AT/JAWS
From CodeTalks
The following information should be current as of JAWS 10 with Firefox 3.
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Auto Forms Mode
Traditionally, Forms Mode in JAWS has been activated manually when you needed to type text into edit fields or select combo box values on Web pages and Adobe Acrobat forms. By default, JAWS is in Virtual Mode which allows you to use Navigation Quick Keys such as F for next form field or E for next edit box. When you need to interact with a form in order to type in text, you must manually turn on Forms Mode using the ENTER key. You can toggle off Forms Mode using ESC or the NUM PAD PLUS key.
Auto Forms Mode will automatically turn on Forms Mode when you move into combo box controls using TAB, or edit fields using either TAB or ARROW Keys. This makes if far more intuitive and easy to interact with form fields found on web pages without having to do these extra key strokes. When you press ARROW Keys or TAB to move to an edit field, you will hear a sound indicating you can type at that moment without having to first press ENTER. When you exit the control using an ARROW Key, Forms Mode turns off and will let you easily continue to navigate in virtual mode again. This functionality can be very useful for new and sighted JAWS users in training environments but even long time JAWS users will quickly adapt to this new method with a little practice. By default, Auto Forms Mode is on. There are two ways to turn it off. First, you can press INSERT+V and then change the Auto Forms Mode option to off. Second, you can use the new Forms Mode Options dialog located in Configuration Manager.
Landmarks
JAWS announces ARIA landmarks when reading a web page with the say all, next line, or prior line commands. These keystrokes are insert + DownArrow, DownArrow, and UpArrow respectively.
The following keys are used to navigate to landmarks:
- semicolon = move to the next landmark on the page
- shift + semicolon = move to the prior landmark on the page
- insert + ctrl + semicolon = present a list of available landmarks
Live regions
JAWS will announce when the contents of an ARIA live region have changed. Region updates are announced by default. You can disable announcement of live region updates in the JAWS verbosity dialog (insert + V).
JAWS obeys the ARIA "live" and "atomic" properties. When "live " is set to polite, JAWS waits to announce the change until all text currently being spoken has finished. When live" is set to rude, JAWS immediately interrupts speech to announce the update. And when "live" is set to assertive, JAWS announces the update as soon as possible without stopping speech in midsentence. We recommend that "rude" be used sparingly. When "atomic" is set to true, JAWS will announce the entire contents of the region in question, regardless of which subsection has been changed. When "atomic" is false or omitted, JAWS announces only the specific content which have been updated.
Application mode
In HTML, when the Aria role attribute on the BODY tag is set to "application", JAWS will treat a web page as though it were a traditional stand-alone application. This means that the virtual buffer JAWS typically uses to display web pages will be turned off, and the user will navigate using tab and other such keystrokes which are normally provided in stand-alone apps to facilitate keyboard access. The web page will not appear to the user as a web document - text interspersed with graphics, links, etc - but rather as an application consisting of form controls such as edit fields, buttons, lists, and so on.
