Voice of Vision
Volume 4 Number 4 -- October 1996

Welcome to the October 1996 issue of Voice of Vision, GW Micro's
quarterly newsletter.  VV is available in large print, on audio
cassette, in Braille, and on computer disk.  For subscription
information, see the information given at the end of the
newsletter.

If you don't know how to get this newsletter on-line, this issue
is for you-- it's time to dust off that modem you've never gotten
around to using.  Mike Lawler's article, "Beyond the BBS,"
describes GW Micro's new FTP site and Dan Weirich's piece, "GW
Micro on the World Wide Web!" tells about our web site.  If you
don't know what to do with that information, be sure to read
"Getting to the Internet," by Crista Earl. If it's a fax modem
you're bringing out of the closet, look at Joe Renzi's article
about a DOS-based fax program.  Window-Eyes users who have been
awaiting the release of Window-Eyes 1.05 with bated breath will
be glad to see Doug Geoffray's description of its new features.

____________________
Getting to the Internet
by Crista Earl

So you've heard a lot about the internet lately.  How can you
avoid it?  Every time you hear a news show or read a magazine
somebody's telling you to learn more at www.something.somewhere. 
Your first question regarding the Internet might be, "If I were
to decide I wanted to use the internet, how would I go about it?"

There are a number of answers to that question.  First, you need
to know what options are available in your area.  Second, you
need to decide whether you want to access the internet through
DOS or through Windows.  

To use the internet, you first must have an internet account. 
You can think of this account as something like the account you
have with the cable television company.  You call the cable TV
company, tell them you want service, they do whatever it is at
their end, you plug the cable into your television at your end,
and there is nothing to do but pay the bill each month.  With an
internet account, they do whatever they do at their end and they
usually send you software to install on your computer.  Then you
use your trusty modem and phone line to connect.  Unlike cable
television, there is no special hardware necessary at your end. 
The software the internet company (called a provider) sends you
is probably not even anything you couldn't buy or download any
number of places.

You'll want to get an account with a provider that can give you a
local phone number to call.  If you live in an area with few
providers, this may limit your other service options.

While you're looking for a provider you need to be asking a few
questions.  If you're determined to use DOS to access the
internet, you need to ask providers if they offer a "shell"
account as one of their options.  If so, this means that you'll
be able to access the text on the internet only, not the graphics
and not the sound files.  But, you'll be able to use Vocal-Eyes
in DOS and not have to bother with Windows.

One of the most important pieces of software you'll need for this
adventure is a "browser."  This is what you use to go wandering
around looking at articles and looking for things.  The browser
is what interprets the information on the internet and, among
other things, displays it on the screen.  

Netscape is currently the most popular browser for Windows.  It
is fairly speech-friendly and very powerful.  If you decide to
use Windows to access the internet, your provider will more than
likely send you a CD or a set of floppies containing Netscape and
other software.  

If you'd rather use Vocal-Eyes than Window-Eyes while accessing
the internet, you'll probably find the browser you're offered is
actually a UNIX program called Lynx.  To use Lynx, you use your
modem and some sort of ordinary telecommunications software such
as Telix, Commo, Procomm Plus, or whatever you're comfortable
with to call the access number that your provider gives you. 
Once connected, you select Lynx from a menu or type "lynx" at a
prompt to run the browser.

Now there is the issue of expense.  The going monthly rate for
unlimited internet access in most areas appears to be $19.95. 
Many providers, however, have special promotional offerings that
let you have the first month for much less.  Some offer both a
shell account and a PPP account (that's what you generally use
when accessing the internet through Windows) for the same price,
others offer them separately and you need to pay for them
separately if you want both.

The equipment you plan to use comprises the remainder of the
expense.  If you have a slow computer with little memory and a
slow modem, you'll want to get a shell account or upgrade your
machine.  If you have at least a 486 with 8 megabytes of memory
and a 14.4 kbps modem, you might consider using Netscape with
Windows.  

Netscape gives you far more power than Lynx and greatly
simplifies many of the activities you'll do while on line.  It
allows you to download files directly to your own system instead
of having to move them first to a UNIX system and then to yours. 
It, because it is a Windows program, allows you to pop out for a
moment, unzip a file you've just acquired, check that it's what
you wanted, and return to your on-line session without missing a
beat.  It allows you to browse new sites while downloading a
file.  It allows you to download several files at once (you'll
need a fair amount of memory to do much of this).  If you have a
sound card, it lets you play sound files, including radio
broadcasts, while connected.  

If you only want to search for and read articles and don't have
any interest in learning Windows, you won't realize the benefits
of Netscape.  Lynx might be a better choice for you.  

Assuming you decide to go with Netscape, the first thing to do is
to decide what it is you're going to do for your first session. 
The simplest thing to do is to look at a web site.  A web site is
simply a document, sometimes a very complex document, that
someone has written and put on a computer somewhere in such a way
that it can be read by your browser.  Your local radio station
probably has one.  Maybe your library does.  Maybe the company
you work for.  For your first attempt, let's go to a web site
you've heard about instead of trying to search for one.

Go ahead and startup Netscape.  It will ask you for your
password.  You know what it is because the person you spoke with
at the internet provider gave it to you or asked you to make one
up for yourself.  Type it in, answer any other questions the
program asks, and press the enter key.

The program will first use your modem to dial the phone number
that connects you to the internet, and then run Netscape for you. 
You'll know you're in Netscape because Window-Eyes will say
"Custom Control Frame Netscape" and then the name of the first
page that comes up.  This is probably your provider's home page
(a home page is basically a type of web site).  

If you don't plan on viewing the pictures and graphics that come
up on the next screens, you can turn them off.  Pictures take a
lot of time to come across the phone lines.

To turn off the loading of graphics, press the Alt key to
activate the menu.  Press the letter "O" for options.  Netscape's
Options menu will come down.  Use the up and down arrows to move
to "Auto Load Images."  If you've just installed Netscape, this
is checked.  Press the enter key to uncheck it and return to the
page that was loaded automatically.

For your first web site, let's choose something without a lot of
clutter.  Since Dan Weirich's article later in this issue
describes the GW Micro site, we'll choose the USA Today site. 
Its URL (universal resource locator, or simply its address) is
www.usatoday.com.  So, press Control-L to bring up a dialog which
prompts for the location.  Type 

www.usatoday.com

and press enter.  As soon as the page comes on the screen,
Window-Eyes will read as much of it as is shown.  You'll hear
something like "College Football... In-Depth Coverage of every
Division I football program... Top News... Scores... Stocks..." 
Some of the items on the screen are headlines.  Others are links
to other documents.

What is a link?  What do you do with it?  Simply put, a link is a
mark in the document which shows you that you can move to another
document.  They are usually displayed as underlined text in
Netscape.  Stored in the document along with the text of the link
is the address of another document or file.  That document or
file might be on the same site or it might be somewhere else in
the world.  The author of the document you're reading thought
these other items might be of interest to you.

In the case of USA Today, most of the links on the "Front Page"
are links to articles or lists of articles in the magazine.

To move from link to link, press the Tab key.  If you want to
back up, press Shift-Tab.  Window-Eyes reads each link as you
land on it.  When you find one of interest, click the left mouse
button or press the center key on the numeric keypad.

Your hard drive will work for a moment as the new document is
loaded and Window-Eyes will read you the first page.  If you wish
to continue reading the same page, just press the page-down key.

What if you run out of time before you finish reading?  Of
course, you can get back to the site you're viewing the same way
you arrived here now, but what if you forget the URL?  Some of
them can be quite lengthy.  Netscape has a bookmark feature that
allows you to bounce back to this point.

To place a bookmark on the USA Today page, simply press the Alt
key to activate Netscape's menu, "B" to bring down the Bookmark
menu, and "A" to add the bookmark.

Now that you've added this site to your bookmark list, let's try
another type of site.  Switchboard allows you to look up the
phone number and address of nearly anyone in the United States. 
To go there, press Control-L to bring up the location dialog
again, and type in the URL

www.switchboard.com

followed by the enter key.  Do you notice that many commercial
web sites have names that you can almost anticipate?  Try
guessing the URL for GW Micro or Arkenstone (hint:  Arkenstone is
an ORGanization and not a COMpany).

After you press enter, Netscape takes you to the Switchboard
site.  You'll find a few links on the first screenful, but you'll
probably have to press page-down to get to the good stuff.  There
you'll find links labeled "Find People" and "Find Businesses."

Try finding your own listing. Press Tab or Shift-Tab to move to
"Find People" and press the center key on the numeric keypad to
click the left mouse button.  The Switchboard search form will
appear.  Window-Eyes will read the directions to you and
Switchboard will wait for you to do something.

A "form" is exactly what you probably think it is.  The site
you're visiting needs information from you in order to do its job
and is presenting you with a means of supplying the details. 
It's called a form because it is modeled after a printed form. 
Imagine you're requesting that a service look up this information
and that you must submit the request in writing.  You write the
person's name in the blank provided, the city and state in their
respective spaces on the form, and hand over the piece of paper. 
Someone takes it, performs the search, and brings back the
answer.

Switchboard works exactly the same way, except that there is a
computer with a database at the other end instead of a person. 
You must position your caret in the right part of the form and
type in the right information.  When you're done, you must press
the "Search" button and wait for an answer.

Simply press Control-Tab and Window-Eyes will move to the first
"control" in the form.  This is an edit box for the last name of
the person for whom you are searching.  Type in the last name. 
Press Control-Tab again and Window-Eyes will move you to the
first name field.  Type it in.  Since you're looking for yourself
and you most likely know where you live, move to the city and
state fields and fill them in.  The last control on the form is
the "Search" button.  Once there, press the left mouse button
(center key) to click on it and execute the search.

Switchboard finds up to eight entries which match your search. 
If you have a common name and didn't specify the city, there
could be a lot of you out there.  You'll need to press the
Page-Down key to hear some of them.  If you'd like to look at the
next eight, click on "Next Page" (move to it by pressing the Tab
key).

Would you like to zoom back to the USA Today site?  Press Alt to
activate the Netscape menu, "B" for Bookmark, and press the up
arrow to go to the last item in the list.  Unless you've strayed,
this is the Switchboard entry you just made.  Arrow up one more
time and you'll find the USA Today bookmark.  Press the enter key
and Netscape will whisk you back to the magazine.

Space does not allow us to look at all the many things you can do
on the internet.  Now that you know how to look at a site and
fill out a form, you'll turn into an internet expert in no time. 
Let us know where your home page is when you've finished setting
it up.

____________________
FAXTALKIN'
by Joe Renzi

We have all encountered those difficult-to-make-talk DOS
programs.  Some have been such a pain that the effort had to be
abandoned.  There is access and axcess.  The axcess ones can
become a sore point, especially when your favorite software
retailer won't take it back no matter how you present your case.

With this in mind, many speech users have looked around in vain
for a simple yet powerful program to allow them to fax.  Well,
now there is just such a DOS based program.  This program is
Faxtalk, produced by Thought Communications; it has a consistent
user interface.  Because of this consistency, its talkability
index on a scale of 1 to 10 is a resounding 10.  If you like its
operation be sure to thank these people for such a great product. 
Tell them that you are a user with special access needs.  We need
to make the software writers aware that we are people too and,
after all, our money is as green as the next persons.  Though
they didn't intend to write the product for the speech community,
they did a pretty good job without knowing it.  If enough
software developers know of our existence, maybe it will be
easier to make programs talk in the future.  This is real access.

You will need Vocal-Eyes 3.0 to use Faxtalk.  This is because
some of the screen data is left in place (not cleared) even when
it doesn't make sense to read it.  Therefore the reading must be
delayed and this can only be accomplished by the "anding" of
hyperactive windows.  This is a feature that Vocal-eyes 2.2
didn't have.  It would be nice to have had the screen cleared at
critical times but nothing is perfect.  The cursor is also left
in the same position even when a feature that benefited from its
whereabouts is no longer in use.  Sighted people don't realize
that the cursor is even there because the Faxtalk program doesn't
blink it.  But we Vocal-Eyes users can find it easily and take
advantage of it whenever possible.

When you make an error in an entry and press a key to continue,
try pressing the delete key to delete the erroneous character. 
This character is highlighted.  This may not always get you out
of trouble because it seems sometimes like you are in an infinite
loop.  There may be a more consistent way to recover from an
error but as of now I don't know what it is.

There are a few Vocal-Eyes hot keys you will need to know about
which will make navigation more fun:

alt b - reads a box which contains useful information
alt t - announces time/date
alt l - reads the light bar usually containing a highlighted menu
item.
alt s - status line
alt w - where am I?  Verbalizes the current functional area when
possible
control l - rereads the current send, receive, or convert log
entry.

When setting the hot key in the Faxtalk configuration screen,
modifiers may be turned on by pressing the space bar; An X will
be voiced followed by the modifier.  Pressing the delete key will
cause the modifier to disappear.

When using the F3 key to mark entries in the phone book and other
areas, the word "marked" followed by a portion of the highlighted
item will be voiced.  Pressing F3 again will just voice the
portion of the highlighted item without the word "marked."  This
is a toggle. 

Though this is a consistent interface, much time was spent
developing these set files.  These set files are not meant for
distribution.  Their cost is $60.00.  If you would like a disk of
these set files, make checks payable to  Reading Technology. 
Reading Technology's address and telephone number are:

Reading Technology
9269 Mission Gorge Road Suite #108
Santee, CA 92071
619-685-7323
price: $60.00

Thought Communications
1350 Ridder Park Drive
San Jose, CA 95131
408-452-1010
(sales/ordering) 800-532-9825
(fax) 408-452-1011
(tech support) 408-452-8118
Price: $49.00

____________________
GW Micro on the World Wide Web!
by Dan Weirich

Earlier this summer we launched the GW Micro home page on the
world wide web.  The URL is www.gwmicro.com.  Our goal was to
provide a convenient way to display our product catalog,
technical information, our Voice of Vision newsletter, and other
items.  We reached this goal but immediately determined that this
will be an on-going activity.

To reach our home page use your favorite web browser and the URL:
www.gwmicro.com

I'll describe our site while using Netscape Navigator.  Different
browsers or even video resolutions can provide slightly different
appearances.  The first screen you will encounter is our
welcoming screen.  It gives a brief description of GW Micro so
the casual internet browser will have an idea of who we are and
what we do.

Assuming you are using Window-Eyes 1.05, you will want to press
the TAB key to move to our first link, "InfoCenter" and click on
it with the center key of the numeric keypad with the NUM LOCK
key turned off.  There are really only six special Window-Eyes
hot keys for Netscape.  ALT-S reads the status line, ALT-D reads
the page you are on, TAB (and SHIFT-TAB) will move you forward
and backward through the links, and CTRL-TAB (and SHIFT-CTRL-TAB)
will move you forward and backward through the controls for
filling out forms.  

After clicking on the "Info Center" link you will be taken to a
matrix of links.  These links are for our product catalog, Voice
of Vision newsletter and individual product technical
specifications.  If you click on the "Product Catalog" link it
will take you to a listing of all of our products with a brief
description, price and shipping weight.  We also list other items
such as shipping costs and other ordering information.

Moving back to the "Info Center" and clicking on the "Voice of
Vision" link will take you to a copy of this newsletter.  If you
are thinking, "Gee, they ought to have ALL of the past issues
here," you're right!  This is a very good idea and we do hope to
get that implemented soon.  This is a good opportunity for me to
solicit new ideas and features for our web site.  Please send me
your suggestions either by e-mailing me (dan@gwmicro.com) or by
giving us a call (219-489-3671).  We can't incorporate every
suggestion we get but we will certainly use them to make
improvements.

Again, moving back to the "Info Center" and clicking on one of
the many product links will provide detailed technical
information regarding that specific product.  For example, let's
click on the "Vocal-Eyes" link.  You are then taken to a screen
which gives a description of Vocal-Eyes, lists the many features,
shows the documentation provided with Vocal-Eyes, equipment
supported, system requirements and other ordering information. 
This group of items will grow as we offer more products.

As I mentioned earlier in this article, we are interested in your
suggestions and comments.  One of the  suggestions we have had
thus far is an "Other Links of Interest" screen.  On this screen
we could list other web sites of interest to our customers. 
Another suggestion is to add a link to a screen displaying our
dealers and a link to their web sites if applicable.  These are
but a few of the suggestions we've received.  Please take time to
check out our web site and hopefully it can provide you with some
information that you didn't have before.

____________________
Beyond the BBS
by Mike Lawler

In July of this year GW Micro placed its FTP site on the
internet.  Along with our BBS and our listserv, this FTP site
allows you to get our demos, literature, upgrades, and
newsletters via the internet.  In this article I will describe
how to use our FTP site.

To access our FTP site, you need to access the address
ftp.gwmicro.com.  If you are using Netscape you can simply put
the name "ftp.gwmicro.com" in the location edit box to access the
site.  Once you have logged in with Netscape you will be
presented with a listing of the directories on our FTP site. 
There are directories for each of our products.  For example the
VE directory is for Vocal-Eyes files.  You can find Window-Eyes
files in the WE directory.  Voice of Vision newsletters can be
found in the VV directory.  With Netscape you can enter a
directory by simply clicking on its name.  When you enter a
directory you will be presented with a list of the files and
their descriptions.  You can also download these descriptions
with the file FILES.BBS in each directory.  You can simply click
on any file listed to download it with Netscape.

To access our FTP site with a UNIX shell account try the command

ftp ftp.gwmicro.com

from your shell prompt.  Note that your UNIX system might have
other FTP clients such as ncftp available which you can feel free
to use.  After you issue the FTP command from your UNIX prompt
you will be presented with the login prompt from our FTP site. 
Simply use the user name "anonymous" and your e-mail address as
your password to log in to the site.  From this point you can use
the "dir" command to get a listing of the directories available
on the site.  To enter a directory issue the command

cd directory name

for example the command "cd ve" would put you in the Vocal-Eyes
directory.  To get files use the command

get file name

for example the command "get we105.zip" will get you the
Window-Eyes 1.05 upgrade if you are in the WE directory.

You can also send us files at our FTP site.  To do this make sure
that you are in the upload directory and use the upload commands
of your FTP client to upload the file.  These commands vary from
client to client so I will not discuss them in this article.

We hope that our new FTP site will give our customers yet another
convenient method of electronically accessing our demos,
upgrades, literature, and newsletters.  If you have comments or
suggestions on our FTP site, feel free to send us e-mail or give
us a call.

____________________
Window-Eyes 1.05
by Doug Geoffray

I am happy to announce the release of Window-Eyes version 1.05 on
October first.  If you are an existing Window-Eyes user, there is
no cost for this upgrade.  See the end of the article to find out
how to get your upgrade.  Many enhancements have been made and I
will be discussing several of them below.

Before I get into the details of 1.05 let me step back and update
you as to where Window-Eyes has come from and where it is going. 
Window-Eyes was first released in October of 1995.  At that time
there were many problems and it was very sluggish.  Since then we
have released five free upgrades.  With each release Window-Eyes
became faster and more stable.  Substantial enhancements have
been made with each release and 1.05 is without doubt the most
exciting upgrade yet.  Window-Eyes 1.05 is one of the most stable
and flexible Windows screen readers on the market.

What makes Window-Eyes stand out from the others is that with its
stability and flexibility it is extremely easy to configure
(assuming configuration is necessary).  Window-Eyes does not
contain special programming for certain applications.  All of
Window-Eyes' features are as generic as possible in order to work
with as many applications as possible.  For example, version 1.05
is now compatible with spreadsheet programs such as Excel, Lotus,
and Works.  A configuration for each of the programs could be
done in less than fifteen minutes.  Many other screen reader's
configurations are not measured in minutes or hours but days.  We
started by creating a configuration for Excel.  Because Lotus and
Works interfaces are so similar to Excel, converting the Excel
configuration was extremely simple.  Again, with many other
screen readers, this simply would not be practical.

Unfortunately, I can not tell you that version 1.05 supports
Windows 95 or NT.  However, we are targeting January for a
Windows 95 release.  We have been working on it simultaneously
with the 1.05 release.  As for the NT release, we are looking
into it.  Currently the only practical approach to NT is
utilizing Microsoft's Active Accessibility utilities.  However,
as of this writing, Active Accessibility needs much work.  This
is not to say Microsoft is doing nothing, but it will take time
for these utilities to be stable and complete enough for them to
be used.

That's enough of the past and future.  Lets look at the present. 
Below I'll list a few of the major changes from version 1.04 to
version 1.05.

As I mentioned above, we now support several spreadsheet programs
including Excel, Lotus, and Works.  Not only do we support them
but configuring environments for them is extremely simple.  We
have included all three configurations with 1.05.

Window-Eyes has two new mouse hot keys, mouse prior control and
mouse next control.  These keys will move the mouse from its
current position on the screen to the next Windows control and
will also set focus to that control.  This is useful for controls
that are not accessible from the keyboard, such as those controls
found in forms in Netscape.  These two hot keys are very generic
and can be used in many applications including other web
browsers.  We ship a configuration for Netscape but, like
configuring spreadsheets, it only takes a short time to do it. 
You can easily jump between links and controls in forms.  You
don't need to create complicated macros to do this.  If Netscape
changes the way they display links for example, you can easily
adjust the Window-Eyes configuration to compensate.  No
programming degrees are required.

We have added the ability to quickly route the mouse to the item
of focus.  This could be a menu item, a list box item, check box,
radio button, light bar, or whatever.  You also have an option to
have the mouse automatically track the focus.  As the focus
changes, the mouse can be instructed to automatically move to
that area.  As you arrow through menus or move around in Program
Manager, the mouse will be there with you all the time.

A cursor delay has been added.  This works very much like the
cursor delay found in Vocal-Eyes.  Some applications are a bit
slow in responding to keystrokes, causing Window-Eyes to read too
early.  Now you can simply adjust the time causing Window-Eyes to
be in full sync.

A trigger delay has been added which helps greatly in
communications programs.  Many times as you communicate to other
computer systems through your modem they respond in a jerky
fashion.  The system will send some text and wait then send some
more.  If Window-Eyes were to read this information immediately,
the text would be broken up.  Adjusting this value can remove the
broken up text and cause it to be read as you would expect.

Speaking of communication programs, Window-Eyes' speak windows
have been greatly enhanced.  You can instruct Window-Eyes to
automatically speak all text which is displayed in a certain
area.  Just like Vocal-Eyes, you can silence this output quickly
by pressing the control key.  Once the screen has settled down,
the speech will be re-activated or you can simply press the
control key a second time to start the speech up again.

Selecting text in word processors using the caret now works
great.  As the caret is moved while selecting text, all text that
is selected or unselected is spoken.  This is accomplished with a
new cursoring key option, marked text.  

As I stated above, one of the best features of 1.05 is that it is
much faster and very stable.  Once again I would like to thank
all of you who have stuck with us and helped us get Window-Eyes
where it is today.

There are many other areas where Window-Eyes has been enhanced
but hopefully this gives you an idea of what you can look forward
to.  You can download your free 1.05 upgrade from our FTP site
(ftp.gwmicro.com) or request it via e-mail from
listserv@gwmicro.com or download it directly from our BBS at
(219) 489-5281.  The file names are:

WEDEMO.ZIP - demonstration version
WE105.ZIP - standard upgrade
WE105EVL.ZIP - upgrade for those with an EVERLOCK version
WE105DGL.ZIP - upgrade for those with a DONGLE version

If you cannot get the upgrade from these locations, we would be
glad to send you a disk in the mail.  Simply give us a call.

Subscription Information

Voice of Vision is published four times a year in large print, on
audio cassette, on 3.5-inch PC diskette, and in Braille.  You can
receive a subscription for $10.00 for each format.  VV is also
available on GW Micro's bulletin board at no charge.  Payment can
be made by check, MasterCard, Visa, American Express, or
Discover.  Send checks and format specifications to the address
below.

We seek reader input.  If we use an article you've submitted,
you'll receive a year's subscription at no charge.  

Please send articles on IBM compatible diskette or in print to:

GW Micro, Inc.
725 Airport N. Office Park
Fort Wayne, IN  46825

If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at:
Voice: (219) 489-3671
Fax: (219) 489-2608
BBS: (219) 489-5281
Internet: vv@gwmicro.com
