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Thread: JAWS & IE7

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Number of posts in this thread: 8 (In chronological order)

From: John Foliot - Stanford Online Accessibility Program
Date: Thu, Apr 12 2007 10:40AM
Subject: JAWS & IE7
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All,

I know that when IE7 initially rolled out (via Microsoft's automatic update)
that JAWS users were specifically cautioned against upgrading due to known
issues. Since that time, I've not heard whether or not it is now safe to
upgrade to IE7 (despite the ongoing issues that IE7 present to developers).

Also, I understand that JAWS and Firefox are now starting to play together,
although I do not personally know of anyone using this configuration. Are
there any issues?

Thanks in advance.

JF

From: Patrick Burke
Date: Thu, Apr 12 2007 1:30PM
Subject: Re: JAWS & IE7
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Hi John,

Jaws 8.0 (released near the end of 2006) is compatible with IE7:

<http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws80fea.asp#IE7>;

Firefox began to show good accessibility features with V1.5. Version 2 is
very good. Jaws7.0 was the first Firefox-compatible version. Additions in
Jaws 8.0 don't seem very significant.

The one issue I've had with Jaws & Firefox is that navigating by headings
doesn't bring the cursor (not sure which cursor ...) along with it. So
hitting Tab takes you back to the first link on the page, no matter where
you had gotten to in the document with heading navigation commands.

Patrick
At 09:32 AM 4/12/2007, John Foliot - Stanford Online Accessibility Program
wrote:
>All,
>
>I know that when IE7 initially rolled out (via Microsoft's automatic update)
>that JAWS users were specifically cautioned against upgrading due to known
>issues. Since that time, I've not heard whether or not it is now safe to
>upgrade to IE7 (despite the ongoing issues that IE7 present to developers).


>Also, I understand that JAWS and Firefox are now starting to play together,
>although I do not personally know of anyone using this configuration. Are
>there any issues?
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>JF

From: Joshue O Connor
Date: Thu, Apr 12 2007 1:50PM
Subject: Re: JAWS & IE7
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Hi John,

The general consensus from blind screen reader users is very positive.
This is specifically regarding IE 7 and JAWS 8 but also screen reader
compatibility with Firefox. I have no specific examples to qualify this
but suffice to say I have not heard of users abandoning new versions of
the screen reader and reverting back to an older version, or the same
with either browser. Many screen reader users I know would be IE users
with a , mostly power users, using Firefox.

If you have any specific issues you would like me to look at (are there
bugs filled etc?) I will gladly have a look and get back to you, on or
off list.

HTH

Josh

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From: Joshue O Connor
Date: Thu, Apr 12 2007 2:00PM
Subject: Re: JAWS & IE7
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> If you have any specific issues you would like me to look at (are there
> bugs filled etc?)

That should obviously be bugs _filed_. However I could do ricotta hmm.
Its late I should turn off my computer :)

Josh

********************************************************************

NOTICE: The information contained in this email and any attachments
is confidential and may be privileged. If you are not the intended
recipient you should not use, disclose, distribute or copy any of
the content of it or of any attachment; you are requested to notify
the sender immediately of your receipt of the email and then to
delete it and any attachments from your system.

NCBI endeavours to ensure that emails and any attachments generated
by its staff are free from viruses or other contaminants. However,
it cannot accept any responsibility for any such which are
transmitted. We therefore recommend you scan all attachments.

Please note that the statements and views expressed in this email
and any attachments are those of the author and do not necessarily
represent the views of NCBI


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From: Sean Keegan
Date: Thu, Apr 12 2007 2:10PM
Subject: Re: JAWS & IE7
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> Also, I understand that JAWS and Firefox are now starting to play
together,
> although I do not personally know of anyone using this configuration.
> Are there any issues?

I have been using JAWS 7.x and Firefox 2.00.3 to do some testing and for
basic Web pages, the functionality seems good. The JAWS navigation commands
seem to work, you can open/navigate/close tabs, complete forms, etc. I have
encountered some issues where JAWS does not correctly read the form or link
element when navigating the page, but this also seems to happen with IE 6.
Either tabbing/shift-tabbing or updating the screen seemed to fix this
issue.

One issue that is problematic is the rendering of MathML content by
screen-readers if using Firefox. Currently, the screen-readers (JAWS,
Supernova, Window-Eyes) and TextHelp's Read and Write Gold will read MathML
content via the MathPlayer plug-in with IE 6 and IE 7. However, MathML is
rendered as a font in Firefox and I have not had any success with assistive
technologies "reading" the math correctly.

Take care,
sean


From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: Thu, Apr 12 2007 2:20PM
Subject: Re: JAWS & IE7
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John,

At home, I use both IE and FireFox with JAWS v8 currently--although I
was using them with JAWS v7 earlier.

I think the only problem I have noticed in the past that was significant
to me as a home user is the fact that Flash is (or at least was) not
accessible when using the combination of FireFox and JAWS. However, my
understanding was that it was a problem being worked on--and since I
could just revert to using IE, it wasn't a major problem for me.

In fact, as a screen reader user, I cannot say that I really like one
browser better than the other. The features I like to use in the
browser are available in both--for the most part using the same
keystrokes. I really only tend to have a preference on the browser when
I am developing at home. At that point, I probably like some of the
debugging features of FireFox a little better. However, whether it is
lack of knowledge or an accessibility problem with the interface, those
features don't work as easily as I wish they would.

Tim
>-----Original Message-----
>From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
>[mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of
>John Foliot - Stanford Online Accessibility Program
>Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 11:32 AM
>To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ; = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
>Subject: [WebAIM] JAWS & IE7
>
>All,
>
>I know that when IE7 initially rolled out (via Microsoft's
>automatic update) that JAWS users were specifically cautioned
>against upgrading due to known issues. Since that time, I've
>not heard whether or not it is now safe to upgrade to IE7
>(despite the ongoing issues that IE7 present to developers).
>
>Also, I understand that JAWS and Firefox are now starting to
>play together, although I do not personally know of anyone
>using this configuration. Are there any issues?
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>JF
>
>

From: Sandra Clark
Date: Thu, Apr 12 2007 2:30PM
Subject: Re: JAWS & IE7
← Previous message | Next message →

According to my understanding, the Flash Accessibility is an Adobe issue,
not Jaws. The information is provided to Jaws and Window-Eyes via an activeX
object. It only works in IE and not in Firefox.


Sandra Clark
============http://www.shayna.com
Training and Consulting in CSS and Accessibility
Team Fusebox


-----Original Message-----
From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
[mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of Tim Harshbarger
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 4:00 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] JAWS & IE7

John,

At home, I use both IE and FireFox with JAWS v8 currently--although I
was using them with JAWS v7 earlier.

I think the only problem I have noticed in the past that was significant
to me as a home user is the fact that Flash is (or at least was) not
accessible when using the combination of FireFox and JAWS. However, my
understanding was that it was a problem being worked on--and since I
could just revert to using IE, it wasn't a major problem for me.

In fact, as a screen reader user, I cannot say that I really like one
browser better than the other. The features I like to use in the
browser are available in both--for the most part using the same
keystrokes. I really only tend to have a preference on the browser when
I am developing at home. At that point, I probably like some of the
debugging features of FireFox a little better. However, whether it is
lack of knowledge or an accessibility problem with the interface, those
features don't work as easily as I wish they would.

Tim
>-----Original Message-----
>From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
>[mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of
>John Foliot - Stanford Online Accessibility Program
>Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 11:32 AM
>To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ; = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
>Subject: [WebAIM] JAWS & IE7
>
>All,
>
>I know that when IE7 initially rolled out (via Microsoft's
>automatic update) that JAWS users were specifically cautioned
>against upgrading due to known issues. Since that time, I've
>not heard whether or not it is now safe to upgrade to IE7
>(despite the ongoing issues that IE7 present to developers).
>
>Also, I understand that JAWS and Firefox are now starting to
>play together, although I do not personally know of anyone
>using this configuration. Are there any issues?
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>JF
>
>

From: John Foliot - Stanford Online Accessibility Program
Date: Thu, Apr 12 2007 2:40PM
Subject: Re: JAWS & IE7
← Previous message | No next message

A big thank you to all that replied to my query. I think I've got a great
picture here now, and certainly have an answer to the initial question posed
of me.

Thanks again all!

JF