At the CSUN conference last week, staff at the American Foundation
for the Blind made a presentation on and distributed disks
containing evaluations of six screen readers for Windows 95. Below
are the evaluations in reverse chronological order (the most recent
first). They are contained in three articles that appeared in the
Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness. Each article covers a
pair of screen readers: Window Bridge and WinVision, ASAW and JFW,
Screen Power and Window-Eyes.
An overall summary is apparently not available in written form
(based on the disk of handouts which seemed comprehensive), so I'll
mention my recollection of the summary presented verbally at this
event. The reviewers concluded that the six screen readers covered
could be separated into three categories. No ranking was done
between the two screen readers in each category. The top category,
which could be described as screen readers usable out-of-the-box
with the most major applications, contained JFW and Window-Eyes.
The second category, which could be described as screen readers
generally as usable as above with additional manual configuring,
contained Window Bridge and WinVision. The third category, which could
be described as not usable enough to be recommended, contained ASAW and
Screen Power. I invite others who were there and have different
recollections to share them as well.
Evaluations began last summer, so most of the screen readers
covered have undergone a significant upgrade since the time of
review. Obviously, little can be concluded about screen readers
that were not covered. Another caution is that a limited number of
applications were systematically tested, and they too have
sometimes undergone significant revisions since then. Undoubtedly,
there are other caveats to consider, and this series of evaluations
counts as only one source of input in choosing a screen reader.
Nonetheless, I want to publicly express my appreciation to the
American Foundation for the Blind for conducting and sharing these
informative evaluations.
Regards,
Jamal
----------
AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR THE BLIND
National Technology Program
11 Penn Plaza Suite 300
New York, NY 10001
Phone: (212) 502-7642
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
A REVIEW OF TWO SPEECH ACCESS PROGRAMS FOR WINDOWS 95:
SLIMWARE WINDOW BRIDGE AND WINVISION
J.D. LEVENTHAL, C.L. EARL
Reprinted with permission from the Journal of Visual
Impairment & Blindness Vol. 92, No. 4, (pp. 240-244) and is
copyright 1998 by the American Foundation for the Blind,
11 Penn Plaza, Suite 300, New York, NY 10001.
A Review of Two Speech Access Programs for Windows 95:
SLIMWARE Window Bridge and WinVision
J.D. Leventhal, C.L. Earl
This Product Evaluation continues a series reviewing
speech access programs for Windows 95. Each program was
rated on how it performed certain tasks in Windows 95.
The programs were not compared directly with each other.
Ratings were on a scale of 0 to 5 as follows:
0. No access; the equivalent of a sighted person with no
mouse and the monitor turned off.
1. Little access; the program gives users an idea of what
is going on but little opportunity to function well.
2. Less than adequate access with much room for
improvement.
3. Good access but a definite need for improvement.
4. Very good access, with minor improvements expected in
the future.
5. Access as good as a sighted person has with a mouse
and a monitor.
SLIMWARE Window Bridge and WinVision 97 were each
tested on two Pentium personal computers (PC) with 32 MB
of memory: a Dell PC using a DECtalk PC synthesizer and
a Gateway 2000 using the DECtalk Express. A rating was
given for installation and documentation. Each program
was then rated for performance with the word processing
programs Microsoft Word 97 and Corel WordPerfect 6.1 and
8.0 and with the Web browsers Microsoft Internet Explorer
3.02 and Netscape Navigator Gold 3.01.
Window Bridge 2.40 and 2.41
Program profile The market version of 2.40 and a preview
of 2.41 were tested. Window Bridge offers speech output
for both DOS and Windows in a single package. The
advantage is that Window Bridge users do not need to buy
a separate DOS screen reader if they want to run DOS
applications within Windows 95. The disadvantage is that
users already familiar with a particular DOS screen
reader will not be able to use it. Window Bridge also
supports braille displays.
Its many prewritten configurations greatly improve
its performance in popular applications. Tools and
features are also provided that allow users to create and
save custom configurations and to fine-tune those
provided. Many Window Bridge features can be accessed
with hot keys, which save time for experienced users but
can contribute to key conflicts for beginners.
Installation and documentation: Rating 3
Window Bridge must be installed from DOS. Once the
installation program was opened, the DECTalk PC
synthesizer guided the testers through the selections.
Directions for installation provided on Disk 1 were
difficult to follow.
Documentation included a manual on disk and a
general overview on cassette. The on-line manual comes
with an easy-to-navigate reading program that lets users
hop from section to section. The documentation in the
version tested had not been updated to reflect new
configurations and lacked an explanation of concepts and
terminology in Windows 95.
Word 97: Rating 3.5
Window Bridge easily read menus, dialog boxes, and
text in Word 97 and was responsive to keyboard commands.
The Read All feature read without interruption. As the
user typed, Window Bridge recognized words flagged by
Word's autocorrect feature and announced the last word
followed by "May be spelled incorrectly," making this
feature accessible and easy to use.
The spell checker was extremely difficult to use.
It was rarely possible to determine what the misspelled
word was, its spelling, or its context.
WordPerfect 6.1 and 8.0: Rating 3
Window Bridge read menus in both versions of
WordPerfect without difficulty. For the most part,
dialog boxes were no problem, although some checkboxes in
WordPerfect 8.0 were identified as buttons. Window Bridge
often spoke extraneous information, such as parts of the
toolbar, when a word was deleted or when the arrow keys
were pressed beyond the top or bottom of a window. Text
in both versions was often scrambled. For example, if
one document was edited and then closed, random words
from it were read in the next document, even though they
were not on the screen. Pressing Window Bridge's Refresh
Screen key did not solve the problem; the only solution
was to restart WordPerfect.
The spell checkers in both versions of WordPerfect
worked well. The misspelled word was identified
automatically and spelled when a hot key was pressed. It
was possible to move through and spell the list of
suggested spellings.
Internet Explorer 3.02: Rating 3
The first screen of a new Web page was read by
pressing a hot key, and subsequent screens were read by
pressing the Page-Down key. Window Bridge read text links
reliably, and it read the URLs for graphical links after
a hot key was pressed. Information displayed in
newspaper-style columns was sometimes read across,
instead of down, the columns. Filling out forms was
straightforward.
Netscape Navigator Gold 3.01: Rating 3
As with Internet Explorer, the first screen of a
new Web page was read by pressing a hot key, and
subsequent screens were read by pressing the Page-Down
key. The Window Bridge configuration for Netscape made it
easy to locate text links but extremely difficult to
identify graphical links.
Window Bridge's unique find feature allows users to
search not only for text and graphics, but also for
controls such as edit boxes and combo boxes. This feature
is used to give access to forms in Netscape. Since most
forms on the Internet include at least one edit box,
Window Bridge's Netscape configuration includes keys to
automatically search for an edit box.
Improving performance
Window Bridge has several sophisticated features
that allow skilled users to greatly improve its
performance in complex applications. These advanced
features would be even more useful if they were fully
explained in the program's documentation.
Conclusion
Window Bridge is best suited for advanced users. It
has a number of efficiency-oriented features, but it is
unlikely that beginning users will be successful without
training. Window Bridge sometimes gave extraneous speech
and was somewhat unstable in the tests conducted for this
evaluation. Skilled users, however, will appreciate the
advanced features and be able to navigate around the
program's problems.
WinVision 4.1
Program profile
WinVision provides a large number of commands for
navigating the Windows 95 environment. Speech settings
can be changed easily in a pop-up menu. Configuration
files are provided for Word, Internet Explorer, Excel,
and CD-Player.
Installation and documentation: Rating 4
WinVision installs from Windows 95. Users can
specify a synthesizer or have the installation program
search for one. Once found, the synthesizer speaks
subsequent messages. Microsoft Active Accessibility
(MSAA) is installed automatically. The option to skip
installation of MSAA for users who already have it on
their machines should be explained in the manual.
WinVision installs its files in the Windows
directory, rather then into a WinVision directory. This
situation made it difficult to identify its files and can
result in important files being overwritten.
The WinVision manual is available in print,
cassette, and disk formats. It gives an extensive
introduction to the Windows 95 environment. More detail
about WinVision's operation, including prewritten
configurations for specific programs, would be helpful.
The number of speech synthesizers supported by
WinVision increased during the evaluation period. Users
should check with the manufacturer about support for
specific synthesizers.
Word 97: Rating 3
WinVision read text dialogs and menus in Word 97.
Its DocuPilot--the feature that reads from the caret
position to the end of documents--performed well with the
DECtalk Express speech synthesizer, but it stopped
frequently with the DECtalk PC synthesizer. Using the
spell checker required a lot of effort. There were key
conflicts between Word and the WinVision hot keys that
read the misspelled word, identified suggestions, and
read the misspelled word in context.
WordPerfect 6.1: Rating 3.5; WordPerfect 8.0: Rating 2
There are no WinVision configurations for
WordPerfect. Users must set up configuration files to
perform basic functions, such as reading the status line.
WinVision read menus and text in WordPerfect 6.1 and
8.0. Redrawing the screen was rarely necessary. It read
almost all dialog boxes well in 6.1. In 8.0, WinVision
gave almost no feedback when the testers tabbed through
dialog boxes. It was necessary to hit hot keys to know
what the current item was.
The spell checker in 6.1 was usable, and WinVision's
hot keys read the misspelled word in context and offered
suggestions. The spell checker in 8.0 was almost
unusable. WinVision read the misspelled word in context
but did not alert the testers when the spell checker
changed to edit mode.
Internet Explorer 3.02: Rating 4
WinVision worked extremely well with Internet
Explorer. Its Web Pilot read complete Web pages when
they loaded. It read links when the Tab key was pressed
and easily filled out and submitted forms.
Netscape Navigator Gold 3.01: Rating 2.5
WinVision's Read Current Focus hot key consistently
read the current screen of information. The only way to
find links was to use the WinVision search command to
search for underlined text. It was not possible to fill
out or submit forms.
Improving performance
The WinVision command structure relies heavily on
the Control and Alt keys. This situation causes extensive
key conflicts with Windows keyboard commands, and an
alternative command structure would be a big improvement.
The WinVision manual does not adequately explain
many of the program's powerful features. A more
comprehensive manual would be extremely helpful.
Conclusion
WinVision performed well during testing. Windows 95
crashed less frequently with Winvision running than with
most other screen readers tested. More thorough
documentation, an alternative command structure, and more
program configuration files would better complement
WinVision's power and stability.
Manufacturer's comments
Artic Technologies: "Although most users find
double-clicking the Alt or Control keys to be a very easy
approach to resolving key conflicts, WinVision also
offers the ability to remap the keyboard. Therefore, end
users can set WinVision's commands to whatever best suits
their needs.
"Documentation is an on-going task. A tutorial on
cassette tape that deals with both WinVision and Windows
95 is currently being developed and will soon be
available.
"Problems encountered in such applications as
WordPerfect and Lotus Notes are well known and result in
most cases from the inaccessible programming approaches
of these programs. Corel and Lotus [the manufacturers of
the WordPerfect suite and the Lotus suite] are working
with Artic to ensure that future releases of their
products are accessible."
Syntha-Voice Computers: "The Shift+Control+Letter
shortcut commands for Window Bridge easily co-exist with
applications using these commands. For example, Bridge
can react to Shift+Control, while allowing CONTROL+SHIFT
to be passed through. All commands can be reassigned by
the novice user in Bridge's on-line help mode, if
desired.
"Features such as the ability to use the Word spell
checker are incorporated into the sample configuration
files in version 2.41.
"A previous bug in Version 2.40 for reading the
first page of a Web page has already been corrected for
Version 2.41 when using Netscape or Internet Explorer.
The identification of controls are selectable by enabling
the desired "filters" within Window Bridge with a single
command. Complementary demo programs are available on our
home page."
Product information
Product: WinVision 97.
Manufacturer: Artic Technologies International,
55 Park Street, Troy, MI 48083-2753; phone: 248-588-7370;
fax: 248-588-2650; Website:
http://www.artictech.com.
Price: $595.
Product: SLIMWARE Window Bridge.
Manufacturer: Syntha-Voice Computers, Inc.; 300 Queenston
Road, Suite 304, Stoney Creek, ON L8G 1A7, Canada; phone:
800-263-4540 or 905-662-0565; fax: 905-662-0568;
E-mail: [log in to unmask];
Website: http://www.synthavoice.on.ca.
Price: $695.00
Jay Leventhal, senior resource specialist, and Crista L.
Earl, resource specialist, Technical Evaluation Services,
National Technology Program, American Foundation for the
Blind, 11 Penn Plaza, Suite 300, New York, NY 10001;
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
----------
AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR THE BLIND
National Technology Program
11 Penn Plaza Suite 300
New York, NY 10001
Phone: (212) 502-7642 FAX: (212) 502-7773
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
A REVIEW OF TWO SPEECH ACCESS PROGRAMS FOR WINDOWS 95: ASAW and
JAWS for Windows
J.D. LEVENTHAL, C.L. EARL
Reprinted with permission from the Journal of Visual Impairment &
Blindness (JVIB) News Service, Vol. 91, No. 6, (pp. 17-20), and is
copyright 1997 by the American Foundation for the Blind, 11 Penn
Plaza, Suite 300, New York, NY 10001.
A Review of Two Speech Access Programs for Windows 95: ASAW and
JAWS for Windows
J.D. Leventhal, C.L. Earl
This Product Evaluation continues a series that reviews speech
access programs for Windows 95. Two programs, ASAW 1.3.3 from
MicroTalk and JAWS for Windows 2.00.29 from Henter-Joyce, were
rated on how they performed particular Windows-related tasks. (ASAW
stands for Automatic Screen Access for Windows; JAWS stands for Job
Access with Speech, and the Windows version is referred to
commonly as JFW). The programs were not compared directly with each
other. Ratings were on a scale of 0 to 5 as follows:
0. No access; the equivalent of a sighted person with no mouse
and the monitor turned off.
1. Little access; the program gives users an idea of what is
going on but little opportunity to function well.
2. Less than adequate access, with much room for improvement.
3. Good access but a definite need for improvement.
4. Very good access, with minor improvements expected in the
future.
5. Access as good as a sighted person has with a mouse and a
monitor.
Each program was tested on a Pentium 166 with 32 MB of memory,
using a DECtalk PC synthesizer.
A rating was given for installation and documentation. Each
program was then rated for basic performance in the word processing
programs Microsoft Word 97 and Corel WordPerfect 6.1 and 8.0 and
for performance with the Web browsers Microsoft Internet Explorer
3.02 and Netscape Navigator Gold 3.01.
ASAW
Program profile
ASAW, like its DOS-based predecessor ASAP, was designed to read
everything on the screen and let the user decide what is important.
This decision-making process is much more complicated in Windows
than it is in DOS. Windows elements--dialog boxes, buttons, and
multiple windows--can appear in any order; system messages pop up
and require immediate attention. ASAW's lack of focus was a concern
throughout this review.
MicroTalk provides free technical support. ASAW does not support
refreshable braille displays.
Installation and documentation: Rating 4
ASAW installed easily. Digitized speech described the process,
allowing most users with sound cards to install the program without
the use of another DOS or Windows synthetic speech program. The
ASAW manual is available on disk, in print, and on audio cassette.
A quick reference guide and a cassette tutorial are included.
Word 97: Rating 1
ASAW read text by character and by line when its Read keys were
pressed. When Word's Arrow keys were pressed, ASAW read text by
line, but when text was typed, ASAW spoke the current column
position before speaking the current character. The continuous read
function skipped blocks of text and spoke the status line
repeatedly. Menus and dialog boxes were not read. The spell checker
was unusable.
WordPerfect 6.1 and 8.0: Rating 2
ASAW read text and some menu items automatically. It was sometimes
necessary to press the Arrow key down and then back up to a menu
choice for it to be spoken. The Continuous Read key read the text,
but it inserted status line information from time to time. The
spell checker was usable; the misspelled word was identified, but
some buttons were not spoken.
Internet Explorer 3.02: Rating 2.5
ASAW read Web pages as they loaded and subsequent screens when
Page-Down was pressed. When text was presented in more than one
column it read by line, rather than first reading the left column
and then the right. When the Tab key was pressed to move from link
to link, ASAW sometimes read all the links on a line. Subsequent
presses of the Tab key usually resulted in ASAW's reading
individual links. It was possible to fill out and submit simple
forms.
Netscape Navigator Gold 3.01: Rating 1.5
ASAW read Web pages as they loaded and when Page-Down was pressed.
There was no feature for moving from link to link; links could only
be found by reading word by word with the Attribute Identification
feature turned on until underlined text was found. This situation
also made it difficult to fill out and submit the simplest forms.
Improving performance
ASAW's Options menu allows the user to adjust the amount of
automatic speech, varying what ASAW speaks automatically. Graphics,
controls, text, and keys can be labeled to make them speak more
meaningfully.
ASAW's approach of reading everything available and letting the
user interpret the information provides a generalizable approach to
Windows dialog boxes, menus, and other controls. This approach
gives similar effects in all standard applications. However, there
are no tools or features for treating special cases, such as spell
checkers or nonstandard interfaces. This lack of tools means that
only users with excellent knowledge of the applications being used
and memory and reasoning skills will be able to function.
Furthermore, extraneous information is often spoken before
essential information, resulting in a severe loss of efficiency.
Conclusion
ASAW offers the user the ability to load the program before
logging onto a network; an easy-to-use keypad layout; a free,
full-functioning demonstration; and sound effects for common
operations. However, it lacks basic features such as Find, Read
Paragraph, and Read Sentence commands and has few tools to control
what is spoken. This lack of user control over what is spoken and
in what order things are spoken make ASAW an inefficient tool for
Windows access.
JAWS for Windows
Program profile
JAWS for Windows (JFW) provides a small set of basic speech
commands enhanced by sophisticated, program-specific macros. These
macros fine-tune JFW for particular Windows applications.
Henter-Joyce provides well written macros for a number of popular
applications, and JFW's performance excels in these applications.
JFW simplifies the reading of the screen by presenting the screen
as a series of lines of text, even when the text is scattered and
not actually linear. According to the file called JAWS Macro
Operators and Macro Functions, JFW "must interpret whether text
that has a similar vertical position is 'on the same line.'" This
process gives the user a reliable way to read the current line in
a word processor and also the highlighted item in a dialog box.
This approach can be a problem, however, when nonlinear information
is forced together--such as columnized articles on the Web.
Henter-Joyce provides toll-free technical support. JFW supports
numerous refreshable braille displays. A demonstration copy of JFW
costs $39.95.
Installation and documentation: Rating 4
JFW installed easily from DOS. Its copy-protection feature can
cause unexpected problems when the program is updated, however. The
manual is available in print and on disk. A cassette tutorial and
a braille quick-reference guide are included. Extensive online help
is provided for the program's commands.
Word 97: Rating 3
JFW read text and menus in Word. Its Continuous Read function
skipped a line of text when the screen began scrolling but then
read the rest of the document correctly. JFW identified and read
the buttons in most dialog boxes, but in Word and other
applications it did not read the messages. Its performance in the
spell checker was erratic; the misspelled word and some buttons
were not read.
WordPerfect 6.1 and 8.0: Rating 4
JFW read text and menus accurately in WordPerfect 6.1 and 8.0. Its
Continuous Read function often split words into two parts, as in "b
ut." The misspelled word was identified and buttons were read
correctly in the spell checker, but the macro for reading the
misspelled word in context did not always function properly.
Internet Explorer 3.02: Rating 4
JFW worked very well with Internet Explorer. It automatically read
the first screen of a new Website as it loaded and subsequent
screens when the Page-Down key was pressed. JFW found and read each
link as Internet Explorer's tab key was used. Forms were filled out
and submitted easily. The only drawback was JFW's inability to read
columnized screens correctly.
Netscape Navigator Gold 3.01: Rating 3
JFW read full screens of text as they loaded and as the Page-Down
key was pressed. However, it missed and failed to speak links
frequently. The JFW Search function was erratic; it sometimes did
not find text or graphics on the screen. Forms were filled out and
submitted without difficulty.
Improving performance
The prewritten JFW macros allow the program to speak the most
essential information first. This feature gives enhanced access to
specific applications. The macro language, which resembles a
programming language, can be used to customize new programs for
which macros are not provided. However, writing macros is beyond
the ability of the average user. Performance could also be improved
by setting the Screen Echo function to "All," which can allow the
user to learn unfamiliar programs and monitor the loading of Web
pages.
Conclusion
JFW is designed for the user who does not want to learn a lot of
speech commands. For example, JAWS has no Read Paragraph key, and
the user cannot designate certain areas of the screen to be read
automatically. In addition, the Find command was unwieldy and often
failed to find what was being searched for.
JFW is dependent on its macros. For example, it performed poorly
in Paradox for Windows, an application for which no macros were
written. It would be very useful if the macro language were
simplified enough to allow the average user to write macros.
JFW offers uncomplicated, highly focused access to Word,
WordPerfect, and Internet Explorer. More basic commands and
versatility would make it an even stronger program.
Manufacturers' comments
The manufacturers submitted no comments.
Product information
Product: ASAW.
Manufacturer: MicroTalk Software, Inc., 721 Olive Street,
Texarkana, TX 75501;
phone: 903-792-2570; fax: 903-832-3517;
E-mail: [log in to unmask];
World Wide Web: www.screenaccess.com.
Price: $595.
Product: JAWS for Windows.
Manufacturer: Henter-Joyce, Inc., 11800 31st Court North, St.
Petersburg, FL 33716;
phone: 800-336-5658; 813-803-8000; fax: 813-803-8001;
E-mail: [log in to unmask]; World Wide Web:
http://www.hj.com.
Price: $795.
Jay Leventhal, senior resource specialist, and Crista L. Earl,
resource specialist, Technical Evaluation Services, National
Technology Center, American Foundation for the Blind, 11 Penn
Plaza, Suite 300, New York, NY 10001;
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
----------
AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR THE BLIND
National Technology Program
11 Penn Plaza Suite 300
New York, NY 10001
Phone: (212) 502-7642
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
A REVIEW OF TWO SPEECH ACCESS PROGRAMS FOR WINDOWS 95:
SCREENPOWER AND WINDOW-EYES
***
J.D. LEVENTHAL, C.L. EARL
Reprinted with permission from the Journal of Visual Impairment &
Blindness (JVIB) News Service, Vol. 91, No. 5, pp. 13-16 and is
copyright 1997 by the American Foundation for the Blind, 11 Penn
Plaza, Suite 300, New York, NY 10001.
This Product Evaluation is the first in a series that reviews
speech access programs for Windows 95. Each program was rated on
how it performed certain tasks in Windows 95. The programs were
not compared directly with each other. Ratings were on a scale
of 0 to 5 as follows:
0. No access; The equivalent of a sighted person with no mouse
and the monitor turned off.
1. Little access; the program gives users an idea of what is
going on but little opportunity to function well.
2. Less than adequate access with much room for improvement.
3. Good access but a definite need for improvement.
4. Very good access, with minor improvements expected in the
future.
5. Access as good as a sighted person has with a mouse and a
monitor.
Each program was tested on a Pentium 166 with 32 MB of memory,
using a DECtalk PC synthesizer. TeleSensory's Navigator 40
braille display was running with ScreenPower, though the emphasis
of this review was speech access. Window-Eyes does not currently
offer braille access.
A rating was given for installation and documentation. Each
program was then rated for performance in the word processing
programs Microsoft Word 97 and Corel WordPerfect 6.1 and 8.0 and
for performance with the Web browsers Microsoft Internet Explorer
3.02 and Netscape Navigator Gold 3.01.
SCREENPOWER FOR WINDOWS
Program Profile. ScreenPower can present the Windows 95
environment to users in three ways. Its "tree mode" describes
what is happening on the screen and allows users to explore the
elements of Windows 95, from the program that is currently
active, up the hierarchy, or "tree," to the desktop and taskbar.
"Screen mode" and "overview mode" show the user the physical
layout of the screen and the current window respectively. This
approach can greatly enhance users' understanding of how Windows
works, making it more intuitive.
INSTALLATION AND DOCUMENTATION: RATING 3
ScreenPower's installation from DOS seemed to go smoothly.
However, the install program contained a bug that required the
user to edit two Windows configuration files manually to have
speech or braille output. The ScreenPower manual is available in
print, in braille, on cassette, and on disk. It describes
Windows 95's elements and discusses how ScreenPower's different
modes can be used to navigate and function in Windows. A command
reference is included in braille.
WORD 97: RATING 2
ScreenPower was able to read text; attributes such as underlining
and bold; and menus. Its lack of a command to read text
continuously made it tedious to review documents. The spell
checker was not usable; the misspelled word was not identified.
Other Word dialogues were also problematic.
WORDPERFECT 6.1 AND 8.0: RATING 1
ScreenPower was unable to read text reliably using arrow keys,
but it could with its read keys. Menus were read very
sluggishly. Many items in dialogue boxes were not read at all.
The spell checker was unusable.
MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER 3.02: RATING 2
ScreenPower read text line by line on various Web sites. It read
one line of text from each screen of a Web site automatically
when it appeared, and it did the same for subsequent screens when
page-down was hit. Internet Explorer's built-in ability to tab
from link to link enabled links to be located, and ScreenPower
spoke those that had text. It was possible to fill out and
submit simple forms.
NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR GOLD 3.01: RATING 1
ScreenPower was able to read text in Netscape line by line, but
it had no feature for locating links. It did not read the first
screen of Web sites automatically when they appeared and did not
read subsequent screens when page-down was hit. It provided no
feature for filling out and submitting forms.
IMPROVING PERFORMANCE
ScreenPower's script language allows anyone familiar with the
Visual Basic programming language to write a series of specific
commands associated with an event, such as running the spell
checker in word. This tool, if documented better and used by
trainers and advanced users, has the potential to add to
ScreenPower's performance. Scripts for WordPad, and Windows
Explorer, included with the version tested here, did improve the
program's usability.
CONCLUSION
ScreenPower performed some specific tasks well, such as reading
the nonstandard menus in Word 97. Its "Learn Keys" mode made it
possible to review its commands quickly. The fact that
ScreenPower's command to read a whole window would not function
greatly hindered its performance during this review. The
computer crashed repeatedly after returning to Windows from a DOS
session.
ScreenPower lacked essential features, such as a find function, a
command to read a dialogue box, and the ability to indicate the
relationships between items in Windows Explorer. It was sluggish
in responding to arrow keys that were used to move through text
and menus.
WINDOW-EYES 2.0
Program Profile. Window-Eyes, like its DOS-based predecessor
Vocal-Eyes, was designed to work with a wide variety of
applications out of the box. A large number of commands and
options are available to fine-tune its function. These are
accessed by going to the Window-Eyes menu at any time and are
changed simply by navigating through menus and dialogue boxes.
INSTALLATION AND DOCUMENTATION: RATING 5
Window-Eyes installed smoothly from DOS. The installation
program asked for the basic information it needed and copied the
appropriate files. No glitches occurred. The Window-Eyes manual
is available in print, on cassette, on disk, and on-line. It
provides an explanation of Windows elements and how Window-Eyes
handles them. A command reference and a cassette tutorial are
included.
WORD 97: RATING 2
Window-Eyes was able to read text in Word, but it was unable to
read the menus. Its read-to-end feature stopped reading when the
text began scrolling. It worked poorly with the spell checker;
it could not identify the misspelled word. It also struggled with
some Word dialogues.
WORDPERFECT 6.1 AND 8.0: RATING 4
Window-Eyes read text well in WordPerfect. When the cursor delay
was increased (in the general menu), text was always read when
arrow keys were pressed. Menu choices were read accurately and
quickly. It was necessary to use the "reclass" feature to
correctly read some controls in dialogue boxes in WordPerfect
8.0. Options were read in the spell checker, but the misspelled
word was not read automatically.
INTERNET EXPLORER 3.02: RATING 4
Window-Eyes read full screens of text automatically when Web
sites loaded and when page-down was pressed. Links were spoken
as Internet Explorer's tab key was used to move from link to
link. Forms were filled out and submitted easily.
NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR GOLD 3.01: RATING 4
Window-Eyes worked very well with Netscape. The Window-Eyes
command to have the tab key move from link to link on Web sites
was effective. Control-tab moved between fields on forms. It
was simple to bring up the dialogue box to go to a new Web site,
type in the address, and press enter. Window-Eyes began reading
the new page when it loaded, and page-down automatically read the
next screen. Window-Eyes' search function was invaluable and
reliable for finding graphical links and objects as well as text.
IMPROVING PERFORMANCE
Window-Eyes' reclass feature allows users to guess at whether a
nonstandard control is a button, an edit box, or a dialogue box.
Window-Eyes then treats the mystery item as if it were what the
user has reclassed it to be. The "autolabel graphics" feature is
used to label graphics that have tool tips--messages that flash
on the screen when the mouse pointer stops on the graphic. The
"speak all" command reads all text that appears on the screen,
allowing users to monitor any changes, such as the loading of a
new Web page.
CONCLUSION
Window-Eyes is a versatile, powerful tool for accessing Windows
95. It provided very good access to Internet Explorer, Netscape
Navigator, and WordPerfect, although access to Word 97 needs to
be improved. Window-Eyes provides a variety of ways of altering
its performance that do not require knowledge of computer
programming.
Window-Eyes' many key conflicts with the hot keys of Windows
applications may cause confusion for beginners. Its "bypass"
key, which passes the command to the Windows application, and the
ability to assign a different key combination to each command are
ways around this problem.
MANUFACTURERS' COMMENTS
TeleSensory Corporation: "To identify links, a user needs to make
sure that the Netscape settings have 'always keep my colors'
option selected and the braille or speech attributes are turned
on. There is a bug in the 'read window' speech function that will
be addressed in the next release. As in all new releases, there
are bugs that need to be fixed. Unfortunately, a product review
of SPWin [ScreenPower for Windows] as a speech only access method
for Windows '95 disregards the fact SPWin was designed
specifically to highlight the advantages of refreshable braille
in Windows. TeleSensory does not promote SPWin as a speech only
solution, except to access many nonstandard applications, where
SPWin is the only access that works. The speech features of SPWin
are designed to supplement refreshable braille, they are not
designed to be the only access."
GW Micro: "Window-Eyes 2.0, used in this review, supported Office
95 and WordPerfect 6.x and 7.0. Office 97 support was added in
version 2.1. WordPerfect 8 environments are now available.
Window-Eyes 2.0 users can upgrade to 2.1 at no cost. Many new
features have been added since this review, including Active
Accessibility support and full access to the Windows 95 system
tray. Keyboard conflicts have also been considerably reduced in
the new configurations. Please call for the latest updates."
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Product: ScreenPower for Windows 2.0.
Manufacturer: TeleSensory Corporation, P.O. Box 7455, 455 North
Bernardo, Mountain View, CA 94039-7455; phone:
800-286-8484; 415- 960-0920; fax: 415-969-9064; E-
mail: <[log in to unmask]>; World Wide Web:
<http://www.telesensory.com>.
Price: $1195 + $15 shipping.
Product: Window-Eyes 2.0.
Manufacturer: GW Micro, Inc., 725 Airport North Office Park,
Fort Wayne, IN 46825; phone: 219-489-3671; fax:
219-489-2608; E-mail: <[log in to unmask]>; World
Wide Web: <http://www.gwmicro.com>.
Price: $595.
Jay Leventhal, senior resource specialist, and Crista L. Earl,
resource specialist, Technical Evaluation Services, National
Technology Center, American Foundation for the Blind, 11 Penn
Plaza, Suite 300, New York, NY 10001; E-mail: <[log in to unmask]>.
OCTOBER 1997
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