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From: Moore, Michael
Date: Wed, Sep 17 2008 11:10AM
Subject: Re: Spam?: Word Accessibility with JAWS
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Jason wrote:



Does anyone have advice on the use of Text Boxes in Word XP or 2007 with
the most recent version of JAWS. In the past I have found that JAWS did
not read any text boxes and I am trying to find out if this is still the
case.



Mike:



JAWS 6+ will read the information contained within text boxes in Word.
(2003+). Office 2007 requires JAWS 9. However, the issue is not getting
JAWS to read the content of the box but locating the box which must be
done though the JAWS cursor and using the arrow keys to hunt around the
document to find the text box. So they are still something that should
be avoided.



Jason:


What I am trying to do is find out if it would be beneficial to a
student using JAWS if we had a faculty member send a PowerPoint to Word
with notes below the slides. My understanding is that this would not
work and that JAWS would not recognize the text in the slides, only the
note text.



Mike:



JAWS will read any text that is present in the outline view. Thus using
real text, not word art, and default layouts will usually result in
slides that can be read using JAWS. Getting to the notes requires
navigation among the "frames" in PowerPoint F6. The notes areas are one
area that can be used to convey information that is presented through
images within the slide, although the JAWS user may not be aware that
there is anything in the notes section. An alternative to providing the
information presented by images is to use text in the slide, through a
default layout, then cover that area visually with the image object. As
long as the text shows up in the outline you should be able to get to it
with JAWS. In general PowerPoint is difficult for most JAWS users that I
have encountered to use effectively. Consider MS Word or HTML as
alternatives. Eric Meyer's S5 slide show is a great way of creating
accessible slide shows in html. http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/s5/



Mike

From: Cliff Tyllick
Date: Wed, Sep 17 2008 5:30PM
Subject: Re: Word Accessibility with JAWS
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Karen pointed out that:


Text boxes are inherently inaccessible to screen readers since they sort of
float over the document as objects.

On the issue of text boxes themselves, perhaps requirements to be accessible will force writers and designers to do something they should have been doing all along--that is, identify strong callouts to the text boxes. Otherwise, the "floating" is not just an artifact of Word---it's intrinsic to sloppy writing.

I have found that if you embed a bookmark at the beginning of the text box, then you can link to that bookmark from the text. This link should be the strong callout that good writing calls for. Then, at the end of the text box, you can link back to the text. If there's already a bookmark in the text (the next heading, for example), you can use that as the target of the link. If not, you can add a bookmark to point to.

This gives the reader using assistive technology almost the same interface as the sighted reader---a signal that the text box is there, and the ability to choose to either read it or ignore it.

I haven't fully tested it, but it seems to work as designed when the Word document is read in JAWS. I don't think I've made a PDF of such a document, let alone tested one. That would be interesting to follow up on.



Cliff Tyllick
Web development coordinator
Agency Communications Division
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
512-239-4516
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =

From: Info
Date: Thu, Sep 18 2008 5:20AM
Subject: Re: Word Accessibility with JAWS
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Text boxes converted to tagged PDF using either the Acrobat and Office
plug-in or the Save as PDF or XPS tool for Office 2007 from Microsoft do
render the text as readable tagged content but since the text box is a
floating layer, it often means a bit of repair to put it in the right place
in the reading order of the Tags Tree.

Cheers, Karen

From: Jamie Smith
Date: Tue, Sep 23 2008 5:30PM
Subject: Re: Word Accessibility with JAWS
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None of our speech users are using 2007 word (or any 2007 office
products) at Florida Blind Services yet because with speech it is still very
cumbersome to use.

JAWs still ignores text boxes. Our staff have the latest version, but again,
they are not reading docx which adds an alt tag to the text box.

The new Window's Eyes is out, I will be checking to see the status with it
soon. Window Eye's can read some things in Word 2003 (like the alt on the
graphics) which JAWs ignores. But JAws seems to do better with Flash
products. Can't wait to see what the new version of Window's Eyes does.

I used to be able to check HAL, but our only HAL user doesn't work at
Florida Blind Services anymore. How powerful is it?
To me as a sighted user, I am able to create accessible documents much
easier with 2007 office products. The ugly codes often left by 2003 isn't
there. However, some of the new kool features, like doing e-mail surveys
and putting them into access still are not accessible with out someone who
knows how to RE-code the unreadable text.
On Wed, Sep 17, 2008 at 11:42 AM, Jason Maseberg-Tomlinson < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> wrote:

> Does anyone have advice on the use of Text Boxes in Word XP or 2007 with
> the most recent version of JAWS. In the past I have found that JAWS did not
> read any text boxes and I am trying to find out if this is still the case.
>
> What I am trying to do is find out if it would be beneficial to a student
> using JAWS if we had a faculty member send a PowerPoint to Word with notes
> below the slides. My understanding is that this would not work and that
> JAWS would not recognize the text in the slides, only the note text.
>
> Thanks for any help in advance. I find this to be a very helpful
> community.
>
> Jason
> --
> ------------------------------
>
> Jason Maseberg-Tomlinson
> Adaptive Technology Specialist
> Disability Support Services
> 202 Holton Hall
> Kansas State University
> Manhattan, KS 66506-1311
>
> Ph# 785.532.6441
> Fax 785.532.6457
>
> This information is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient or
> an agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are
> hereby notified that you have received this document in error and that any
> review, dissemination, copying, or the taking of any action based on the
> contents of this information is strictly prohibited. If you have received
> this communication in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail, and
> delete the original message.
>
>

From: Jamie Smith
Date: Tue, Sep 23 2008 5:40PM
Subject: Re: Word Accessibility with JAWS
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As far as making providing a power point with notes, be prepared to cut and
paste. I cut the notes underneath the outline view, then just send the
outline to rich text format. Speech users have no problems. It takes as
long to do are there are slides unless the power point isn't accessible (no
outline view).

On Wed, Sep 17, 2008 at 11:42 AM, Jason Maseberg-Tomlinson < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> wrote:

> Does anyone have advice on the use of Text Boxes in Word XP or 2007 with
> the most recent version of JAWS. In the past I have found that JAWS did not
> read any text boxes and I am trying to find out if this is still the case.
>
> What I am trying to do is find out if it would be beneficial to a student
> using JAWS if we had a faculty member send a PowerPoint to Word with notes
> below the slides. My understanding is that this would not work and that
> JAWS would not recognize the text in the slides, only the note text.
>
> Thanks for any help in advance. I find this to be a very helpful
> community.
>
> Jason
> --
> ------------------------------
>
> Jason Maseberg-Tomlinson
> Adaptive Technology Specialist
> Disability Support Services
> 202 Holton Hall
> Kansas State University
> Manhattan, KS 66506-1311
>
> Ph# 785.532.6441
> Fax 785.532.6457
>
> This information is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient or
> an agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are
> hereby notified that you have received this document in error and that any
> review, dissemination, copying, or the taking of any action based on the
> contents of this information is strictly prohibited. If you have received
> this communication in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail, and
> delete the original message.
>
>

From: Info
Date: Wed, Sep 24 2008 5:00AM
Subject: Re: Word Accessibility with JAWS
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The only issues I've had with JAWS reading alt text on images in Word 2003
or 2007 is when I'm using the Down Arrow to go through parts of a document
line by line. JAWS might say "slash" for an image but if I go above the
image and either SayAll or read by paragraph, it does read the Alt Text. I
have my verbosity setting for labeled graphics and picture and graphical
objects detection is turned on.

I create a lot of documents with images and always use Alt Text and captions
and would say that 90 percent of the time JAWS is finding the Alt Text, the
exception being the above scenario.

Cheers, Karen

From: Moore, Michael
Date: Wed, Sep 24 2008 6:50AM
Subject: Re: Word Accessibility with JAWS
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One thing that I would like to add about JAWS 9 and images in Office
2007 is that when an image is imbedded in an Office 2007 document,
either the image file name and sometimes the file path are placed by
office in the alt text by default. JAWS 9 will report this alt text.

To change the alt text you need to find the image size dialog. This is
in the formatting ribbon on the picture tools tab. This tab is only
present if you have an image in the document selected.

Do not put "" in the alt - if it is a decorative image, delete the
default text and leave it blank. JAWS reads the "". I have tested this
with PowerPoint and Word and word. The results when you convert to PDF
and HTML remain to be tested but will likely vary depending upon the
method/software used for the conversion. Testing the result is strongly
encouraged.

Mike

From: Info
Date: Wed, Sep 24 2008 7:20AM
Subject: Re: Word Accessibility with JAWS
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Agreed, and I put the "Alt Text" tool in the Quick Access Toolbar of Word
2007 so I can get at it faster. It is in the list of commands not on the
Ribbons. This opens the Size dialog, press Ctrl + Tab once and you are ready
to add the Alt text. Sometimes this is a bit faster than the AppKey and
context menu. You still need to have the image selected.

Cheers, Karen

From: Sean Keegan
Date: Wed, Sep 24 2008 12:50PM
Subject: Re: Word Accessibility with JAWS
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> The only issues I've had with JAWS reading alt text on images in
> Word 2003 or 2007 is when I'm using the Down Arrow to go through
> parts of a document line by line. JAWS might say "slash" for an image
> but if I go above the image and either SayAll or read by paragraph,
> it does read the Alt Text.

Karen - which version of JAWS are you using?

I am running a networked version of JAWS (version 9.0.2169U) with the same
labeled graphics and graphical objects settings enabled and have found that
JAWS rarely reads the alt text information for images in Word 2007. I have
also tried this with .docx and .doc files with the same result (no image
information being communicated). I do get the "slash" feedback, but that is
all.

I contacted Freedom Sci. support about a month ago and they acknowledged
that this is a bug issue and should be resolved in the next version. Just
curious what you have running and how JAWS may be configured as I had no
success with manipulating the settings.

Thanks,
Sean

From: Karlen Communications
Date: Wed, Sep 24 2008 1:20PM
Subject: Re: Word Accessibility with JAWS
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Sean:

I am not networked. I was running JAWS 9 with Word 2007 but am now running
JAWS 10 public beta. I remember you saying you had this problem and I've
been watching out for it when I revert back to JAWS 9.

If you press Ctrl + Shift + Letter O do you get the Alt Text for the
graphics listed?

One other thing I find that interferes with the accuracy of reading Alt Text
is when I apply picture styles to images but this is mostly in Outlook 2007
with both versions of JAWS.

Cheers, Karen