Long Description of JAWS for Windows' HTML Options Screen Shot

Abstract

This document describes a screen snap-shot contained in Techniques for User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, which provides techniques for implementing the checkpoints defined in User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0.

There is no implied or presumed endorsement of the hardware or software used in this illustration. Its inclusion serves only as an example to developers of the viability of satisfying the requirements of UAAG checkpoints.

This document is part of a series of accessibility documents published by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

Status of this document

This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. The latest status of this document series is maintained at the W3C.

This is a W3C Working Draft for review by W3C Members and other interested parties. It is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use W3C Working Drafts as reference material or to cite them as other than "work in progress". This is work in progress and does not imply endorsement by, or the consensus of, either W3C or participants in the WAI User Agent (UA) Working Group.

Please send comments about this document to the public mailing list w3c-wai-ua@w3.org (public archives).

This document has been produced as part of the Web Accessibility Initiative. The goals of the User Agent Working Group are described in the charter. A list of the Working Group participants is available.

A list of current W3C Recommendations and other technical documents can be found at http://www.w3.org/TR.

Description of JFW's Default HTML Options Screen Shot

Table of Contents

1. Brief Description of JFW's "HTML Options" Property Sheet

2. Explanation of JFW 3.5's "HTML Options"

3. User's Experience of Documents Rendered by MSIE Using JFW's Virtual PC Cursor

4. Hardware and Software Utilized

5. List of ACCESSKEYs for this document

1. Brief Description of JFW 3.50.25's Default "HTML Options" Property Sheet

NOTE 1: Unless otherwise indicated, JFW's HTML Options are listed in TAB order. Options are followed by a parenthetical aside which details the control type and the default setting.

NOTE 2: Each item is addressable via a HotKey.

Property Sheet Title: HTML Options

[untitled list of checkboxes]

Skip Past Repeated Text on New Pages (checkbox checked)

Screen Track Virtual Cursor (checkbox checked)

Say Link Type (checkbox checked)

Identify Same Page Links (checkbox checked)

Indicate Tables (checkbox checked)

[untitled group of edit boxes]

Lines Per Page (edit box; value: 24)

Maximum Line Length (edit box; value: 150)

Text Block Length (edit box; value: 25)

Text Link Verbosity

Speak Alt Tag or Title (radio button selected)

Speak Screen Text (radio button; not selected)

Speak Longest (radio button; not selected)

Graphic Verbosity

No Graphics (radio button; not selected)

Tagged Graphics (radio button; selected)

All Graphics (radio button; not selected)

Graphical Link Verbosity

No Graphical Links (radio button; not selected)

Tagged Graphical Links (radio button; not selected)

All Graphical Links (radio button; selected)

Image Map Link Verbosity

No Image Map Links (radio button; not selected)

Tagged Image Map Links (radio button; not selected)

All Image Map Links (radio button; selected)

New Frame Indication

No Indication (radio button; not selected)

Say Frame Name at Beginning and End (radio button; selected)

Say "New Frame" When Entering (radio button; not selected)

OK (button)

CANCEL (button)

2. Explanation of JFW 3.5's HTML Options

Skip Repeated Text on New Web Pages

When this option is checked, if JFW encounters a previously encountered text-block, such as a textual navigation bar or other repititious text, it automatically re-positions the Virtual PC cursor on the first new text of the newly loaded document This option is checked by default.

Screen Track Virtual Cursor

When this option is checked, the screen tracks JFW's Virtual PC Cursor, which is essential, if you are attempting to use JFW 3.5 in conjunction with a screen- magnification program, or if a sighted colleague wishes to follow the bouncing cursor visually. The default is checked.

Say Link Type

Active During SayAll and when navigating using the Virtual PC cursor, Causes JFW to announce the link type before speaking the link text or TITLE

Link types recognized by JFW 3.5 include:

• this page link
• visited link
• send mail link
• image map link
• FTP link

Notes on Link Type:

1. JFW does not recognize whether or not an FTP link has been followed
2. JFW does not recognize the telnet (telnet://) URL- prefix
3. JFW does not recognize the gopher (gopher://) URL- prefix
4. JFW does not recognize the secure-sockets (https:// URL-prefix)
5. JFW does not recognize "Common Markup for micropayment per-fee-links" [MICROPAYMENT] markup
6. JFW does not recognize the HREFLANG attribute

Identify "Same Page" Links

Identifies name anchors. When this option is checked, JFW announces internal links as "this page link". This option is checked by default.

Text Link Verbosity

Determines what JFW reads when the Virtual PC Cursor encounters a link. The user's choices are:

1. Speak Alt Tag or Title (radio button selected)
2. Speak Screen Text (radio button; not selected)
3. Speak Longest (radio button; not selected)

Choosing "Speak Alt Tag or Title" causes JFW to expose link information in the following cascading order: read content of the TITLE attribute defined for the link; if no TITLE has been defined for the link and the anchor that defines the link contains an image, read the content of the ALT attribute defined for the image; or, if neither TITLE nor ALT is present, read the hyperlink text.

Choosing "Speak Screen Text" causes JFW to use the hyperlink text defined for an image--if image loading is turned off, the expected action is for JFW to speak the ALT text which is exposed by MSIE, which is one of the reasons why Henter-Joyce suggests selecting the "Always Expand ALT text for images", under the "Accessibility" section of the "Advanced" MSIE "Options" property sheet.

"Speak Longest" is self-explanatory.

While one can toggle this setting per session on-the-fly, using the JFW Verbosity Settings ("Adjust JAWS Verbosity", invoked via the INSERT+V command), one cannot set the "List of Links" text link verbosity separately, so that, for example,.hyperlinks would be listed in the "List of Links" by hyperlink TITLE (if present), while the VIrtual PC cursor would read the actual hyperlink text drawn to the screen by MSIE. JFW does not provide a "Speak TITLE" or "Speak ALT text" setting for Graphical hyperlinks.

Graphic Verbosity

Determines what JFW reads when the Virtual PC Cursor encounters a link. The user's choices are:

1. No Graphics (radio button; not selected)
2. Tagged Graphics (radio button; selected)
3. All Graphics (radio button; not selected)

For more information about the information exposed by JFW's Virtual Cursor when it encounters graphics, consult the section entitled "Recognition of Graphics"

Graphical Link Verbosity

Determines what JFW reads when the Virtual PC Cursor encounters a graphically defined hyperlink. The user's choices are:

1. No Graphical Links (radio button; not selected)
2. Tagged Graphical Links (radio button; not selected)
3. All Graphical Links (radio button; selected)

When "No Graphical Links" is selected, JFW ignores all graphical hyperlinks. When "Tagged Graphical Links" is selected, the Virtual PC Cursor will move to any graphical hyperlink for which either an ALT and/or TITLE has been defined. JFW then speaks either the TITLE, if one has been defined for the hyperlink, or the ALT text defined for the image--or whichever is longer, depending upon the "Text Link Verbosity" setting. When the default setting, "All Graphical Links", is selected, the Virtual PC Cursor will move-to all graphically defined hyperlinks, whether or not they have ALT text defined for them or not.

Image Map Verbosity

Determines what JFW reads when the Virtual PC Cursor encounters an image map. The user's choices are:

1. No Image Map Links (radio button; not selected)
2. Tagged Image Map Links (radio button; not selected)
3. All Image Map Links (radio button; selected)

When "No Image Map Links" is selected, JFW ignores image maps. When "Tagged Image Map Links" is selected, the Virtual PC Cursor ignores any AREA for which no ALT text has been defined. When "All Image Map Links" is selected, the Virtual PC Cursor is capable of moving-to and selecting any AREA defined for a MAP.

Note: For more specific information about screen readers and image maps, please consult the "screen readers, browsers, and the reporting of ALT on & in image maps" thread in the WAI-IG mail archives which begins at:
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ig/2000JanMar/0067.html

New Frame Indication

Determines what JFW announces when the Virtual PC Cursor encounters a FRAMESET. The user's choices are:

1. No Indication (radio button; not selected)
2. Say Frame Name at Beginning and End (radio button; selected)
3. Say "New Frame" When Entering (radio button; not selected)

When "No Indication" is selected, JFW does not announce: (a) the presence of frames; (b) the number of frames in the FRAMESET; (c) when the user navigates into a frame; or (d) when the beginning or end of the frame is encountered.

When "Say Frame Name at Beginning and End" is selected, JFW announces: the name of the frame when the Virtual PC Cursor reaches the beginning of a frame and when it encounters the end of that frame. (For example, "header frame Welcome to Our Web Site header frame end".).

When "Say 'New Frame' When Entering" is selected, JFW announces "New Frame" when the Virtual PC Cursor crosses a frame boundary.

Note 1: JFW 3.5 does not recognize, nor expose, the HTML 4.0 Loose DTD element IFRAME, which is used to create an inline sub-window.

Note 2: For more information about JFW's Virtual PC Cursor's default interaction with frames, consult the sub- section entitled "FRAMESETS" below.

3. Brief Overview of The User's Experience of Documents Rendered by MSIE 5x When Using JFW 3.5's Virtual PC Cursor

NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, JFW's HTML Options have been left at their default settings, as described above.

5A. Default Action

When MSIE finishes loading a document, JFW tells the user the number of frames (if present) and the number of links contained in the document, and then begins to read the entire content of the page, using what Henter-Joyce calls the "Virtual PC Cursor".

When reading the content of a page with the "Virtual PC Cursor", JFW not only announces the presence of links, but provides orientational information about the links as well. Examples of the information imparted by JFW when reviewing a hypertext document using the "Say All" command are:

link [hyperlink text or title]
this page link [hyperlink text or title]
visited link [hyperlink text or title]
link graphic [hyperlink text or title]
link graphic visited [hyperlink text or title]
image map link [ALT defined for AREA in a MAP]

5B. Serial Navigation Using Native UA Controls

When serially navigating through documents rendered by MSIE 5.01, using MSIE's native keyboard support (TAB to move forward an active element, SHIFT-TAB to move back to the previous active element), JFW reads the TITLE defined for the hyperlink, if one is present--otherwise it reads the hyperlink text, followed by such pseudo-elemental text as:

[TITLE or hyperlink text] link
[TITLE or hyperlink text] send mail link
[TITLE or hyperlink text] ftp link
[TITLE or hyperlink text] image map link

NOTE: When tabbing through links, JFW does not announce whether a link has been visited (visited link), is internal (this page link), is a graphic (graphic link), or is a telnet or gopher link.

5C. Recognition of Graphics

NOTE: The following observations apply when image loading is turned on as well as when image loading is turned off--an important consideration for the blind user who shares a computer, laptop, or workstation with sighted colleagues, friends, and/or relations, or who works in a "locked-down" networked environment.

By default, when reading the content of a page, JFW automatically reads the textual equivalent for graphics wherever ALT text has been defined for an image. For example, JFW will announce:

graphic Seal of the State of New Jersey

when it encounters an IMG for which the ALT attribute has been defined as "Seal of the State of New Jersey".

JFW announces the presence of images without ALT text by announcing:

graphic filename

where "filename" is the name of the graphic referenced in the document source, less the file's extension (e.g. "graphic nj_seal"). There is, however, not an "HTML Option" that allows one to control the action of JFW upon encountering images that lack alternative text. An example of such functionality, might include:

Images without Alternative Text

1. do not say anything

2. identify only as "graphic"

3. say "graphic" and read filename

Likewise, there is no provision for null ALT-text -- that is, a graphic for which the author has explicitly defined the ALT text either as a single blank space; the character entity code for a non-breaking space; or absolutely nothing at all -- in order to hide the graphic from non-graphical browsers and/or rendering agents.

if the ALT attribute contains a null value, the user should have the following options available to him or her:

1. identify only as "graphic"
2. say "graphic" and read filename
3. do not say anything

Additionally, the user should be able to define for JFW what is meant by a "null ALT value", as follows (Note to speech users: the first ALT value contains 2 sequential quotation marks; the second ALT value contains a white space)

1. ALT="" only
2. ALT=" " only
3. ALT="" or ALT=" "

5D. FRAMESETS

When "Say Frame Name at Beginning and End" is selected, JFW announces: the name of the frame when the Virtual PC Cursor reaches the beginning of a frame and when it encounters the end of framed content. For example, by default, JFW would automatically read a FRAMESET, thus:

Page has five frames and 29 links.
Header frame
Duke Ellington: A Duke Ellington Appreciation
visited link graphic The Duke Ellington Society Presents
visited link graphic Duke Ellington
visited link graphic An Appreciation of The Great Duke Ellington
Header frame end
Body frame
Navigation frame
Duke Ellington and Duke Ellington Appreciation Navigation
Panel
link graphic nav1
link graphic nav2
link graphic nav3
link graphic nav4
link graphic nav5
link graphic nav6
link graphic nav7
Navigation frame end
Main frame
A New Beginning: A Note from the President, David Hadju
link graphic The Early Years
link graphic The Great Ellingtonians
link graphic Ellington the Songwriter
[NOTE: Main frame contents excised]
link graphic Love You Madly, TDES, Inc.
The Duke Ellington Society
Box 31 Church Street Station, New York, NY 10008-0031
Main frame end
Body frame end

Note 1: The FRAMESET cited above was accessed on 18 January 2000, from: http://duke.fuse.net/essence/index_ie.html It should also be noted that, while The Duke Ellington Society's site does utilize the FRAMESET, thanks to JavaScript, the NOFRAMES element defined for the site is invisible to anyone declaring Mozilla as their user agent.

Note 2: JFW failed to read the "footer frame" contained in the above-cited FRAMESET, but since the source for the footer frame contains several validity errors, I am not surprised that JFW could not expose the content of the footer frame. While I do not expect JFW (or the DOM, for that matter) to fix invalid markup, I am, however, surprised that JFW did not, at least, announce the presence of the footer frame.

When one invokes JFW's "List of Links" feature from within a FRAMESET, all of the links contained in the FRAMESET are contained in the "List of Links". One cannot, however, configure the "List of Links" so as to expose frame boundaries.

4. Hardware and Software Utilized

Computer:

Gateway Solo Laptop (LS2500)

RAM: 224MB

CPU: Pentium II, 366MHz

OS: Windows95 (version 4.01.0.971.B)

Video Card Details:

type: NeoMagic MagicGraph 128XD

software version: 4.10.01.0009-Q6.16.02

drivers: nmgc.drv, nmgcVdd.vxd,NmgcDD.dll

Sound Card: NeoMagic MagicWave 3DX Sound System

driver: NMA255.VXD version >4.0.13.2420

Speech Synthesizers:

Software Synthesizer: Eloquence for JFW

Hardware Synthesizer: DECTalk Express (using JFW-supplied device drivers)

Screen-Reader: JAWS for Windows 3.50.25

Note: Using JFW desktop keyboard layout, in conjunction with a MicronPC Windows95 keyboard.

User Agent:

MSIE 5.01 Version: 5.00.2919.6307

Cipher Strength: 128-bit

5. List of ACCESSKEYs

• 1 (Section 1: Description of JFW's "HTML Options")
• 2 (Section 2: Explanation of JFW's "HTML Options")
• 3 (Section 3: User's Experience of Documents Rendered by IE Using JFW's Virtual PC Cursor)
• 4 (Section 4: Software & Hardware Used)
• 5 (Section 5: List of ACCESSKEYs (this list)
• A (Abstract)
• C (Contents)
• G (User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
• T (Techniques for User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0