Accessibility Help


This page links to details of how to access all of the features of the wiki using assistive technologies






Using Easy YouTube with a screenreader

Use Easy-YouTube to view YouTube videos. Very clever web 2.0 application written by Christian Heilmann, which allows you to instantly increase the size of the video. Ideal for vision impaired - and It works with screenreaders. Kids use. Simple to use. Goto Easy-YouTube>paste the YouTube link into the address box>view the video. No download required. See it in action . . .




Using Keyboard Shortcuts to navigate between programs


Windows keyboard shortcuts



42 keyboard shortcuts for controlling Windows Media Centre


Windows Tips & Tricks

Zooming
A number of programs such as word-processors allow the user to increase the size of the text in the window where the document appears. This does not affect the size in which the text is printed out. There are a number of ways to do this:

  1. Using a mouse with a scrollwheel between the buttons, such as the standard microsoft ergonomic mouse. Hold the Ctrl key on the keyboard whilst moving the scrollwheel backwards or forwards.
  2. Using a mouse with a trackball, such as the Kensington Expert Pro. Hold the Ctrl key down on the keyboard, whilst turning the scrollwheel ring surrounding the trackball.
  3. Using the percentage resizer in Microsoft Word 2003. Either select one of the default %, or type the desired % and then press the enter key.
  4. Using the percentage resizer in Microsoft Word 2007. Select the 'View' tab and choose the 'Zoom' section. Use either the magnifying glass or go into the % sub-menu.
  5. Using the scrollbar at the bottom right hand side of the program page (Microsoft Word 2007 only).
  6. Using the % magnifier at the bottom right hand side of the Internet Browser (IE 7).
  7. Enlarging the screen contents in IE 6. Unless you can 'Zoom' using the mouse as described in 1 and 2 above, you only have the option of increasing the text size. Select 'View' on the main toolbar and then choose 'Text size' from the drop down list. Choose the desired size.


Note: not all mice are able to do the scrollwheel/Ctrl key zoom function. It depends on their design
Accessibility Tools to access this Wiki

eSSENTIAL AccessibilityTM features the following array of keyboard and mouse replacement solutions (i.e. alternative input methods) which allow users to overcome any physical limitation and access a website:

  • Onscreen Keyboard (with Word Prediction and Layout Designer)
  • Auto Click
  • Manual Scan
  • Auto Scan
  • XY Mouse
  • Direction Mouse
  • Radar Mouse
  • Hands-Free Movement Tracking System

eSSENTIAL AccessibilityTM includes a page-reader system for individuals who have difficulty reading. This feature can be set to:
  • Read the content of any web page out loud
  • Read the title of the frames out loud
  • Read the content of a selected frame out loud
  • Read the links on an open web page out loud


eSSENTIAL AccessibilityTM is fully compatible with the following voice recognition systems:
  • Scansoft Dragon Naturally Speaking 8.0 and above
  • Microsoft Speech Recognition 6.1 or greater

Essential Accessibility Logo

Microsoft Accessibility Website


Screenshot of microsoft's accessibility website

http://www.microsoft.com/enable/ 		Microsoft Guides by Impairment

Each guide contains a list of the types of typical assistive technology available and a comprehensive set of tutorials for making accessibility adjustments in Microsoft operating systems.


Web browser shortcuts and access tips


Mozilla Firefox

Within Firefox, it is possible jump to any link on the page, by typing in the link text.

To activate this feature: Start Firefox (or if you haven't got it, get it at www.mozilla.org/firefox)

Go to the Tools menu and then to Options. Click the Advanced button, and ensure the 'Begin finding when you type' checkbox is checked.

Try this out at the www.bbc.co.uk homepage. No need to press Ctrl+F to start finding text, just type the text 'his' onto your keyboard. The 'find text' dialog box automatically appears at the bottom of the screen and the first instance on the page (of a link OR plain text) that contains the text you are typing is selected. The History link on the left of the page should have been highlighted. Pressing F3 will find the next occurence of that text on the page - press F3 now and the highlighted link should change to 'Ancient History'. You can press F3 repeatedly and the focus will cycle around all occurrances of the text on the current webpage.

If the found text happens to be a link, you can press enter to follow the link. If plain text is selected, pressing tab will take you to the next link after the selected text - this can be useful for jumping to input boxes at the end of a page. Note the input box at the top right of the BBC homepage, next to the A-Z index link. Wait a second for the find text dialog box to disappear and then type in 'index'. This should select the 'A -Z index' link at the bottom of the page. Press F3 so that the 'A - Z index' link at the top of the page is selected. Pressing Tab now will jump you to the search input box, saving you a great many tab key presses. You can now type in search text and press Enter to search.

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