSReader DAISY reader opens with a list of available training topics. Choose Text Analyzer in the list. If it is not installed on your computer you will be directed to the Check for Updates dialog box, where you can find it. FSReader will install it for you, just follow the prompts.

Speech and Sound Schemes

The default behavior of JAWS is to speak all text using the same voice. JAWS does not distinguish between different types of fonts or font attributes such as bolded or underlined text. Many people don't realize however that there is a powerful feature of JAWS that can alert you to many different types of font information and even the type or state of Windows controls. Use the Speech and Sounds Manager dialog box, found in Settings Center, to customize how JAWS provides you with different types of information. Information is communicated by different JAWS voices or even audible sounds. For example, a scheme could be created to have JAWS speak any blue text using a particular voice or play a certain sound to indicate that a check box is checked. Some of the types of information that can be configured are:

The type of the control which has just gained focus
The state of the control which has just gained focus
Attribute information about the text at the active cursor, such as whether it's bold, underlined, italicized, etc.
Font style and size at the active cursor
Information about the foreground and background color of the text at the active cursor
How far the text at the active cursor is indented
Information about the HTML attributes of a link in a web document
Miscellaneous information about the text at the active cursor such as whether it is upper case or in quotation marks

Selecting a Scheme

JAWS has over 20 built-in schemes that can be used for a wide variety of reading environments as well as a starting point for creating a custom scheme. To switch schemes press INSERT+ALT+S to activate the Select a Scheme dialog. Use the UP or DOWN ARROW keys to move through the list and press ENTER on the scheme you wish to activate.

Using the Select a Scheme dialog to switch schemes will only change the scheme for the active application. As soon as focus changes to another application, the default scheme specified in Settings Center will become active. When focus moves back to the original application though, the new scheme you selected will become active again. This behavior is similar to many other JAWS settings that are application specific.

The following table lists the built-in schemes that come with JAWS and directly apply to analyzing text formatting. Note that the default scheme that is active when JAWS is installed is the Classic scheme.

Scheme Name	Description
Attributes and Colors	JAWS will announce attribute and color changes as you navigate text.
Classic	JAWS will behave like prior versions with Format and Text options switched off.
Classic (Attributes and Font Info)	JAWS will behave like prior versions with Format and Text options set to Speak attributes and font information.
Classic (Attributes)	JAWS will behave like prior versions with Format and Text options set to Speak attributes.
Classic (Attributes, Font, and Color)	JAWS will behave like prior versions with Format and Text options set to Speak attributes, font, and color information.
Classic with Quotes	JAWS will behave like prior versions except that quoted text is spoken using the quotation voice.
Colors	JAWS will announce color changes as you navigate text.
ProofReading (Attributes and Font Info)	JAWS will indicate text with various attributes and fonts using different voices.
ProofReading (Attributes)	JAWS will indicate text with various attributes using different voices.
ProofReading (Attributes, Font Info and Color)	JAWS will indicate text with various attributes and fonts using different voices. Color will also be announced.
Word Classic	JAWS will behave like prior versions with Format and Text options switched off, except that subscripts and superscripts are suppressed.

Here are two resources to help you learn more about Speech and Sounds Manager:

Review the recorded archives of the prior Speech and Sounds Manager free webinar

Use FSReader to read the Speech and Sounds Manager DAISY book.

Press INSERT+J to switch to the JAWS window.
Press H for Help Topics.
Press ENTER on Training. FSReader DAISY reader opens with a list of available training topics. Choose XTraSpeechAndSoundsManager in the list. If it is not installed on your computer you will be directed to the Check for Updates dialog box, where you can find it. FSReader will install it for you, just follow the prompts.

Sample Document

EXERCISE: Open the sample RTF document and follow along with the instructor to practice some of the techniques we have discussed today.

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