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Don't Be Twixt, Be Tween! Working With OpenTween Using Screen-Reading Software.

Introduction.

It's excellent when an application comes along which you might use every day on your computer, and which is extremely accessible requiring only minimal modification to improve things further. This is very much the case with OpenTween: a highly accessible, mainstream, open source, portable and efficient client for working with many aspects of the Twitter social network.

While many applications have been designed to serve Twitter with blind people in mind, often with keyboard-driven convenient functions, working with a mainstream client certainly has its advantages. OpenTween is one of the most popular Twitter clients in Japan and was initially developed under the banner of Tween in 2007. That means it has proved itself, users can provide feedback, and there is a strong likelihood it will keep pace with Twitter's changes and updates; and so it has proved.

Not only is OpenTween extremely responsive on many computers where resources are at a premium, but once customised, it can be moved from one machine to another with all configurations intact, meaning that you can precisely duplicate the experience from one computer to another. The difficulty is that the majority of the available documentation is in Japanese.

It is also worth noting that, in our experience, this is by far the best Twitter client to use if you work with Braille.

Our Training Course, "Don't Be Twixt, Be Tween", will show you how to install, setup and use OpenTween when using screen-reading technology. The Tutor, Brian Hartgen, will guide you step by step through how to work with OpenTween, and will also explain much of the terminology associated with this wonderful social networking platform.

Who Is The Course For?

This Training Course is suitable for someone who wishes to learn about OpenTween for the first time and all the advantages it brings. It would also benefit people who are using an existing Twitter client which, for whatever reason, may not be available in the future. Finally, anyone who has not taken the plunge and dived into the world of Twitter will certainly learn how good it can be, both for social and business purposes.

Users of both the JAWS for Windows and NVDA screen-readers will benefit from this course. JAWS users will have some advantages, particularly as scripts for the application will be provided, offering some useful functionality.

What Will I Learn?

The Training Course is in 2 two-hour lessons in which you will learn, broadly speaking:

  • How to download, install, authenticate and customise OpenTween.
  • The advantages of working with multiple copies of OpenTween.
  • Backing up your existing settings.
  • Sending your first tweet and verifying the number of composed characters.
  • Tabs and Timelines: Home, Mentions/Replies, Direct Messages, Favourites.
  • Hear messages automatically, have sounds play or receive no feedback.
  • Locating your previous position when launching OpenTween.
  • Sound Packs to Use.
  • Replying to an individual or replying to all.
  • Reversing the sort order of displayed tweets.
  • The different ways to send a direct message to a user.
  • Viewing both sides of a Direct Message conversation.
  • The usefulness of the menu bar and the Context Menu.
  • Mentioning multiple recipients and OpenTween's AutoComplete feature.
  • Launching a web page from a tweet.
  • Examining the content of a tweet in greater detail.
  • Viewing a user's timeline and why you would want to do this.
  • Working through a Twitter conversation.
  • Exploring a timeline column by column.
  • Retweets: what they are and viewing the number of retweets.
  • Following, Unfollowing, finding friends and viewing relationships.
  • Liking, unliking and deleting tweets.
  • Finding a tweet by word or phrase in the current timeline.
  • Copying a Twitter username to the clipboard.
  • Saving a tweet to a text file.
  • The purpose of hashtags and how to use them to best effect including working with the Hashtag Manager.
  • Searching for content.
  • The advantages of lists and how to work with them.
  • Filtering out unwanted tweets by key words or source.
  • Being prepared for upcoming Twitter changes in mid-August.
  • Working with profiles.

Course Prerequisites.

It is important that you have:

  • A computer with an internet connection;
  • JAWS for Windows version 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 2018 or NVDA;

A link to the latest release of OpenTween, JAWS scripts, NVDA Addon and other resources will be provided.

If I Purchase the Course, What Will I Receive?

The course will give to you:

  • An audio recording of the lessons in MP3 format. This can be played as many times as necessary to reinforce topics which have been covered.
  • Brief text documentation comprising a list of keystrokes to reinforce topics covered in the lessons.

The audio recordings are accessed through a secure area of our website which is only available to course participants.

Costing.

The cost of the course is £30 which is currently 40 US dollars.
Purchase Don't Be Twixt, Be Tween Online.
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. Orders can also be placed by telephone:

  • Call us (from within the UK): 02920-850298.
  • Call us (from the United States): 415-871-0626.
  • Call us (from any other country): (+44)2920-850298.

If you would like to read the views from participants of our previous courses, please Visit our Training area.
In addition, David Lepovsky, (who describes himself as "a huge fan of Hartgen Consultancy products" and who is a well-known advocate on Disability-related issues, says: "I cannot wait for this course! Another fantastic Hartgen Consultancy offering!"

Conclusion.

With major changes to Twitter on the horizon, we believe that working with a mainstream client which has a large user base is very much the way to go and is seriously worth considering. But for some screen-reader users, OpenTween has been ClosedTween, or should we say, a closed book. Let us open it to you in the latest in our series of training courses!

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