Important Messages, such as Service Disruption and Opening Times.

Hartgen Consultancy closing dates are as follows:
Friday 20 December 2024 through to Monday 6 January 2025.

During these dates, urgent technical support queries, together with sales orders, will be processed by Email only.
This is exactly the same procedure as previous years.

Are usual opening hours are Monday to Friday 9 AM to 5 PM UK time, excluding public holidays.

brianhartgen's blog

Celebrating 10 Years of Hartgen Consultancy with Holiday Offers!

At Hartgen Consultancy, this year we celebrate our 10th birthday!

In December 2014 when the company was established, we had enough money to eat and pay the bills for one month; nothing more. We had no support in the form of grants; nor did we take advantage of the Government's Access To Work scheme to purchase equipment and support. That shows you really can create something out of nothing if you have the inclination and a good work ethic.

As a celebration of that, and as the holidays are approaching, we do have some special offers this year as we've always tried to do. All products must be purchased direct from this page or by requesting an invoice for the appropriate item.
Dollar conversions given here are approximate.
All offers will be removed from this web site on 20 December 2024.

Leasey.

Let's begin with our most popular product which is Leasey. We've had some wonderful improvements this year and we have a lot more planned for 2025. We know that because suggestions have been coming in from Leasey users.

Leasey version 10 is expected to be released in February as usual, so that will be February 2025.
The price for that upgrade in 2025 will be £35 which is $45 US.
However from this page only existing Leasey users can upgrade for £25 $32 US.

Leasey Total Package Version 10 Upgrade.



JAWS or Fusion Serial Number



Leasey Advanced Version 10 Upgrade.



JAWS or Fusion Serial Number



J-Say.

J-Say Upgrade From Any Previous Version: £75 $95 US.



JAWS or Fusion Serial Number



J-Say Full Product, £300 $382 US.



JAWS or Fusion Serial Number



AI Like That Training Course.

This is the first series of the training course focusing upon many aspects of using AI.

AI Like That Series 1; £60 $76.





Learn JAWS Scripting From Scratch Training Course.

Learn JAWS Scripting From Scratch; £150 $192 US.





Excel Yourself Training Course.

Excel Yourself; £60 $76 US.





Reaping the Benefits Training Course.

Reaping The Benefits; £60 $76 US.





SenseAbility Training Course.

SenseAbility; £50 $63 US.





JAWS Scripts for WhatsApp.

JAWS Scripts for WhatsApp; £25 $32 US.



JAWS or Fusion Serial Number



JAWS Scripts for X/Twitter.

JAWS scripts for X/Twitter; £25 $32 US.



JAWS or Fusion Serial Number



Leasey and JAWS 2025 Setup Guide

A Friendly Guide to Importing Your JAWS Settings from 2024 to 2025 with Leasey.

Thinking of importing your JAWS settings from version 2024 to 2025 while using Leasey? Before diving in, we recommend doing this only if it's really necessary. It's not the go-to option for most users, and here's why.

Why You Should Avoid Migration.

The built-in Migration feature in JAWS doesn't always behave as expected, and trying to use it may leave you with an error saying that the process has failed. Instead of facing that frustration, it's often faster to simply set up your speech and Braille preferences fresh.

Another reason to avoid migrating settings is that if you're using custom scripts (especially those provided by Hartgen Consultancy), these are often tailored specifically for JAWS 2025. Importing older settings could override these updates, undoing all the fine-tuning designed to improve your JAWS experience. Trust us—it's worth starting fresh.

The Best Way to Get Started with JAWS 2025.

Here’s a smoother way to begin with JAWS 2025:

1. Install JAWS 2025. On the first installation screen, you’ll see two checkboxes. The first needs to be checked to accept the License Agreement. The second checkbox (which you can tab to) asks if you want to migrate your settings from JAWS 2024—make sure this one is unchecked.
2. Once JAWS restarts, go ahead and customize your speech and Braille settings as needed.
3. If you're using custom scripts for applications we don’t support, you can import those from your backup.
4. Finally, reinstall any Hartgen Consultancy products, like Leasey or scripts for StationPlaylist Studio. These should be freshly installed for JAWS 2025. For Leasey users, all your favorite features will still work as before—they’re stored separately from the JAWS settings folder.

If You Really Want to Migrate Settings.

If you still want to move your older settings over, there are two methods to try.

Method 1: The Safer Option.

1. Once Leasey is installed in JAWS 2025, press the Leasey key and then Control+Shift+B to open the Backup and Restore Manager.
2. Choose the option “Copy default settings from JAWS 2024 to 2025”.
3. Press Enter, and the JAWS default settings (including voice profiles and Notification Rules) will be copied. Leasey knows exactly which files to transfer, so this is the safer route.

Method 2: The More Advanced Route.

1. Install Leasey in JAWS 2025, as described earlier.
2. Open JAWS 2024 and press the Leasey key then Control+Shift+B to launch the Backup and Restore Manager.
3. Select Backup JAWS settings and choose a location for the backup (e.g., C:\JAWSSettings).
4. Press Enter to complete the backup. This should exclude any older Leasey-related files that aren’t part of the latest build.
5. Now, open JAWS 2025 and press the Leasey key and Control+Shift+B again.
6. Choose Restore JAWS default settings.
7. The path to the backup should already be displayed in the Edit Field—press Enter.
8. If all goes well, your settings should be imported into JAWS 2025.
9. Afterward, reinstall any additional script files (like StationPlaylist Studio, Zoom, or Teams) to ensure everything is working smoothly.

JAWS 2025 Is Coming Soon!**

It's that time of year again – JAWS version 2025 is just around the corner! As with previous years, we’ve prepared a brief guide to help you understand which of our scripting packages will need updates.

Leasey.

We’re excited to announce that a new update for Leasey has been fully tested by our amazing Beta Testing team and will be available next week! While it will feel familiar if you're using Leasey with JAWS 2024, we've made a few tweaks to ensure everything works smoothly with JAWS 2025.

If you’re currently using Leasey 9.0, you can update to Leasey 9.1 at no extra cost!

StationPlaylist.

A fresh build of the StationPlaylist scripts is ready and not only supports JAWS 2025 but also brings compatibility with the brand-new StationPlaylist 6.11. Stay tuned for details on the changes and accessibility improvements, which we’ll share via the StationPlaylist Email list.

Just a reminder: to receive these updates, you’ll need to be part of our annual subscription plan, which also gives you one year of support.

J-Say.

Great news for J-Say users! If you have a current J-Say SMA or have recently upgraded, you’ll receive J-Say version 23. This version supports JAWS 2025 and includes direct access to FS Companion, ChatGPT, and CoPilot. We’ve also made some adjustments to improve Dragon users' experience with CoPilot.

Please note: J-Say 22 won’t be compatible with JAWS 2025, so you’ll need to update.

J-Dictate.

We’ve made a small update to J-Dictate for JAWS 2025 compatibility. If you hold a J-Dictate license, you will be able to download the updated version using the link you already have.

Other Products.

All our other products, like the scripts for Zoom and Teams, can be installed into JAWS 2025 without any special steps needed.

Final Notes.

Be sure to stay subscribed to our email lists or follow us on Mastodon to get the latest updates as soon as they’re available.

Lastly, for support, please make sure you have Remote Incident Manager installed. You can easily find the link to download it at the top of every page on our website.

A Friendly Guide to Importing Your JAWS Settings from 2024 to 2025 with Leasey.

Thinking of importing your JAWS settings from version 2024 to 2025 while using Leasey? Before diving in, we recommend doing this only if it's really necessary. It's not the go-to option for most users, and here's why.

Why You Should Avoid Migration.

The built-in Migration feature in JAWS doesn't always behave as expected, and trying to use it may leave you with an error saying that the process has failed. Instead of facing that frustration, it's often faster to simply set up your speech and Braille preferences fresh.

Another reason to avoid migrating settings is that if you're using custom scripts (especially those provided by Hartgen Consultancy), these are often tailored specifically for JAWS 2025. Importing older settings could override these updates, undoing all the fine-tuning designed to improve your JAWS experience. Trust us—it's worth starting fresh.

The Best Way to Get Started with JAWS 2025.

Here’s a smoother way to begin with JAWS 2025:

1. Install JAWS 2025. On the first installation screen, you’ll see two checkboxes. The first needs to be checked to accept the License Agreement. The second checkbox (which you can tab to) asks if you want to migrate your settings from JAWS 2024—make sure this one is unchecked.
2. Once JAWS restarts, go ahead and customize your speech and Braille settings as needed.
3. If you're using custom scripts for applications we don’t support, you can import those from your backup.
4. Finally, reinstall any Hartgen Consultancy products, like Leasey or scripts for StationPlaylist Studio. These should be freshly installed for JAWS 2025. For Leasey users, all your favorite features will still work as before—they’re stored separately from the JAWS settings folder.

If You Really Want to Migrate Settings.

If you still want to move your older settings over, there are two methods to try.

Method 1: The Safer Option.

1. Once Leasey is installed in JAWS 2025, press the Leasey key and then Control+Shift+B to open the Backup and Restore Manager.
2. Choose the option “Copy default settings from JAWS 2024 to 2025”.
3. Press Enter, and the JAWS default settings (including voice profiles and Notification Rules) will be copied. Leasey knows exactly which files to transfer, so this is the safer route.

Method 2: The More Advanced Route.

1. Install Leasey in JAWS 2025, as described earlier.
2. Open JAWS 2024 and press the Leasey key then Control+Shift+B to launch the Backup and Restore Manager.
3. Select Backup JAWS settings and choose a location for the backup (e.g., C:\JAWSSettings).
4. Press Enter to complete the backup. This should exclude any older Leasey-related files that aren’t part of the latest build.
5. Now, open JAWS 2025 and press the Leasey key and Control+Shift+B again.
6. Choose Restore JAWS default settings.
7. The path to the backup should already be displayed in the Edit Field—press Enter.
8. If all goes well, your settings should be imported into JAWS 2025.
9. Afterward, reinstall any additional script files (like StationPlaylist Studio, Zoom, or Teams) to ensure everything is working smoothly.

AI Like That! Unlocking the Power of AI with JAWS For Windows.

Would you like:

  • A quick and easy way to check the weather or to get a summary of news headlines?
  • To translate text from one language to another effortlessly?
  • An analysis of a spreadsheet or document in seconds?
  • To check the spelling of a word with precision?
  • To summarise the content of an article or PDF if you're in a hurry?
  • To compare products on shopping sites and find the best deal?
  • To draft emails, write reports, or even generate creative content like poems and stories.

Your Personal Assistant called AI is here waiting for you!

AI technology is revolutionising our lives and this is just the beginning. Apart from assisting with all of the above subject areas and more, blind screen-reader users benefit in other ways:

  • Efficiency Boost. Even for the most proficient user of a screen-reader, tasks can take longer to achieve. AI can consolidate a lot of information which would otherwise take time to locate.
  • Image Descriptions. Descriptions of images using various tools can not only help to recapture past memories but in addition can assist in social media participation and group discussion.

The new training course, AI Like That, provides:

  • Thorough descriptions of AI tools and services, available at no cost and those requiring a subscription.
  • Screen-reading strategies you can use to gain access to many AI-related tools. This technology is changing on a weekly basis, so you need to know not only what AI can do, but how to work with changes so as to adapt your approach at a later time.
  • Language in which you can create your prompts to gain the best possible results if you are blind. As a screen-reader user, there are additional adaptations which can be made to enhance what is returned by AI.
  • How to customise your screen-reader so as to reach important parts of a page quickly, provide textual labels where they do not exist and to minimise spoken output if necessary.

While this training course includes discussions of tools which you can use in the workplace, there is a heavy emphasis on how AI can be used for study and leisure pursuits.

AI Like That Series 1 contains over 5 hours of content. This was more than originally envisaged.

The training course comprises:

  • Introduction.
  • An Overview of Picture Smart.
  • Scanning a File Containing a Picture.
  • Scanning a window; Excel Worksheet.
  • Describing images on web pages such as the X social media platform and Amazon shopping site.
  • Scanning part of a YouTube video; obtaining details of a dance group.
  • An overview of CoPilot and ChatGPT.
  • Basic navigation of ChatGPT.
  • Quick shopping with ChatGPT.
  • Creative writing.
  • Tokens and text segments.
  • Spell checking.
  • Different writing styles.
  • Language translation.
  • Planning an event.
  • Custom Instructions.
  • Testing the custom instructions.
  • Uploading files.
  • Introduction to CoPilot.
  • CoPilot settings and basic prompts.
  • Talking to CoPilot.
  • Chat History.
  • Combining two documents and changing attributes.
  • Combining two Excel workbooks and analysing the data.
  • Creating a picture from a text description using ChatGPT.
  • Creating a picture from a text description using CoPilot.
  • CoPilot used to draft and create text in Microsoft Word.
  • Interrogating CoPilot about the content of a document in Microsoft Word.
  • CoPilot in Microsoft Excel.
  • CoPilot in Microsoft PowerPoint.
  • ChatGPT Memories.
  • Sharing and deleting ChatGPT items.
  • Archiving and other ChatGPT settings.
  • Zoom AI Companion.

What Else Do I Need to Know?

This is the first series of training courses on the subject. It will hopefully answer many questions you may have about AI. But as previously stated, it is changing rapidly. The primary purpose of it is to give you some encouragement and ideas of things to try, together with ways you can further your knowledge later on. Anyone who purchases this training course will receive a significant discount on the second series to take place in February 2025.

It would be helpful if you were using JAWS version 2024, but it is not essential that you do so. Some earlier releases of JAWS could be used.

Ready to dive in?

AI Like That can be purchased from this web site or by sending an Email to brian@hartgenconsultancy.com and requesting an invoice which can be paid by any major credit or debit card.

There are two payment options:

The first option allows you to purchase the training course series 1 archive. £80 or $104 US.





The second option allows you to purchase both series 1 archive and series 2 to be delivered in February 2025. £140 or $182 US.
Many people who participate in our training courses do not pay for themselves. They are funded by employers or funding bodies. This option may well be more convenient for them.





Conclusion.

While there may be some AI sceptics around, it is not only helping blind people to become more independent but it can save you plenty of time.
Don't miss out on this opportunity to master AI technology and transform your daily tasks! Sign up for AI Like That and take the first step towards a more efficient and enjoyable digital experience. When the course is completed, you really will be saying, "Hey, I like that!"

AI In the Workplace

On 29 June 2024, it was my pleasure to deliver a presentation as part of the ACB Convention (Virtual) on behalf of the Blind Information Technology Specialists.
BITS is an extremely worthwhile and valuable organisation promoting the use of technology as used by blind people. I highly recommend you access the BITS web site to explore what they have to offer.

While you can Download the audio presentation without Q and A here, the primary purpose of this page is to provide a text transcript of it.
This is DeafBlind awareness week and it is essential that noone is disadvantaged and should be able to have access to everything I had to say. I hope therefore the below transcript in text form is useful.

Brian Hartgen: Welcome to my presentation for ACB, Using AI in the Workplace. I'm Brian Hartgen and during the next little while, I'm going to be talking about and demonstrating something which I think has become one of the most interesting and innovative changes to technology in recent years. It is used by anyone working with mainstream technology, but as I will discuss, it has particular benefits to users of screen readers. I'm talking about the use of AI or artificial intelligence. I'm sure that AI is a term that you are familiar with, even if you haven't experienced the technology that comes from it. AI is a term which is all-embracing. It can be used to describe manipulating technology in many different areas. What I will be discussing here, however, is accessing useful information together with the processing of images so as to make them accessible to us.
I will focus upon how to use some of the tools to work with AI in the workplace. I'm using the term workplace in its loosest sense, because everything I will be describing here can be useful both at home and in educational settings too. I will be using JAWS for Windows as my screen reader, and I'll discuss what works well and where some improvement could be made. The impact of artificial intelligence related tools has been astonishing. Their impact is as profound as the introduction of the electric light bulb. I do not want to spend too much time on a discussion of AI itself as I would prefer to devote the time that I do have to demonstrating different services, and you've already had some sessions on that subject anyway. But in my view, AI gives us as blind people access to an enormous range of information which we would've had to search for in other ways.
Perhaps by reviewing a multitude of different websites or search engines, it can be used to consolidate information quickly so as to bring it to us in a more convenient form, and it can also be used to construct data for you based upon what is fed to it. As you would imagine, there is considerable controversy and varying schools of thought surrounding the use of AI. There are a number of AI search tools around. As with many resources, people will have their particular favourites. Some people will say that some services work better than others, but perhaps more importantly, AI is not always accurate. While we should keep in mind that there are inaccuracies with these tools, certainly in terms of interpreting the content of images, what we're getting back from them is significantly better than what we've ever had access to. While, for example, no one would discourage anyone from asking people to add alternative text descriptions to images, they are in no way as detailed as anything that AI is giving to us through its various services. I would far rather have what we've got now than what we had in the past.
The other point that I want to make is that within every AI-related service, prominence is given to emphasising that there may be inaccuracies. So it's not like you don't know that this could happen. If it does occur, each service has a mechanism by which you can submit feedback so as to state what is wrong. So to some extent, these services will only improve if we submit the appropriate feedback. The onus is on us, in part, to improve matters. In terms of using AI in the workplace itself, it could well be that you simply will not be able to, and that is because the IT department of your organisation may not allow you to send data out over the internet.
I suspect many organisations are still themselves figuring out how they can best utilise AI-related services, and you will need to discuss that with them. Time in this presentation is short, so I would rather now focus upon some of the things which can be achieved through various services, paying particular attention to how best to interact with them using JAWS. The services are changing every week, so I will try to give some strategies concerning things to look out for so that you can adapt what we have at present to something which you can use in the future, perhaps with your favourite AI-related tool.
I'm going to begin with Microsoft Copilot. This is available in two tiers, a free version and one you can pay for. The latter is called Copilot Pro. I have a subscription to Copilot Pro, and one of the core differences between the two different versions is the speed at which it processes requests that you submit. You'll need a Microsoft account to use Copilot. One of the reasons I like Copilot so much is because it contains good heading markup on its various pages, and also prompts which are sent directly to the screen reader automatically so you know exactly what is happening. Those prompts are quite verbose, but we can do something about some of those and I'll get to how you might go about it. Other services that I will refer to later do not include this, and the webpages concerned in those other services also contain many unlabeled graphics and controls.
You can use Copilot from within the Microsoft Edge browser, from an Office 365 application, which I will return to later, or from any web browser. If you're using a web browser, you will go to copilot.microsoft.com. I have a shortcut on my desktop to go straight to that URL whereupon I can submit a query as I'm going to do shortly. As of this moment, using Windows 11, the keystroke Windows plus C will also bring up Copilot right away, although that is under some discussion as to whether that keystroke will continue.
If it doesn't, there's nothing wrong with you using the method that I've just described, a shortcut pointing to the website, or indeed, you could create a shortcut pointing to the Windows app itself For Copilot. Bear in mind, if you use that keystroke, Windows C, it is the Microsoft Edge browser which is being used rather than perhaps your default and preferred web browser. However you choose to access Copilot, the layout of the page is very easy to work with. In terms of what to ask for when submitting a prompt, it can literally be anything you like. Let's try a couple of examples. I'm going to go to the top of the page with Control-Home.
JAWS: Copilot.
Brian Hartgen: And then type the letter E for the first edit field.
JAWS: Ask me anything, dot dot dot. Edit, blank.
Brian Hartgen: Typically, most AI tools work like this. You go there because you want to ask for something. So by and large, you're going to find an edit field close to the top of the page and you can submit your prompt. I'm going to go into forms mode.
JAWS: Forms mode on. Secure connection. Ask me anything, dot dot dot. Edit.
Brian Hartgen: By pressing enter, and I'm going to type, "Tell me about the ACB 2024 Convention." So I'm not even going to specify at this stage that it relates to the American Council of the Blind. I'm now going to press Enter and we'll listen to what happens. Now, bear in mind that I'm using Copilot Pro, as I said. I'm not going to edit the response time, so what you hear is exactly what you would ordinarily experience.
JAWS: Searching the web for ACB 2024 Convention. Stop responding button, ask me anything, dot dot dot. Edit, blank placeholder. Ask me anything. Dot dot dot. Response stopped. Received message. The 2024 American Council of the Blind ACB Conference and Convention will take place from July 5th to July 12th at the Hyatt Regency Riverfront Hotel in Jacksonville, Florida. The opening general session is scheduled for Sunday evening, July 7th, and a banquet will be held on Thursday night, July 11th. Throughout the convention, there will be day-long tours, special interest affiliate sessions, committee meetings and opportunities for collaboration with the Blinded Veterans Association, BVA.
Brian Hartgen: So you heard the response being read out automatically. I didn't have to do anything special, but of course we can review that text because as well as providing useful information, each AI-related service such as Copilot will also show you the sources from where the information derives. So you are able to go to the individual websites of those sources if you want to refer to information in more depth. I am obsessed with improving productivity and making sure that speech prompts are less verbose than perhaps we have at the moment. So let's talk through some ways that we can refine what we heard. I'm going to go into the JAWS speech history so that we can review some of the prompts that we did here. In order to move into speech history, you press Insert-Space or Caps Lock with Space, depending upon the JAWS keyboard layout you are using, followed by H for history. I've taken us to the point in the speech history where I pressed Enter to submit the prompt. We'll go through it line by line.
JAWS: Searching the web four ACB 2024 convention.
Brian Hartgen: That's fair enough.
JAWS: Stop responding button. Placeholder, response stopped.
Brian Hartgen: We've got a few phrases there. Stop responding was one of them that perhaps we didn't need to hear. Placeholder is another one. Response stopped is a third. We want to eliminate those. So what I would suggest is that if you really want to do that, you copy out those phrases, put them in the JAWS dictionary, and suppress the spoken output. In other words, you do not include a substitute prompt. So I'm going to copy this one.
JAWS: Response stopped.
Brian Hartgen: Which is response stopped.
JAWS: Selected, response stopped, copied.
Brian Hartgen: Now I'm just going to close down the speech history and go back to my browser.
JAWS: Copilot, Brave, M-Brian Hartgen.
Brian Hartgen: JAWS key with D for the JAWS dictionary.
JAWS: New dictionary dialogue. File name, edit, chrome.jdf.
Brian Hartgen: Press Enter.
JAWS: Add dot dot dot button, Alt plus A.
Brian Hartgen: Space on the add button.
JAWS: Add dictionary definition dialogue.
Brian Hartgen: Paste in the phrase that we've got here.
JAWS: Pasted, actual word. Edit response stopped.
Brian Hartgen: Tab.
JAWS: Replacement word. Edit, Alt plus R.
Brian Hartgen: Press the Space bar for nothing, because we don't want anything to be spoken here. And now I'll press Enter.
JAWS: Chrome.jdf JAWS dictionary manager.
Brian Hartgen: Alt, F4.
JAWS: Dictionary manager dialogue. Save changes to Chrome.jdf? Yes button, Alt plus Y.
Brian Hartgen: Space on the yes button.
JAWS: Copilot, Brave, M-Brian Hartgen.
Brian Hartgen: Now in a moment, we are going to have a look at another prompt, and when we execute that, hopefully we won't hear the phrase, "Response stopped," but you can apply that to any phrase. Now let's go back to what we were interested in. We heard the details of the submitted query, but we might want to review it. So let's go to the top of the page.
JAWS: Copilot.
Brian Hartgen: If you were to traverse through the headings by pressing the letter H, you'll hear the heading levels assigned to the different parts of it, and that is important because what we're going to do is to shortcut that a little bit, and we're going to use the number keys on our keyboard just above the letter keys in order to move directly to the part of the information which interests us. On a lot of services such as Google, Gemini, ChatGPT or Perplexity, which are other AI-related services, it could well be that the heading Markup isn't as good, but it certainly is a mechanism by which you can move through the page more quickly. I'll show you another method using Google Gemini in a moment that you might like to take advantage of with your alternative AI-related tool. But this is well marked up and I know items at heading level five are my questions, and responses from Copilot are at level six. I'm at the top of the page. If I were to press number six now...
JAWS: Tell me about the ACB 2024 Convention, heading level five. The 2024 American Council of the Blind ACB Conference and Convention will take place from July 5th to July 12th at the Hyatt Regency Riverfront Hotel in Jacksonville, Florida.
Brian Hartgen: That's a good example. We don't have any more prompts at the moment, but you can hear that it's taken me directly to that spot on the page, and I can review that with the arrow keys and refer to any links which may be there. There are other options here, various buttons that we can move through. I'll press the letter B.
JAWS: Like toggle button, dislike toggle button.
Brian Hartgen: If you think the response is good, it may be worth activating the like button by pressing Space bar or Enter. That influences the way that the tool works. If you dislike something, you have the opportunity of submitting feedback to determine what was inaccurate about it.
JAWS: Read aloud button.
Brian Hartgen: You can have this read aloud, if I press Space.
Speaker 3: The 2024 American Council of the Blind, ACB Conference and Convention will take place from July 5th to July 12th at the Hyatt Regency Riverfront Hotel in Jacksonville.
Brian Hartgen: So you can hear that it's more human sounding than the eloquence speech. Now we have a series of suggestions, and again, I'm pressing the letter B to move through the buttons here rather than having to arrow all the way through the page. And so what I'm doing is bypassing the intervening text that may be on there. I'm just going to the parts of the page, which are interesting. I can press Enter or Space on any one of these buttons. Each button relates to a possible follow-up question, and pressing Space or Enter on such a button will generate the answer to that question.
JAWS: "How can I register for the convention," button. "Are there any virtual sessions available," button.
Brian Hartgen: So if you didn't want to type a follow-up question yourself, then you could certainly activate any one of those buttons, but I am quite capable of sending in a follow-up question, so I'm going to do that now. Back to my edit field by pressing E.
JAWS: Ask me anything, dot dot dot, edit blank.
Brian Hartgen: Enter for forms mode,
JAWS: Forms mode on.
Brian Hartgen: Tell me about the hotel. I'm not referring any longer to the ACB 2024 Convention. It's a follow-up question. Copilot already knows the subject that we're talking about, so I don't need to allude to it. I'm going to press Enter, and remember that we shouldn't be hearing the term response stopped because we added that to the dictionary.
JAWS: Searching the web for Hyatt Regency Riverfront Hotel Jacksonville, Florida. Stop responding button. Blank placeholder. Ask me anything, dot dot dot. Receive message. Certainly, the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront is a non-smoking hotel located adjacent to the St. Johns River. It's just a six-minute walk from shops and dining at Jacksonville Landing.
Brian Hartgen: It's going to go on now and give me details about what the hotel has to offer. You'll notice that we didn't hear, "Response stopped." We did hear, "Stop responding," because we haven't added that to the dictionary, and we heard reference to a placeholder. But if you wanted to add all your own dictionary rules there, you could. Let's go back to the top of the page.
JAWS: Copilot.
Brian Hartgen: And if I press number six.
JAWS: Tell me about the ACB 2024 Convention, heading level five. The 2024 American Council of the Blind ACB Conference and Convention with-
Brian Hartgen: That was my first prompt and corresponding answer. If I press number six again...
JAWS: Tell me about the hotel, heading level five. Certainly. The Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront is an non-smoking hotel located adjacent to the St. Johns River.
Brian Hartgen: So you can see how easy it is in order to move through the various prompts and also to get the answers that we're interested in.
Now I want to try Google Gemini. It was previously called Google Bard. The reason that I want to do this is to show you another mechanism by which you could locate important information. The response that we get from JAWS is not so good using this AI tool, and that's why I'm choosing it. Because if you use one that is not so well equipped, you can apply a good strategy, similar to the one that I'm going to show you. So I'm going to go to gemini.google.com. I have a Google account and I'm signed into it. So now I'm going to go through a similar routine, go to the top of the page.
JAWS: Gemini.
Brian Hartgen: E.
JAWS: Enter a prompt here edit, contains text.
Brian Hartgen: Go into forms mode.
JAWS: Forms mode on. Secure connection.
Brian Hartgen: We'll just use the same question. I'll type the question and press Enter.
JAWS: Gemini is typing. Gemini replied.
Brian Hartgen: It's very fast, but we don't know where the answer is, so we need to go through the headings here and find out.
JAWS: Recent, heading level one. Conversation with Gemini, heading level one. Tell me about the ACB 2024 Convention, heading Level two.
Brian Hartgen: Heading level two is where my question is, but if I arrow down, you'll see that we've got a lot of intervening text that we don't want.
JAWS: Edit button.
Brian Hartgen: There's an edit button.
JAWS: Show draughts button collapsed. Listen button.
Brian Hartgen: We can listen to it.
JAWS: Rocket, unlabeled graphic.
Brian Hartgen: There's a graphic here.
JAWS: Unlabeled graphic, the American Council of the Blind, ACB 2024 Conference and Convention is being held in the hybrid format for the third year in a row from July 5th to July.
Brian Hartgen: So you hear that we've got different information, and that is one of the interesting things about AI-related services in that the style of information is going to be different. I have to say that with Copilot as well, you can change the presentation style of the information to make it more precise or a little more relaxed and informal, and that depends upon the situation that you happen to be working with. Of course, if it was very factual information that you were wanting that you were going to use elsewhere, perhaps in your writing, you would want to change the option achieved by a series of radio buttons so as to alter the writing style. That's not what we're interested in at the moment.
You'll notice that the start of what we're interested in is not denoted by a new heading, so we perhaps need to do something about it. And one of the things that you can do is to set a place marker. When you are setting a JAWS Place marker, which is essentially a bookmark on a specific point of a page, it is worth taking some time to have a listen to the content of what is on that page, and you're going to find something that it can latch onto, which is consistent with all pages on the site. And we do have something interesting here.
JAWS: Rocket, unlabeled graphic.
Brian Hartgen: We have something here called rocket. It's a graphic a couple of lines above where we actually need to be, which is the start of the response. That's as near as we're going to get. So I've placed the cursor on that. I'm going to press Ctrl, Shift, K.
JAWS: Place marker, list dialogue. Place marker, list view. Zero items.
Brian Hartgen: Tab to add.
JAWS: Add dot dot dot button, Alt plus A.
Brian Hartgen: Space.
JAWS: Add place marker, dialogue. Name, edit, rocket, Alt plus N.
Brian Hartgen: And you'll hear that the rocket graphic is in the edit field, which is fine. You do not need to keep that title. I'm going to press Tab.
JAWS: Define for all pages on current domain, checkbox not checked. Alt plus D.
Brian Hartgen: Check the box.
JAWS: Checked.
Brian Hartgen: Tab.
JAWS: Anchor to text. Check box not checked, Alt plus A.
Brian Hartgen: Check the box
JAWS: Checked.
Brian Hartgen: We're checking this box because we want the place marker to latch on to specific text. Tab.
JAWS: Anchor text. Edit, rocket, Alt plus T.
Brian Hartgen: That's good. Tab.
JAWS: Okay button. Alt plus O.
Brian Hartgen: And press Space. Let's go to the top of the page.
JAWS: Gemini.
Brian Hartgen: And type the letter K.
JAWS: Rocket, unlabeled graphic.
Brian Hartgen: That's good. Now all we need to do is arrow down a couple of lines.
JAWS: Unlabeled graphic, the American Council of the Blind, ACB 2024 Conference and Convention is being held in the hybrid format for-
Brian Hartgen: And there you are. Not perfect, but at least you are at the start of where you need to be. Within your favourite AI service, you may well want to set up JAWS place markers at strategic points on the page. A good example as far as Gemini is concerned will be the New Topic button, which allows you to start out a new conversation. If you don't start out a new conversation, the service will think that you're asking questions about the original subject matter. So it is important to make sure that you do start out a new conversation if you're going to talk about something new.
I was talking earlier about Microsoft Copilot, and that can be used to some degree within Office applications. For the best screen reading results, of course, we use the standalone Office applications rather than those which are web-based apps. At the moment, therefore, the access to Copilot is more limited. This is particularly the case within Microsoft Outlook, although Microsoft do tell us that this will change a little bit later on.
But Microsoft Word is one place where we can use it effectively. One of the things that you might ask Copilot to do is to draught some content for you. If you're not too good at explaining things or you need something rephrasing, you might need some help, and Copilot can draught something which might be more helpful for you. For example, I'm going to draught a letter applying for the position of a JAWS script writer. At the appropriate time, I will type, "Draught a letter applying for the post of JAWS script writer." I have been writing JAWS scripts since 2001. I have been working in the access technology industry for 30 years. In terms of scripting, I have regularly carried out work for government departments and organisations so as to ensure applications are accessible. I particularly enjoy creating scripts for applications where people have deemed them to be inaccessible. I'm used to working with people with varying computing abilities. Creating documentation to explain concepts within the scripts is just as important as creating the scripts themselves.
So those are my six highlighted points, my bullet points, so to speak. I have created those and I'm going to open up Microsoft Word now. I'm in a blank document, but I could be anywhere in the document concerned. I'm going to press Alt with I now, which is the Microsoft Word command in order to move into Copilot.
JAWS: Draught with Copilot, create prompt. Zero slash 2000. Prompt edit, contains text.
Brian Hartgen: This is a very simple dialogue. There is an edit field which is in focus right now. It's waiting for anything up to 2,000 characters for our item that we want to submit, and I'm going to paste in here exactly what it is that I just read out to you.
JAWS: Pasted.
Brian Hartgen: And now let's just review that to check it.
JAWS: Top. Draught a letter applying for the post of JAWS script writer.
Brian Hartgen: The only other button of significance here is the Generate button. I'm going to press Enter on this button and I will let you hear exactly what happens. Then we will have a look at the draught itself and decide whether to discard it, regenerate it using different phrasing, or indeed to keep it
JAWS: Creating a draught, dot dot dot. Creating a draught, dot dot dot. Stop generating button. Pulling things together, dot dot dot. Working on it, dot dot dot. Draught with Copilot. Draught ready, end document. Keep it button.
Brian Hartgen: We have a series of buttons in focus that we can tab through. The focus button is Keep it, but I'm going to press Shift and F6, or you can press F6 in order to get to the draught itself.
JAWS: Leaving ribbons, edit.
Brian Hartgen: And you can tell that you are there because it says edit. Now we will go to the top of this and we will have a listen to the letter that it's come up with.
JAWS: To whom it may concern, I am writing to express my interest in the position of JAWS script writer as advertised on your website. I have been writing JAWS scripts since 2001 and I have been working in the access technology industry for 30 years. I have extensive experience in creating scripts for various applications, both mainstream and specialised to ensure their accessibility for users of JAWS. I have regularly carried out work for government departments and organisations such as the Department of Education, the National Library, and the Royal Society for the Blind. I have also provided training and support for JAWS users and script developers. One of the aspects of scripting that I enjoy the most is finding solutions for applications that are considered to be inaccessible or challenging. I have successfully scripted for complex web applications, graphical user interfaces and multimedia content. I have also developed scripts for customised software and hardware such as Braille displays, scanners, and printers.
I understand that creating documentation to explain the concepts and features of the scripts is just as important as creating the scripts themselves. I have written user manuals, technical guides, and online help files for the scripts that I have developed. I have also created audio and video tutorials and demonstrations to illustrate the functionality and benefits of the scripts. I am used to working with people with varying computing abilities from beginners to advanced users. I have excellent communication and interpersonal skills and I can adapt my style and approach to suit the needs and preferences of the users. I am also able to work independently or as part of a team, and I can manage my time and tasks efficiently and effectively. I'm confident that I have the skills, experience and passion to be a valuable member of your organisation. I would love to have the opportunity to discuss the position with you further. Please find attached my resume and portfolio of some of the scripts that I have created. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, your name.
Brian Hartgen: So that did quite a good job, didn't it, based upon the information that I gave it. Now of course, the more you give it, the better it will be. And the other thing to point out here is that, for example, while I may not have created scripts for those organisations that it referred to, it's just a template. It's just a guide for you in order to be able to modify, and you can send the letter with your specific information, but it certainly did phrase it in a way that I would think would be acceptable. So that's just one use of Microsoft Word and Copilot. There are other things that you can do, but this is rather a whirlwind tour of some of the services.
I would like to see the ability for you to be able to query the contents of a document. If you had a document loaded and it was an instruction manual for a portable media player, for example, I might want to ask it for how long do I need to charge the battery, or can you tell me where the volume control is located on the device. And it would do that based upon the contents of the hundreds of pages that may be found in a user guide. So that kind of thing would be very nice if you could interrogate Copilot as to the content of the document so that you can get it to summarise some of the things that might be in there. But it's very early days for Office and Copilot, and certainly the functionality, as I've said, is far better with the web-based applications rather than those that are standalone. But since it seems as though we may get access to more advanced Copilot features in respect of the standalone apps, then I'm very hopeful for what we might be able to achieve in the future.
One of the advances in recent AI technology has been the ability for various meeting platforms to summarise activity which has taken place there. Certainly, Microsoft Teams has this ability, as does the Zoom conferencing platform, which we're using now. I'm going to demonstrate how that works in Zoom. It is useful perhaps if you have missed part of a meeting or maybe you just need to have one or two points clarified. What I've done here is to take a podcast episode from ACB. It's a presentation that was given some weeks ago by Janet Dickelman about the ACB 2024 Convention, so I'm sure I'm not going to be sued for using this. I'm going to feed that into a Zoom meeting, and then once it's played out some of the content, I'm going to come back to you and I'm going to ask it some questions using the AI facility. So first of all, let's start off our meeting and I want you to listen to what it says.
JAWS: Zoom Workplace. AI Companion has been turned on.
Brian Hartgen: It says, "AI Companion has been turned on." If you want a meeting summarised, that is an important factor. In your Zoom settings or, indeed, Team settings, if you're using Microsoft Teams, you will need to make sure that the appropriate service is turned on for meetings, and you can do that within the settings of your account. If you're using Microsoft Teams within an organisation or place of work, it's very likely that the administrators or IT section of your organisation will need to give permission for that particular service. In order to ask a question, we need to tab in the meeting window until we get to the appropriate button.
JAWS: AI companion button.
Brian Hartgen: Here's the AI companion button. We're going to press Space.
JAWS: Context menu, ask meeting questions.
Brian Hartgen: Press Enter.
JAWS: Expanded, leaving menus, meeting questions. Input chat text, ask anything about this meeting. Dot dot dot, edit.
Brian Hartgen: So now I'm in the edit field and I can ask my question. I'm going to play in some snippets of some of this audio so that you can verify what Janet originally said, and then we will compare it to what AI gives us.
Artis: Tonight is Janet Dickelman, the ACB convention coordinator. So I'm going to hand it over to Janet and she can handle the call in whatever way she likes.
Janet Dickelman: All right, thank you, Artis. Good evening, everybody. Thank you for being here on this holiday weekend. I hope we have a few people listening. So what I'm going to do, I'm going to start and just give a little bit of information about convention registration. Then I'm going to talk a little bit about how the convention is set up, what's happening what days.
Brian Hartgen: So first of all, I'll ask who is talking.
JAWS: Sent. From meeting questions, Janet is talking.
Janet Dickelman: Registration for ACB members is $45, and for non-members it's $60. However, if you'd like to save $5 and become a member of ACB At-Large, you can set up your member account, wait a few hours, then go in and join ACB for $10 and then give it a little more time and then go in and do your registration at the $45 amount rather than the $60 non-member, and then you'll get to be a member, At-Large of ACB.
Brian Hartgen: How much is registration?
JAWS: Sent. From meeting questions, registration for ACB members is dollar 45, and for non-members it's dollar 60. However, if you'd like to save dollar five and become a member of ACB At-Large, you can set up your member account for dollar 10.
Janet Dickelman: There are two ways to register. You can register online or you can register by telephone. Call me at 651-428-5059, and I'll give that again at the end of the call, and I can help you set up a member account.
Brian Hartgen: I missed the phone number to call in order to register. What is that?
JAWS: Sent. From meeting questions, the phone number to call for registration is 651-428-5059.
Janet Dickelman: Reasons for registration are many. A, you will get all the Zoom links for all of the virtual and the hybrid sessions. B, you will be eligible to win door prizes, whether you are virtual or whether you are in person. You can become a convention sponsor. You get your name in the newspaper, you get a sponsor ribbon if you're in person and your name is read during general session.
Brian Hartgen: What are the benefits of registration?
JAWS: Sent. From meeting questions, the benefits of registration include receiving all of the Zoom links for all of the virtual and hybrid sessions, eligibility to win door prizes, the opportunity to become a convention sponsor and have your name in the newspaper and on the sponsor ribbon if you're in person. Your name may also be read during general session if you're in person.
Brian Hartgen: I don't know about you, but I think that's particularly impressive and it's a very good way of being able to work within a meeting, particularly if there are things that you would like to be clarified.
I will now discuss with you one of the most significant innovations of the JAWS screen reader in recent years. This is called Picture Smart. It enables you to quickly get detailed descriptions of images encountered on websites and within applications, for image files saved on your computer, and for screenshots and open windows. It is very quick and easy to use. You can put this to all kinds of purposes. To get a description of a YouTube video or live TV show, an inaccessible capture on a website, an image on social media, and far too many use cases to describe here. Microsoft have teamed up with an organisation called Be My Eyes so as to Offer an alternative Windows app with similar functionality.
But I like the JAWS Picture Smart interface because it's built right into the screen reader, so you can use it without having to instal anything additional. It's also much easier to review the text and perhaps copy it out to an alternative application, if needed. Because this is about AI in the workplace, I'm first of all going to load up a worksheet in Microsoft Excel containing a pie chart. A pie chart is a tool to display basic statistical information in a pictorial way, with each slice of the pie representing part of the data. JAWS has always been good at briefly describing the content of pie charts. However, as you are about to experience, when used in conjunction with Picture Smart, we're going to obtain much more detail. Here I am in my Excel workbook, and this worksheet is all about the sales of pies, believe it or not. Now, there is a pie chart here, and I'm going to use Picture Smart to describe this, if possible. The first thing we need to do is to make sure that the workbook is maximised, so I'll just do that now by pressing Alt-Space.
JAWS: Restore, R.
Brian Hartgen: Followed by X.
JAWS: Leaving menus. Nine, B5.
Brian Hartgen: And now I'm going to press JAWS key with Space. That's the Caps Lock key or the Insert key, depending upon the JAWS layout that you're using, followed by P for Picture Smart.
JAWS: Picture Smart.
Brian Hartgen: And then we're going to use Shift with W. So ordinarily, you could press the letter W in order to capture the entire window and submit it for processing, but if you press Shift with W, this gives you much more information via two distinctly different AI services. One is called Claude, and one is called ChatGPT. I like this particular feature, but at the moment there is a limit on it. I believe that you can only get access to this more detailed description via these two services about 50 times over a 24-hour period. That may well change. If you just press the letter W by itself, that's going to give you brief details. You can get the more thorough detailed information afterwards if you want. There is a link in the results viewer window in order to obtain it, but let's go for the whole kit and caboodle, shall we? I'll press Shift with W.
JAWS: Picture Smart is in progress. Heading level two, Claude.
Brian Hartgen: That's the first service, Claude, but I prefer ChatGPT myself, so I'm going to press H to go to the next heading.
JAWS: ChatGPT, heading level two.
Brian Hartgen: And we'll read the description here.
JAWS: This image is a screenshot of an Excel workbook. The workbook is currently displaying a worksheet with the title, "Exploding pie chart sample." Blank. The upper part of the worksheet contains a small table labelled pie sales with the following data. In cell B2, strawberry with a value of six. In cell C2. In cell B3, peach with a value of five. In cell C3. In cell B4, mincemeat with a value of seven. In cell C4. In cell B5, lemon with a value of three. In cell C5. In cell B6, blueberry with a value of three. In cell C6, blank.
To the left of the data table, there is a 3D exploding pie chart visualising the pie sales data. Each segment of the pie chart corresponds to a different pie type as distinct colours. Strawberry is coloured red. Peach is coloured orange, although this specific colour isn't very clear in the screenshot. Mincemeat is coloured purple. Lemon is coloured green. Blueberry is coloured blue. Blank. The chart is exploding, which means each segment is slightly separated from the others to emphasise them. The rest of the Excel sheet shows the typical Excel interface, including the menu options like file, home, insert.
Brian Hartgen: Okay, I'm not interested in that specifically, but we want more details about the pie chart itself. I'm going to press tab.
JAWS: Ask ChatGPT questions about this image link.
Brian Hartgen: We can ask questions specifically related to the image. So yes, we've got some detail about the pie chart, but we want a little bit more. Press enter.
JAWS: Type a question, edit.
Brian Hartgen: We're in the edit field. I'll press Enter again to go into forms mode.
JAWS: Type a question, edit.
Brian Hartgen: And I'm going to type, "Describe the pie chart in detail."
JAWS: Describe the pie chart in detail. Certainly. The pie chart shown is a 3D exploding pie chart, which means that some or all slices of the pie are slightly separated from each other, creating a visual effect that emphasises each segment. Here are the detailed aspects of the pie chart. One, star star, title and label. Star star. The pie chart does not have an explicit title displayed within it, but it does have a legend that associates each colour with a pie type. Two, star star segments and colour, star, star, star-
Brian Hartgen: You'll notice that JAWS is saying, "Star, star, star" quite a lot. This is coming from ChatGPT itself, and I can understand why they are separating out these different segments with asterisk characters, but it can be quite irritating. So let's do something about solving that problem. So with that results viewer window open, we're going to press JAWS key with V in order to go into quick settings.
JAWS: Quick settings, results viewer dialogue, search box edit, Control plus E.
Brian Hartgen: And I'm going to type, "Punctuation."
JAWS: Search box edit. Punctuation, punctuation. One of one search results.
Brian Hartgen: Arrow down.
JAWS: One search results, list box. Punctuation, some, editing options.
Brian Hartgen: Currently, for the results viewer, punctuation level is set to some, which is probably the default setting that I have. I'm going to press the Space bar.
JAWS: Most, three or four.
Brian Hartgen: Again.
JAWS: All, four or four.
Brian Hartgen: And again.
JAWS: None. One of four.
Brian Hartgen: And press Enter.
JAWS: Cleared. Tree View, punctuation none. Three of four editing options.
Brian Hartgen: Press Enter again.
JAWS: Describe the pie chart in detail, heading level two.
Brian Hartgen: And now let's continue to review what we've got.
JAWS: Two segments and colours. Strawberry colour, red, value six. Peach colour, orange. Though this specific shade is not very clear in the image, it is distinguishable from other colours. Value five. Mincemeat. Colour purple. Value, seven. Lemon. Colour green. Value three. Blueberry. Colour blue. Value three. Blank. Three, exploded effect. Each segment slice of the pie chart is separated from its neighbouring segments. This separation makes each slice stand out and highlights the differences in size between the slices.
Blank. Four, 3D effect. The pie chart is rendered in a 3D view, giving it a slight depth perspective. This makes the slices appear as though they are lifted off the page. Blank. Five, legend. The legend is situated to the right of the pie chart. It clearly associates each colour with the name of the corresponding pie type. Light blue square with blueberry, purple square with mincemeat, red square with strawberry, orange square with peach, green square with lemon. Blank. Six, proportions. The size of each slice is proportional to its value when compared to the whole pie. For example, the mincemeat slice is the largest since it has the highest value, seven, and both lemon and blueberry slices are the smallest, each with a value of three. Blank. Visually, the chart provides a quick and effective way to compare the sales data for the different types of pies, making it easy to see which type has the highest and lowest sales. The exploded effect further emphasises each segment aiding in distinguishing them.
Brian Hartgen: There is no way that JAWS could have provided that level of detail in the past. Now, while I was able to obtain good information, particularly in relation to the pie chart, it would've been even better if we could ask questions beforehand. So having loaded up the Excel workbook as I did a few minutes ago, I know that the worksheet contains a pie chart. I don't need to be told because I've loaded it before. Rather than having to scan it first and obtain the information that I do not need, such as the fact that we are looking at an Excel worksheet, it would've been good if I could have shortcut that and said to Picture Smart immediately, "Describe the pie chart only."
So I was able to do that, but only after the initial scan. It would've been wonderful if I could have done that in advance, but hopefully in time we will get to that. I'm sure it won't be too far in the future before we can do that sort of thing. This is becoming more and more sophisticated, and Vispero really should be congratulated for implementing that. Let's now get JAWS to identify a graphic as found on a website, such as an image on social media. I'm now on my favourite social media platform, X, formerly Twitter, and I've got a post here containing an image.
JAWS: Yesterday's Britain, a better Britain. Wonderful British people in the seventies queuing to buy an ice cream, soft ice cream.
Brian Hartgen: So the image is attached to this particular post. I am going to make sure that I'm focused on the image.
JAWS: Link graphic image.
Brian Hartgen: There it is. And I'm going to use a slightly different command this time. When you're on a website and you want to examine a particular image, you need to analyse the specific control that the cursor is on, and the command for that is JAWS key with Space, P.
JAWS: Picture Smart.
Brian Hartgen: Shift with C.
JAWS: Picture Smart is in progress. Heading level two, Claude.
Brian Hartgen: And we'll press H again.
JAWS: ChatGPT, heading level two.
Brian Hartgen: And see what it says.
JAWS: The image shows a group of people waiting in line at an ice cream van. The van is white and has text on the side that reads, "Here it is, Mr. Whippy." The people in line are of various ages, including both adults and children, and they are dressed in casual clothing. They are standing on the grassy area with a large tent in the background, which suggests that the scene might be taking place at a fair, festival or another outdoor event. The sky is clear and it appears to be a bright sunny day. The image has an nostalgic vintage feel to it, likely from the mid-20th century.
Brian Hartgen: That's a lovely description of that particular image. I'll just press Escape to come out of here. Next, I want to show scanning a file that you may have on your computer. There are a few ways of being able to do this, but one of them is to focus on the file that you may have using file explorer.
JAWS: Kate's picture dot jpg, 76 of 171.
Brian Hartgen: Here, I have an image, and this time I'm going to press JAWS Key with Space, P.
JAWS: Picture Smart.
Brian Hartgen: Shift with F. F is for file. And just to emphasise again that if you want brief descriptions, you don't need to add the shift key, and that may well be the case in the majority of instances, but I'll press Shift-F here.
JAWS: Picture Smart is in progress. Heading level two, Claude.
Brian Hartgen: H again.
JAWS: ChatGPT, heading Level two. The image consists of two main parts, blank. One, left side. A woman with long wavy blonde hair sits or stands to the left. She has an expressive face, looking somewhere to the left of the frame. The woman is dressed in a floral patterned black blouse that features intricate designs and shades of blue, green, and pink. She is leaning on or near a piano as the keys can be seen in the foreground. The background is slightly blurred, allowing the focus to remain on her and the piano. Blank. Two, right side inside image. There is a smaller black and white inside image overlaid on the right side. The inside image depicts a historic wartime scene, likely from World War II, showing soldiers in uniform. They appear to be disembarking from a landing craft onto a beach, possibly during the D-Day invasion. Link, ask ChatGPT questions about this image.
Brian Hartgen: Let's ask a question. I'll press Enter.
JAWS: Type a question, edit.
Brian Hartgen: Can you describe the piano?
JAWS: Can you describe the piano? The piano in the image is a grand piano, identifiable by its shape and the visible keys. Here are some details. Colour of the visible part of the piano is dark, likely black. Keys. The piano keys are white and black, typical of a standard keyboard layout. Logo. There is a partially visible logo on the front of the piano, which appears to be the Yamaha brand. Lighting. The lighting creates a warm glow on the piano, adding to the elegant and classical atmosphere of the image. The piano serves as an elegant backdrop to the woman, emphasising a musical theme.
Brian Hartgen: I want to end this presentation, which I hope you've enjoyed, by taking that Picture Smart in one other direction. Many of us in the workplace use web-based apps, don't we? Applications that are hosted in a browser or, indeed, just general websites, but some of the controls in such applications such as buttons and graphical images may not be correctly labelled. One of the things that you could do is to use Picture Smart in order to identify what those unlabeled graphics are, and then use the JAWS custom label feature to make the overall experience a lot easier for you to use in the future. I've got a webpage here which has two inaccessible links.
JAWS: Customer feedback.
Brian Hartgen: That's the title of the page, and if we arrow down...
JAWS: Image map, link graphic, tab two.
Brian Hartgen: That's the first one, and then if I arrow down again, I get another inaccessible link.
JAWS: Image map, link graphic, tab three.
Brian Hartgen: I need to label these up so that JAWS speaks them correctly. This is the kind of thing that you might encounter. I'm going to arrow back up again.
JAWS: Image map, link graphic, tab two.
Brian Hartgen: JAWS key, Space, P.
JAWS: Picture Smart.
Brian Hartgen: C.
JAWS: Picture Smart is in progress. The image displays the word, "Products" written in black text. The font appears to be slightly blurred or pixelated, making the edges of the letters less sharp. The background is white.
Brian Hartgen: So it's called Products. Let's escape.
JAWS: Image map, link graphic, tab two.
Brian Hartgen: Because we're still focused on the link, I'm going to press Control, JAWS key, Tab to create a custom label.
JAWS: Custom label dialogue.
Brian Hartgen: And this is called, "Products." I'll press Enter, arrow down.
JAWS: Image map, link graphic, tab three.
Brian Hartgen: Arrow up.
JAWS: Image map, link graphic, products.
Brian Hartgen: Perfect. Let's do the other one.
JAWS: Image map, link graphic, tab three.
Brian Hartgen: JAWS Key, Space, P.
JAWS: Picture Smart.
Brian Hartgen: C.
JAWS: Picture Smart is in progress. The image displays the word, "Shop" written and clear.
Brian Hartgen: That will do. Escape.
JAWS: Image map, link graphic, tab-
Brian Hartgen: Control, JAWS key, Tab.
JAWS: Custom label dialogue.
Brian Hartgen: Shop, Enter, and now we've got...
JAWS: Image map, link graphic, products. Image map, link graphic, shop.
Brian Hartgen: There you are. That's just one way of being able to use Picture Smart, the AI capabilities in conjunction with custom labels. I've not been able to really scratch the surface in terms of what AI tools can do for you, especially in the workplace, but I hope I've given you a flavour as to what is possible. I'd like to thank you for listening to my presentation today, and I hope you've got something from it. I'd also particularly like to thank the BITS Committee of ACB for inviting me to deliver the presentation for you this morning. If you would like to ask any questions, I'm sure that there will be an opportunity now for you to do so.

The Future of the JAWS Scripts for StationPlaylist.

In writing this blog post and announcement, I am somewhat reminded of a Parallel set of circumstances occurring at the moment with an app which many blind people use.

During the past 10 years, we have offered the StationPlaylist scripts for JAWS at an extremely low financial value, and in recent years, no value at all. Indeed, the scripts for StationPlaylist have always been the product with the lowest price.
We've been very glad to do this principally because we use the scripts ourselves heavily and have a passion for producing high quality radio. Further, we wanted to help other blind people who equally enjoyed broadcasting as much as we do.

However, in recent months our company has had to make some very hard financial decisions due to rising costs of facilities and services used. Given that the majority of our other scripting packages usually incur an annual cost of some kind, we need to take the same approach with the StationPlaylist scripts. I will now go onto explain what this means and the implications of it.

Let me start out with the most important point. Noone is going to stop you using the existing scripts. They will be there on the web site to download for as long as they can be sustained. If there comes a point where they are not usable with an upcoming JAWS release, that may need to be addressed. But that is most unlikely.

However, if you would like to take advantage of new features, bug fixes and other improvements, it will be a requirement to pay for the annual subscription. This will particularly be important when the new release of StationPlaylist is to be released later this year.
A major update to the scripts is almost ready to go. That does contain new features and changes. It will be released at the very start of May 2024. This will be the first release forming part of the annual subscription.

The cost of the annual subscription is £30 per year which is approximately $38 US.

Let me conclude by restating that if you do not wish to pay the annual subscription, you can still use the existing scripts. You can also still be part of the StationPlaylist scripts Email list. However, if you require technical support outside of the Email list, together with script updates and features, you will need to be part of the annual subscription.

If you wish to purchase the annual subscription and to receive the first major update, you can do so here.
https://www.hartgen.org/studio

Alternatively, an invoice can be sent to you which you can pay using PayPal, or any major credit or debit card.

We do have a system in place which will advise you by Email when your subscription starts and to be reminded when it is next due.

Excel Yourself! Using Microsoft Excel with JAWS for Windows, Series 1.

Excel is a spreadsheet program from Microsoft and a component of its Office product group. Microsoft Excel enables users to format, organize and calculate data in a spreadsheet.

By organizing data using software like Excel, anyone and other users can make information easier to view as data is added or changed. Within study or employment, many people use Microsoft Excel and indeed data is often tabulated in spreadsheets where in point of fact Microsoft Word tables would be a far better fit.

Learning how to use Excel is one thing, but blind screen-reader users face other difficulties. Due to inadequate formatting and presentation, screen-reader users can become lost within spreadsheets to the extent that it is either difficult to find the data or to associate it with the context, such as determining how cells relate to each other. Many people leave blank cells in spreadsheets purely for visual layout purposes and it is difficult to overcome this major obstacle.

Our training course, Excel Yourself, gives plenty of strategies to overcome these and many other issues. You will learn the basics of how to work within Microsoft Excel with a particular focus on the screen-reading strategies built into the JAWS screen-reader so as to greatly assist in terms of efficiency, navigation and data composition.

Sample spreadsheets will be included as part of this training course, the topics for which are as follows:

  • Course Introduction.
  • Terminology.
  • Customisation.
  • Protected View.
  • Basic navigation and cell entry.
  • Cell management and more navigation.
  • Navigating unfamiliar worksheets.
  • Basic calculations.
  • Setting up the budget worksheet.
  • Defining the speaking of both row and column titles.
  • Removing existing row and column assignments and assigning either row or column titles.
  • AutoSum.
  • Selecting cells manually for pasting a formula.
  • Selecting cells with JAWS for pasting a formula.
  • Calculating annual expenditure for each expense type.
  • Grand totals.
  • Assigning row and column titles to a specific worksheet area.
  • Concluding notes on project to date.
  • Describing worksheets with AI and Picture Smart, including pie charts.
  • Editing named regions for title reading.
  • Keystrokes to read column and row titles individually.
  • Everything you need to know about monitoring cells.
  • Cell Markers.
  • Custom Summary.
  • Inserting columns and rows.
  • Deleting columns and rows.
  • Checking revised formulae.
  • More examples of deleting columns.
  • Managing worksheets.
  • Selecting rows and columns, changing and verifying formatting.
  • Ensuring all cells can accept text only.
  • Sorting alphabetically.
  • Creating multi-line cells.
  • Finding text.
  • Working with Email links.
  • Applying consistent data from a top-most cells to other selected cells.
  • Attaching notes to cells.
  • More Excel formulae.
  • Hiding rows and columns.
  • Detecting cell visibility.
  • AutoFit, adjusting column widths and wrap text.
  • Eliminating speech verbosity.
  • Freeze Pane.

As is customary with Hartgen Consultancy training courses, you will learn the above concepts within the context of real-world examples which make sense.

The cost of Excel Yourself is £80 which is approximately $100.





Alternatively an invoice can be sent to you which you can pay using any major credit or debit card.

Conclusion.

Due to the nature of the subject matter and the complexities of layout, this training course will be fairly demanding. However, it is hoped when you have completed the course you will have a far greater understanding of how Excel functions and its relationship with the high quality support given within JAWS for Windows. Even if in your employment you only are required to use Excel a small amount, having taken this training course you will be in a far better position to work with it than you were before.

Complete List of Changes in Leasey 9.0

New in Leasey Version 9.0.

Significant increase in performance.
Any Leasey user would want this version just for the considerable changes which have been made to responsiveness when using Leasey functions and working with the keyboard overall. A great deal of attention has been devoted to this area.

Amazon.
The Amazon component of using Leasey Search is faster than before. Leasey advises you that the keyboard should not be used while the search is taking place. Response times may vary but it is faster than was the case previously.

BrailleEas.
This is the revised version of Elegance for ElBraille and can be used with a greater range of Braille displays. If you find it is not working with your specific Braille display model, we will work with you to ensure it does so in the future. We cannot possibly test with every model of display.
Instructions to BrailleEas can be written in contracted Braille.
Refer to the section of the documentation relating to BrailleEas for details.

Web Browsing.
1. When moving back to a previous page, greater efforts have been made to ensure JAWS sets focus to the position where you left off reading rather than a random position.
2. keystrokes have been added for use with Windows CoPilot to move to the New Topic button, to read the most recent message and to upload an image.
Please refer to the internet browsing chapter of the documentation for details.

LeaseyCloud.
A lot of effort has gone into refining Leasey when files are stored in the cloud. Note that Microsoft OneDrive and Dropbox are recommended for best performance.

Leasey Alarm Times.
If chimes are enabled to be heard periodically throughout the day, these will now play out if an alarm is set and they occur at the same time.

The Old Reader.
Leasey now provides comprehensive support for the Old Reader RSS client.
Please refer to the section of the Leasey documentation concerning the Old Reader.

Microsoft Outlook Reading Pane.
If enabled with the Leasey key then Control+Shift+R, you will hear the Reading Pane content as you move through messages in a mail folder.
Please refer to the Email section of the documentation for a full description.

Leasey Tags, LeaseyCuts and Web Favourites.
Adjustments have needed to be made for upcoming builds of Windows11 so that these tools can work correctly in the modern release of File Explorer.
There is a strong likelihood that if you are using a previous version of Leasey, together with Windows11, these features will stop working.

Leasey Radio.
You can now set up to 20 presets for most frequently listened to stations rather than 10.
Please refer to the Radio section of the documentation for details.

Speech History.
Leasey now contains a way of rapidly working with JAWS Speech History so you can interact with it from within any application.
Please refer to the section of the documentation concerning Speech History.

Viewing Leasey Documentation.
For some time, Leasey has had a facility where you can view the documentation section by section. Each section contained links to move back to the list of documentation sections.
Unfortunately, the new Results Viewer in JAWS is causing some difficulties in this area. From this point forward, press Escape so as to move back to the section index.

List of Keystrokes.
A new item has been added to Hotkey Help to view a complete list of keystrokes.
This opens up a document in your web browser divided into headings for easy reference and lists all the keystrokes. There are over 1100 keystrokes.

append to Clipboard.
Leasey now has some comprehensive and flexible support for JAWS power users concerning appending text to the Windows Clipboard.
Please refer to the section of the documentation concerning Leasey Select and the Clipboard.

Copy Web Page Title and URL.
When inside a browser, the keystroke of ALT+Control+Windows+T will copy to the clipboard the title of the web page which has focus together with its corresponding URL.

Twitter and X.
Moving through posts with Up and Down Arrow is far more reliable. In addition, the names of accounts distributing promotional posts are not truncated.
There is an additional feature to come for X/Twitter but that will not be available until after the primary installer.

Podcasts.
When results are rendered containing details of episodes, the title of each episode is not only enclosed within a heading as before, but it also contains a hyperlink pointing to the web page for the item. This is for podcasts where it is not possible to download or stream an episode directly and where it is necessary to play it from within the browser.

YouTube videos.
When using Leasey Search to find YouTube videos, the results are displayed in date order of publication with the most recent at the top.

Toggling Between Leasey Basic and Advanced.
For those people who need to use Leasey Basic for beginners, the method for changing between these two modes is slightly different.
Press Control+Grave accent twice rather than once.
This keystroke will not be used often.

LeaseyPoints on Web Pages.
It is now possible to locate the position on a page where a LeaseyPoint is set even if Forms Mode is active.

Leasey Hotkey Help.
All newly added and changed keystrokes are available in Leasey's Hotkey Help and in the search tool.

Expected release date: 15 March 2024. This date is subject to change in the event a significant problem is discovered which requires resolving prior to the release.

Priorities for the Next Update.

There does come a point where new features have to be deferred, especially if a great deal of testing, development and documentation changes are required. The following therefore did not make it into this initial release of 9.0.
1. To give users the ability to answer a WhatsApp call from within any application. This work is almost complete.
2. Access to the Apple Music app. This work has been started.

StationPlaylist for JAWS; More Than Just a Bunch of Scripts.

You may have heard of the StationPlaylist suite of products, allowing you to host your own show through to running your own radio station. But what you might not realise is that the JAWS scripts for the entire StationPlaylist suite go way beyond reading what is on the screen, giving you access to pertinent information relating to the products or making the application accessible. They go much further and adapt the program specifically for use by blind broadcasters.

As you can imagine, the StationPlaylist products are designed ultimately for anyone especially sighted users and by and large they are accessible to screen-readers. But there are aspects of a program that blind people need especially in high pressure broadcasting situations which you perhaps wouldn't think about unless you are blind and use the tools themselves. Here are just a few of the many adaptations which help.
1. When using a screen-reader with StationPlaylist Studio, and you move through your playlist with the arrow keys, there is a slight lack of responsiveness from the time you press the key to receiving useful feedback through the screen-reader. That is fine for a sighted user as he or she will not be using such a tool. But that's not the way blind people work. We need to be able to skim down a playlist rapidly to find what we are looking for. To this end, JAWS contains Quick navigation Mode. This takes a snapshot of the playlist and allows you to browse it rapidly. The very moment you strike an arrow key you get an instant response. Want to add or remove items? No problem. Quick Nav mode constantly updates its snapshot so you can continue browsing quickly with the new content.
2. When you search for a song in the Studio product, and if you did not use JAWS, you would have no idea that the list of results had been computed. So you would not know to press the built-in shortcut key which is ALT+R to set focus to the results list. JAWS takes care of this by automatically setting focus when the list appears.
3. Browse a playlist, and inadvertently press the Escape key. Then try inserting a new song. We've all done it. As blind people, Escape is something we have a habit of pressing quite a lot. Because you pressed the Escape key, that unselects all items so that the newly inserted song is placed at the bottom of the list. JAWS prevents you from doing this. If you are blind, you cannot see that has happened and you would think the track has not been inserted.
4. Search for a song and insert it into your playlist. As a blind person, you think the song is highlighted ready to play out. But it isn't. JAWS will automatically select that if desired so you can get it to air right away.
5. Create a voice break using the StationPlaylist voice-tracking tool, then save it. Ordinarily, focus moves back to the top of the list which seriously decreases productivity. With JAWS and our solution for SPL, focus automatically moves to the point where the voice-track was created so you can move onto the next one.
6. Would you like to do a lot of voice-tracking to make life easier? With our accessible solution for StationPlaylist, you can play many jingles and effects directly into your VT's. Sighted users do not have anything like this flexibility, but it goes a long way to giving your shows that extra professional feel.
7. StationPlaylist has a concept called Break Notes; sets of instructions you can send to SPL Studio to carry out specific actions. If you do not have StationPlaylist Creator, (containing a special dialog box for inserting Break Notes), it's more than quite a bind to insert them manually. Our solution for JAWS and SPL has its own Break Note dialog, not only allowing you to insert the special Break Notes, but you can even save favourites and context sensitive help is built right in.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Creating a truly accessible and efficient interface for a program is about a great deal more than reading the screen. It's about taking into account the needs of blind people with varying levels of ability. We're not "dumbing down" the interface or over-simplifying it. It's guarding against those problems in which some people may find themselves through to making it ultra-efficient for those who want to get things done quickly.

Best of all, there is plenty of training available. Our training courses in many aspects of using StationPlaylist have a total running time of 22 hours, so there's plenty to get your teeth into.
More information about StationPlaylist is here and our training course page can be accessed here.

Jaw Muscles Series 2!

Introduction.

By very popular request our training course Jaw Muscles returns! Following the Jaw Muscles training course in 2022, we've had plenty of suggestions as to topics to cover and they have been taken on board. Here is a complete list of what was covered last year.

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.

The topics covered are as follows:

  • Introduction.
  • Various Ways of Restarting JAWS.
  • Speech History.
  • Virtualising the Contents of a Window.
  • Virtualising a specific Windows control.
  • Are the correct scripts running?
  • Reverting to the default settings if necessary, backing up good settings and restoring them.
  • Refreshing the screen.
  • Obtaining the application version number.
  • Using Leasey to gain a full computer report.
  • An introduction to AI chat.
  • Google Bard.
  • An overview of the Google Bard page.
  • Setting up Placemarkers.
  • Using the Placemarkers.
  • JAWS Find.
  • Moving by specific heading level.
  • Bard conclusion.
  • An Introduction to Custom Labels.
  • Basic Usage of Custom Labels.
  • Creating Custom Labels Intermediate Example.
  • Custom Labels in a Challenging Environment.
  • Backing Up Custom Labels.
  • Modifying and Deleting Custom Labels.
  • Obtaining the URL for a Link Particularly in Outlook.
  • An Introduction to Smart Glance Highlights Using Amazon.
  • Smart Glance Highlights On Audible.
  • A Basic Introduction to Braille Options.
  • An Introduction to Braille Split View.
  • Assigning a Keystroke to SetBrailleView.
  • An Overview of Basic Split Views.
  • Specialist Application Split Views.
  • Defining Key Assignments for Split Functions.
  • Showing the Clock on the Braille Display.
  • An Introduction to Face In View.
  • Face In View Keystrokes and Additional Notes.
  • Face In View Demonstration.
  • Introduction to Cursors and Using the Scan Cursor.
  • The Touch Cursor.
  • Introduction to JAWS OCR.
  • Scanning Documents.
  • Processing Image Files.
  • Scanning Contents of Application Windows or the Screen.

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. 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. A DAISY audio rendering of the course is also included.

The total running time for the training course is just under five hours.

The cost of the course is £50 which is currently 62 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. JAW Muscles with Leasey is available at a substantially reduced rate for a combined total of £80 which is approximately $100 US.

Please enter your JAWS or Fusion serial number here.


JAWS or Fusion Serial Number



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, especially in modern computing environments. 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!

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