I
use Microsoft Office for writing but I do not always use it for reading. The
larger the document you are trying to read the more Word and Jaws seems to
struggle. Sometimes I have book sized files to load and read. Word often laboriously creaks when loading
big files. Word and Jaws tend to freeze up after about 15 minutes of reading on
a say all command on a large file. The solution is that whenever I have a large
document to read I use the free Jart word processor instead. This will read
Word files as well as rich text format and text file. Jart is specifically
designed to work with screen readers.
Jart is actually a fully fledged word processor in its own right with a
spell checker and other tools. It is as stable as a rock when reading long
documents with jaws and I have never known it to fail. I now also use it as my
text editor and as a Notepad replacement as it handles long strings of web
addresses better. The really good news is that it is Freeware, though you can
by a professional version if you wish. The free version is fine though.
Click here to download from the Jaws User
Programs Page
Note.
If you do not need the added features of
Jart WordPad itself is and excellent reading tool. The only frustration with reading in WordPad is
that it is difficult to establish how far you have read through a document as it
does not support page numbering. If anybody
has a work around for this then email me on low_vision_survival@yahoo.co.uk
An
excellent, free and powerful address book and phone dialler. I use this to make
nearly all my phone calls. It could not be simpler to use. Simply press F7 to
enter the name of your contact. Press enter. Your contact name is now in a
list. Tab across once into a card window where you can simply type in the
address and phone number. Keep the phone number on a separate line of the
card. Save this after entering all the
cards you want. The program can also import old Windows Card File files if you
have phone numbers already stored here. It can also import CSV files. Now
pressing F8 whilst on a name in a list will cause this program to intelligently
look on your card details to find the phone number. Press enter to dial the
number. Once the number is dialled press
enter twice more to clear dialogue boxes saying things like pick up phone and
you are there. Your modem may make some noise during dialling but this should
go away once connected. Of course you will need to have a modem on your PC and
you will need to have this connected to the phone line for this to work. Also
as a one step setup you will have to press F6 to enter setup and tell this
program which com port your modem is on. This is easily found out by going to
Control Panel and looking under Phone and Modems.
This
is Freeware if you do not want to register for technical support. But even if
in Freeware mode you need to register with the software author. You can use the
program without registering but you have to press enter to leave a reminder
window when the program starts.
Go
to Personal Address file Home Page
PowerPoint
is a notoriously inaccessible format for people with Visual Impairment. There
are various tricks to try and make PowerPoint presentations more accessible but
the program I first turn to is Ed Sharp. This extraordinary free program is
designed for people with visual Impairment and it will try to open nearly
everything you throw at it. It basically seeks to extract any text content from
a variety of formats and present then as best it can. Ed Sharp not only
extracts text from PowerPoint slides but will also convert PDF files to text as
well. It will basically try to open nearly anything and deliver the content to
you in a sensible text format. It will even for example try to make sense of an
Excel Spreadsheet.
Click
here to download from the Jaws User Programs Page
Although
Ed Sharp will open PDF files and deliver them as text I prefer Accessible PDF
Reader as it goes one step further and converts into htm web format. You have
more chance of the structure being sensible in Accessible PDF Reader. The main
draw back with the program is that it will only open PDF files from within its
program. You cannot set it to automatically start when a PDF file is clicked in
Explorer. Hopefully this is to come in future versions. This program comes with
the free Webbie and Accessible Program suite.
Remember
if the PDF file has no text and is simply a scanned image file, neither ED
Sharp nor this program will be able to open it. Your only course then is to run
a virtual scan. The OCR that comes with Adobe Acrobat is not very good and a
better option if you have Microsoft Office would be to print the file using the
Microsoft Document Image Writer. Open the resulting Tiff file in Microsoft
Document Imaging and select send text to Word under the tools menu.
Go
to Webbie Home Page to download all their Accessible Software in one download.
Another
annoying format for reading is the Microsoft Reader lit format. The
accessibility of this format is variable. The Amber Lit converter will convert
these Lit files into a variety of formats including PDF which is a bit like
going out of the frying pan into the fire. Crucially however this program will
also convert into rtf or text format as well which makes it much more useful.
There is a radio button to select the file format that you want to convert
to. Then simply open the lit file by
tabbing to the open button and pressing space. Then once the file is open tab
across to the save as button and makes sure rtf is selected from the file type
menu and then save.
Installation
is not that straightforward on my XP machine. The setup file does not install an
entry into programs on the start menu. However navigating to the Programs file
folder on your PC should reveal that it is there and you can create a shortcut
to the program from there. Email me at low_vision_survival@yahoo.co.uk
if you need help with creating shortcuts.
Click here for direct download for Amber Lit converter
in zip file.
Although
the web has increasingly sophisticated Dictionaries and Thesauruses I still
prefer Word Web. What I particularly like about it is the way it integrates
into your word processor. I use it less for definitions though I do use it more often as a thesaurus.
Although it loads at start-up into the system tray I have not found it to be a
particular burden on my system. The basic version is Freeware and I have
hallways been perfectly happy with this.
Click here to
visit the Word Web page.
If
you would like an online dictionary, as opposed to one that installs on your
system, the Ninja Dictionary is in my experience the quickest and simplest to
use . Using Jaws, you will often land on the search box when the page loads.
Pressing E will jump you there is the page does not load.
Click here to enter the Ninja Dictionary
Click here to learn about other sites of interest
This
page was last updated on Sunday, 10 May 2009