FreedomBox System Access Help

Table of Contents

  1. System Access Basics
  2. Windows and Navigation Basics
  3. Application Overviews
  4. Virtual Mouse
  5. Using System Access Away From Home
  6. System Access's Settings
  7. Keyboard Command Quick Reference
  8. Making the web your oyster... With C-SAW?
  9. Using the Key to Freedom and/or the PassKey
  10. Changing FreedomBox Preferences

System Access Basics

Throughout FreedomBox's development, we have always said that our goal is to "humanize computers. not computerize humans." With that in mind, we have developed an accessibility tool, FreedomBox System Access, that not only gives you access to your computer system, but also enables you to use hundreds of applications that you want and need. However, before we get into what System Access can do for you, we are going to explain a few features of System Access that you'll need to understand to get started.

Before You Begin

Please do not run System Access with any other screen readers. It is very important that you unload your screen reader before activating System Access. Please consult your screen reader's documentation regarding this step.

System Access Modifier

Most of System Access's keyboard commands involve a special key called the System Access Modifier. The System Access Modifier can be one of the following keys: Caps Lock, Insert, Scroll Lock, or NumPad 0. Feel free to use whichever key is most convenient for you at any time; you don't need to use the same modifier for every command. So if it's too much of a stretch to press Insert in some cases, then press Caps Lock instead, and vice versa.

System Access Menu

The System Access Menu allows you to temporarily change System Access's settings and gives you a quick, straightforward way to get System Access just the way you want it to act and sound. (For more detail, see System Access’s Settings.) Note that these preferences operate only while System Access is running. If you log back into FreedomBox while System Access is not running, the System Access changes you made will no longer be active, and your preferences will revert back to your FreedomBox preferences.

To open the System Access Menu, press Modifier+F. Your first option is to start the FreedomBox browser. Note that pausing on a menu item in any menu will always give you the hot key for that menu item. A hot key is a quick way to jump to a choice within a menu. By using the appropriate hot key, you do not have to move down through menus to find what you are looking for. In this case the hot key is the letter F. This means that you could have pressed Modifier+F followed by the letter F to jump quickly to the FreedomBox browser. Hot keys are more important when you are selecting from longer menus.

In the System Access Menu you can set the following:

Key Echo: Key Echo determines if System Access speaks each key on the keyboard as you type it. If you do not want this to happen, you may uncheck this option by tapping enter. When you do, the System Access Menu closes. In order to recheck this option, you must go back into the System Access Menu, and using either the arrow keys to go to Key Echo, or pressing the hot key K, go to Key Echo and recheck the option closing the menu.

Word Echo: Tap enter on Word Echo if you want the system to echo words that you type after you type a space bar key, or an enter key.

Text-to-Speech Engine: Select the speech synthesizer that you want System Access to use. The default engine is DECtalk, but you can change it to Microsoft Speech, or another Engine depending on what speech engines you have on your computer. We recommend NeoSpeech, if you have purchased that option. It is easy to understand, quick, and takes up little memory.

Voice: The Voice menu option allows you to change the voice that your synthesizer uses. For example, the NeoSpeech engine has a female and a male voice that you can select.

Speaking Rate: The Speaking Rate option determines how slow, or fast the speech is. You can use your up and down arrow keys to change it to a comfortable level, then tap the enter key when you are happy with it.

Average Pitch: Average Pitch lets you set the pitch of the voice. Again use your arrow keys to adjust the voice to your liking, then tap enter.

Punctuation: The punctuation option specifies how much punctuation you hear. You may need to play with this setting a bit until you find what's right for you.

Shut Down System Access: This does exactly what it says. However, you may have noticed the hot key was a bit different from the single letters. The hot key for shutting down System Access is Modifier+F4. Because this hot key combination is unique, it can be used anywhere, at any time. This way you could shut down System Access while browsing the web, reading email, etc. The System Access menu can be invoked from anywhere, at any time as well.

Keyboard Help Mode

If you need to explore the keyboard without your keystrokes having any effect, turn on System Access's keyboard help mode by pressing Shift+Modifier+H. While this mode is on, key presses will be announced; and if you type a System Access hot key, System Access will describe what the hot key does. There are only two exceptions to this: Control+Alt+Delete is handled in the normal way by Windows, and pressing Shift+Modifier+H again leaves keyboard help mode.

Windows and Navigation Basics

This brief tour of using Windows with System Access is far from exhaustive. It is only designed to get your feet wet, so keep this in mind as we show you the basics of getting around.

Start Menu

The Start Menu is a system of menu items that Windows presents to help you find applications that you will want to use. To open the Start Menu from anywhere, tap the Windows key. This first area of the Start Menu is somewhat dynamic because it shows your most frequently used applications. As a result, your Start Menu will be different from the Start Menu examples in the System Access tutorials. If you want to use less frequently used programs, you can jump to the All Programs menu, whose hot key is P. If you want to move back to the Start Menu, you can tap either the Escape key or the left arrow key.

Desktop

The Windows Desktop is also a frequently used area. When you first start your PC you will notice the Windows Desktop. At anytime you can move to the Windows Desktop by pressing either Windows+D or Windows+M. You use your arrow keys to navigate the Desktop or the first letter of the item you want as a hot key. For example the letter R takes you to the Recycle Bin.

System Tray

The System Tray shows programs running in the background, such as an instant messenger or anti-virus program. The easiest way to use the System Tray is to press Modifier+F11 to open System Access's System Tray dialog. You can then move between items by using the arrow keys or the first letter of an item, such as W for Windows Messenger. After selecting an item, repeatedly press Tab to move to the appropriate button so you can left click, double left click, or right click the item. Once you press Space to activate the button, the dialog will close.

Help Balloons

Help balloons give you helpful messages about applications or the system's status. For example, if your network cable is unplugged, you will hear a popping sound that indicates that a help balloon has popped up. You will then immediately hear the contents of the help balloon's message. To click that help balloon if required you can press Modifier+B. This will click the message, and allow you to access settings, or information that pertains to the help balloon's message.

Application Overviews

Here we provide task-oriented overviews of several applications that System Access supports. To find out more about how you can use these applications with System Access, we encourage you to listen to the audio tutorials and demos. You can find listings of application-specific System Access hot keys in the Keyboard Command Quick Reference.

Internet Explorer

You can open Internet Explorer from the Start Menu. Internet Explorer should be the first item. Tap the enter key on the choice to open the application. From time to time you may hear a chime sound, along with a voice whispering C-SAW. This indicates that the current web site has been made accessible via C-SAW. We will begin our example by performing a simple search. Press F6 to move to the address bar, or you can also press Control+O to open a new web site from a standard open dialog box. In either case, type google.com. When Google's search page loads, and after the C-SAW sound is played, you will hear "search edit". System Access places you within the search edit box, so you can begin typing what you want to look for. Just type, "World History" and tap the enter key. System Access instantly begins to read the number of results, as well as how many results are displayed on the page. You can press Tab and Shift+Tab to move through the links, move up and down line by line with the arrow keys, or move by paragraph with Control+Up Arrow and Control+Down Arrow.

Try opening cnn.com. As with Google, System Access takes you directly to the content. When you open articles on the CNN site, System Access will continue to bring you straight to the content.

Some pages try to open what are called pop-ups. These are pages that spring up to block the page that you are reading. Windows will play a sound to let you know that a pop-up has been blocked. To access the pop-up just press Alt+N, followed by the space bar. You will then have the option of temporarily allowing pop-ups, or always allowing pop-ups on a given site.

Many people say that they love the variety that Amazon.com has, but, it's like pulling teeth to sift through all of the ads, tables, and so on, to find what they are looking for. As you will see when you open Amazon.com, System Access does a fantastic job of converting nasty sounding links to links that you recognize as actually doing something useful, thanks again to C-SAW.

Try searching at Amazon's home page. To move to the search area of the page, tap the letter F to move to the next form field. System Access places you on a drop down list of search categories. Open the list of categories by pressing Alt+Down Arrow, then choose your desired category and press Enter. Once you've chosen a category, tab to the search edit box. Type what you are looking for, then tap the enter key. Again System Access takes you right to the results.

System Access has several commands for navigating data presented in tables. For example, you can press Control+Alt+Left Arrow and Control+Right+Arrow to move by column. Likewise, you can use Control+Alt+Up Arrow and Control+Alt+Down Arrow to move by row. Press Modifier+R to read the contents of the current row and Modifier+C to read the heading of the current column. These commands are especially useful when filling out a complex form such as an invoice.

If you're browsing a web page with many links, you can put these links in a convenient list by pressing Modifier+F7. Then you can choose a link using the arrow keys or the link's first letter, and press Enter to activate it.

Outlook Express

If you are setting up email for the first time, System Access will automatically read all of the relevant information and prompts. Simply press Tab to move through the fields, and press Space to activate the "Next" button after completing each step. After the initial account setup, Outlook Express will place you on a web page from which you can access various parts of the program. You may prefer to jump directly to your inbox the next time Outlook Express starts. The web page displayed by default at startup has a check box that you can use to set this preference. While you're in the Outlook Express main window, you can jump to the inbox by pressing Control+Shift+I.

Once you are receiving email, simply use the up and down arrows to move through the list of messages. System Access will read all of the available information about each message, such as its sender, subject, and date. If a message is unread, has high priority, or has an attachment, System Access will indicate these as well. From here, you can also check the status bar by pressing Modifier+Page Down. The status bar will indicate how many messages you have in the current folder, how many are unread, and whether you're working offline.

Once you've found a message of interest, press Enter to open and read it. Note that Outlook Express displays email messages as web pages. This means that you can get a list of links, tab through the links, and use web page navigation commands. System Access also lets you jump to the list of attachments, if any, by pressing Modifier+A. Select the attachment you want and press Enter to open it. Alternatively, you can open a pop-up menu for the attachment by pressing the apps key. From here, you can open, print, or save the attachment. To reply to the message, press Control+R; to forward it, press Control+F.

It may be helpful to read the Outlook Express Help section. Just press Alt+H to open the Help menu for Outlook Express, then choose "Contents and Index". Find the topic that you want to read, and press F6 to read it. When you are done, press F6 again to move back to the index of topics.

Microsoft Outlook

As in Outlook Express, Microsoft Outlook's setup wizard works quite nicely with System Access. Of course, System Access automatically reads descriptions for fields, buttons, and radio buttons within the setup wizard. Once setup of your email is complete System Access again reads all pertinent information about your email messages, including sender, subject, date, and size. System Access also indicates whether a message is unread, has high priority, or has an attachment.

To read a message, just tap the Enter key. The message is read to you automatically. If the message has attachments, you can put them in a list by pressing Modifier+A; this list is very similar to the list in the System Tray dialog. You can reply to messages with Control+R, and forward messages with Control+F. System Access also works with the contacts folder for emailing contacts directly, or adding a contact either from a message, or manually.

Skype

System Access works with Skype, an Internet voice communication service that allows you to talk with other Skype users at no charge. You can also make phone calls to non-Skype users with Skype for a small “off network” charge. As you move through your contacts with the arrow keys, System Access announces various attributes of each contact, such as name, country, and local time. To call the contact, just tap the Enter key. If you want more options that pertain to a contact, just press the Apps key. A menu will pop up that allows you to call the contact, chat with the contact, send a file, send a voice mail, etc. By pressing Control+Tab one or more times, you can see a log of missed calls and completed calls, as well as the time and duration of the call.

Microsoft Word

System Access gives you complete access to Microsoft Word documents, reading tables, forms, font information, headers and footers, footnotes, etc. System Access provides a user-friendly way of giving you information about the document that you are in as well as other information that you may be interested in, without needing to check or uncheck selections in a complex set of dialog boxes (as is common with screen readers). System Access will works in the various Word wizards, such as the letter wizard.

PowerPoint

Important: At this time System Access allows you only to read PowerPoint presentations. Support for editing Power Point presentations is not currently available in System Access.

In order to read a PowerPoint presentation, open the slide show window by tapping F5. System Access will begin reading the contents of slides automatically. You can also use standard cursor movement commands to examine a slide more closely. Use the following keys to navigate within the slide show:

Excel

Important: At this time System Access allows you only to read Excel spreadsheets. Support for editing Excel spreadsheets is not currently available in System Access.

Once you open an Excel worksheet, just use the standard cursor movement and reading keys to read its contents. For example, the arrow keys move you from one cell to the next adjacent cell. System Access also provides hot keys for reading parts of the worksheet. Please refer to the Keyboard Command Quick Reference for details.

Command Prompt

System Access lets you use the command prompt, sometimes referred to as the console. System Access will work within the console window in its regular windowed mode, or in the full-screen mode. Note that console access is only supported on Windows 2000 and later, not including Windows Millennium Edition.

As the console displays text, System Access announces it automatically. (Note: Automatic speech output is not supported under 16-bit applications, such as older DOS games, or the old Command.com.) There are also several commands to review the contents of the console. Num Lock must be enabled to use the NumPad commands. For more details, please refer to the Keyboard Command Quick Reference.

Virtual Mouse

Virtual Mouse gives you more information about the programs you run. It also allows you to customize the way that graphics are labeled in these programs. Sometimes you just might want to get an overview of how an application is visually laid out. Virtual Mouse can help you do that by just using your keyboard! When Virtual Mouse is active, you cannot edit text in a document or access the menu bar via the Alt key, or the Alt plus letters combinations. Virtual Mouse takes over your keyboard for the purpose of navigating and manipulating the window with the mouse cursor.

Virtual Mouse is most valuable when an application’s controls, such as list boxes, check boxes, buttons, or icons, cannot be accessed just by tabbing or arrowing around the window. When you encounter this in an application, just press Modifier+M. You will hear a sound and you will also hear the voice change. Now you can use your up and down arrow keys to move up and down through the controls in the window. If you just want to have a look around, you can either press Modifier+M again or tap Escape to return to normal operation. Note that as you are using the up and down arrow keys you will only hear one control on each line.

To move left or right through the window, press Alt+Left Arrow or Alt+Right Arrow. If you want to hear the control that you are on, press Modifier+Up Arrow, which is the “say line" command or, in this case, the “say control” command. Tab and Shift+Tab move you to the next and previous clickable control respectively, regardless of what that control is.

To jump to the top of the window, press Control+Home. To jump to the bottom of the window, press Control+End. When you want to activate a control (or left-click) press either the Enter key or the space bar. Note that these keys perform a left click. If you need to do a right click, press Shift+Enter or Shift+Space. You can also get a list of all clickable objects in the window by pressing Modifier+F7. This is useful if you don't want to tab or arrow around the window. After you've chosen an object using the up and down arrows or the object's first letter, you can tab to the mouse function that you want to perform on that object. For example, if you wanted to right click something from this list, just tab to Right Click and press Space to activate that button.

Label Applications for Yourself, and Others!

If you find that a particular graphic is not labeled correctly or isn’t labeled at all, you can label it by pressing Alt+L. Then, just type in what you want to call the graphic and press Tab. You'll then come to a check box which you can check if System Access should treat this graphic as a clickable button. Then press Tab again, and press Space to label the graphic. If you want to have System Access try to auto-label the graphics in a window, just press Alt+A. If you are still having difficulty labeling graphics, enable Tool Tip announcement by pressing Alt+T. Tool tips are generally handy for sighted mouse users. Here’s an example of Tool tips: a sighted user hovers the mouse over the Windows Start button and a tool tip pops up that says, “Click here to begin.” You can sometimes put tool tips to good use by using the tool tip as part of your label for a particular graphic.

When you are done labeling all your graphics, you can send them to the FreedomBox Network just by pressing Alt+S! The next time anyone using FreedomBox System Access uses the application you have been working on, they will hear those graphics nicely labeled!

Use the Mouse, Even If You Are Blind!

One nice thing about Virtual Mouse is the fact that a blind individual can use the mouse. When the mouse moves over text or graphics, System Access tells you so. If you are a blind System Access user, we recommend that you use the mouse in restricted mode. This mode will ensure that your mouse stays within the window that you want to explore. To enable restricted mode, hold down the System Access Modifier and move the mouse. System Access will prompt you to define the top left corner and click. We suggest that you pick up the mouse at this point, and place it in the top left corner of the mouse pad, or the top left corner of any surface, if you are using an optical mouse. Once you have done this, left click the mouse. Caution. Try not to move the mouse as you are clicking; doing so would cause you to start at a position other than the top left corner of the surface. Now you can move the mouse around the window, with the System Access modifier still held down. As you move, musical tones will indicate your position in the window.

Pressing Tool Bar Buttons

If an application, such as Internet Explorer, has a tool bar, you can use Modifier+F8 to get a list of the tool bar buttons. Then you simply arrow down through the list of tool bar buttons and tap the Enter key when you hear the button that you want to activate. Note that this command also works whtn Virtual Mouse isn't active.

Using System Access Away From Home

When you are on the go and need quick access to a computer, just plug in the Key to Freedom or insert the PassKey CD into a CD-ROM drive. You'll be able to run System Access right away; there's no need to install anything on the host computer first. You can find more information about these products in the section called "Using the Key to Freedom and/or the PassKey". However, these products also have a few features specific to System Access.

Remote Control My Home Computer

When running System Access from a Key to Freedom, PassKey, or secondary machine, you can have complete remote control of your home computer. With this feature, you can run any applications that you want on your home computer while you're away from home. You don't even have to be running System Access on the home computer; you can run a compatible third-party screen reader if you prefer.

By default, remote control of your home computer is turned off. To turn it on, you'll need to go to the FreedomBox Preferences section on your home computer. From there, go to "Manage My HomeServer", and follow the "Remote Control Preferences" link. You'll find the option to enable remote control, as well as other remote control preferences.

You won't need to open any ports in your firewall or router, if any, to access your home computer over the Internet. However, if you're running a firewall on your home computer and wish to access your home computer from another computer on the same network, you'll need to open port 4663 in your home computer's firewall. The FreedomBox HomeServer is designed with security in mind, so there's no need to worry about someone breaking into your home computer through this feature. Also note that all communication between remote machines and the home computer is strongly encrypted using SSL, the same technology used by leading online stores and banks, so your activities stay private.

To access your home computer remotely, open the System Access Menu with Modifier+F and choose "Remote Control My Home Computer". If you're not running FreedomBox at this time, you'll need to log into the FreedomBox Network, though this won't involve starting the FreedomBox browser. Then you'll be presented with options for this remote session, such as audio quality and whether visual output is enabled. Note that the audio quality option has no effect on text-to-speech when running System Access on the home machine; in that case, the speech is synthesized by the machine you're sitting at, so you'll always get the best possible speech quality. After setting these options, activate the "Start Session" button, and after a short delay, you should be connected to your home computer.

At this point, you can use your home computer as if you were sitting in front of it. One special hot key is active at this time: Shift+Modifier+Escape opens System Access's remote control menu. This menu currently has two options: you can toggle visual output or end the remote session.

Using System Access Offline from the PassKey

Because the PassKey is a read-only medium, using System Access through this product when not connected to the Internet takes a little more work. Once you've logged into the FreedomBox Network with your PassKey, you will find an offline PIN in the FreedomBox Account Self-Service Center, available from the Assistant. This offline PIN is used along with your account number to run FreedomBox System Access from the PassKey when you're not connected to the Internet. So when you're offline and running FreedomBox from the PassKey, enter your account number and offline PIN into the Log In page, then System Access will start and FreedomBox will exit. This offline mode is only available to you if FreedomBox does not detect an Internet connection.

System Access's Settings

The main area for customizing both FreedomBox System Access and FreedomBox is the preferences section. The settings that you choose from within FreedomBox's preferences will be used for System Access, unless you make changes within System Access specifically. Settings that exclusively pertain to System Access are the following:

Start FreedomBox System Access when I log in to FreedomBox on my primary computer.

This check box determines whether System Access starts as soon as you log on to FreedomBox.

Start FreedomBox System Access when I log in to FreedomBox from my PassKey or Key to Freedom.

If you are using FreedomBox on the road you may or may not want System Access to start at the same time as FreedomBox.

Start FreedomBox System Access when I log in to Windows.

This option only appears on your home machine. Use this checkbox to have System Access start after the computer's boot process is complete.

Start System Access when the Windows Log On screen appears

This check box will allow System Access to run at the Windows Log On prompt. If this is the only check box that is checked, System Access will only run automatically within this Log On screen.

Start FreedomBox System Access button

This is used to start System Access from within FreedomBox.

Optional Messages

This preference allows you to decide how FBSA gives you various types of information. For example, you may hear, "Desktop Recycle Bin; 1 of 10". The "1 of 10" message can be turned off, spoken in a different voice, or spoken in the same voice.

Keyboard Command Quick Reference

Global Commands

Modifier+Escape
Refresh the display.
Modifier+Page Down
Read the status bar, if any.
Modifier+Up Arrow
Announce the object with the focus.
Modifier+Down Arrow
Read the contents of the current window.
Modifier+3
Pass a key through to the application.
Modifier+B
Click the current help balloon if any.
Modifier+F
Activate the System Access menu.
Shift+Modifier+H
Toggle keyboard help mode.
Modifier+M
Activate Virtual Mouse.
Modifier+T
Read the title of the current window.
Modifier+W
Read the contents of the current window.
Modifier+Application
Move the mouse cursor to the keyboard focus and simulate a right click.
Modifier+F4
Shut down System Access.
Modifier+F8
Choose a tool bar button from a list.
Modifier+F11
Click an icon in the system tray.
Modifier+F12
Say the current time and date.

Adobe Reader Document Window

Modifier+Clear
Say the current word.
Page Up
Move up one page.
Shift+Page Up
Move the selection focus up one page.
Page Down
Move down one page.
Shift+Page Down
Move the selection focus down one page.
End
Move to the end of the line.
Shift+End
Move the selection focus to the end of the line.
Control+End
Move to the end of the document.
Control+Shift+End
Move the selection focus to the end of the document.
Home
Move to the start of the line.
Shift+Home
Move the selection focus to the start of the line.
Control+Home
Move to the start of the document.
Control+Shift+Home
Move the selection focus to the start of the document.
Left Arrow
Move one character to the left.
Shift+Left Arrow
Move the selection focus one character to the left.
Control+Left Arrow
Move to the previous word.
Control+Shift+Left Arrow
Move the selection focus to the previous word.
Control+Alt+Left Arrow
Move to the previous column in a table.
Up Arrow
Move up one line.
Shift+Up Arrow
Move the selection focus up one line.
Control+Up Arrow
Move to the previous paragraph.
Control+Alt+Up Arrow
Move to the previous row in a table.
Modifier+Up Arrow
Read the current line.
Right Arrow
Move one character to the right.
Shift+Right Arrow
Move the selection focus one character to the right.
Control+Right Arrow
Move to the next word.
Control+Shift+Right Arrow
Move the selection focus to the next word.
Control+Alt+Right Arrow
Move to the next column in a table.
Down Arrow
Move down one line.
Shift+Down Arrow
Move the selection focus down one line.
Control+Down Arrow
Move to the next paragraph.
Control+Alt+Down Arrow
Move to the next row in a table.
Modifier+Down Arrow
Read the document starting at the virtual cursor.
Control+A
Select the whole document.
B
Move to the next button.
Shift+B
Move to the previous button.
Control+C
Copy the virtual selection to the clipboard.
Modifier+C
Read the first cell in the current table column.
F
Move to the next form field.
Shift+F
Move to the previous form field.
H
Move to the next heading.
Shift+H
Move to the previous heading.
N
Move to the next block of plain text.
Shift+N
Move to the previous block of plain text.
Modifier+R
Read the current table row.
Modifier+S
Move to the next sentence.
Shift+Modifier+S
Move to the previous sentence.
T
Move to the next table.
Shift+T
Move to the previous table.

Console

Modifier+End
Move to the right edge of the window.
Control+Modifier+End
Move to the bottom of the window.
Modifier+Home
Move to the left edge of the window.
Control+Modifier+Home
Move to the top of the window.
Modifier+Left Arrow
Move to the previous character.
Control+Modifier+Left Arrow
Move to the previous word
Modifier+Up Arrow
Read the current line.
Modifier+Right Arrow
Move to the next character.
Control+Modifier+Right Arrow
Move to the next word.
Modifier+Down Arrow
Read the contents of the console starting at the current position of the reading cursor.
Num Pad 1
Move to the previous character.
Modifier+Num Pad 1
Move to the left edge of the window.
Num Pad 2
Say the current character.
Modifier+Num Pad 2
Move to the bottom of the window.
Num Pad 3
Move to the next character.
Modifier+Num Pad 3
Move to the right edge of the window.
Num Pad 4
Move to the previous word
Num Pad 5
Read the current word.
Modifier+Num Pad 5
Move to the top of the window.
Num Pad 6
Move to the next word.
Num Pad 7
Move to the previous line.
Num Pad 8
Read the current line.
Num Pad 9
Move to the next line.
Modifier+Decimal
Read the contents of the console starting at the current position of the reading cursor.

Edit Controls

Control+Up Arrow
Move to the previous paragraph.
Modifier+Up Arrow
Read the current line.
Control+Down Arrow
Move to the next paragraph.
Modifier+Down Arrow
Read the document starting at the insertion point.
Modifier+S
Move to the next sentence.
Shift+Modifier+S
Move to the previous sentence.

Internet Explorer

Modifier+Clear
Say the current word.
Enter
Click the object with the virtual focus.
Page Up
Move up one page.
Shift+Page Up
Move the selection focus up one page.
Page Down
Move down one page.
Shift+Page Down
Move the selection focus down one page.
End
Move to the end of the line.
Shift+End
Move the selection focus to the end of the line.
Control+End
Move to the end of the document.
Control+Shift+End
Move the selection focus to the end of the document.
Home
Move to the start of the line.
Shift+Home
Move the selection focus to the start of the line.
Control+Home
Move to the start of the document.
Control+Shift+Home
Move the selection focus to the start of the document.
Left Arrow
Move one character to the left.
Shift+Left Arrow
Move the selection focus one character to the left.
Control+Left Arrow
Move to the previous word.
Control+Shift+Left Arrow
Move the selection focus to the previous word.
Control+Alt+Left Arrow
Move to the previous column in a table.
Up Arrow
Move up one line.
Shift+Up Arrow
Move the selection focus up one line.
Control+Up Arrow
Move to the previous paragraph.
Control+Alt+Up Arrow
Move to the previous row in a table.
Modifier+Up Arrow
Read the current line.
Right Arrow
Move one character to the right.
Shift+Right Arrow
Move the selection focus one character to the right.
Control+Right Arrow
Move to the next word.
Control+Shift+Right Arrow
Move the selection focus to the next word.
Control+Alt+Right Arrow
Move to the next column in a table.
Down Arrow
Move down one line.
Shift+Down Arrow
Move the selection focus down one line.
Control+Down Arrow
Move to the next paragraph.
Control+Alt+Down Arrow
Move to the next row in a table.
Modifier+Down Arrow
Read the document starting at the virtual cursor.
A
Move to the next anchor.
Shift+A
Move to the previous anchor.
Control+A
Select the whole document.
B
Move to the next button.
Shift+B
Move to the previous button.
Control+C
Copy the virtual selection to the clipboard.
Modifier+C
Read the first cell in the current table column.
D
Move to the next drop-down list.
Shift+D
Move to the previous drop-down list.
E
Move to the next editable text field.
Shift+E
Move to the previous editable text field.
F
Move to the next form field.
Shift+F
Move to the previous form field.
G
Move to the next graphic.
Shift+G
Move to the previous graphic.
H
Move to the next heading.
Shift+H
Move to the previous heading.
Alt+L
Label an image or form field with C-SAW.
N
Move to the next block of plain text.
Shift+N
Move to the previous block of plain text.
R
Move to the next radio button.
Shift+R
Move to the previous radio button.
Modifier+R
Read the current table row.
Modifier+S
Submit C-SAW labels for the current site.
Shift+Modifier+S
Move to the previous sentence.
T
Move to the next table.
Shift+T
Move to the previous table.
X
Move to the next check box.
Shift+X
Move to the previous check box.
Modifier+F7
Choose a link on this page from a list.

Microsoft Excel

Modifier+Up Arrow
Read the current selection.
Modifier+Down Arrow
Read the sheet starting at the current cell.
Modifier+C
Read the first cell in the current column.
Alt+Modifier+C
Read the current column.
Modifier+R
Read the current row.
Alt+Modifier+R
Read the first cell in the current row.

Microsoft Outlook

Modifier+1
Read the From header in a message window.
Modifier+1 twice quickly
Move the focus to the From header in a message window.
Modifier+A
Choose from the list of attachments, if any.

Microsoft PowerPoint Slide Show

End
Move to the end of the line.
Control+End
Move to the end of the slide.
Home
Move to the start of the line.
Control+Home
Move to the start of the slide.
Left Arrow
Move one character to the left.
Control+Left Arrow
Move to the previous word.
Up Arrow
Move up one line.
Modifier+Up Arrow
Read the current line.
Right Arrow
Move one character to the right.
Control+Right Arrow
Move to the next word.
Down Arrow
Move down one line.
Modifier+Down Arrow
Read the slide starting at the virtual cursor.

Microsoft Word Document Window

Modifier+Clear
Say the current word.
Modifier+Page Down
Read the virtual status bar.
Control+Up Arrow
Move to the previous paragraph.
Modifier+Up Arrow
Read the current line or selection.
Control+Down Arrow
Move to the next paragraph.
Modifier+Down Arrow
Read the document starting at the insertion point.
Modifier+C
Read the first cell in the current table column.
Modifier+R
Read the current table row.
Modifier+S
Move to the next sentence.
Shift+Modifier+S
Move to the previous sentence.
Modifier+Num Pad 5
Say the current word.

Outlook Express Message Window

Modifier+A
Move to the list of attachments, if any.

Virtual Mouse

Tab
Move to the next clickable object.
Shift+Tab
Move to the previous clickable object.
Enter
Simulate a left click.
Shift+Enter
Simulate a right click.
Escape
Deactivate Virtual Mouse.
Space
Simulate a left click.
Shift+Space
Simulate a right click.
End
Move to the end of the current text.
Control+End
Move to the bottom of the window.
Home
Move to the start of the current text.
Control+Home
Move to the top of the window.
Left Arrow
Move left one character.
Control+Left Arrow
Move left one word.
Alt+Left Arrow
Move left one object.
Up Arrow
Move up one line.
Modifier+Up Arrow
Announce the object under the cursor.
Right Arrow
Move right one character.
Control+Right Arrow
Move right one word.
Alt+Right Arrow
Move right one object.
Down Arrow
Move down one line.
Modifier+Down Arrow
Read the contents of the window starting at the cursor.
Alt+A
Automatically label graphics.
Alt+L
Label a graphic.
Modifier+M
Deactivate Virtual Mouse.
Alt+S
Submit a Program Pack for this program.
Alt+T
Toggle speaking of tool tips.
Modifier+F7
Choose a clickable object from a list.

Making the web your oyster... With C-SAW?

Back in the nineteen nineties, when the "World Wide Web," or just "Web" for short began to really become popular; information was mostly laid out in simple black and white text. Oh, and those were the good old days! Soon after, however, people became more adventuresome and, lo and behold.. Graphics appeared! Now graphics can represent links, (which take you from one page of information to another), or buttons, Etc.

This is all well and good if you are looking at the screen. But what if you are not looking at the screen, and doing something else? What if... Perhaps, you are blind, or visually impaired? Those graphics suddenly don't look so good, and in fact can cause headaches for many people. Sometimes these graphics have labels which make the information available to you even if you do not see the graphics, but often there are no labels.

What does all that have to do with C-SAW? Well, C-SAW is an acronym that stands for Community-Supported Accessible Web. What this means is if you have a tiny bit of knowledge about how the web works for you, you can be a part of the C-SAW community, and help make websites accessible to all... Just like the good old days! But remember, that you need very little knowledge to make this work for you. Also, the work that you do, will be instantly usable by all in the freedomBox community without any work being done on their parts.

Important, because C-SAW does require some basic knowledge relating to how web pages work, you will be required to take a tiny little test. This test will provide you a web site that has been purposely made inaccessible. This means that edit boxes aren't labeled, links, aren't labeled, and so on. Your job is to correctly label this page with C-SAW, and make it accessible. It doesn't take long, and it will get you familiar with the C-SAW process, as well as prove that you possess the knowledge to correctly, and accurately label web pages. remember, that this is a community supported effort, so we would like to see as many people as possible labeling web sites. This in turn will give our community that many more accessible web sites to enjoy! If you don't feel comfortable labeling web sites, please don't feel left behind. Again because this is community supported, once a web site is labeled, you need not concern yourself with labeling that web site. You will be able to use that web site in it's new usable form, without you , yourself working to make it happen. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's get back to showing you how to take advantage of C-SAW!

Let's take a link for example. Remember a link just takes you from one page of information to another page of information. If a link is identified with a picture of a sunset and doesn't have a label, all you will hear when using a talking web browser such as FreedomBox is, "Link," or perhaps "Link" followed by some text that makes absolutely no sense what so ever! C-SAW changes all of that. C-SAW allows you to change items on a web page that are not accessible and re-label them so that they make sense to you. So that link that we talked about could be labeled as sunset. Or whatever is a meaningful description of the information represented. When you are all done with your changes, you can send it off to The FreedomBox C-SAW Repository, where they will be made instantly available to all FreedomBox users! Important, if you forget to send your changes to the C-SAW repository, you will lose all modifications that you have made to a particular web page. Also, no one else will benefit from your work. So, just remember to send your modifications in with the alt+S command.

When you use the alt+L command to label a link that is inaccessible, you will be presented with three pieces of information that will help you:

  1. The actual graphic. This assumes that you can see the graphic. If this happens to be the case, you could simply type in a label for the inaccessible link.
  2. The location (URL) of the graphic. This is used to specify where the graphic is located so that the computer can find it when it is needed. Often this can be used to glean the graphic's purpose.
  3. The location (URL) of the link. This is used to specify where the link is located so that the computer can find it when it is needed. Often this can be used to glean the link's purpose. Note that you also have the option to open the link in a new window. This lets you look at the page and then label the link. Just close the new page when you're done and you will be back in the Edit label text box.

Once you've determined what you think the link should be labeled, you can tab to the edit box, type in your label, and press enter. The alt+L command can also be used to label buttons. In this case, only the first two items are shown.

If examining the above info doesn't help you come up with a suitable label, you can use the auto-labeler. This command is executed by pressing alt+A. It is strongly recommended that you use this only as a last resort.

A related problem is that FreedomBox often cannot find the label associated with a form field, such as an edit box, list of choices, check box, or radio button. In this case, you should first locate the label by using the up and down arrow keys to look above and below the form field. Then, when you are in the form field, you can use alt+L to label it. When prompted, simply type the label and press enter.

Finally, when you are finished making your alterations, you can submit the information to the FreedomBox C-SAW repository, where it will instantly become available to everyone within the FreedomBox community. To do this, press alt+S. From then on, whenever you or someone else within the FreedomBox community accesses that same site, they will hear the C-SAW sound, indicating that the site to which they are visiting, has been made accessible via C-SAW!

Using the Key to Freedom and/or the PassKey

As you may have surmised by now, we have two flavors of what we call keys. We have the Key to Freedom®, and the PassKey. These two keys are similar, but, their main purpose is to give you remote access to the FreedomBox network, and services, away from home.

Let's look at the Key to Freedom first. The Key to Freedom was designed to give you remote access to the FreedomBox network, but it was also designed to allow you to download content to the Key to Freedom itself. The Key to Freedom units have extra storage that can be used to download files from the Internet. You just plug the Key to Freedom into any windows based USB slot, and presto, you have your information, right at your fingertips.

The PassKey, on the other hand has no storage capacity. Rather, it is a tiny Compact Disk, (CD), that can fit into a wallet. Because CDs are read only, meaning that you are unable to put information on to them, you will be unable to save information to the PassKey. However, you will be able to direct FreedomBox to save any info to your home location when the circumstances mandate it.

Changing FreedomBox Preferences

FreedomBox allows you to customize your preferred way of interacting with the software and then save those preferences so that it will always respond the same way when you log on.

To access, and change FreedomBox Preferences, simply press alt+P from anywhere within the FreedomBox software. If you are using a mouse, you may access the preferences by clicking the Preferences button, near the top of the FreedomBox window. Many of the preferences are controlled through check boxes, which you can turn on or off by pressing the space bar.

The Preferences Window

FreedomBox's preferences are divided up into several categories. The idea is to select the preference type that best corresponds to the setting in FreedomBox that you wish to change. For example, if you wanted to change the way that FreedomBox displayed links, you would select "Display Preferences". When you select one of these options, you then simply tab, or Shift+Tab through the settings and make the changes that you want. When you have made all of the changes that you want, tab to the Ok button to save your changes for that area. If you don't want to save changes, move to the cancel button. Finally, if you wish to reset the settings to the factory defaults, just activate the reset button. In any case, you will be returned to the main preferences window, where you can either close the preferences page, or select a new area of customization. The Preferences Window consists of the following categories:

  1. General Preferences.
  2. Text-to-speech preferences.
  3. Display Preferences.
  4. Speech recognition preferences.
  5. System Access Preferences.
  6. Manage my Home Server.

The last option is a link that closes the preferences window, but you can also tap Escape from anywhere.

General Preferences

Enable speech synthesis

This check box just enables, or disables speech output. If you want speech, just leave this check box alone, otherwise, check it by tapping the space bar once.

Turn on NumLock At Startup

This option turns on, or off NumLock when the Freedombox is first started. By default, Freedombox will turn on NumLock when the Freedombox is started. When NumLock is on, the key pad will act like a regular calculator. When NumLock is off, the key pad will allow you to perform directional commands, such as moving you up, down, left, right, and so forth.

Play pre-recorded prompts

Many of the messages and links in the FreedomBox Network are presented as pre-recorded human speech by default. If you would rather hear synthesized speech instead, you can turn playback of these recordings off.

Speak item numbers in numbered lists

Many pages in the FreedomBox Network, as well as some pages on other sites, have lists in which each item is preceded by a number. If you don't want FreedomBox to speak those numbers, you can turn this option off.

Key Echo

If this option is turned on, FreedomBox echoes any letters, and or numbers that you type, but it will not echo sensitive information such as passwords.

Word Echo

If this option is turned on, FreedomBox will echo words that you type. For example if you are editing an email and type the word, "Hello" FreedomBox will say, "Hello" when you press the space bar, enter, or tab/shift+tab keys.

Link Alert Type

This setting allows you to specify how you want links to be indicated, while you are listening to a page read continually. By default, links will be indicated by a tone. The indicator will be heard before the actual text of the link is spoken. You can also have links indicated by word, by selecting "Word" from the drop down list box. If you do not wish to here any link indicator, just select, "None" from the drop down list box. By selecting none, you will not hear any textual, or auditory alert before the name of the link itself. As a result, it may be somewhat difficult to accurately determine when links are present. Note, if you are arrowing through the page, or tabbing/shift+tabbing through the page, the alert indicator will not be used, regardless of the setting you choose. The setting is only applicable while continually reading through a page, such as with the control+down command.

Text-To-Speech Preferences

Text to Speech Engine

This setting lets you choose your primary speech engine. Use alt+Down arrow to open the list box. The choices are: Dec Talk, Microsoft speech API 5, and Microsoft Speech API 4. Use your up, and down arrow keys to move through these choices. When you arrow to the one you want just tab to the following two buttons, "Previous Voice", and , "Next Voice". These two buttons will cycle through the individual voices within each speech engine. When you hear the voice you want, just tab and move on through the settings.

Voice Rate

You can also control the rate of speech. The buttons, faster and Slower, will do this for you. Just move to the button, and press it with the space bar. Freedombox will respond by saying, "This is a test of your speech settings." each time the buttons are pressed.

Voice Pitch Control

Pitch control will let you change the pitch of speech. Again, you have two buttons, higher, for higher pitch, and lower, for lower pitch. Again, each time you press the buttons, freedombox will respond by saying, "This is a test of your speech settings."

Punctuation

You can also control the punctuation that is spoken by FreedomBox. To do this, move to the Punctuation list of choices, and press alt+down to open the list of choices. The punctuation choices are: none, some, most and all. When you have made your selection, just tap the tab key to move to the next item in the preferences.

Display Preferences

Use Colors Defined by Web Page Authors

This check box lets you control how colors on web pages are displayed. If you like the way that FreedomBox displays these colors, then leave this check box alone, otherwise check this check box to display the colors that the author of the web page has specified.

Use the Operating System's Default Color Scheme

Checking this check box will insure that web pages are displayed with respect to your Operating system's default set of display settings. This group of settings are commonly known as a display scheme.

Foreground Color

This drop down box lets you choose the color of text. Warning! Do not make this color the same color as the background! Making these colors the same will make it impossible to read text.

Background Color

This drop down box lets you choose the color of the background. It may help you to think of this setting as choosing the color of your paper. Warning! Do not make this color the same color as the foreground! Making these colors the same will make it impossible to read text.

Unvisited Link Color

This drop down box lets you specify the color of links that you have not yet linked to either via voice command, clicking with the mouse, or by tapping enter on a link with the keyboard.

Active Link Color

This Drop down box lets you specify the color of active links. A link is active when you move to that link via keyboard or mouse.

Visited Link Color

This drop down box lets you specify the color of links that you have previously visited via voice command, clicking with a mouse, or by tapping enter on a link with the keyboard.

Font Size (Pixels)

This drop down box lets you specify the size of text. The default size is 24 pixels.

Speech Recognition Preferences

Enable Speech Recognition

This option simply enables, or disables speech recognition. This option is turned on by default.

Control key serves as push to talk key

This option is for people who have become used to FreedomBox 1.2. If you still want to use the control key to talk to the FreedomBox, then turn this option on. Important, turning this option on is not recommended as it will interfere with some keyboard commands.

Stop listening to speech after the push to talk key is released

This option is also for people who are used to FreedomBox 1.2. If you do not want to have to hold down the talk key while you are giving FreedomBox a voice command, then leave this option unchecked. By default FreedomBox will stop listening for your speech about a second after your last word. By default, simply tap the talk key, give your command, and FreedomBox will do the rest.

Password Manager

The password manager allows you to delete passwords and account logOn information for web siteFor example, if your FreedomBox logOn information is changed, FreedomBox will still remember the old logOn information. In order to solve this problem, arrow down to the web site that you need to change the account information for, and then tab to the, "Remove Selected Passwords" button. The next time you logOn to the web site, such as the FreedomBox logOn page, FreedomBox will again ask you how you want FreedomBox to remember the LogOn information. If you tell FreedomBox that you never want account information to be remembered for a web page, and then change your mind, just move to the list box called, "Sites for which passwords are never saved", select the site from the list Then activate the, "Remove selected sites" button.

FBSA Settings

Please refer to the section on FreedomBox System Access for information about these settings.

Manage My HomeServer

This is not a preference it of itself. However, it is a link that allows you to enable the FreedomBox HomeServer service. The shortcut will allow you to remove the service from your system, or stop the service. Note, when you activate this link, you will be taken to a new page.

Remote Control Preferences

Within the Home Server page is a link to the preferences for Remote Controlling your home PC. When you activate the remote control preferences link you will be taken to the remote control preferences page. This page allows you to customize how Freedombox Remote Desktop works.

The "Capture all sound card output, not just wave output" check box specifies how the sound card on your home pc will stream that sound to your location. This check box makes the sound card stream everything that the sound card is capable of creating. Checking this option will allow you to get all available sound from your sound card when using remote desktop.

When you have made your selections, you can activate the submit button, or the cancel button to undo any settings changes that you have made