Much earlier in this document, we discussed some useful tools we can use when navigating the internet. These included LeaseyPoints and LeaseyAlerts. Using the internet is one of the best things in life, there's so much you can do. But sometimes, you need a reminder of good strategies for navigating the site itself. After all, the web is a very unpredictable place to be.
When you visit a web site initially, the first thing you are going to do is to explore the page, so as to hopefully gain some navigational techniques you can employ in the future. Are there headings on the page which will take you to strategic points within it for fast navigation? Does the page contain tables, in which case it may be helpful to turn on the JAWS Smart Navigation mode so that it is easier to read? Do you need to use the JAWS Find facility to locate a word or phrase as a useful starting point? There are many more examples, and whichever trick works for you on a web site, you'll want to remind yourself what you did to get to where you need to be, so that the next time you go back there, you can do it all over again. Let us introduce you to Leasey's Custom Web Text.
When you visit a web site or a specific page, you have the opportunity of creating some custom notes for it. When you revisit the site again, you'll be told that there is custom text available, and to press a keystroke to read it. Remember, Leasey puts you in control, so she is not going to automatically speak the text, or place it into the Virtual Viewer thus interrupting your web browsing. You decide when you want to read it.
The first thing we need to decide is whether we want to create custom text for a domain or a specific page. This can be changed at any time. Lets just expand on that.
When we talk about a domain, we mean that the Custom Text will be applied to the entire website. So if you create Custom Text for http://www.hartgen.org, if Leasey is set to store Custom Text for the domain, she is going to tell you that it exists on every page of that site.
For this documentation, we will choose to create text for specific pages because that is probably the most useful. Most Home Pages of web sites for example are quite straightforward to navigate. Often the tricky part is how to access specific forms or tables which could be located on other pages as you delve deeper down into the site.
To change to specific pages, we're going to focus on a web site, and press the Leasey Key followed by ALT+Windows+C. So go ahead and open up a page in your web browser. The title of the page is irrelevant at this point as we're just setting up what we want to do in the future.
Pressing this key combination brings into view a screen using the JAWS Virtual Viewer. Because we haven't created any custom text for this web site as yet, Leasey assumes that you either want to create some, or you want to change modes. Press Enter on the appropriate Link to switch between options. The link is called, "Change between Page Mode and Domain Mode ." Keep pressing Enter on this link until you reach the mode you want. In this case, you should be listening out for, "Custom Text Will Apply to the Webpage".
Page Mode is now set, so press Escape to close the screen and return to the web site.
We now need to enable the Custom Web Text feature. As usual, it is off by default. To enable it, press the Leasey Key then ALT+Windows+W. It is a toggle keystroke. If you decide you no longer want it, press it again to disable it. But in most cases, once you've set it, you will probably want to keep it switched on.
Now we're going to create some Custom Text. Please browse to this page. This document is all about how to read tables on the internet with JAWS for Windows. It would be useful to set a reminder to use the JAWS Smart Navigation feature on this page. Smart Navigation allows you to read web page elements more easily including tables. When Smart Navigation is on, we can use the up, down, left and right arrow keys to move through the cells in a table. It saves holding down the ALT and Control keys as well as pressing the Arrow keys. So it sounds like a good piece of advice and we'll remind ourselves to take advantage of it.
Press the Leasey Key then ALT+Windows+C when you are on the page we've pointed you to.
A screen using the JAWS Virtual Viewer appears. Activate the first link to create some Custom Text.
Now, type the reminder text for yourself. For example, you might type: turn on smart navigation for this page by pressing Insert+X. JAWS will say, "Controls and tables". When I leave this page, I mustn't forget to turn it off!
When you have typed this text, press Control+Enter to save it.
Now navigate to this page. This page contains a useful form for practice purposes.
Press the Leasey Key then ALT+Windows+C when you are on the page we've pointed you to.
A screen using the JAWS Virtual Viewer appears. Activate the first link to create some Custom Text.
Now, type the reminder text for yourself, and press Control+Enter to save it. For example, you might type: Press the letter F to move from one form field to another, or I can press Insert+F5 to bring into view a list of form fields and press Enter on the one I want.
When you have typed this text, press Control+Enter to save it.
Our Custom Text is now created for both pages. To test it, revisit this page.
Notice that JAWS says "Custom Text", alerting you to the fact that Custom Text is available. To read it, press the Leasey Key then ALT+Windows+C, as we have done before. The following text is displayed using the JAWS Virtual Viewer, which you can read with the Arrow keys. turn on smart navigation for this page by pressing Insert+X. JAWS will say, "Controls and tables". When I leave this page, I mustn't forget to turn it off!
Then there are three links:
As a final note, JAWS contains a feature called Custom Labels. If there are elements of a web site where the accessibility could be improved upon, you can label those elements to speak something more useful. Form controls are a good example as to where this may occur. If at Hartgen Consultancy we have created any custom labels to improve the web experience for users, they are not only downloaded in the background, but installed in the correct location on your machine. So the next time you visit the site, it should be a more pleasant experience for you. This only occurs if, and only if, Custom Web Text is enabled. You have to make the decision first that you would like this additional support.
If you cannot remember the keystrokes to work with any aspect of the Custom Web Text feature, the options can be manipulated through Leasey's Custom Help utility explored in the previous main section of this documentation, Leasey Key then Control+Shift+H. There are three options. The first two of these relate to enabling and disabling the automatic reporting of whether Custom Web Text is available. The last option takes you into the main interface for customising and reading Custom Web Text described above. Back to Help Index.