In older versions of JAWS all main configuration changes were made via the Configuration Manager. Normally, you would open the application you wanted to change the settings for then call up the Configuration Manager to make the necessary changes. In JAWS V12 though it's all change, the Configuration Manager has gone completely to be replaced by the shiny new Settings Centre.
Launching the Settings Centre
There are two main methods for launching the Settings Centre and the first is probably the quickest (remember that all the steps here are for JAWS V12 users only!):
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Launch the JAWS Settings Centre using Insert F2 and choose Settings Centre in the dialog box.
An alternative route is as follows:
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Put focus in the JAWS program window (or the System Tray menu depending on how you have JAWS configured) and access the Utilities main menu. Choose the Settings Centre option in the menu.
The Search Field
One of the new improvements in the Settings Centre is that it now contains a search edit field you can use to quickly filter out irrelevant options. For example, if you want to adjust the specific options concerned with putting JAWS to sleep in any application you can run a search for "sleep". The result of this is that all of the options not containing the keyword "sleep" will be hidden from the main tree view that contains all of the settings options.
Potentially then, this Search field can save you some time and it even has a specific keystroke to enable you to get there quickly: Control E. So, regardless of your cursor position in this dialog box, Control E will always move to the Search Edit field. The new Search box also happens to be your initial point of focus when the dialog box opens. Let's test it out using the "sleep" example I mentioned earlier:
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With the Settings Centre open, press the Tab key to move focus from the Search field into the tree view - this tree view contains all of the JAWS options you can adjust. (Note that each of these branches in the tree view has some associated Help information, use the tab key to access these details.)
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Arrow down through the tree and get a feel for the available options. When you feel that you have explored the tree enough, press Control E to move focus back to the Search Edit field.
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Type the word "sleep" (minus the quotes) into the edit field and press the Tab key to move into the Tree View again. Notice that this time the tree view is considerably shorter, in fact JAWS will indicate that only two items are present. As before use the up and down arrow keys to navigate between them. This is how the Search field works to hide irrelevant options.
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Use Control E to move back to the edit field and remove "sleep" from the search field. When you have done this, press the Tab key to move back to the tree view and notice that it is unfiltered again.
The Application Combo Box
In the older Configuration Manager settings changes were applied to either a specific file or the main default configuration file. In JAWS V12 this approach has been retained, although the method for making those choices is slightly different. In JAWS V12 you need to select either the Default or specific configuration file from a combo box labelled "Application".
However, most of the time, you may find that JAWS automatically adjusts the settings in here to reflect the program you previously had focus in. So, if you were in Word 2010 prior to launching the Settings Centre, then you should find that program name displayed in the Application combo box.
Where is this Application combo box? If you Shift Tab from the Search edit field then you will have focus there. Use the standard combo box keystrokes to choose the different options.
Note that there is also a keystroke you can use to select the Default configuration file automatically, this is identical to the keystroke used in earlier versions of JAWS: Control Shift D.
The Configuration Display Pane
The last main area to focus on is where the actual settings you can adjust actually appear, this area is known as the Configuration Display Pane. Let's explore:
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Put focus back into the main tree view using the Tab key.
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Arrow down to the Level 0 branch titled Web/HTML/PDFs and expand this with the right arrow.
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Now arrow down the Level 1 branch and focus on the Images branch, open this by using the right arrow.
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Arrow down the Level 2 branch and focus on the item titled Include Images.
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Press the F6 key to move the focus into Configuration display Pane. Notice how the cursor is now focused specifically on the Include Images options.
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You can press the Tab key to move round the entire form - you will pass by all of the options that appear on the Level 2 branch of the form. Notice though how your cursor does not navigate back to the tree, it is restricted to the form with the relevant options in it.
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Do not adjust any of the available options for now, just explore the form then press F6 to switch focus back to the Tree View pane.
Remember: When you are tabbing around the options in the Configuration Display Pane, use the context help system (Insert F1) for guidance on each of the features and settings.
Make some changes
Now that you're comfortable with how the new Settings Centre operates, it is time to investigate a few of the Web and HTML focused settings you might want to play around with:
Select a Layout Option
To find this option go to Web/HTML/PDFs, Navigation, Document Presentation Mode, Select Layout then press the F6 key to move to the Select Layout radio buttons.
As you know, JAWS doesn't actually read the displayed HTML page, instead it reads the downloaded HTML from an off-screen or virtual buffer. The Select Layout option here governs how the HTML information is arranged in this virtual buffer. You can choose from two radio button options and these are:
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Simple layout: This is the default setting and it ensures that all different elements such as plain text, links and graphics (for example) sit on a new line in the virtual buffer. This is why, as you down arrow through the web page, the screenreader pauses at every new element.
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Screen Layout: The alternative approach is to have the elements appear in the buffer broadly similar to how they appear in the displayed page. For example, in a web page it is common to have a line of plain text with some hyperlinks mixed in with the text. If you choose the Screen Layout option then those items will appear on the same line rather than be split over several lines.
If you decide to experiment with the Screen Layout option then you will need to adjust the edit field you can Tab to labelled Maximum Line Length. By default this is set to 400 characters but you may need to adjust it to allow for more or less characters per line in the virtual buffer.
When you have finished adjusting the options you can confirm your changes by pressing the Enter key.
The Wrap Navigation Setting
To find this option go to Web/HTML/PDFs, Navigation, Wrap Navigation then press F6 to move to the actual setting checkbox.
You know when you press the hotkeys in a webpage and, when the virtual cursor gets to the bottom of the page, you hear a message "wrapping to top?" Well, this is where you can change all of that.
By default, the wrap navigation checkbox is checked, so when you navigate off the bottom of the current page JAWS moves the virtual cursor back to the top and carries on navigating. But you may prefer simply to stop the focus at the foot of the page and not wrap back around again.
If this sounds like the kind of default behaviour you need then uncheck the Wrap Navigation option and press Enter to confirm.
The Page Refresh Filter
To find this option go to Web/HTML/PDFs, Miscellaneous, Page Refresh Filter and F6 to move to the actual setting combo box.
Certain large websites, such as news-orientated websites, are often set to automatically refresh and this dynamic updating can cause JAWS problems. In worst cases, a frequent page refresh might result in JAWS reading chunks of the current page over and over together with a frustrating loss of focus.
The Page Refresh Filter setting then gives you some ability to take control of this behaviour. There are three settings you can choose from in the combo box and these are:
Refresh As Needed: The default setting is to refresh as necessary based on the settings for the website itself. In other words, JAWS is not overriding the refresh settings of the current website
Refresh Every 60 Seconds: Choosing this setting forces a page refresh of the current webpage at least every 60 seconds.
Suppress All Refreshes: This setting attempts to stop all page refreshes and is a potentially useful option when visiting websites where the native refreshing of the page is resulting in reading problems.
As before, choose the most appropriate option you want to set as your default setting and press the Enter key to confirm.
And that is it for our little exposé of the new Settings Centre. Of course there are many, many more settings that can be adjusted and I hope that you now have the confidence to explore them. Goodbye Configuration Manager…