Enhancements in JAWS 18.0.1811 (Public Beta 2)
The following is a list of improvements made between the first Public Beta
and Public Beta 2. Note that while many customer reported enhancements are
included in this release, the following is a list of more notable changes.
Lower the Audio from Other Programs While JAWS is Speaking
In Windows 8 and later, you can now specify that the volume of audio from
other programs be lowered while JAWS is speaking using the Eloquence or
Vocalizer Expressive synthesizers as well as any SAPI5 synthesizer. This is
commonly known as audio ducking. For example, if you are listening to music
or playing a video and JAWS begins talking, the volume of the music or
video will be slightly lowered so you can comfortably hear JAWS and then
raised back to its current level when JAWS stops talking.
For JAWS users with a braille display, you can also choose to mute JAWS
speech (INSERT+SPACEBAR, S) while listening to audio from other programs
and still use JAWS with braille output only, without the audio from the
other programs being reduced.
By default, audio remains at the same volume as JAWS speech. To change
this, there are two ways. The easiest way is to open the Startup Wizard
from the JAWS Help menu and select the Lower the volume of other programs
while JAWS is speaking checkbox located on the Speech Settings page.
Alternatively, you can change this option through Settings Center by doing
the following:
1. Press INSERT+F2, and select Settings Center.
2. Press CTRL+SHIFT+D to load the JAWS default settings.
3. In the Search edit box, type "volume" without the quotes.
4. Press DOWN ARROW to move to "Lower the volume of other programs while
JAWS is speaking" in the filtered search results in the tree view.
5. Press SPACEBAR to toggle this option.
More Dynamic Braille Auto Advance Mode
Auto Advance Mode is equivalent to the Say All command for braille readers
and has been available in JAWS for many years. After performing the
appropriate command on your braille display (left and right selector
buttons on the Focus series displays), the braille display is automatically
panned at a specific speed through an entire document, automatically
skipping over blank segments and blank lines. In prior versions, users
could configure how long JAWS paused before automatically panning the
display. Once configured, the display would pan at the same speed
regardless of how much information was on the display, so most users would
set the timer for optimal reading when the display was full. However, if
the display panned to a short line containing only a few words with the
remaining cells being empty, which could occur more frequently with larger
displays such as those with 40 or 80 cells, this could be inconvenient as
the user would have to wait for the display to advance which could cause an
interruption with reading.
To improve the reading experience when using Auto Advance Mode, JAWS now
pans faster or slower depending on the length of the current braille line.
The display will pan faster for short lines so you can instantly move to
the next segment without having to wait once you have finished reading, but
will pan slower for longer lines up to a maximum length of time which is
used when the display is full. This maximum value can be configured through
Settings Center using the new Auto Advance Maximum Interval option. By
default, it is set to 5000 milliseconds, or five seconds.
For example, if you have an 80 cell display and the current braille line
takes up the majority of the display, JAWS will pan the display after five
seconds. If the display pans to a short line containing only a few words
and the remaining cells are blank, JAWS will pan the display within a
couple seconds.
Improved Performance when Using JAWS and ZoomText Together
JAWS 18 introduces greatly improved interoperability with the soon to be
released ZoomText 11. Users of both these industry leading products will
experience more seemless operation when running JAWS 18 and ZoomText 11
together regardless of the order in which they are installed as well as
which product is started first.
When JAWS 18 and ZoomText 11 are running together, users should note the
following:
JAWS handles all speech functions except for ZoomText's App Reader
feature and speech directly from ZoomText , such as ZoomText scripts.
All ZoomText magnification features will continue to work as
expected. In addition, ZoomText will now visually highlight and track
during a JAWS Say All, or when navigating using the Virtual Cursor.
If there is a keystroke conflict, the JAWS keystroke is used instead.
Otherwise, JAWS and ZoomText keystrokes will continue to work as
expected.
ZoomText handles all touch related functions.
Since JAWS takes over all speech functions when running with ZoomText, this
also includes mouse echo. If you want the mouse to echo as it is moved, you
will need to enable mouse echo in JAWS as it is off by default. The easiest
way is to press the layered keystroke, INSERT+SPACEBAR, E, O. However, this
is only temporary and will revert back to off if JAWS is restarted. If you
intend on using mouse echo all the time, you can permanently enable it by
doing the following:
1. Press INSERT+F2, and select Settings Center.
2. Press CTRL+SHIFT+D to load the JAWS default settings.
3. From the tree view, expand the Mouse Echo group and press SPACEBAR on
Enable Mouse Echo.
Touch Improvements
JAWS touch gestures are now included in the Command Search feature (
INSERT+SPACEBAR, J). If you search for a command that can be
performed using a keystgroke or a gesture, both the keystroke and
gesture are displayed in the search results. You can also search for
gesture-specific commands, such as toggling the Touch Keyboard, or
cycling through Touch Navigation, Text Reading, or Speech Settings
gesture modes. The JAWS Command Search only includes gestures if JAWS
detects that it is running on a touch screen enabled device.
Addressed issues with using gestures to switch to an application in
the task switching window that displays when you swipe from the left
edge of the screen. When the task switcher opens, flick left or right
through the list of running applications and when you locate the one
you want, double tap it to move focus in to that app.
Improved the experience when using touch gestures to log into
Windows. If the Login screen is active and focus is on the Password
edit field, performing a double tap will immediately open the touch
keyboard allowing you to enter your password. Otherwise, flick right
or explore until you locate the Password edit field and then double
tap to set focus and open the touch keyboard.
JAWS no longer repeats the password label field multiple times on the
Windows 10 Login screen.
In response to user feedback, the default typing mode for the touch
keyboard is now Touch Typing, which means a key is typed as soon as
the finger is lifted from the keyboard button, or you perform a split
tap.
If the gesture mode is set to Text Reading, you can now perform a
four-finger swipe down to begin a Say All in the currently open
document, similar to pressing INSERT+DOWN ARROW on the keyboard. To
stop reading, tap anywhere on the screen.
In response to customer requests, added a new option to the Touch
Cursor group in Quick Settings that allows you to choose the element
type that is navigated to when using the flick up and flick down
gestures. The available choices are Regions (selected by default),
Headings, List Items, Buttons, Links, Groups, and Form Controls. Note
that not all apps support these navigation types, they are typically
available in modern apps and web applications.
If you perform a JAWS touch gesture and then do a five-finger rotate
to turn off all JAWS gestures, resolved an issue where
Windows-specific gestures would no longer work until you restarted
JAWS.
Addressed an issue where the Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons in
the title bar of an application were not being announced by JAWS when
exploring the screen.
Google Docs
You can now type text into a document using Contracted Braille.
Added speech and braille support for navigating tables inserted into
documents.
Resolved several issues with JAWS not detecting live region updates.
Addressed issues where JAWS was announcing extraneous information
when opening menus.
Resolved several issues with menus and focus.
Resolved multiple issues where focus would unexpectedly jump to other
places while editing a document.
JAWS
Addressed an issue where Settings Center changes made after migrating
or importing settings were not taking affect unless JAWS was
restarted.
If the mouse echo feature is disabled, addressed an issue where
speech was still being interupted when moving the physical mouse.
In response to customer feedback, updated the Adding Special Symbols
help topic with the correct location for the Eloq.sbl file.
If a Windows 10 alarm goes off, addressed an issue where the volume
of JAWS speech would unexpectedly be lowered to an unusable level,
making it difficult for a speech-only user to turn off the alarm.
Addressed an issue that was observed in multiple applications where
JAWS was reading the wrong word when pressing CTRL+BACKSPACE to
delete the prior word.
Added a new Hebrew Computer Braille table. You can set this as a
preferred table or set it as the primary table through the Braille
Tables dialog box, accessed by selecting the Computer Braille Tables
option in Settings Center. Braille output must be set to Computer
Braille before you can make this change.
A customer using the Spanish version of JAWS reported several English
messages and keystroke conflicts. These have been resolved.
Microsoft Outlook
Addressed an issue with Outlook 2016 where JAWS was not reading all
of the info in the meeting attendees list.
If a calendar appointment lasts for more than one day, resolved a
customer reported issue where JAWS would not indicate the appointment
after moving past the first day.
If a calendar event is set to all day in Outlook 2013, resolved a
reported issue with JAWS not reading the end date.
Addressed a reported issue with the Outlook 2016 Office Theme combo
box, located in the Options dialog box, not being displayed properly
in braille.
Addressed a reported issue with the INSERT+F keystroke to read the
font and point size not saying anything when used in the message list
in Outlook 2013 and 2016.
Microsoft Word
Resolved an issue where JAWS would unexpectedly restart and Word 2013
would become unresponsive when attempting to insert a comment.
When using CTRL+PAGE UP and CTRL+PAGE DOWN to switch pages, addressed
a reported issue where JAWS was announcing the line from the prior
page.
Web Browsers
Added support for several ARIA 1.1 features including the aria-modal,
aria-current, and aria-placeholder attributes, as well as support for
partially visible tables.
When navigating to links in Firefox with the mouse and the new mouse
echo feature is enabled, resolved an issue where JAWS was not
announcing the text of the link as it appears on the web page.
Addressed an issue in Firefox where pressing INSERT+R was not
toggling Virtual Cursor restriction as expected in web-based dialog
boxes.
If END is pressed in an edit field in Google Chrome, addressed an
issue where text in an edit field was no longer indicated in speech
or braille.
Resolved an issue with certain edit combos not being identified
correctly in the virtual buffer in both Firefox and Chrome.
Resolved an issue where tab controls would appear twice in the
virtual buffer in Chrome.
Addressed an issue with heading level indication in Chrome.
Windows
Worked with Microsoft to resolve a reported issue with JAWS double
speaking when entering text into a Windows 10 command prompt. This
fix will be available in a Windows update.
JAWS now announces Microsoft UIA Alert Events. As a result you may
now hear more Windows Notifications, and Mouse Echo can now speak
more UIA elements, like minimize, restore and maximize window
controls.
For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit:
http://www.jaws-users.com/help/
