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Blind and Visually Impaired Community

Full History - 2019 - 12 - 14 - ID#eat90q
10
New to JAWS (self.Blind)
submitted by SPN-hunter
Hey everyone the other day I got a new computer. I have never used to jars or PCs for that matter. I am only familiar with Apple computers. I am having a hard time finding straightforward easy to access instructions on how to use jaws. If anyone had A few pointers that would be greatly appreciated! My vocational rehabilitation center thought it would be great for me to learn windows and drawers that is why I got a new computer that I’m not at all familiar with :-)


Also sorry for the bad grammar/typos! I’m using dictation
CloudyBeep 2 points 3y ago
Start with the JAWS Basic training. From the JAWS window, press ALT and H to open the Help menu, then Enter.
Laser_Lens_4 1 points 3y ago
You should really ask them for a training course. I can throw out random little tidbits here but the fact is that screen readers on Windows handle completely differently to voiceover. Jaws, as well as nvda, are both modal screen readers with multiple cursors for various uses. You don't have high level elements like in voiceover for Mac OS and instead you're going to rely hard on keystroke commands. Most of them are built into windows and the various apps you use but screen readers still add a lot of controls that are tricky to get a hang of on your own. Web navigation isn't too difficult to learn since it's similar to voice over, just with different key mappings. Actually loading a website though is a somewhat different story. with voice over I would stop interacting with the web content, move over to the toolbar, interact with it, find the address bar, and type in the new address. I use nvda and Firefox on Windows. There, there's no such thing as stopping your interaction with the web content. Instead I would hit alt+d to move the focus of the cursor to the address bar and punch in my new address. Usually once I hit enter the cursor will be moved back to the webview but if it doesn't I would hit f6 to move between the task panes until I returned to the web content.

besides the fact that it's a different screen reader it's also a completely different operating system. Ribbon controls from Microsoft word are present throughout large portions and can come in extremely handy, but again it's totally different. you now only have one static taskbar instead of the menu bar and the dock. That means launching apps involves a completely different process. It's a bit too much to give a quick start on Reddit.

What kind of computer do you have? if it's a laptop then you might want to consider getting an external Number pad. Jaws is not fun at all with a 10 keyless keyboard. If you have a desktop then it would also be best for you to get a keyboard with a numpad. Oh and don't bother trying to get a decent laptop with a numpad. All of them are either expensive and heavy gaming laptops or mid-range machines that make terrible compromises... Like terrible audio
TrippingWithoutSight 1 points 3y ago
insert+f1 will get you all the JAWS help you need.
Laser_Lens_4 1 points 3y ago
I guess that works but it's an awful lot of material to go through without any instruction. If you have a good attention span and a lot of discipline then that would work
BlueRock956 0 points 3y ago
I believe that the best thing to do when you need rehab training would be to go to a rehab center for the blind. You could also request in person training with an AT Specialist. Your counsiler can pay for these services. Do you need typing classes? If yes, the best typing course would be Talking Typer.
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