[jawsscripts] Beta of JAWS scripts to maximize Firefox usability
- From: Jamal Mazrui <empower@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: blind-mozilla@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, jawsscripts@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:39:50 -0500
Now available at
http://EmpowermentZone.com/FxMax.exe
or as a zip archive at
http://EmpowermentZone.com/FxMax.zip
I welcome feedback and suggestions for improving these Firefox scripts.
Below are excerpts from the documentation to give you a sense of their
capabilities.
Jamal Mazrui
Email: jamal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Twitter Screen Name: JamalMazrui
FireFox Max
Version 0.1
January 12, 2010
Copyright 2009 - 2010 by Jamal Mazrui
GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)
Introduction
Firefox Max is a set of JAWS scripts to extend the functionality Firefox
3.5, which is freely available from
http://GetFirefox.com
The scripts inherit the features of the JAWS scripts for Firefox that
are installed with JAWS, and then seek to maximize functionality in
various ways. Firefox Max is also abbreviated FxMax (Fx is the official
abbreviation for Firefox). The scripts make use of the Homer script
library and Homer editor interface that I developed a few years ago in a
package called HomerKit, available at
http://EmpowermentZone.com/kitsetup.exe
or .zip for a manual install.
The scripts also use code that I developed to efficiently operate
Thunderbird with JAWS, available at
http://EmpowermentZone.com/tb_scr.exe
or .zip for a manual install.
A good place to discuss Firefox or the scripts is the blind-mozilla
mailing list. You can subscribe by sending a blank message to
blind-mozilla-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The scripts are available either as an executable installer at
http://EmpowermentZone.com/FxMax.exe
or as a zip archive at
http://EmpowermentZone.com/FxMax.zip
When running the executable installer, it is best to accept all defaults
after ensuring the appropriate version of JAWS is selected (Enter
invokes the default, Install button). Note that on some Windows
versions, the installer does not find the appropriate script folder if
JAWS is automatically launched at Windows startup, and thus, is running
as a local service. This problem may be avoided by exiting and then
relaunching JAWS, which is then run as a user process.
F11 is a scripted hotkey that checks my web site for a new version of
the scripts and allows one to upgrade. It only works with the
executable installer,
however, not the zip archive that is currently needed for a 64-bit
Windows installation. Windows Explorer/My Computer is able to unzip
such an archive. Press Shift+F10 and check its context menu for options
when the archive has focus. You can get to your JAWS scripts folder by
choosing "Explorer my Settings" in the JAWS program group of the Windows
Start Menu.
Anyone wanting to deactivate the scripts can do so as follows. Press
JAWSKey+J to go to the JAWS application window. Choose "Manage
Application Settings" from the Options pulldown menu. Press t until you
hear Firefox in the list of scripts. Press Spacebar to uncheck the
item. Press Enter to accept the change.
Firefox Max seeks to maximize the functionality of Firefox for a JAWS
user, exploiting features from the Firefox application, JAWS virtual
mode, and Internet Explorer object model. The scripts are intended to
make clipping, combining, and saving parts of web pages as convenient as
possible. Usability extensions may be grouped as follows: selection,
navigation, querying, downloading, and miscellaneous.
----------
Selection
As usual, Control-C copies selected text to the clipboard. If no text
is selected, FxMax copies the current line. Alt-C works similarly
except that it appends to rather than replaces clipboard text. If text
was already on the clipboard, a blank line is inserted before the
appended text.
An alternative way of selecting text uses F8 to mark the start of a
selection. Navigate to the end point by whatever means -- arrow keys,
find command, etc. -- without having to hold down the Shift key. Press
Shift-F8 to select text from the start position. Note that text is
selected up to, but not including, the ending cursor position.
----------
Navigation
Control+F does a forward find in virtual mode, and Control+Shift+F does
a reverse find. F3 finds again in a forward direction, and Shift-F3
finds again in reverse.
Control-G goes to a percentage point in the document, and Alt-G repeats
the command with the value you previously input (e.g., 50 to go to the
midpoint of the document).
FxMax adds some quick navigation keys. You can press W to go to the
next occurrence of the word at the virtual cursor position. This can be
useful for skipping over insignificant information that precedes the
main content of a page. In virtual mode, the title of a page appears on
its first line (as well as in the title bar), and it usually contains
keywords that occur in the main content of the page. Thus, you can put
the cursor on one of these words and press W to skip ahead. Press Alt+W
instead to search for the whole line of text. Press F3 to go to the
next match, or Shift+F3 for the prior one. Shift+W goes to the previous
occurrence of the current word. You can also jump to the next
occurrence of a phrase of more than one word by selecting it before
pressing W.
The Start Content command, 0, tries to skip navigation links and go to
the main content of the page. It searches for a "skip navigation" type
of link, and activates it if found. Similarly, the 9 quick navigation
key searches for a printer-friendly version of the page, and activates
it if found.
Variations of the F9 key are used to manage bookmarks based on an "ID
attribute" in the HTML of a page, rather than on a line and column
position in its rendered text, which regular bookmarks with Control+K
use. F9 goes to the next non+blank ID attribute on the page, and
Shift+F9 goes to the previous one. Control+F9 saves the ID at the
cursor as a bookmark, Control+Shift+F9 clears it, and Alt+F9 goes to it.
Note that this only works if the author of the HTML has used the ID
attribute of an element to distinguish part of the page, e.g., a
particular table of the page.
----------
Querying
The Quote Clipboard command, Alt+Apostrophe, says the content of the
clipboard. Alt+Shift+Apostrophe clears it. Control+Apostrophe saves
the clipboard to a file,
and Control+Shift+Apostrophe appends to it.
In virtual mode, Alt+Delete says the line, column, and percentage
position of the cursor in the document. The Yield Text command, Alt+Y,
says the number of characters, words, and lines contained in either all
or selected text. The Yield Structure command, Alt+Shift+Y, is a
variation that reports the number of links, headings, and frames in the
page.
Several hotkeys say a block of text related to the current page. The
block is captured so that it may easily be transferred either to the
clipboard or a file on disk.
Alt+A says the address of the current page. Alt+N says the name of the
page, which is like the window title without "Mozilla Firefox" at the
end. Alt+O outputs all text of the page. Alt+U says the url reference
at the current link, which indicates where Firefox would go if that link
were clicked. Alt+X extracts all text from that url reference, thus
enabling you to preview a page before opening it. Alt+R says the rest
of the text from the cursor position to the end of the virtual buffer
(like a SayAll from there, but without moving the cursor).
The Page Urls command, Alt+P, says all urls of the page, starting with
the page address and followed by the urls of all links (duplicates are
removed). The Linked Urls command, Alt+L, says all urls of the page
that is linked to the current one at the cursor position.
Since the clipping capability supports web research, you may add
explanatory notes or time stamps. Press Alt+I to input a block manually
via an edit box. Press Alt+Semicolon for the current time and date.
The block of text captured by any of these commands may be used again in
different ways. Repeating the same hotkey twice quickly spells the
block. Press Control+Shift+C to copy the block to the clipboard, or
Alt+Shift+C to append it instead. Similarly, press Control+Shift+S to
save the block to a file, or Alt+Shift+S to append it instead.
Alt+Shift+V invokes a virtual view of the block. Press Alt+Q to query
the block (say it again), or twice quickly to spell it.
A variation of these queries lets you gather and append a block with a
single command by adding the Shift modifier key. Use Alt+Shift+Letter
rather than Alt+Letter to append to either the clipboard or a file, as
determined by a mode. This mode is set to the clipboard by default.
Use the Keep Append in File command, Alt+Shift+K, to change to file mode
instead. A standard save-file dialog prompts for the target file to be
used (if it does not exist, it will be created the first time you save a
block there). Use the Keepp Append on Clipboard command, Alt+K, to
return to clipboard mode.
In clipboard mode, a blank line is inserted before an appended block.
In file mode, a section break sequence is used instead, consisting of a
line of dashes and a form feed character. This supports navigating by
section in a text editor (e.g., in EdSharp).
set it to
----------
Downloading
The Download command, Alt+D, lets you get urls from the clipboard,
filter them by extension, and then pick one or more to download to a
folder that you specify. The multiple selection pick list supports
search keys -- Control+F, Control+Shift+F, F3, and Shift+F3 -- to search
forward or backward for an url in the list based on text it contains.
Press Spacebar to toggle the selected state of an item. After picking
files, you are prompted for the target folder on disk, which is the
default choice the next time.
----------
Miscellaneous
Adjust some common speech parameters with key combinations involving the
grave accent key (at the top left of the main part of a U.S. keyboard).
Press JAWSKey+Grave to toggle between reading all or no punctuation.
All punctuation is useful when reading carefully for details, whereas no
punctuation is useful when reading quickly for concepts. Control+`
increases the speech rate by five percent, and Control+Shift+` decreases
it. Alt+` increases the volume by five percent, and Alt+Shift+`
decreases it.
----------
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