The following are notes and comments added to the Readme file before making this tutorial freely available. It is very important to read this section and the section following it before using the tutorial. 

I am making the tutorial Surfing with Skill freely available.  I retain copyright and retain the right to modify or rescind this decision.  I do not intend to do so but I am stating this so that my decision cannot be interpreted as a relinquishment of copyright by me.  
I retain copyright but am offering the tutorial for free.  It must be distributed in full, including all text of this file.

It is important to note that my offer of free technical and other support is withdrawn now that the tutorial is available without charge.  No references in the tutorial or beyond this paragraph in the Readme file to free support are valid or enforceable.  That was a service extended to paying customers.  Anyone who wants to work with me, as a teacher, for pay is welcome to do so.  That includes further work on using the Internet.  If you want to work with me, you will find my price for teaching is more than reasonable. 

I made the tutorial available for free distribution because demand was not high enough to justify my continued work in distributing it nor in updating it over time.  Another reason, as or more important, is because I believe deeply that good Internet literacy is very important to the blind community and I don't want my work in this respect to be wasted.   

I expect that now that the tutorial is free, it will be widely used.  I will note, as an observation, that the blind community gets what it supports.  If you agree with me, after using the tutorial that it is very high in quality and valuable, I would urge those who believe this to consider that because of the very low number of people willing to pay for it, I am unlikely to produce further tutorials on other subjects.  Thus, the blind community may have lost other valuable tutorials through lack of support. But this goes far beyond me.  There is much free material available and some of it is valuable.  However, no one who hasn't created a comprehensive work covering a complex subject in depth really understands the work and time involved. Often, the motivation to do this will not be present if someone is working for free. My view is that the blind community is loosing valuable material through its lack of adequate support.  

Concerning the applicability of the tutorial, it was originally written for JAWS and Window-eyes users.  It was also written for those using Internet Explorer.  With the increased interest in Firefox, it should be noted that the tutorial is applicable for Firefox users as well.  Using firefox is very similar to Internet Explorer and the screen-reader commands I discuss will work the same or just about identically with Firefox.  If you know the differences in working with Firefox itself, the tutorial can be used.

It is very important to know that when performing a search with some versions of Firefox, when using JAWS the command control insert f must be used.  Either insert can be used.  Searches can be repeated with f3 but the initial search must be performed with control insert f. 

With increased interest in System Access and NVDA, it should be noted that the tutorial is applicable to these screen-readers as well.  You need to know how to work with your screen-reader on the Internet and thus use different commands or omit commands where applicable but the tutorial is useable with these screen-readers if you know these things. Indeed, since the tutorial deals mainly with working with the Internet, you can use it with any screen-reader that supports the navigation commands discussed.  You will need to know, or learn as you go, the commands and methods used by the screen-reader to accomplish what is discussed in the tutorial.  

Here is a very brief discussion about System Access, which includes System Access to Go and NVDA, a free open source screen-reader. 

System Access uses many of the same navigation commands as JAWS.  By navigation commands, I mean move by heading, the letter h, move to next nonlink text, n and other such commands.  There is no forms mode.  Information is simply placed in fields when working with forms or any such field such as an edit field, whether part of a form or not.  When working with combo boxes, the user uses the command alt down arrow, while on the combo box, to open it and thus be able to up and down arrow in it.  It is not necessary to close the combo box after working with it.  Just continue to do other things.  

At the time of this writing, NVDA only works correctly with the Firefox browser.  Using the Firefox browser is very similar to using Internet Explorer.  The tutorial can be used with Firefox as long as the user knows how to work with the browser.  


It is very important to know that when using search with Firefox and NVDA, the command control insert f must be used.  Either insert can be used.  Searches can be repeated with f3 but the initial search must be done with control insert f.  

NVDA uses many of the same or similar Internet navigation commands as JAWS. I mean such commands as move by heading h.  NVDA does not currently have a move to next nonlink command.  NVDA does have a version of Forms Mode or Browse Mode.  You turn it on by pressing enter on an item you want to work with.  You turn it off with the command insert space bar.  This command toggles this mode on and off so you can turn it on, if you want, by using this command. To cause all parts of web pages to be displayed as described in the tutorial, the following must be done.  This is important.
Each step given below begins on a new line:
When NVDA is running, open the NVDA menu.  
Down arrow to the preferences submenu and press enter. 
Down arrow to virtual buffers and press enter.  
You are now in a dialog.
Tab to a check box that says use screen presentation when supported.  
Uncheck this check box with the space bar.  
Press enter.  
The dialog will close and the menus will also be closed.
Reopen the NVDA menu and save the configuration.

Now, a few words about the tutorial itself:
I have found, since producing the tutorial, two minor errors that are not addressed in the Readme file nor corrected in the body of the tutorial.  One has no bearing on use of the Internet.  The other, which has a minor bearing on using Google, will be addressed here.  When you work with the Google chapter of the tutorial, I would advise reviewing this section.  Knowing what is set forth below will allow you to vary the search results you get to a minor extent, and, at times, make it easier to find a good result. 

A plus sign is not needed when writing a Google search.  Words can simply be written with spaces.  You may get slightly different results than using the plus sign and, if you are having difficulty finding something, you may want to try both approaches.  My error in this respect was to state that if you write words separated by spaces that Google will search for all sites with any word.  for example, if you wrote Chicago Pizza, you would see all sorts of results like Chicago Art Institute and a Pizza restaurant from another state.  This is a minor error.  If you do write Chicago pizza, you will see results similar to those obtained by using the plus sign but not necessarily identical. You may want to review this discussion when you work with the Google chapter of the tutorial.   

This ends the material I have added to the readme file before making the tutorial freely available.  It is important to read the first section of the readme file that follows this material before using the tutorial. 

The preceeding section was added July, 2008.

This file contains updates to the tutorial.  It also contains some information not presented in the tutorial which, by its nature is more convenient to discuss here.  Each topic is numbered for easy movement from one topic to another and for easy review.  Also, the number of each topic is preceded by an asterisk so you can move from topic to topic by searching for an asterisk rather than by number.  

You need not read more than the first topic now.  The first topic describes how to use the tutorial and is essential to read before proceeding.  Topics that refer to specific chapters state this at the beginning of the topic.  Some of the topics refer to a change regarding a specific screen-reader and if you don't use that specific screen-reader, you can ignore the topic.  Some topics refer to a specific version of Windows and you can ignore the topic if you are not using that version.  the topics identify the subject matter to be discussed in the first sentence or two so you will know almost immediately whether you can skip that particular topic.

*1.  for the cassette edition, sections are tone indexed.  Chapter tones are much lower in frequency than tones that divide sections.  This makes it easy to move either by section or chapter.  

*2.  The cd version of the tutorial is intended to be listened to on a computer.  When you open the list of files and folders on the cdrom, 
you will see many folders and files.  One of the folders is named audio.  This is the folder containing the mp3 files for listening to the tutorial.  You don't need to open this folder and work with the individual chapter subfolders and files unless you want to.  the easiest way to listen is probably the following:
Insert the cd in the drive and close the door.  After doing so, hold the left shift key for between fifteen and twenty seconds to keep anything from running automatically.  this procedure always keeps anything from running automatically when you close the door to a cd or dvd drive.
Open the list of files and folders on the cd. 
Look for files that have titles such as Introduction.  Depending on how your Windows is set to read files, you'll either hear just Introduction, Chapter 1, etc. or you will hear Introduction.m3u, Chapter 1, m3u etc.  Press enter on the item you want to listen to.  Whatever player you use to listen to audio will open and you will hear the item start to play.

An important note about Realplayer:
There appears to be a bug in Realplayer versions 10.0 and 10.5 that causes the player to stop playing a number of seconds before many files end.  If you use Realplayer and small bits of the end of sections of the tutorial appear to be missing, it's not a problem with the  tutorial , it's the player that is not playing them.  

The newest version of Realplayer, version 11, uses different movement commands than earlier  versions.  You can jump from one part of a chapter to another but you can't move back or forward within a section.  Realplayer 10.x and 11.x are not recommended for use with the tutorial.

Moving through chapters

Almost all chapters are divided into sections.  Sections begin where new topics are discussed.  At times, two closely related topics are combined into one section.  In Chapter 1, an example of a division is a consideration of the Freedom Scientific home page with the next section being a consideration of the New York Times home page.  

The section you start with will play and the next section will start to play automatically if you just listen.  However, you can move from section to section and listen to whatever ones you want.  Here is how this is done in the three main players used for audio listening.  To find out what player is being used on your machine, while one of the tutorial files is playing, read the title bar.  In JAWS, the command is insert t.  In Window-eyes, the command is control shift t.  Hold control and shift at the same time and, while doing so, type the letter t.  You will hear the player name announced along with some other information.

To move in Windows Media Player the commands are:
Control f to move forward to the next section and control b to move to the previous section.

The move by section commands for Realplayer are for version 10.x and Real One.  
Control t to move forward and control r to move back.
In Winamp, the commands are:
b to move forward and z to move back.  No other key is used, just the letter.

Other commands:
To start play:
Media Player:
Control p.
Realplayer:
Control p.
Winamp:
x.
To stop play:
Media Player:
Control s.
Realplayer:
control s.
Winamp:
v.
To pause the players:
Media Player:
control p.  Control p also resumes play from where you paused the player.
Realplayer:
Control p.  Control p also resumes play from where you paused the player.
Winamp:
c.  C also resumes play from where you paused the player.

Moving through a section.
if you are moving through a section and want to move back or forward in the material, use the following commands:
Media Player
Fast forward
control shift f.  Executing the command again resumes normal play.  
Rewinding in media Player is more complex and is not covered here.  For easy movement, I recommend use of Winamp.

Realplayer:
These commands apply to version 10.x and Real One.  they are different in version 11 and, even if you use the correct commands, they won't work with the tutorial nor in many other instances.
Slow forward
control right arrow
slow rewind
control left arrow
Fast forward:
control shift right arrow
fast Rewind
Control shift left arrow

Winamp
Fast forward
right arrow
rewind
left arrow
Play with these commands to get a sense of how fast movement is.  You can jump in small increments by executing these commands in Realplayer and Winamp by holding the keys down for just an instant.  You can move as far as you want by holding the keys down longer.  Play resumes when the keys are released.

If you have questions or problems using whatever player you are using, contact me by phone at:
(773) 728-6390 or by e-mail at:
gsasner@ripco.com.
I provide limited free support for those with problems using the tutorial or working with the material covered.  The introduction explains the free support in detail.  Problems using players to listen to the tutorial are part of the free support explained  in the introduction. 

this is all you need to read in the Read Me file before working with the tutorial.   

*3.  For JAWS users, in Chapter 1, I say that when using the find command, the read current line command needs to be used to stop extraneous speech.  This is no longer true for later versions of JAWS.  In versions 8 and higher, this problem has been corrected.  Using find now results in only the proper text being read. 

*4. In Chapter 1, I say that you will see the unlabeled links at the top of The New York Times home page.  If you are using a newer version of JAWS, such as version 9, you won't see these links.  Changes have been made which make the links you see about the same as those you see when using Window-eyes at the top of this page.  However, it's the concept that is important here and actually seeing the links is not important. 

*5. In chapter 1, I say that there are few headings on The New York Times site.  this is no longer the case.  Headings have been added and are widely used on the site.  Try playing with them on various pages. Also, using the word "auto" no longer is a reliable marker.  Find the first article in the Opinion section and then see if you can find a good marker as a practice exercise. 

*6. In Chapter 1, the discussion of unlabeled links on the WGN radio site, while still important to listen to, does not describe the current state of the site.  the unlabeled links have been removed.  So, listen carefully to the discussion but don't worry if you don't see the links.  It's the concept that matters in this case and finding the actual links is not important.  

*7.Chapter 3 discusses working with Google.  An important change has been made to make finding and moving through search results much easier.  Headings are now used for each unsponsored link.  The organization is as follows:
If one or more sponsored links are on a results page, starting at the top of the page and using h moves you to the first sponsored link.  Using h again skips all other sponsored links and moves you to the first unsponsored link.  From then on, using h moves you to each subsequent result link.  

However, it is important to know the methods I describe in the tutorial for finding results links.  That's because Google is just one search site and it cannot be assumed other sites will follow this practice.  Also, if you want to use other parts of Google, this practice may not be followed. For example, the Google home page contains a link that says "news."  Following this link takes you to a part of Google where you can search for news stories on any subject.  The results for this part of the site do not use headings and you need to find a marker to find the results efficiently.    

*8. Chapter 4 discusses, among other things, JAVA scripted combo boxes.  the National Public Radio site no longer has such a combo box. An example of such a combo box can be found on the following site:
http://www.radiospirits.com. 
This is an old time radio site. the easiest way to get to the combo box is to move to the bottom of the page, then issue a command such as shift f or shift c.  Note that in versions of JAWS that are somewhat old c does not do the same thing as in later versions so you may have to use f.  

Also, it appears that live audio streams are no longer available on this site even though they are still offered.  If you have a problem listening, it's very likely the site itself and not a problem you can correct.

Also in Chapter 4, the Amazon site pages have changed so when you look through them you won't see some things I describe.  I may revise this part of the chapter but you should be able to follow the explanation well even though the actual pages on the web site are not the same.  After listening to my descriptions of the pages, look at the site and see if you can work with it.  the pages have changed but the principles I outline in my discussion still apply to complex sites.  If you have problems, let me know.  I'll help you without charge when learning about the Amazon site.  If this section of the chapter is revised, help in this area will once again be counted against the technical support time.      

*9.  Chapter 5 contains a mistake regarding subscribing to e-mail lists.  The wrong syntax is given for subscribing to Yahoo Groups.  the correct syntax is:
group name, hyphen, subscribe, at sign yahoogroups.com.  The following example illustrates the correct syntax:
blindtech-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
  All other commands such as the unsubscribe command, etc. follow the same syntax.
*10.  This topic applies only to those using Internet Explorer 6 with Windows XP Service Pack 2.  Internet Explorer 7 has an information bar and a popup blocker but I haven't worked with them. You can get information about them by using the resources I provide for further information in Chapter 5 of the tutorial. You may want to read the following section and try the procedures described.  They may apply, at least in part.   

For those running Windows XP Service Pack 2, the information bar must be explained.  As a part of increased security in Service Pack 2, Internet Explorer doesn't automatically take certain actions it did previously.  At such times, if you are using default Internet Explorer settings, a sound will be heard and the information bar will appear near the top of the screen.  this bar can be accessed in the following manner which works regardless of what screen-reader you are using.  It is an Internet Explorer command not a screen-reader command:
When you hear the sound indicating that the information bar has appeared, use the command alt n to move to the bar.  the text in the bar should be read automatically.  If it isn't, use the read current line command in your screen-reader to do so.  The bar will explain what it is blocking and say "Click here for options."  The keyboard method to do this is to press the space bar.  When you press the space bar, a context menu will open.  Move through this menu using the up and down arrow keys.  when you find the option you want, press enter.  Pressing enter performs the action and returns you to the document you are looking at.  Most of the time when the information bar comes up, it is simply telling you that something such as an Active X control is not being allowed to run and that the page may not display correctly.  You can usually read the page properly when such an announcement comes up so you need not take any action.  for security reasons, you shouldn't give permission for something to run unless a page is not displaying correctly or unless it is necessary to give permission for an action to be taken such as playing an audio stream or downloading a program or file or plugin of some sort.  So most of the time when you hear the Information bar sound, you don't even have to look at it.  You will need to look at it if an action isn't being taken you want taken or if a page truly isn't being displayed properly.  If you want to leave the information bar without taking any action, press escape to return you to your previous place on the web page.  At the same time, it closes the information bar so it is no longer available until the next time it comes up with another message.  So you can't leave the bar, then change your mind and come back to change your decision.  You will have to reload the page, using function key 5 is a convenient way to do this, or follow the same link to bring up the bar again if you want to change your decision for the same page or link.  If you are in the context menu, you will have to press escape twice--once to close the context menu, and again to close the Information Bar if you don't want to take any action.  The first time the information bar comes up, a dialog will open explaining a bit about the bar.  It has a don't display this again option in the dialog.  You may want to allow this dialog to come up until you get used to working with the bar so you definitely know when it comes up.  After you have confidence that you know when the bar is coming up, you can stop the dialog from appearing.

*11.  Again, this section applies to the version of Internet Explorer 6 found in Windows XP Service Pack 2.  See section 9 for more details.     

Windows XP Service Pack 2 includes a popup blocker with Internet Explorer.  Follow the same procedure if you want to see options regarding a blocked popup as described in the last topic.  A different sound is produced when a popup is blocked than when the information bar is displayed.  You will hear a soft sound, rather like two clicks when a popup is blocked. 

*12.  Again, this section applies to the version of Internet Explorer 6 found in Windows XP Service Pack 2. See section 9 for more details.     

for those using Service Pack 2, with the Windows firewall enabled, you may occasionally see the following message appear while using the Internet:
Windows Security Alert
To help protect your computer,  Windows Firewall has blocked 
some features of this program.
Do you want to keep blocking this program?
then the name of the program and the publisher are given.  The message continues:
Keep Blocking Unblock Ask Me Later
Windows Firewall has blocked this program from accepting connections from the
Internet or a network. If you recognize the program or trust the publisher, you can
unblock it. When should I unblock a program?  
this message works like a web page even though it is what you would expect to see in a dialog box.  You can read the message as you would any web page.  You can work with the buttons as you would on any web page.  You will see that some of the message is a link for further information.  I have reproduced the message above but the link notification is not included.  

Here is a brief explanation of these options:
Unblock means that contact will be permitted now and in the future.  Block means contact will not be allowed and you will not be asked again.  
Ask me later continues to block contact but will display the same message asking what you want to do in the future.  If you know and trust a site, you can unblock it.  If you don't know what to do, use the "Ask me later" option."  If you know you don't want to allow contact in the future and don't want to be prompted, use "block."  The choice you make can be changed but explaining how this is done is far beyond the scope of this update.  
Be careful what you allow.  Only allow sites or programs you are definitely sure of to make contact.  Being casual or careless about this can be quite dangerous.
For example, if you get a message asking if Realplayer should be allowed to make contact, you can answer "yes."  This is a known and trusted program.  If you don't recognize or know the program, use "Ask me later" until you find out more about the program.  
At times, you may receive a different message that allows you, as an option to allow something to make contact only this time or in general.  Follow the same guidelines for safety I just outlined if this happens.
