JAWS Demonstration

Norm: Blind users really can't make useful use of a mouse, and so almost everything has to be done by keyboard alternatives. And most software has keyboard alternatives that will let you do everything. So what you're going to hear JAWS say is "Alt M", and then you'll hear it start reading the desktop. Here goes.

JAWS: Alt M, leaving menus. Desktop. List view, my computer, one of nine. To move to items use the arrow keys.

NORM: So, it told me I was on the desktop, that I was on my computer and it gave me a little helpful hits as to what to do, "To use the items use the arrow..." Let's use the arrow key.

JAWS: Recycle bin. Create CD. I Explorer. Netscape Communicator. Windows Media Player.

Norm: What I want to do is get into Blackboard, so I guess I'm going to need Explorer, let's see if I can find that.

JAWS: Netscape Communicator. I Explorer.

Norm: There we are, press enter.

JAWS: Enter.

Norm: It's the same as a double click.

JAWS: Page has 25 links. University College image map link Text Only Version. Image map link University of Maine System. Image map link Contact Us. Image map link Search Site. Image map link Go to UMS homepage. Graphic picture of University student with title Success Starts Here. Image map link Guide to Fall Courses. Image map link Faculty Services. Image map link Off-Campus Library Services.

Norm: One of the things you may have noticed listening to JAWS read a page, it not only reads the text but if there's an icon, if that has an Alt Text tag on it identifying what the icon is, it will read the Alt Text tag for me, cause the icon does no good for me. But also, many of those things on the screen were actually Hot Links, and when it just reads the whole page there's no way for me to know that. However, JAWS can read the HTML behind what's on the screen, and get extra clues like you can from seeing highlighted and other things. So that JAWS says "link," or "image," things of that kind, telling me stuff that isn't part of the actual text. So that it feeds me information other than text, but information that you get visually, and helping me out that way.