JAWS and Braille Overview Flashcards
Structured Mode
Structured Mode gives you descriptive information about the current dialog and/or control. If there is no special descriptive information, such as in a text document, the braille display behaves as if it were in Line Mode. By default, JAWS is configured to use Structured Mode. Structured Mode is designed to provide one or two lines of descriptive information about menu dialogs and their controls. The additional information offered in Structured Mode is particularly helpful because it lets you navigate the dialog and its controls faster. When specific dialog and/or control type information is in focus, JAWS uses braille and specific braille abbreviations to compose a “structured line” that describes the screen information on your braille display. JAWS also attempts to position the structured line on the display so the most relevant information, such as a prompt, appears at the beginning of the display. If Braille Follows Active is selected, JAWS switches to Line Mode when the Braille cursor moves away from the control that is in focus. This gives you an exact representation of the information on the screen. When the Braille cursor moves back to the control in focus, JAWS switches to Structured Mode.
Example of Structured Line
After pressing ALT+ENTER on the task bar, a line similar to the following will appear on the braille display:
“chk Taskbar and Start Menu Properties Taskbar Taskbar appearance grp Lock the taskbar”
This is similar to what JAWS speaks:
“Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog Taskbar page Taskbar appearance Lock the taskbar check box checked.”
Configuring Structured Mode
Using Settings Center, you can configure how information appears in Structured Mode. You can specify what information is displayed for various control types, as well as the positioning of text on the structured line
More advanced users can even modify braille control symbols, the display order in which they appear, and the braille representation of the control state. This is helpful because for each software application on your computer, you control how and what information is shown on your braille display.
To access the Structured Mode settings, Open Settings Center (INSERT+F2), expand the Braille group, and then select the Structured Mode group. You can now modify the following items.
Open the Include Optional Components group to configure what control info is shown on the braille display. This includes, the control type, level and position, hotkeys, hints, dialog box title information, dialog box descriptive text, and control group info.
Determine if JAWS will align the display to the most appropriate Structured Mode segment when a control gains focus.
Determine whether or not the structured line is displayed in reverse order. When reversed, the control info is shown first, followed by the group, and then the dialog box information.
Press the SPACEBAR on Advanced to open the Control Type Options dialog box where you can modify symbols used to represent controls on your braille display as well as the symbols used to represent the states a control can be in – such as selected or cleared for a check box.
Navigating a Structured Line
When a structured line appears on the braille display, it will be aligned with the focused control information, such as the state and label of a check box, as this is considered to be the most relevant information a user would want. You may need to PAN LEFT so you can see the title of the dialog box and the page title if it contains multiple pages. When in a structured line, your PANNING keys allow you to see any information about the structured line not showing on the display. This is especially helpful with displays containing 40 or fewer cells.
In addition, while on a structured line, you can pan by segments. For instance, the line may contain the dialog box title, the title of a group box containing several controls, and the current control that is in focus. If you are using a Freedom Scientific Focus Braille Display, you can press the SHIFT key in conjunction with the LEFT or RIGHT PANNING BUTTON to pan by structured segment. The next or previous segment will start at the far left of the display in the first cell that is not used as a status cell. If you have a braille display other than a Focus, this command can be assigned through the JAWS Keyboard Manager.
Note that in Structured Mode the BRAILLE UP and the BRAILLE DOWN keys, which navigate between controls the same way as your keyboard arrow keys, do not navigate a structured line. However, the braille routing keys do allow you to activate buttons, highlight text in an edit field, and toggle the state of check boxes.
Line Mode
Line Mode gives you an exact representation of the information on the screen, in the same way the JAWS Cursor does.
When in Line Mode, JAWS uses screen coordinates to determine what information is sent to the braille display. Using its Braille Cursor, JAWS relays information to the braille display exactly as it is formatted on the computer screen. While this helps you better understand screen layout and print format, the braille format may be confusing because Windows text can appear anywhere on the screen.
Using the example dialog from the Structured Mode section, the following would appear on the display:
When first opening the Task Bar Properties dialog:
Check mark Lock the Taskbar
Move up one line:
Task Bar Options Start Menu
Moving up one more line:
Task Bar Properties help symbol close symbol
Notice the text lines do not line up. This is because, in Line Mode, text is arranged using the Windows format. To see all the text, you may need to use the PAN RIGHT and PAN LEFT keys.
In Line Mode, JAWS provides a way for you to change how text is shown on your braille display. The default setting is 8 pixels per space. For more information on pixel space relative to white space on your braille display, see the section on braille formatting.
Speech Output Mode
Speech Output Mode displays braille information that is generated from the speech synthesizer. This mode is beneficial to you if you are deaf and blind because you can access spoken information not visible on the computer screen. If the information filtering through the speech synthesizer is larger than ten lines, only the last part of information is displayed. In this situation, pan left to display the beginning of the text.
In Speech Output Mode, the braille movement keys let you review what is being spoken, but the cursor routing buttons have no effect.
Attribute Mode
In attribute mode, JAWS indicates all attributes assigned to a block of text with a letter or symbol. Attributes can include such changes as bold, italics, underline, and so on. This information appears in the display’s status cells. When multiple attributes are assigned to the same block of text, the braille display cycles through each of them. To determine the rate at which this cycling occurs, use the Attribute Rotation Rate option, which is located in the Braille Marking group within Settings Center’s Braille group.
