[jawsscripts] Re: Beta of JAWS scripts to maximize Firefox usability
- From: "Tom Reid" <tom.reid2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <jawsscripts@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 13 Jan 2010 07:52:44 -0000
Hi Jamal,
This sounds really good.
Thanks for the tremendous work you do.
Tom
-----Original Message-----
From: jawsscripts-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:jawsscripts-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jamal Mazrui
Sent: 12 January 2010 22:40
To: blind-mozilla@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; jawsscripts@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [jawsscripts] Beta of JAWS scripts to maximize Firefox usability
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.
----------
__________
Visit and contribute to The JAWS Script Repository http://jawsscripts.com
View the list's information and change your settings at
http://www.freelists.org/list/jawsscripts
__________
Visit and contribute to The JAWS Script Repository http://jawsscripts.com
View the list's information and change your settings at
http://www.freelists.org/list/jawsscripts
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