brianhartgen's blog

Introduction.

People often want to be more efficient when using the JAWS screen-reader. Particularly when in the workplace, this is especially important as they want to be able to demonstrate they can carry out tasks at a similar speed to their sighted colleagues. But it could also be helpful for people within education or within leisure pursuits.

In our experience, many people claim to be efficient screen-reader users. It transpires however that what they mean by that is that they've increased the speech rate significantly. While this is helpful, they are not familiar with the many shortcut keys and facilities built into JAWS to increase productivity. Our new training course will not only give you lots of shortcut keys to aid efficiency, but it will also show you the best ways to find what you are looking for, and demonstrate many JAWS gems with which you may not be familiar.

What Kinds of Topics Will Be Covered?

This training course, Jaw Muscles, does not focus upon using JAWS with a specific application. You'll find that you'll learn tips and tricks for working in documents, browsing the web with any browser, and much more. In short, you'll gain a vast amount of knowledge concerning all manner of ways to make you more efficient within a variety of computing settings. The topics covered are:

• Quick Navigation Keys in Microsoft Word.
• Changing Echoing of Phonetic Characters After Pausing.
• JAWS Find.
• Microsoft Word Spell Checking.
• Virtualising the Current Control.
• Building a Word List.
• Basic Table Navigation.
• Working with Microsoft Word Forms.
• Examining Data on the Clipboard.
• Sound Splitter.
• Insert+Tab in Save Dialogs.
• Backing Up and Restoring Settings.
• An Introduction to the Keyboard Manager.
• Navigation Quick Key Manager.
• Searching for JAWS Commands.
• Picture Smart.
• Setting Up Placemarkers.
• Custom Page Summary.
• Customising JAWS Settings Relative to a Domain.
• More on Placemarkers.
• Text Analyser.
• Customising Outlook Views For Easier Reading with JAWS.
• Quick Settings in Outlook.
• The Impact of Customising JAWS Options for Outlook.
• Skim Reading Basics.
• Skim Reading Text Searches.
• Skim Reading Attributes and Colours.
• Skim Reading Working With Longer Documents.
• Comments in Microsoft Word.
• Audience Participation.

There are so many tools and utilities hidden inside JAWS to improve efficiency. It's just a question of finding them.

Who Is The Course For?

This training course is certainly for JAWS users who wish to improve their screen-reading skills. But it is also for trainers of Assistive Technology. We've seen many instances where people are trained to use the Microsoft application shortcut keys, and this is all very fine. But as trainers, we would suggest it is our duty to teach people about the added JAWS benefits provided by other keystrokes. If we can avoid unwanted key presses, not only does it make someone more efficient at using a computer but it also avoids the onset of conditions such as repetitive strain injury. All the unnecessary key presses a person has to do add up over the course of a day.

This training course is suited to anyone using recent releases of JAWS or ZoomText Fusion. As will be seen below, the training course is provided in both audio and text formats so is ideal for anyone who is unable to hear audio content or for quick reference.

The cost of the course is £50 which is currently 68 US dollars.

While it is by no means a requirement for course participation, we are offering an additional package if you do not have our Leasey product. One of the main advantages of Leasey is to add even more productivity tools to those already available within JAWS and this year, we intend to add even more of these. JAW Muscles with Leasey is available at a substantially reduced rate for a combined total of £80 which is approximately $108 US.

Please enter your JAWS or Fusion serial number here.

Alternatively, anyone can purchase either package by sending an Email to jaws@hartgen.org, whereupon a fully accessible electronic invoice will be sent to you which can be paid through PayPal or any major credit or debit card. Orders can also be processed by telephone.

Summary.

While many people can use computing applications with the keyboard at a basic level, we want to lick your screen-reading skills into shape. We'll show you plenty of strategies you probably didn't know about. Once you've completed our new training course, you will be able to show everyone your screen-reading muscles!

Hi to all

Some people may receive this message more than once as you may be on several of our Email lists, for which I apologise.

I am writing this message on the last day of business for us in 2021. I'm glad to say we've had another very good year, thanks largely to the support of companies and organisations who have purchased our scripting and consultancy services, together with blind people who have purchased many of our products.

From a product perspective, we've had many good things to celebrate. Every product has had major updates. Of particular note would be the StationPlaylist scripts for JAWS, which this year have received an enormous number of new features and improvements which benefit particularly seasoned broadcasters. However we must not forget J-Say, the Zoom scripts and especially Leasey, all of which have received many new features.

One of the biggest innovations for us this year has been the development of a set of JAWS scripts and a nine hour training course in the use of Microsoft Teams. Many people have taken advantage of both of these, which has extended to large government departments and other organisations worldwide.

We also this year introduced Elegance for ElBraille, allowing a person to control the ElBraille device in a way which means they do not need to remember often complex key sequences to work with the device.

The audio tutorial on the REAPER Digital Audio Workstation was completely re-recorded, this time with an accompanying text transcript of all the lessons. All our training courses now come with text transcripts as standard. I would like to think that is a very welcome improvement.

And finally in terms of training courses, our SenseAbility course to teach people how to use the new BrailleSense 6 is now well under way and will be concluded in early 2022. Students are already learning a lot about this device.

And please remember, these are just the smaller things which have happened. While all this has taken place, training, technical support, product promotion, delivering presentations and other work still goes on to keep the company alive.

Moving forward, in terms of product development, updates to Leasey and J-Say are first on the agenda for 2022, so watch this space for good things to come.

From Hartgen Consultancy, we would like to wish all of you the very best for Christmas and have a wonderful new year. Thank you for your support during 2021!

A Training Course for Users of JAWS for Windows and StationPlaylist V6.0.

Introduction.

For many years, the StationPlaylist software has been the tool of choice through which blind people broadcast their radio shows or even run their own stations. We know this because there are hundreds of StationPlaylist users on our customer database. If you use the software, are you getting the most from it or do you just work with the features you need?

It would seem that our company is the only place you can visit so as to receive training in the use of the StationPlaylist suite. This is partly because not only do we create the JAWS script files which provide accessibility to the products, but in addition tools are built into the scripts so as to significantly extend the functionality beyond what those products can do. This has certainly been extended in 2021.

The "Broadcast It" audio tutorial produced some time ago teaches a new user how to work with many aspects of StationPlaylist Studio (for broadcasting audio), StationPlaylist Creator (for managing schedules), and StationPlaylist Streamer (for sending output over the internet if external devices are being used). However, during the past few years, the developers of this amazing product suite have created new features not described in the tutorial. It has been supplemented by:

• The StationPlaylist Workshop,
• Let's Track It, and
• Another Hour of Music Power.

This training course, "The StationPlaylist Workshop 2021", focuses on the release of the StationPlaylist product suite, version 6.0 with JAWS for Windows. However it also includes demonstrations of all the new functionality introduced for JAWS users during 2021 which has been an important year for broadcasters working with this technology.

This training course is for people who are using any one of the StationPlaylist products who want to improve the quality of their radio output and station management.

What Will I Learn?

While there are many new features and fixes included, we have singled out a number of new enhancements in version 6.0 which require special demonstration. You will learn how the new features work together with the appropriate keystrokes.

In addition, we will focus upon:

• The advantages of Quick Navigation Mode.
• Useful tips on ensuring your radio show ends at the end of the hour.
• Finding music tracks in a playlist quickly.
• How to play carts into your voice-tracks, whether you have an audio mixer or not.
• Playing carts and music beds into voice-tracks if you do have an audio mixer and the enormous benefit that brings.
• Enhancements for JAWS users in the SPL Recorder and VT Recorder.

Who is the Course For?

This course is suited to anyone who is familiar with many of the functions of StationPlaylist Studio and Creator if appropriate, together with voice-tracking locally or remotely, and who would like to build on existing skills. You should be familiar with how your screen-reader functions together with Windows concepts, such as how to navigate around applications.

Costing.

The cost of the course is £40 which is currently $53.

Alternatively, anyone who wishes to purchase the course can send an Email to jaws@hartgen.org, whereupon a fully accessible electronic invoice will be sent to you which can be paid through PayPal or any major credit or debit card.

Summary.

The training courses in the use of StationPlaylist products are only produced when there are a significant number of things to make it worthwhile. There is a good deal to talk about this time around. Get yourself into the studio and bring your radio shows and station to the next level!

Hi to all

It has been a while since we provided you with details of what's new here at Hartgen Consultancy and this short blog post will bring you up-to-date. It's a busy time because quite a number of products need updating which is always the case on the run-up to Christmas.

Let's start with StationPlaylist products. A new release of the software, version 6, is in beta testing. While overall the products in the StationPlaylist suite work well, there are many changes which are required for JAWS to perform optimally. These changes are for the JAWS scripts for StationPlaylist Studio, Creator and the VT Server. A set of scripts will be available at the same time as the official release of these products when they come along.

J-Say version 20 will be available to support JAWS 2022 in mid-November. This includes ensuring there are voice commands for the new JAWS features in version 2022, better ways to move through lists of files and documents, and other improvements. Anyone who has a J-Say Software Maintenance Agreement will receive this update.

Now we come to Leasey. A new update to Leasey will be provided at the same time as JAWS version 2022 is officially released. The changes are below.

Leasey now supports the use of JAWS 2022. This has required the implementation of many small adjustments to ensure everything coexists with it, far too many to mention.

In LeaseySearch, added two new search engines: Bing and DuckDuckGo.

More modifications have been made to the Leasey Updater. While during testing the old system has been perfect, downloading all the required files every time, apparently on some machines it does not do so. As of this new version, Leasey will download an installer which will install only the required files for the update. No core files such as those containing user preferences should be overwritten.

If JAWS 2022 is used, when navigating lists of messages in Microsoft Outlook, such as the Email Inbox, a sound will play when the top and bottom of the list is reached. There are two different sounds to distinguish your position in the list.

In Outlook, pressing Enter to activate a folder in the Navigation Pane does activate it every time.

Support is available for all manner of Leasey-related tasks when Explorer++ is used as a replacement for File Explorer. Particularly with Windows11, Explorer++ provides faster rendering and navigation of files. Indeed some of our testers are using it as a preference with Windows10 as well.
Explorer++ is available here.
https://explorerplusplus.com/

Whenever the LeaseyCuts and LeaseyText feature is used, a backup of the ini file is automatically made. In the event it becomes corrupted, Leasey understands this and replaces it with the backup version and uses that instead.

If a Pearl camera is connected to the computer, pressing the Leasey key then ALT+P will automatically scan the document under the camera.

Added the following keystrokes in YouTube in addition to those which Leasey already has:
ALT+Shift+T, speaks elapsed time of the playing video, such as 4 minutes and 51 seconds.

Control+Shift+T: Speaks the total length of the video, such as 1 hour 5 minutes and 12 seconds.

ALT+Control+Windows+F places the YouTube video in full screen mode.

The keystroke to bring into view the list of LeaseyNote categories has been changed from Leasey key ALT+Windows+L to Leasey key then Shift+L.

There have been subtle changes to LeaseyNotes so as to stop speech when moving from one area to another.

In JAWS 2022, pressing the Leasey Key then:
ALT+Left arrow. Routes jaws to the left and other audio to the right.
ALT Right Arrow: routes jaws to the right and other audio to the left.
ALT Up Arrow: Restores sound balance.

Hi to all

It is with considerable reluctance that we have made the decision to cancel the training course relating to the BrailleSense 6. We cannot apologise enough for this and the reasons for doing so will become clear.

There are any number of freely available training resources available relating to this product and another one about to begin. However, the people who have purchased our training course have done so for a number of reasons, one of which is that they know the tuition is going to be of an exceptionally high standard which is difficult to obtain elsewhere. If that wasn't the case then people would take advantage of the other resources rather than coming to us, and we do sincerely thank everyone who has pledged their support to us and purchased our potential offering. Doing so speaks volumes and lets us know that people value what we do. So thank you.

The sad reality however is this. A problem with the BrailleSense 6 was discovered at the very start of September. We have been promised a new unit. We will not receive this until at least the beginning of November. So from the time we arranged collection of the old unit to an apparent arrival of the new one will be approximately nine weeks.

This is unacceptable. By the time the unit has been tested here to ensure it is up to standard, we will be into mid-November.

We feel it is completely unfair to retain funding from people who have paid money in good faith and not to be able to deliver the training until this point. Moreover, because of the comprehensive nature of the training, it would progress into the year 2022. Remember too that the projected time-scales assume the unit has no obvious flaws when it arrives. This has to be taken into account.

Within the next week, anyone who has paid for the training course will have their money refunded in full. While clearly this will be a financial loss to us, we hope people view Hartgen Consultancy as a company with complete integrity and fair dealing. We will not retain money where the future of the training course is, to say the least, precarious.

Once again, we would like to apologise to the many people who purchased the training, but we are sure you will agree this situation is not of our making.

In the words of Max Bygraves, "Things Ain't What They Used to Be". Developers who design operating systems and applications will change things around. Some changes are beneficial while others are not.

In the case of Windows11, you are likely to find that when you press JAWS Key+F11 so as to bring into view the list of icons in the System Tray, or you press Windows+B whichever is your preference, you will not see all the programs there with which you can interact. Good examples would be Google Drive, Dropbox, StationPlaylist, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, Microsoft Teams and even JAWS itself. Some of our products rely on specific programs being in the System Tray (or taskbar notification area). But whether you have any of those or not, in the case of Microsoft Teams as an example it is useful to have this resident there and available through JAWS Key+F11.

In windows10, you used to be able to immediately allow all such programs to be visible on the Taskbar. This is no longer possible at the time of writing with Windows11. Below you will find steps so as to ensure the applications you require are available.

1. Press the Windows key to bring into view the Start Menu.
2. Into the Edit Field which is focused, type Control Panel and press Enter.
3. Into the Edit Field which is focused, type Taskbar and Navigation. Press Enter.
4. Press Tab to reach the Taskbar and Navigation link. Press Enter.
5. Press Tab to reach the Button Taskbar Corner Overflow, Show All Settings. JAWS announces this is collapsed. Press Space Bar to expand the options.
6. Press Tab once so as to set focus to a list box of all the applications which potentially can reside in the System Tray area, accessed via JAWS Key+F11.
7. Press Down Arrow to move through each application in turn. While JAWS does not report automatically whether the setting for each application is enabled or disabled, you can press Tab once to reach a Button which toggles its state. At that point, JAWS will announce the current status and you can press the Space Bar if necessary to toggle it. Press Shift+Tab to move back to the list.
8. Work through all the applications in the list so as to customise the System Tray to your taste.
9. Press ALT+F4 to close the dialog box.

Introduction.

Some of you will be keen to test the new functionality offered within JAWS version 2022 public beta 1, and to report any bugs you find to the developers, Vispero. However, prior to installing version 2022 and testing the new features, you ought to know about one of them right away. This is called Automatic Settings Migration.

JAWS and Fusion 2022 now include automatic migration of user settings, including Braille setup. The ZoomText product included this feature last year and now Vispero have adopted it in JAWS and Fusion.

Historically, the first time you installed a new major version, you would be given the opportunity to migrate settings the first time the software was run. While this moved the various contents of your User Settings Folder, it did not include the JFW.INI file where certain components such as Braille Setup and voice profile settings are accommodated. Starting with 2022, JAWS now automatically attempts to import all the settings, plus the JFW.INI info from the most recent prior version available, going back as far as 2020. As a result, you will not be presented with the startup Wizard, but you will be asked about setting up the Run Automatically option.

How Does This New Feature Affect Our Products?

As you will have noted, when the computer restarts following a JAWS installation, you are not asked whether you would like your settings to be imported. It just happens. Because of that, the information in this document is important because the automatic migration can have some unfortunate consequences.

Below, you will find reference to each product together with whether you should be using it with JAWS version 2022 and any support we may offer having done so.

J-Say.

J-Say should not be used with JAWS version 2022 at this time. Fortunately, if J-Say is detected as being installed into JAWS 2021 or 2020, the automatic migration feature does not apply. No files will be copied over.

If you have the installer for J-Say, and you attempt to install it into version 2022, it will not function. So please do not attempt it. Consequently, no support is available at this time for J-Say and JAWS 2022.

Leasey.

Leasey should not be used with JAWS version 2022 at this time.

Unfortunately, it would seem that many of the Leasey settings are copied over from JAWS 2021 or 2020 without any prompting from you. However, we know that there are aspects of Leasey which do not function with JAWS 2021. Please do not tell us that everything is working as some people have done in previous years. We know there are things which are not functional.

Moreover, because of the way in which Leasey functions, she does change some of the behaviour of the JAWS program albeit in subtle ways. This means you will distort any bug reports you send to Vispero because they may not be able to duplicate the problem so you will have wasted your time.

In the event that Leasey is semi-functional, (meaning that the settings have been ported over), you will want to work through these steps to ensure JAWS returns to its default settings.

1. Press Insert+J to move to the JAWS window.
2. Press ALT+O for Options.
3. From the list of menu items, select Restore to Factory Settings and press Enter.
4. JAWS should remove all settings and return it to the defaults. JAWS will then restart and you will be presented with the Startup Wizard.

Zoom Professional Scripts.

There are no difficulties using these scripts with JAWS 2022. While it may appear that the scripts have been copied over from a previous JAWS install, you are being deceived. Not all the files are present. You should run the installer for the scripts and, when requested into which JAWS version the scripts should be installed, select version 2022 from the list of Radio buttons. Technical Support is available for this product used in conjunction with JAWS 2022 assuming you can confirm the installer for the product has been run.

J-Dictate, Scripts for Microsoft Teams, The Muze, StationPlaylist Scripts and Elegance for ElBraille.

There are no difficulties using any of these products with JAWS 2022. However to be thorough, we highly recommend you should run the installer for each product and, when requested into which JAWS version the scripts should be installed, select version 2022 from the list of Radio buttons. Technical Support is available for these products used in conjunction with JAWS 2022 assuming you can confirm the installer for the product has been run.

What Happens If I Do Not Have a Product Installer?

Our immediate response to this is, why not? When you purchase a product, you want to take care of it. Anyone who has even elementary computing skills ought to be able to save their product information, even if they cannot retain email messages you would have received following purchase.

1. Create a folder on your computer or better still a cloud storage service, such as Google Drive or Dropbox. Call it Keys and Serial Numbers.
2. Open up the Email message you received after purchase and select all the text within it by pressing Control+A.
3. Copy it to the clipboard with Control+C.
4. Open up the Notepad word processor and paste the contents with Control+V.
5. Save it with an appropriate name in the folder you created in step 1. Anyone can use Notepad and the above steps should not be beyond anyone's capabilities.

Summary.

We hope this document provides a useful way forward for ensuring you can use JAWS 2022 if you wish to do so. Note that the contents of the document may change as Vispero head towards a final release.

If you have our enhanced scripts for the Zoom Conferencing platform, you can stop reading now and get on with your day, because the following does not apply to you.

If on the other hand you are using Zoom with the default JAWS scripts within the July 2021 update, you may have noticed that some Zoom alerts are not being spoken. A typical alert may be that audio is unmuted or that you have raised your hand.

As of JAWS version 2022, this problem has been resolved. However, you can solve it yourself right now. Simply focus on Zoom and press Control+F5. That's all you have to do. The default behaviour in the JAWS 2021 update is for only alerts relating to chat messages to be spoken or sent to Braille, whereas you want all alerts to be announced. Pressing Control+F5 will allow this to happen. You will also if necessary find the setting in Quick Settings, activated with JAWS Key+V.

Introduction.

REAPER is a complete digital audio production application offering a full multitrack audio recording, editing, processing, mixing and mastering toolset. REAPER's full, flexible feature set and renowned stability have found a home wherever digital audio is used: commercial and home studios, broadcasting, podcasting, location recording, education, science and research, sound design, or game development. Reaper can be installed on high-end desktop PC's down to a student's laptop.

When a screen-reader user wants to learn to record, edit, mix and process audio, the first questions are usually: are the programs accessible? Will I need script files to support the application? And how much is the entire package?

Fortunately due to some talented innovators, Reaper is extremely accessible. A freely available package to support various screen-readers exists, (OSARA), so you can gain the most from this truly awesome application. Some freely available JAWS scripts considerably heighten the functionality and flexibility further.

But how do you use it? Reaper contains hundreds of features and corresponding shortcut keys to allow you to work with it. But it is helpful not only to understand how these features work but also the concepts behind them and why you would use one function in preference to another. We've read many comments from people who simply do not know how to begin using the program or ways in which they can further their limited knowledge. It can be bewildering.

"Reaping the Benefits" from Hartgen Consultancy will show you how to get the most from Reaper within the context of audio. While Reaper is perfectly capable of handling midi and tasks relating to music composition, this course does not cover those aspects. The course is specific to the audio enthusiast or anyone needing to create sound as part of his or her education or employment. It is also useful for those people wishing to create podcasts for publication.

Over the years, a number of attempts have been successfully made to ensure visually impaired people can work with audio either for basic editing or to accomplish extremely complex projects. We think that Reaper, OSARA and the accompanying JAWS scripts offer the most accessible solution there has ever been!

What Will I Learn?

The course is divided into nine sessions containing the following topics:

• Introduction.
• Installing and Activating Reaper and Associated Tools.
• Configuring REAPER.
• Getting Help and some OSARA Preferences.
• An Introduction to Working with Audio and Reaper.
• JAWS Specific REAPER Functions.
• Working With Multiple Tracks.
• Recording Setup.
• Making Our First Recording.
• Bookmarking and Further Notes on Recording.
• Working With Items for the First Time.
• Creating a Podcast Introduction.
• Notes On Splitting.
• Nudging Audio.
• Fading In and Out.
• Project Templates.
• Dan Mcgrew Setting the Scene and Default Fades if Necessary.
• Fading Music Down to a Level of our Choosing.
• Markers.
• ReaConsole.
• Fading Music Up To a Specific Level.
• Deleting Markers and the Actions Dialog.
• Working With Takes.
• Using an External Editor.
• The Niceties of Editing. Inserting Silence and Crossfading Clips.
• Track Folders.
• Multiple Tracks and Eliminating Segments.
• Selecting Inputs, Recording on Multiple Tracks and Recording to a Stereo Pair.
• Side Chaining.
• Normalising Items.
• Normalisation a Complete Mix Through Rendering.
• Peak Watcher.
• Effects.
• Applying a Reverb PlugIn Unknown to Us.
• Working With Video.

In addition to the above, various project exercises will be worked through. These include preparing a complex project from many audio files, mixing voice over music perhaps for a podcast introduction or closing, etc.

Who is the Course For?

This course is suited to anyone who has an interest in creating or working with audio content. You should be familiar with how JAWS functions together with Windows concepts, such as how to navigate around applications.

What Happens If I Do Not Have the Reaper Software?

This is not a problem. A fully functional 60 day demonstration copy of Reaper can be downloaded and installed, details of which will be provided to you when you sign up for the training course.

Should you decide to purchase a copy of Reaper, a license for home or non-profit use is priced $60. So as well as being extremely powerful, it is one of the less expensive products in this field.

If I Purchase the Course, What Will I Receive?

The course will give to you:

• An audio recording of each of the nine lessons in MP3 format.
• A text transcript of the entire training course including questions from the audience members who took part during the webinars.
• A DAISY audio copy of the entire course.
• Sample files which you can use in your Projects and to work with at a later date.
• A list of keystrokes to reinforce topics covered in the lessons.
• Resources collected together during the training course to enhance the Reaper experience.

A Note on the JAWS Script Files.

The JAWS scripts provide a range of extremely useful features to assist with audio production, speech and Braille output of events and to monitor activity on screen. It is possible to use Reaper and OSARA without the scripts, but we suggest that you do to ensure Reaper is a pleasure to use and you obtain maximum accessibility. We will provide training course participants with a link to the scripts which are freely available to anyone.

Special Notes.

This section has been written to leave the reader in absolutely no doubt as to our intentions in terms of the provision of this training course.

This training course was originally produced as a series of webinars in 2021. It has been updated in June of 2023.
All exercises in this training course were verified as being accurate as of June 2023, tested against REAPER version 6.80, OSARA version 2023.1 and JAWS scripts build 65.

Finally, we should draw your attention to the Terms and Conditions you agree to when any archive of a training course is purchased, (which have always been located on our Training page), which include these statements:

• opportunities do not exist for students to ask questions of the tutor or to seek advice upon specific points. We hope however that the knowledge gained while listening should be more than sufficient.
• Please bare in mind that software functionality changes on a rapid basis, so there are bound to be situations where the occasional procedure outlined in the audio archive does not function. Remember, it is an archive of a training course which was previously conducted over a number of weeks.

This would be the case with a tutorial relating to any Microsoft product (such as Word or Teams), JAWS for Windows, or an application such as Sound Forge from Magix.
In short, it is delivered on the same basis as would be the case with many audio and EBooks purchased from mainstream retail outlets. However, individual tuition can be purchased separately if desired.

Costing.

The cost of the course is £80 which is currently 112 US dollars.

Alternatively, anyone can purchase the course by sending an Email to jaws@hartgen.org, whereupon a fully accessible electronic invoice will be sent to you which can be paid through PayPal or any major credit or debit card.

Course Prerequisites.

It is important that you have:

• Good keyboarding skills.
• JAWS for Windows.
• At the very least, a microphone so as to make recordings with Reaper, or alternatively a more sophisticated environment, such as an audio interface or mixing console. If you do not wish to make recordings, and are content with importing audio including our samples, a microphone may not be necessary.

Summary.

Reaper has proven itself to be a thoroughly usable, productive audio environment in which to work: a production powerhouse." Why not give it a try and learn how to use it from a blind person's perspective!

Hi to all and we hope you are all looking forward to the weekend.

As usual, there's a lot going on at Hartgen Consultancy to tell you about.

First of all, you may like to tune into the Mosen at Large radio show tomorrow. You can hear an interview about our products and a screen-reading discussion. The link pointing to the above blog post will give you plenty of detail.
It will be a real pleasure taking part in Mosen at Large!

Starting next week, we'll be posting a number of audio demonstrations concerning some upcoming products. One of which will be our JAWS scripts for Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Outlook which greatly improve efficiency when you are within the workplace or even if you are not. The first presentation should be available on Monday, so you can really get to hear Teams being used as it should be used. The scripts themselves will be available to purchase as a standalone product before the end of May 2021. Those people who took part in our training course on Teams already have most of the functionality and they will have it all next week.

We're excited particularly to let you know that when we produce major audio presentations such as those referred to above, there will also be a full text transcript accompanying them, including output from the JAWS screen-reader. We're very glad to be offering this facility to our customers.

Another audio presentation and text transcript to come will relate to our product Elegance for ElBraille. This is already part of our Leasey product but again, at the start of June, we will be offering it standalone. A lot of work is being undertaken at the moment to ensure that all of these products can fit together, which brings us to the next point.

We do know there are people who would love to use Leasey in conjunction with the scripts for StationPlaylist Studio using the same version of JAWS. The reality is however that the number of enquiries we have received about this is less than 10 users. That does not mean we should not work on this, but you can understand perhaps there are greater priorities. One thing which has held this project back is the amount of time spent on the new StationPlaylist Quick Navigation mode.
However, a new build of the StationPlaylist scripts will soon go into testing which will facilitate this level of access.

And finally, we're about to provide details of our new training course on the use of the Reaper application with JAWS for Windows. Check our social media outlets or web site in the early part of the week for the scoop on that. There is a Latest News section on each and every page of the site.

Have a good weekend!