[vip_students] Supernova:Tutorial 4, Style and attribute settings
- From: "Paul Traynor" <paul.traynor@xxxxxxx>
- To: <vip_students@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 14:54:39 +0100
Style and attribute settings
On some occasions, the information you may want from a web page may go a
little further than simply reading the text on the page. In Supernova and
Hal it is possible to enable a variety of style and attribute settings to
ensure you are informed exactly what you need to know when you need to know
it.
The screen reader’s output is controlled by the verbosity scheme selected,
the speech style announcements selected and the document settings selected.
In each case you have complete control over what you want to be told.
Verbosity Schemes
The higher the verbosity scheme selected the more information you are told
about the object the focus is currently on, for example, when moving onto a
link in a high verbosity scheme the link’s state will be announced, for
instance, whether the link has been previously visited or not. Lower the
verbosity level and the information output will be reduced.
To cycle between different speech verbosity schemes press DOLPHIN KEY +
EQUALS. To cycle between Braille verbosity schemes press LEFT SHIFT +
DOLPHIN KEY + EQUALS. It is also possible to create your own verbosity
scheme or modify an existing verbosity scheme by following a few simple
steps.
To learn about verbosity schemes please refer to the online tutorial devoted
to this topic - Using verbosity schemes.
Style announcements
Text on HTML pages can be presented using a variety of styles, for example,
bold, italic, underlined and so on. Text can also have attributes such as
link, acronym, abbreviation, citation, emphasis and such like assigned to
it. Using speech style announcements you can determine whether you are told
these styles and attributes. When you are told about these styles and
attributes can also be dependent on the mode you are in, for example, the
announcement settings can be set for virtual focus mode but not in document
read mode. This is the most likely scenario because enabling such style
announcements whilst in document read mode would hamper the flow of the
speech output, however, this does not mean you cannot select the options if
you want to.
In addition, such style settings can be stored in a situation setting
meaning, once configured, the speech style settings can be automatically
associated with a specific web page or web site. This is achievable with
application settings files.
To learn about application settings files and situation settings please
refer to the online tutorial devoted to this topic - Application Settings.
The speech style settings are found in the "Speech Styles" dialog box. As
virtual focus is predominantly used to navigate web pages it is the virtual
focus speech style settings that should be adjusted. To access the "Speech
Style" dialog box simply open the control panel, select the "Speech" menu,
enter the "Style" sub-menu and select "Virtual focus".
The virtual focus property sheet contains a list box to adjust the
punctuation level and a radio button to control how numbers are spoken.
There is also an "Announce" group containing a list of items that can be
enabled or disabled via check boxes. Below we review some of the more
commonly desired items and explain just what happens when the item is
selected.
Links
Users navigating this tutorial in virtual focus mode will already be aware
of the announcement of "link" when a link is encountered in the body of text
and the announcement of "text" when the content returns to text. The
announcement of "link" and "text" is controlled by this "Link" check box.
This is highlighted in the example below.
The introducing HTML navigation tutorial provides an introduction to ...
Is read as "the link introducing HTML navigation text tutorial provides an
introduction to ...
You are informed exactly where the link is in the line by the announcement
of "link" and where the text resumes by the announcement of "text". It keeps
you aware of those sought after links that can appear in a body of text. If
the "Link" check box was unselected then these supporting prompts are not
announced as you navigate through.
A final important note with regards to links is the distinction between
links in context and links as objects. When links are encountered when the
TAB key is used to navigate HTML content then the link is considered an
object. Under this scenario, what is output when a link is selected is
controlled via the verbosity scheme options. This is covered in a separate
tutorial.
Meaning change
The term "meaning" encompasses a number of different possibilities in HTML
content. These include text marked as an abbreviation, acronym, citation,
emphasis, shortquote, strong and monospace. Some examples now follow:
HTTP stands for hypertext transfer protocol
Is read as abbreviation HTTP normal meaning stands for hypertext transfer
protocol
I just finished reading Life, the universe and everything by Douglas Adams
last week.
Is read as "I just finished reading citation Life, the universe and
everything normal meaning by emphasised Douglas Adams normal meaning last
week.
And so on. The two associated prompts, as you already will have noted are
the opening descriptive prompt followed by the closing "normal meaning"
prompt.
Heading change
The heading change announcement will let you know when a heading tag is
encountered as you navigate through the web page. If this option is selected
then you will be told heading 1, heading 2, heading 3 and so on depending on
the heading tag level stipulated in the HTML code.
It is possible to quickly navigate between headings present on a web page by
either using the dolphin list utility to list the headings found on the web
page or to use the virtual focus headings navigation hot keys.
Heading Navigation Hot Keys
Action Key Press
Previous heading Dolphin Key + Insert
Next heading Dolphin Key + Del
Bold, Italic and Underline
The announcement of bold, italic and underline are controlled through the
"Weight change", "Italic change" and the "Underline change" check boxes.
Here is a sample paragraph using all three format styles.
Dolphin Computer Access has a simple goal: to create software products that
allow visually impaired people to use mainstream information technology in
its original form. Using the same products as sighted people means
individuals can retain their independence in education, industry and
leisure.
And with all three check boxes selected the paragraph is read as "bold
Dolphin Computer Access normal has a simple goal: to create software
products that allow italic visually impaired people normal to use mainstream
information technology in its original form. Using the same products as
italic sighted people normal means individuals can retain their underlined
independence normal in education, industry and leisure.
And that covers all the main speech styles that are commonly used. It is
worth remembering that such options are also available for edit areas,
prompt areas, menus and for document read mode. It is also worth noting that
not all the options are available in every application as it is dependent on
the data the Dolphin screen reader can extract through its various detection
engines. If you are ever uncertain then just press F1 to call up the context
help for the given item to learn more.
Alongside speech style announcements, there are equivalent Braille output
settings that can be defined in enhanced character mode. In this mode the
selected style and attribute settings , when encountered, will be identified
by an additional dot combination.
Document settings
Document settings offer further advanced options in controlling what
information you are told as you navigate a web page but also can determine
how you interact with a web page. Document settings are reviewed in greater
detail later in this tutorial, however, two options worthy of note at this
stage are Expand abbreviations and Expand acronyms. These settings can work
independently of the meaning change style settings or in harmony with them.
To access the document settings dialog box, open the Hal or Supernova
control panel, select the Speech menu and select the Document Settings
option.
In the Internet Explorer properties, if the expand abbreviations and expand
acronyms options are selected, then this will mean the tagged abbreviation
or acronym is announced as opposed to the text on the screen. The related
tags are <ABBR> and <ACRONYM> respectively.
Note: often the term abbreviation and acronym are used interchangeably,
however, although both refer to the shortened or contracted form of a word
or phrase, an acronym must itself form a pronounceable word, for example,
UNESCO for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation.
Here are some examples and descriptions of what is output when these check
boxes are enabled:
Welcome to the WWW
With "Expand abbreviations" selected this line will be read as "Welcome to
the world wide web.
Baby Jack was born in Oct 2004, weighing 7lbs 15oz.
This is read as "Baby Jack was born in October 2004, weighing 7 pounds 15
ounces.
There are many manufacturers of cars today; Ford, Vauxhall, Renault, etc.
This is read as "There are many manufacturers of cars today; Ford, Vauxhall,
Renault, etcetera.
If you are reviewing this page using a synthesiser then you may have found
that the sample line above already announces "etcetera" even with "Expand
abbreviations" unselected. Why is this? Well, inbuilt in many synthesisers
are a series of common abbreviations and acronyms. This means certain words
and phrases maybe announced in there full form even when the document
settings check boxes are unselected. It is also possible with many
synthesisers to build up your own exceptions dictionary containing
abbreviations, acronyms and pronunciation corrections.
And a sample acronym is:
To configure SAM, select "SAM Setup" from the "Configuration" menu.
This is then read as "To configure Synthesiser Access Manager, select "SAM
Setup" from the "Configuration" menu.
And that is how to get abbreviations and acronyms announced. However, as
previously mentioned, these settings can be used in conjunction with the
speech style attributes. With the meaning change announcement also selected
you will be informed whether the tag is an abbreviation or acronym tag. For
example, the previous text would be read as "To configure acronym
Synthesiser Access Manager normal meaning, select "SAM Setup" from the
"Configuration" menu."
The combined result lets us know exactly what section of text is defined as
an acronym or abbreviation.
End of tutorial.
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