Poppa Bear,

         Do you know anything about where he's working?  I ask simply because it is not unusual for businesses to forbid any connection of "outside equipment" to their networks, not even as a reasonable accommodation.  Those that take that stance will often spend thousands of dollars to create the environment required but such that it's under their control entirely.  This is not directly relevant to your overarching question but is something that does need to be considered.

          ZoomText at 60 times is, without question, not practical for use in the workplace.  Given my own experience tutoring clients with ZoomText I'd be strongly encouraging them to look at screen reader solutions or else going to something like a big screen TV as their monitor of choice.  Pan and scan is difficult and disorienting at scales far below 60 times and would be a nightmare in a workplace.  Better to "scale up" the monitor such that lower magnification, or no magnification, might be needed.  I will say at the outset that I've had very little success with clients using ZoomText at high magnification levels.  It makes getting from place to place on the screen exceedingly tedious and it's very difficult to have any idea of where you are in the context of the entirety of a document, desktop, etc.

           As far as the shopping goes, my concern is almost entirely about comfort with the keyboard and/or mouse/mouse pad for a given user.  When keyboard access is your primary interaction method with a computer you really have to like the way the keyboard is laid out (e.g, key spacing and rake), the nature of the touch pressure for the keys, etc.  If this guy already has computer experience of any kind these sort of preferences are already formed, but there's no way to easily express them or categorize them - it's an "I know it when I feel it" thing.  If he doesn't have experience with a given hardware format (e.g., laptop, all-in-one,etc.) that's all the more reason to encourage him to do some basic exploration of what's out there as it will allow him to eliminate a lot of options due to reasons that have nothing to do with what he can or cannot see.  I wish I could convince more people that doing a "test drive" on a computer is as essential in making a buying choice for one as it is for an automobile.  There are just too many things that can only be revealed by actual interaction with the device itself.

           There's also the question:  "Is his vision stable?"  My approach with individuals whose visual profile is likely to remain unchanged is quite different than it is with individuals who are undergoing progressive loss that is unlikely to be halted.  I've got a client now who was once fully sighted, was losing his vision when we started working together and strongly preferred ZoomText because he could still see using it, but whose prognosis was for continued vision loss.  I told him early on that while I wanted him to know ZoomText I really wanted to spend some time while he could still see getting down the basics of a screen reader, because that was eventually going to be his one and only access method that would be practical.  He still uses magnification for books and the like, and very occasionally for a specific item on the computer, but he's slowly transitioned to being primarily a JAWS user precisely because ZoomText became impractical on a routine basis as his residual vision deteriorated.

Brian

Rather than hauling a 22” unit around, he might prefer to buy a couple of moniters and possibly keyboards to use at each place.

Newegg.com frequently has 24” monitors for about $110.  My wife really likes the picture on the one I got her.

Tony

I need to recommend a computer for a client who will be using JAWS with the state footing the bill. I am thinking about a 22 inch Desktop tablet that can sit stationary as well as be slipped into a bag and carried. I have one at my job that I use a keyboard with and even though it is touch screen I use it primarily as a desktop. I run Jaws 17 and windows 10 on it without any problems. I am thinking the portable rout for this guy in case he gets a job and needs to bring his own set up to work. He could just transport this back and forth to work and home. The one that I use seems to be pretty robust and I prefer it over a laptop. If anyone has any suggestions maybe you can point me in a direction for a good model.

What ZoomText goes to about 60 times?  The ZoomText software I have seen only goes to 36.

Hello Brian, he has a little bit of vision and can use Zoom text at about 60 times which is not so practical for a 6 to eight hour work day so we have been working on JAWS. I do want him to have the option to load Zoom text on the PC down the road if at all possible. I would tell him to shop around, but he is a complete novice for the most part and has only been training for the last three weeks so does not really even know what he likes at this point. A tablet may not be what he needs, but even an all in one box that he could maybe just take home on the weekends without having to worry about packing around a box and monitor would be a thought.

Poppa Bear,

            Do you have any option for the client to do some of their own "shopping" for you?  It is amazing how big "the little things" can be when getting a computer that fits you.   I always encourage my clients to visit as many retailers as they can and to pay particular attention to the way the keyboard feels to them.  There are machines that I love (or hate) strictly because of keyboard feel.

            Also, if portability is truly a concern, a 22-inch is far, far too large for convenient portability.  As Dr. McCallister mentions, if the client in question cannot see the screen (and I know that wasn't stated, so it's an "if") then screen size is a non-issue and smaller is better as far as ease of portability goes.

Brian

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Um, sorry. Senior moment. Just read the subject line and answered my own question.

 

If the number does not speak, and I'm not at all surprised that it does not, then Insert+Numpad 8 will read the current line to verify.

 

It's possible that MS-Word is creating the next number after JAWS has read the next blank line.

 

Dave Carlson
Oregonian, woodworker, Engineer, Musician, and Pioneer

----- Original Message -----

From: Dave Carlson

To: jfw@groups.io

Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2016 06:46 PM

Subject: Re: JAWS and numbered list in Word

 

Jessica,

 

Are you using MS-Word when you're seeing this behavior? Need a bit more detail here.

 

Dave Carlson
Oregonian, woodworker, Engineer, Musician, and Pioneer

----- Original Message -----

From: Jessica McDowell

To: jfw@groups.io

Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2016 04:03 PM

Subject: JAWS and numbered list in Word

 

Hello
I am new to this group and I am hoping this is a good spot for general JAWS
questions (and apologies, some questions may be quite naïve). Let me know
if I am in the right place. I am a teacher for students who are blind or visually
impaired. I'm trying to hone my own skills using JAWS with Windows.

Running JAWS 16.0 40 minute mode with Windows 7 and Word 2013.
I am noticing when writing a numbered list in Word that when you hit enter,
JAWS does not say next number (says "blank") but it does appear on screen.
It behaves differently if cursor is end of document or in the middle of
document. Feels like you have to do some extra steps to confirm what
numbers are actually appearing in your document.

Is this a known issue or just something quirky happening for me?
thanks so much!
Jessica

Hello Jeanette, what did your tablet run you? I may look at something like that for a personal item. Is it pretty durable in your opinion.

 

From: Jeanette McAllister [mailto:jeanette@...]
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2016 3:55 AM
To: jfw@groups.io
Subject: Re: Question about an all in one tablet for JAWS

 

I use a Lenovo ThinkPad which came highly recommended by a couple of FS Employees who use JAWS. I can use it with/without the keyboard that comes with it and I highly recommend it. I too, am running JAWS 17 and Windows 10. My Lenovo doesn’t have a 22 inch screen (I think the screen is 11 or 13 inches – I would have to double check), since I can’t see it, it really doesn’t matter on screen size to me.

 

*Please note - effective Friday April 1, 2016 my email address will be changing to jeanette@...; please make the appropriate changes to your address book. I will have limited access to the jeanette@... email address for the next couple weeks before it goes away completely.*

 

Jeanette McAllister  PhD

President / CEO

Assistive Technology Tutor

 

                                

A Heart Staffing                                                   

PO Box 1277

Franklin, VA 23851

Direct: 757-346-0708

www.aheartstaffing.com

www.linkedin.com/in/aheartstaffing

 

Member-National Employment Committee – NFB

http://employment.nfb.org/

                                                                    

Member-  Virginia State Rehabilitation Council

                  Dept for the Blind and Visually Impaired         

 

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant."

         --Robert Louis Stevenso

 

From: Poppa Bear [mailto:heavens4real@...]
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2016 2:42 AM
To: jfw@groups.io
Subject: Question about an all in one tablet for JAWS

 

I need to recommend a computer for a client who will be using JAWS with the state footing the bill. I am thinking about a 22 inch Desktop tablet that can sit stationary as well as be slipped into a bag and carried. I have one at my job that I use a keyboard with and even though it is touch screen I use it primarily as a desktop. I run Jaws 17 and windows 10 on it without any problems. I am thinking the portable rout for this guy in case he gets a job and needs to bring his own set up to work. He could just transport this back and forth to work and home. The one that I use seems to be pretty robust and I prefer it over a laptop. If anyone has any suggestions maybe you can point me in a direction for a good model.

 

 

Virus-free. www.avast.com

Hello Listers,

I'm considering using Netflix. will Jaws16 work with it?

Thanks for all your help!

Carliss

Not to mention that there are a lot of other things that are no longer compatible with JAWS 11. If one is totally dependent on an access application to use the computer and doesn't keep that application 100% current, my totally uncharitable opinion is that they shouldn't even try to use a computer. Yes, it costs money to keep an access application up-to-date, but it also costs money to live from day to day.

From: Bill White [mailto:billwhite92701@...]
Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2016 1:39 PM
To: jfw@groups.io
Subject: Re: Jaws 11 and zwindows 10.

----- Original Message -----

From: Shane clark

To: jfw@groups.io

Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2016 10:33 AM

Subject: Jaws 11 and zwindows 10.

 

Hi guys,
I have Kodi15.2 installed on my Windows Vista laptop. I'm thinking about upgrading to Windows 10 to install Kodi 16, as it currently crashes, that's why I'm running 15.
My question is, can I upgrade Vista to Windows 10, and would Jaws 11 be compatible with Windows 10? And how would I update to 10?

----- Original Message -----

From: Shane clark

To: jfw@groups.io

Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2016 10:33 AM

Subject: Jaws 11 and zwindows 10.

Hi guys,
I have Kodi15.2 installed on my Windows Vista laptop. I'm thinking about upgrading to Windows 10 to install Kodi 16, as it currently crashes, that's why I'm running 15.
My question is, can I upgrade Vista to Windows 10, and would Jaws 11 be compatible with Windows 10? And how would I update to 10?

Hello
I am new to this group and I am hoping this is a good spot for general JAWS
questions (and apologies, some questions may be quite naïve). Let me know
if I am in the right place. I am a teacher for students who are blind or
visually
impaired. I'm trying to hone my own skills using JAWS with Windows.
Running JAWS 16.0 40 minute mode with Windows 7 and Word 2013.
I am noticing when writing a numbered list in Word that when you hit enter,
JAWS does not say next number (says "blank") but it does appear on screen.
It behaves differently if cursor is end of document or in the middle of
document. Feels like you have to do some extra steps to confirm what
numbers are actually appearing in your document.
Is this a known issue or just something quirky happening for me?
thanks so much!
Jessica

When I use Word 2013 and JAWS 15, I can type the number one and enter information, press enter, and JAWS says number 2.  When I have a free computer, I will check it using JAWS 16. 

Hello
I am new to this group and I am hoping this is a good spot for general JAWS
questions (and apologies, some questions may be quite naïve). Let me know
if I am in the right place. I am a teacher for students who are blind or visually
impaired. I'm trying to hone my own skills using JAWS with Windows.

Running JAWS 16.0 40 minute mode with Windows 7 and Word 2013.
I am noticing when writing a numbered list in Word that when you hit enter,
JAWS does not say next number (says "blank") but it does appear on screen.
It behaves differently if cursor is end of document or in the middle of
document. Feels like you have to do some extra steps to confirm what
numbers are actually appearing in your document.

Is this a known issue or just something quirky happening for me?
thanks so much!
Jessica

Email correspondence to and from this address is subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties by an authorized State official. Unauthorized disclosure of juvenile, health, legally privileged, or otherwise confidential information, including confidential information relating to an ongoing State procurement effort, is prohibited by law. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete all records of this email.

This email has been sent from a virus-free computer protected by Avast. www.avast.com

Ho do you get into them, select, and then select all and save it to clipboard. I suspect this was produced by MS Publisher, but I’m not sure. I know my pastor can fix it, but she’s in Pennsylvania or somewhere.

Cindy

From: Brian Vogel [mailto:britechguy@...]
Sent: Friday, April 1, 2016 1:50 PM
To: jfw@groups.io
Subject: Re: Text Boxes

I've not yet found instructions on how to "de-text box" documents and convert them to strictly plain text, which is what I presume you're trying to do.   There's probably a way to select a text box and remove the text box while preserving the text.

A tedious way to do this would be to select each text box one-by-one, hit CTRL+A to select all the text that's in it, CTRL+C to copy the text, and then paste that copied text into a new document.  I just tried that in Word 2010 and it works, but text boxes are implemented slightly differently than in earlier versions of Word and I have no old Word files with old-style text boxes to confirm that the same thing applies.  If you're stuck and in a hurry it's worth a try though.

Brian 

From: Brian Vogel [mailto:britechguy@...]
Sent: Friday, April 1, 2016 2:19 PM
To: jfw@groups.io
Subject: Re: Text Boxes

Cindy,

           If the material in question is not of a private nature I'm making the offer to take a look at the file in question if you'll e-mail it to me.  Since this is my "report writing afternoon" and I'm in Word anyway, de-text-boxing two text boxes should be easy.

           Also, if the file has a dot doc extension it is a word document.  If it's from publisher it should be dot pub, and word will not open those and will complain if you try.

Brian

From: Brian Vogel [mailto:britechguy@...]
Sent: Friday, April 1, 2016 1:50 PM
To: jfw@groups.io
Subject: Re: Text Boxes

I've not yet found instructions on how to "de-text box" documents and convert them to strictly plain text, which is what I presume you're trying to do.   There's probably a way to select a text box and remove the text box while preserving the text.

A tedious way to do this would be to select each text box one-by-one, hit CTRL+A to select all the text that's in it, CTRL+C to copy the text, and then paste that copied text into a new document.  I just tried that in Word 2010 and it works, but text boxes are implemented slightly differently than in earlier versions of Word and I have no old Word files with old-style text boxes to confirm that the same thing applies.  If you're stuck and in a hurry it's worth a try though.

Brian