At 09:53 AM 7/31/98 -0700, Robin Lloyd wrote:
>I know this subject has probably been brought up many times, but I
>need some opinions.  I am a trainer for people using JAWS for Windows
>95.  I would like some feedback on internet carriers.

I have been experimenting on that very issue of late.  My results to date
include extensive use and testing of NetScape Mail, NetScape Navigator, MS
Outlook, MS Windows Exchange, MS Windows Hyper Terminal, PW WebSpeak, Lynx,
AOL, Juno, and US West which is an ISP.

Using JAWS for Windows 3.0 I have found that both AOL and Juno are
accessible, but not a particularly good fit.  In my opinion, an ISP is
easier to use than a shell acount these days because it gives the user more
control over what other software is used to access email and the web.

The only type of shell account I have found really accessible in all senses
is a LAN based server behind a fire wall.  This allows the easy use of
Lynx, which is still about the friendliest browser for blind people around.
 Hyper Terminal works well for accessing this type of system,.

Unfortunately, I have access to such an account at work, but not at home.
So I have found a ISP slip to work best.

NetScape works alright, though my version, 2.0, has some quirks which slow
me down a bit.  The links are not always found quikly by JAWS, and the
email client, Mail, only puts five or six lines on the screen at a time and
so requires more user keystroking to read than is efficient.  It is really
designs to be easy for a sighted person to use by scrolling with a mouse
which is inherently problematic for we keyboard users.

The demos of PW WebSpeak I have tried at conferences really work nicely,
but I have had some trouble getting it up and working here at home.  So my
data is incomplete on that one, though it seems like a really promising
browser.

Both MS Exchange and MS Outlook I have found to be a real pain.  The screen
is very cluttered which make user scanning of the screen slow.  As is
inplied by all the PC magazine articles on how to make them work better,
they glitch a lot.  The settings are difficult for the average blind user
to set up, and if the settings are not quite right, it crashes the whole
system way to easily.

I have recently been exposed to Eudora.  This email program can stand
alone, or act as client for other software.  Frankly, I love it.  Once
configured, it reads beautifully by JAWS with very little intervention by
the user.  The prompts work with JAWS out of the box without reconfiguring
JAWS in any way.  You can virtually access a whole screen full of text at a
time, and you can choose to not have most of the screen clutter showing if
you wish.  It has keystrokes for most everything, and the pull down menus
list the commands and the related keystroke.  Mouse action is totally
unnecessary.  It is fast, flexible, simple, and gets easier to use with
very little practice.  File attachments automatically open the appropriate
application for reading if available,

I hope this is some use.  It is only my opinions, so there it is.

Bill Pasco