There are also instructions on tips and tricks for this exact thing I believe. David Ferrin [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Annette Carr" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2007 9:11 PM Subject: Re: [JAWS-Users] Accessible forms with Jaws and MS-word XP.
Thank you so much for posting this. Just last week at work we had a discussion about needing to update our forms to make them accessible. I can't wait to give this a try. Again, THANKS!!!! Annette -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Terrill Reynolds Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 8:58 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [JAWS-Users] Accessible forms with Jaws and MS-word XP. Hi: I had this tutorial on my computer, not really sure how long, but maybe it can help. I will paste it below just incase you can get some help from it. Creating Accessible Forms in MS Word Introduction With the instructions below, you will be able to develop easy-to-use forms. There are several advantages to developing your forms using the Forms tool provided by Word: List of 4 items . You will develop the forms once, but they will be usable over and over again. . If you ever need to change/add/remove anything from a form you've already developed, you can make that change in moments without having to re-create the whole form. . Since the forms will be protected, people filling them out will only be able to type in the appropriate fields, ensuring that the forms will print out properly every time. . The Add-Help Text that appears each time you tab onto a field makes these forms readily accessible by a blind person using JAWS. list end Set-up To create a form in Word, you use the Forms toolbar. Since this is not among the standard toolbars visible when you first launch Word, you need to bring up the Forms toolbar. To do this go to the View menu on the standard menu bar, then choose the Toolbars submenu, and down arrow to Forms. Press ENTER on this item to check it and close the menus. Laying out the Form Content Your form may have a lot of text that is not directly related to entering data. This may include instructions on how to fill out the form, headings, disclaimers, etc. Type in or copy/paste all of the text that needs to appear on the printed form, formatting it as appropriate. The edit fields that people move to in order to fill in data will be put onto the form for you when you use the options on the Forms toolbar. This will ensure that users only type in the right places on the form. (The sample below shows the form context without the edit areas and checkboxes.) Sample form 1 Personal Contact Information First Name: Last Name: Street address: City: State: Zip: Personal Information SSN: DOB: Sex: Male Female U.S. citizen: Yes No Creating an Accessible Text Edit field A form field is the space a person filling out the form uses to type in text or response to a question on the form. Usually, a highlighted area provides a visual marker to show where to fill in this text. To create an accessible text edit field, do the following: List of 8 items 1. Place your cursor at the beginning of the space where you expect a person to start filling in text. This is usually, but not always, just to the right of the question on the form. 2. Press ALT to move to the menu bar item "File." 3. Press CTRL+TAB until you move to the forms toolbar. JAWS will say "Edit box button." 4. Press ENTER. An edit box appears at your cursor location. (Mouse users, point and click on the first button of the toolbar.) 5. Go back to the forms toolbar and choose the Form Fields Options button. (JAWS says "Properties button.") This brings up a dialog that lets you change various aspects of the edit box you just created. For example, you can set default text to appear in a field or you can limit the number of characters users can type in the edit field. In fact, if you do this, it guarantees that users won't type more than you need them to type. For example, limit the edit field for State to 2 characters so that users can only fill in a two-letter state abbreviation. If your cursor is at the beginning of or in the middle of the edit field you can also press your Applications key to open a context menu. Then you can choose Properties from that menu. 6. Press ALT+T (or click on it) to activate the Add Help Text button. This brings up a multi page dialog that lets you add a meaningful prompt or tool tip for the person filling out the form. You land on the Status Bar page tab. 7. Press ALT+T or TAB three times to move to the edit area for adding your own text, the third radio button called "Type Your Own Text." The text you enter on here will be visible on the Word status bar and will also be read to a blind person using JAWS. In most cases, simply type in the same question that is printed on the form. So if the form reads "First name:" type "first name" (with minimal punctuation and no quotation marks). 8. TAB to or click on the OK button to exit the Add Help Text dialog, and again to exit the Text Form Field Options dialog. You will be placed back in your edit field in the original document. list end List of 2 items . If the question on the form is very wordy, you can copy and paste its text into the "Type Your Own Text" edit field to save extra typing. This field, however, is limited to 138 characters. . If the question on the form includes abbreviations such as DOB, spell out the abbreviation (for example, "date of birth") so that the prompt is meaningful. list end Creating an Accessible Check Box A checkbox is a visual symbol that a person filling out the form uses to indicate a response without typing in text. To create a checkbox, do the following: List of 4 items . Place your cursor where you expect a person filling out the form to place a checkmark. . Choose the Check Box button on the Forms toolbar. . Choose the Form Fields Options button (JAWS says "Properties button") on the Forms toolbar. This brings up a Tool Form Field Options dialog that lets you change various aspects of the checkbox. If your cursor is at the beginning of or in the middle of the edit field you can also press your Applications key to open a context menu. Then you can choose Properties from that menu. . Press ALT+T to activate the Add Help Text button. This brings up a multi page dialog that lets you add a meaningful prompt for the person filling out the form. Press ALT+T (or choose the third radio button in this group) again to move to the edit area for adding your own text. In most cases, to ensure that the prompt is meaningful, you may need to type a prompt that is not printed on the form. For example, for a question that has corresponding yes and no checkboxes, you should type a prompt that is meaningful for each checkbox. So in our sample form, the prompt for the Yes checkbox for the question on U.S. citizenship should read, "U.S. citizen? Yes." The prompt for the No checkbox should read, "U.S. citizen? No." list end Creating an Accessible Drop-down Field Example, for Semester you might have Spring, Summer, Fall, etc. List of 8 items . From the Forms Toolbar choose the Drop-down Form Field item. (JAWS says "Combo Box Button.") . You land in the "Drop Down Form Fields Option" dialog box, in an edit field. Type in the first value you wish to appear in your list (i.e. Spring). . Press ALT+A to activate the Add button and you land back in this field ready to type in another value (i.e. Fall). . Continue this process until all values you want are added. If needed you can tab to the list of values to select a value and move that item up or down in the list by using the up or down controls that follow this list. The first item in the list is the default value. . Press ALT+T to activate the Add Help Text button. . Press ALT+T to move to the "Type Your Own" edit field. . Type in something like the following: "Press ALT+DOWN ARROW to open a menu of choices. Press UP OR DOWN ARROW to move through this list and press enter when you find the correct item." . TAB to the OK button and activate it. Repeat and you end up back in your document. list end Note: If you have text to the right of the drop-down field, make sure to put at least three blank spaces between the end of the field and the first part of your text following it. This is because a graphic symbol with a down arrow appears to the right of the field when the form is protected and ready to be filled out. Saving the Form Once you complete laying out the text of the form, creating its edit fields, and adding the help text for each field, you need to save it. First choose the Protect Form button on the Forms toolbar. Once this button is pressed, you can only move to and edit data in the fields you created, and you are protected from accidentally changing any of the text of the form itself. Note: If you ever need to make changes to the form text itself, you can toggle the Protect Form button to unprotect the form and make your changes. When you're finished, toggle the Protect Form button again to turn protection back on. Authors of forms should turn off the Forms toolbar and make sure that the document is in Print Layout view before saving the document so that JAWS users will not need to do this on their own. Save your form with a meaningful filename (e.g., intake form). Filling out an Accessible Form Note: JAWS users, when you open a protected form you may need to set the document to either Print Layout view, or in some cases Normal view, and turn off the Forms toolbar for best reading results. Open the file and choose Save As to save your form with a meaningful name other than the original name. This way, your original blank form stays intact for repeated use. Press the TAB key to move forward from one field to another or SHIFT+TAB to move backwards from one field to another. Fill in the form as needed and save again when finished. Other considerations for using Word effectively. List of 2 items . Limit the use of white space. . Don't use tables for formatting. Tables should be used for tabular data. Use columns and other native formatting techniques in Word. list end Here are some steps which will help in the creation of forms. 1. enable the forms toolbar in Microsoft Word from within the toolbars sub menu of the view menu. 2. Understand that there are three types of form controls which may be created. An edit field - a field into which text will be input 2. a checkbox - a field which will be overwritten with an X to select the option with which it is associated. 3. a combo box - a list of static choices within a drop down menu from which one option may be chosen. To create the above form fields, you will need to use the forms toolbar. here are the steps to create each of the fields. Edit field 1. enter the plain text label for the form field such as "name" and place a space after it. 2. access the forms toolbar by pressing the alt key and then control + shift + tab. The first button in the forms toolbar will be "edit. 2. Press enter on the edit button to insert an edit field into the document. With the edit field inserted, you will need to insert some default text into the field. This text will allow JFW to announce the information required by the field. To insert default text: 1. Use the left arrow key one time to access the form field 2. press the context menu key of the keyboard or shift + F10 to access the context menu. 3. Press enter on properties 4. by default, the cursor will be placed in an edit field, type the default text into this field. You may also wish to add some special help text to the field. When the F1 key is pressed within the field, some additional information may be offered. To insert special help text: 1. from within the properties dialog press alt + t to access the "help text" dialog 2. Press alt + k to access the help key property sheet and then press the tab key three times to access the edit field 3. type some extra information into this field. For example: "enter the last name of the applicant first for bookkeeping purposes" 3. Press the tab key to locate the OK button and press the spacebar 4. Locate the OK button in the properties dialog and press the spacebar on it. Your first form field is complete. Be sure to use the end key to move to the end of the line so you leave the edit field intact. To create a checkbox: 1. place the label for the checkbox in the document and press the spacebar once to put a space between the text and the checkbox field. 2. Access the forms toolbar by pressing the alt key and then control + shift + tab 3. Use the right arrow once to access the "checkbox button" and press enter The checkbox will be inserted into the document. You may now add the special help text. 1. Use the left arrow to access the field 2. Press the context menu key or shift + F10 3. Press enter on Properties 4. Press alt + k to access the help key property sheet and then Press alt + t to activate the help text dialog 5. press the tab key three times and insert additional text concerning the checkbox such as "this checkbox indicates the shipping and billing address are the same." 6. Tab to the OK button and press enter 7. locate the OK button of the properties dialog and press enter Once again, be sure to use the "end" key to move to the end of line to preserve the checkbox field. Combo box A combo box is also entered through the use of the forms toolbar 1.Place the label for the combo box such as "Internet connection speed" 3. Access the forms toolbar by pressing the alt key and then control + shift + tab 4. Use the right arrow to locate the combo box button and press enter 5. The combo box will be inserted into the document. It is now time to add the options to the combo box field 1. Use the left arrow to access the combo box field 2. press the context menu key or the shift + F10 keyboard command to open the combo box 3. Press enter on properties 4. By default the focus will be placed in an edit field. The default button is "add" so all you have to do is type in each of the options you would like listed in the combo box and press enter after each. For example: 14.4 and press enter; 28.8 and press enter, 56.6 and press enter, etc.... Once again, you may wish to add special help text to the field. To do this: 1. Press alt + k to access the help key property sheet and then Press alt + t from within the properties dialog 2. tab three times to the edit field 3. insert the additional help text such as "this combo box is requesting the type of Internet connection." 4. Tab to the OK button and press the spacebar 5. Tab to the OK button of the properties dialog and press enter to close the dialog You have now completed your combo box. Press the end key to move to the end of the line. You are now ready to protect your form. Until the form is protected, you will not be able to access it in a normal fashion. To protect the form. 1. access the forms toolbar by pressing alt and then control + shift + tab 2. use the right arrow to access the "protect form button." 3. press enter You may now close the forms toolbar. If you ever wish to edit your form, you must return to the protect button and press it once more to "unprotect" the form. Form fields can only be edited when in "unprotected" mode. If you wish to save the document as a template, you may do so by accessing the "save as" dialog and using the tab key to locate the "file of type" combo box. Select "document template" and name the document. When the document is saved, it will be as a template Word will not allow you to overwrite the document, you will always need to save it to a new location. you are now ready to access the form fields. To access the form fields use the tab and shift+ tab keyboard combinations. Use the tab key to move forward through the fields and shift + tab to reverse the movement. When an edit field is accessed, just overwrite the default text with the appropriate information. To access a checkbox, you may need to use the additional help that you inserted into the help text properties. Press the F1 key and read the dialog box with insert + b. This will read the help text you added to the properties of the form field. After reading the dialog, press the escape key to close the dialog. You may overwrite the checkbox by pressing X on the field. To access a combo box, you may once again wish to access the special help text to tell you the question being answered by the combo box data. You may know that the combo box contains Internet connection speeds, but what question is being answered. Pressing F1 and accessing the help text you inserted will tell you. Once again, use insert + b to read the dialog and then close it with the escape key. To select an option from the combo box, open it with alt + down arrow, use the down arrow to select an option and then press enter to finalize the selection. That's all there is to making forms. I hope this helped. Sincerely, Terrill Reynolds ---------- Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Windows Messenger:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo:terrillreynolds AIM:terrill36 PH:(910)842-7701 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Larry Stansifer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 10:16 AM Subject: [JAWS-Users] Accessible forms with Jaws and MS-word XP. Hi Folks, I have spent the last six hours attempting to create an accessible form in word XP using the accessible forms tutorial posted on the JAWS users tips and tricks page. The document contains a series of 19 edit fields and a series of three checkboxes. When I complete the form and review it using the tab key JAWS announces cursor position relative to the left hand margin. I can read the text I entered with the up and down arrow keys but this isn't doing me any good. I must be missing something really simple because that tutorial is well written and easy to follow. Thanks in advance. Regards Larry Stansifer Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Sun Tzu. 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