           ACCESSING THE INTERNET FROM THE KEYBOARD


                              BY

                          JOHN WILSON

                           Volume 2

                     COPYRIGHT 2006

                           ********

                       TABLE OF CONTENTS

(To find a particular section or heading, use your word-
processor's or editor's search facility, e.g. type ">section 6"
to find that section. Ensure that you precede the word section
with the greater than sign (>), which is the capitalised full
stop, to be certain to find the relevant section first time and
not any earlier reference to it. Type the string "What are
Cookies?" or the specific paragraph number of 3.4.1. to find that
sub-heading. Additionally, all main sections are separated by a
centred row of eight asterisks.)

Foreword and Restrictions
Available Manual Formats
Target Group
Conventions
Suggested Approaches for Effective Learning with this Tutorial

Section 1: Introduction
1.1. What this Tutorial does and does not Cover
1.2. JAWS, HAL, Supernova and Window-Eyes Special Web Page
Navigation Hot Keys
1.2.1. JAWS 4.0, 4.5, 5 and 6
1.2.2. HAL 5, 6 and 6.5
1.2.3. Window-Eyes 4.2, 4.5 and 5 
1.2.4. Windows Operating System Shortcuts

Section 2: HELPFUL TIPS AND CUSTOMISATION
2.1. Twenty Customisation and Other Tips

Section 3: Internet Shopping
3.1. General Overview
3.2. Security Issues
3.2.1. Secure HTTP Websites
3.2.2. Ensuring that Your Online Transaction Details are Not
Automatically Saved to Disk
3.3. UK Consumer Home Shopping Rights
3.4. Cookies and Spyware
3.4.1. What are Cookies?
3.4.2. Accepting or Rejecting Legitimate Cookies and Controlling
them via Internet Explorer
3.4.3. Exporting and Importing Your Desirable Cookies for Use on
another Computer
3.4.3.1. Saving/Exporting Cookies
3.4.3.2. Importing or Restoring Cookies to a Browser
3.5. Description of Typical Online Shopping Store Purchase Forms
3.6. Shopping Online--Three Step by Step Practical Examples of
Making a Purchase with General Screenreaders to Work Through
3.6.1. The UK Cobolt Systems Products for the Blind Site
3.6.2. The Special Tesco Access Grocery Shopping Site
3.6.2.1. Introduction and General Information
3.6.2.2. Registering Yourself for Tesco Online Shopping
3.6.2.3. Shopping on the Tesco Site and Paying for Your Goods
3.6.3. The Amazon Website
3.7. Step by Step PWWebspeak Dedicated Web Browser Example of
Making a Purchase on the Amazon Site
3.8. E-Wallets
3.9. Uk and US Shopping Price Comparison Sites
3.10. Some Good Places to Find Online Shops
3.10.1. The Amazon Shop
3.10.2. The Cdnow Shop
3.10.3. The Emusic Shop
3.10.4. The Expedia Shop
3.10.5. The Train Enquiry Shop
3.10.6. The Index and Argos Shops
3.10.7. The Cdwow Shop

Section 4: Online Auctions
4.1. Auction Terminology
4.2. Different types of Online Auctions
4.2.1. The QXL Auction Site
4.2.2. The Morgan Auction Site
4.2.3. The Free Serve Auction Site
4.2.4. The American Blind Treasures Auction Site
4.2.5. The Ebay Auction Site
4.2.6. The Nochex Auction site
4.3. Step by Step Example of Using an Online Auction--The UK
Morgan Site
4.4. Step by Step Example of Using an Online Auction--The US
Blind Treasures Site

Section 5: Realaudio Radio, News and Video
5.1. Basic RealPlayer 8 Hardware and software Requirements
5.2. How Does Web Radio or Webcasting Work
5.3. General Multiple Radio Sites to Listen To
5.4. Individual and Single Topic Radio Sites to Listen To
5.5. VI-Specific Multiple Radio Site to Listen to
5.6. Example of Streaming and Listening to Realaudio Using the
Windows Media Player
5.7. Example of Listening to RealAudio Using Winamp
5.8. Installing and Using Realplayer 8 Basic
5.8.1. Pen-picture of the RealPlayer Basic Screen
5.8.2. Using RealPlayer 8 Basic
5.8.3. Loading a Clip for Playing in RealPlayer
5.8.4. Searching for things to Listen to or Watch
5.8.5. The Play List
5.8.6. The RealPlayer Basic Favourites Folder
5.8.7. Using the RealPlayer Help System
5.8.8. RealPlayer 8 Shortcut Keystrokes
5.9. RealPlayer 10 Basic 
5.9.1. Basic RealPlayer 10 Hardware and software Requirements
5.9.2. Downloading and Installing RealPlayer 10
5.9.3. Tips on the Use of RealPlayer 10 on the Net
5.9.3.1. How to Listen to Audio Streaming from the Net
5.9.3.2. Essential Shortcut Keystrokes when Playing Streaming
Audio and Audio from your Hard disk
5.9.3.3. Making Tonal Changes in the RealPlayer Equaliser
5.9.4. Using the RealPlayer 10 Help System
5.9.5. RealPlayer 10 Shortcut Keystrokes
5.10. How to Create Your Own Radio Station
5.10.1. On Live 365
5.10.2. On Yahoo Launchcast
5.11. Promote Your Own Station on the Streammadness Mailing List 
5.12. Sharing Streaming Audio Content Over the Net by Peercasting
5.13. Recording/Ripping Streaming radio Audio to Disk 
5.14. Shortcuts for use with the BBCs own Accessible Streaming
Audio Player

Section 6: Download Managers, Advertisement Banner removers,
 Cookie Crunchers and Spyware Removers
6.1. Where to Obtain Freeware and Shareware Download Managers
6.1.1. Download Accelerator
6.1.2. Download Wonder
6.1.3. RealDownload
6.1.4. GetRight
6.1.5. DLEXPERT
6.1.6. regit
6.1.7. Download Assistant
6.1.8. Download Butler
6.1.9. Tweakdun
6.1.10. Go!zilla
6.1.11. Winget
6.2. Where to Obtain Advertising Banner, Spyware and Cookie
Removers
6.2.1. Ad-Aware
6.2.2. Popupkiller
6.2.3. Cookie Cruncher
6.2.4. Cookie Muncher
6.2.5. Karen's Cookie Viewer
6.2.6. Spyware Doctor
6.2.7. Spybot Search&Destroy
6.2.8. Online Cooky, banner and other Spyware Removers
6.3. Step by Step Example of Using a Download Manager--Download
Accelerator 7.4
6.3.1. Download and Installation
6.3.2. Using Download Accelerator
6.3.3. Resuming a Lost or Paused Download
6.3.4. Changing Configurations with the DAP 7.4 Configuration
Wizard
6.4. Step by Step Example of Using a Spyware and cooky Remover--
Ad-Aware
6.4.1. Download and Installation
6.4.2. Using Ad-Aware from its On-Screen Interface
6.4.3. Removing Detected Spyware
6.4.4. Emptying the Ad-Aware Quarantine Folder
6.4.5. Using Special JAWS Scripts to Automate the use of Ad-Aware
6.4.6. Updating Ad-Aware's Scanning Files

Section 7: Internet Banking
7.1. Online Banking Introduction and security
7.2. A Selection of Internet Banking Sites
7.2.1. Smile Online Bank
7.2.2. Cahoot Online Bank
7.2.3. Halifax Bank
7.2.4. First Direct Bank
7.2.5. Barclays Bank
7.2.6. Natwest Bank
7.3. Step by Step Example of Opening and Using Online
Banking--The ING Direct Bank Site
7.3.1. Opening an ING Direct Account Online
7.3.2. Transferring Funds from Your ING Direct Account to your
 Linked Current Account
7.3.3. Other Facilities Available on the ING Direct Site
7.4. Step by Step Example of Opening and Using Online
Banking--The Nationwide Building Society Site
7.4.1. Making Arrangements with Your Local Branch and Providing
Identification
7.4.2. What Happens Next
7.4.3. Activating a Branch Opened Account Online
7.4.4. How to Move Cash from One Account to Another Online
7.4.5. Other Facilities Available on the Nationwide Site

Section 8: INTERNET CHAT 
8.1. Microsoft Chat with Windows 95 and 98
8.1.1. What is Internet Chat?
8.1.2. Microsoft Chat Overview
8.1.3. What can Chat Rooms be Used For?
8.1.4. Pen-Picture of the Microsoft Chat Screen in Text Mode
8.1.5. Online Chat Rooms with Microsoft Chat
8.1.6. Using Microsoft chat Version 2.5 with windows 95 and 98
8.1.6.1. Group Chatting
8.1.6.2. Chatting in Private Chat Rooms
8.1.6.3. Microsoft Chat Modes
8.1.6.4. Microsoft Chat Commands
8.1.6.5. Practical Example of Joining a Chat Session with
Microsoft Chat
8.1.6.6. Microsoft Chat Shortcut Keystrokes
8.2. Chatting with MSN Messenger 6.2
8.2.1. What Can You Use MSN Messenger For?
8.2.2. Signing on to the .Net Passport Service
8.2.3. Downloading MSN Messenger
8.2.4. Installing Messenger
8.2.5. Launching Messenger
8.2.6. Configuring Messenger for Optimal Use with a Screenreader
8.2.6.1. Stopping Messenger from Automatically Launching and
Obtaining a Simple View of the Screen
8.2.6.2. Making Changes in Messenger Tools Options and Enabling
your Virus Scanner
8.2.7. Pen-Picture of the Messenger Screen/Windows
8.2.8. How to Chat to One or More People with Messenger
8.2.8.1. Initiating a Chat without Using the Contacts List
8.2.8.2. Adding People to Your Contacts List
8.2.8.3. Initiating a Chat from Your Contacts List  
8.2.9. Being notified that One of Your Contacts has come online
and/or sent you a message
8.2.10. E-Mailing with MSN Messenger
8.2.10.1. Sending Someone an E-Mail 
8.2.10.2. Downloading Your E-Mail 
8.2.11. MSN Messenger General Shortcut Keystrokes and Specialist
Screenreader Hot Keys
8.2.11.1. Windows Shortcuts
8.2.11.2. JAWS 4.5 to 6.0 Screenreader Hot Keys for Messenger
8.2.11.3. Window-Eyes 4.21 to 5.0 Screenreader Hot Keys for
Messenger
8.2.11.4. HAL 4.5 to 6.5 Screenreader Hot Keys for Messenger
8.3. Other Chat Providers
8.3.1. General Providers
8.3.2. Specialist Blind-Friendly Chat Providers
8.3.2.1. A-Chat
8.3.2.2. The Million Web Chat
8.3.2.3. Accessible Chat

Section 9: Using the Internet to Phone People
9.1. The Skype Internet Telephony Program--An overview
9.2. System Requirements
9.3. Downloading Skype and JAWS Scripts for Skype
9.4. Installing Skype and the JAWS Scripts
9.4.1. JAWS Scripts Installation
9.4.2. Skype Software Installation
9.5. Launching Skype
9.6. Pen-Picture of the Skype Screen
9.7. Skype's System Tray Context Menu and Skype Me Mode
9.8. Making and Receiving Audio Calls with Skype
9.8.1. Making a Call without using the Contacts List
9.8.2. Logging On and Finding Contacts
9.8.3. Calling Someone from your Contacts List
9.8.4. Answering a Call Someone is Making to You
9.9. Configuring Skype in its Options Dialogue
9.9.1. Viewing/Changing Options whilst Offline
9.9.2. Viewing/Changing Skype's Options whilst Online
9.10. Shortcut Keystrokes for Use with Skype 
9.10.1. General Skype Shortcuts and Notification Sounds
9.10.2. JAWS Specialist Hot Keys for Skype

Appendix 1: Where to Find More Internet Information
10.1. From the Internet Itself
10.2. In Braille 
10.3. On Cassette
10.4. By E-Mail 

Appendix 2: List of E-Mail Lists Dealing with Particular Topics
of Visual Impairment
11.1. List of VI-Related Lists and Examples of How to Subscribe
to Them
11.2. Downloadable Comprehensive List of e-Mail Lists of Interest
to Visually Impaired People

Appendix 3: List of Hundreds of General Websites of Interest
12.1. Recommended Sites to Visit

Appendix 4: Keyboard Shortcuts in Internet Explorer and Outlook
Express 
13.1. Internet Explorer 5 and 6
13.2. Outlook Express 5 and 6

Appendix 5: Glossary of Computer and Internet Terms
14.1. Glossary

Appendix 6: Other Manuals Available from this Author
15.1. List of Tutorials with Brief Description of Each 

Complimentary Close

                           ********

Foreword and Restrictions 

I have written this manual and tutorial for the use of blind and
otherwise visually impaired computer users and/or their trainers.
It is free of charge and only available from its author's Website
and from no other distributer.

No individual or organisation is permitted to sell copies of this
tutorial either as a stand-alone tutorial or as an integral part
of any other literary, software or training package. 

                           ********

                   AVAILABLE MANUAL FORMATS

The manual is only available in ASCII text format, as a free
download from the author's Website at:

http://web.onetel.com/~fromthekeyboard

This tutorial and guide has been created with a minimum of
formatting, in plain text, so that any word-processor or text
editor can read it. In this format it should also be suitable for
any one to run it through an embosser but, with some embossing
software, you may still wish to make some line spacing and
heading format changes to suit yourself and your software. A
simple construction such as this should also make reading by
arrowing up and down in your word-processor less labour intensive
than would be the case with columns, shorter lines, and the like.

Colloquialisms, such as don't, haven't, doesn't, etc, have been
avoided in this guide in order to make it easier to follow and
understand via a speech package. Hopefully, any loss of
conversationality and warmth will be compensated for by increased
clarity. 

                           ********

                         TARGET GROUP

Blind and other categories of visually impaired computer users
are the target group for this manual. Keyboard access methods and
descriptions, using screenreaders and no mouse or monitor, are
the basis of this work. This second Internet tutorial is more
likely to be useful to the intermediate standard Internet user
who already knows the basics of Net surfing and something about
Windows 95/98/ME/XP keystroke methods and is already connected
to the Internet, rather than the complete novice. Volume 1 of
this tutorial deals with the theory and more basic competencies
required for accessing the Internet.  This second volume of the
Internet tutorial is intended to take visually impaired surfers
from an already sound basis of interacting with the Internet to
a more advanced level of usage. Moreover, it does not attempt to
teach basic Windows 95/98/ME/XP operating system competencies.

                           ********

                          CONVENTIONS

In the writing of this tutorial, terms and keystroke combinations
have the following meanings:

ALT F, A     Means hold down the left ALT key and whilst still
holding it down press the letter f, then release both and press
the letter A.

CONTROL S     Means hold down the control key and whilst keeping
it held down press the letter S and then release both.

SHIFT END     Means hold down the SHIFT key and whilst keeping
it held down press the END key.

ALT E, C, and press ENTER     Means hold down the left ALT key
and whilst keeping it held down press the letter E key, then
release both and then press the letter C key followed by the
enter key.

When a key combination such as ALT T (for Tools), O (for Options)
is suggested to go into the "Tools" menu and run the "Options"
menu item, the user may follow this method of operation or may
prefer to ARROW up and down a menu and press ENTER.  In this
latter case, the keystrokes would be: press the ALT key, right
ARROW to the "Tools" menu heading, then ARROW down (or up) until
the "Options" item is spoken, then press ENTER.

All individual and conbinations of keys you actually have to
press during a procedure which have been referred to have been
put in capital letters so that they stand out to anyone reading
this tutorial visually, e.g. to bring up the Open dialogue box
press CONTROL O.

If, in a menu, your screenreader announces an arrow or says
something like submenu, this means that pressing ENTER or right
ARROWING on this menu item will take you into a sub-menu to ARROW
up and down in and make a choice. If your screenreader announces
a row of three dots or says something like dialogue, you will
open up a dialogue box to work in if you press ENTER on it.  

Note that with some screenreaders you may encounter a conflict
between the generic Windows shortcuts and the screenreader's own
hot keys. If this happens, you may, for example, have to press
such as ALT and then release it followed by T (for Tools) to get
into the Tools menu instead of pressing ALT and T together. In
other instances you may find it necessary to use your
screenreader's bypass or skip next keystroke hot key to get your
screenreader to ignore your next key combination and therefore
allow that key combination to pass through to the program instead
of intercepting it as a screenreader hot key, e.g. use the bypass
hot key of INSERT B in Window-Eyes, INSERT 3 in JAWS and CONTROL
NumPad 7 in HAL.

                           ********

Suggested Approaches for Effective Learning with this Tutorial

It is, of course, entirely up to the individual as to how they
glean information and work through this tutorial, but a few
suggestions might assist the learner who is relatively new to
computers. I would propose that you read through the whole of a
section before attempting to practise it to obtain an overview
of what is being done. 

There are a number of approaches which might be taken to make
reading the tutorial as a text file and simultaneously carrying
out the instructions more fluid and easier to follow. Try one of
the below methods. 

Ideally, if you have two computers, you can load the tutorial
into your text editor or word-processor on one PC and have the
software program running on the other. You can then listen to the
directions on one computer whilst practising them on the other.

Alternatively, as is likely to be the case, if you only have the
one computer, you could launch your word-processor and load the
tutorial into it for reading. You could then launch the program
you wish to learn how to use in order to practise the lessons.
You would have to keep cycling between each running program by
pressing ALT TAB in this case.

Yet another approach might be to take a tape recorder or
dictaphone and get your screenreader to read the contents of a
given section or sub-section onto the tape. You could then play
the tape back and follow the instructions through on your PC
without having to keep moving from one running program window to
another.

Other options would be for you to print out a copy of the
tutorial in large print if you can use this and work from this
hard copy, or you could get your local library or resource centre
to produce a Braille version for you to work from if you have one
in your area and you are a Braillist.

                           ********

                           >SECTION 1

                         INTRODUCTION

1.1. What this Tutorial does and does not Cover

This tutorial (Volume 2 of the Internet tutorial) is the
follow-on or sequel to Volume 1 of Accessing the Internet from
the Keyboard. It does not teach the basics of Internet
surfing, file downloading, use of Outlook Express or go into a
description of what the Internet is or the theory of how it
works, nor does it explain the various protocols which are
involved in using Internet services, etc. These are all covered
in Volume 1 of the tutorial. However, do have reference to
various of the appendices where I have listed helpful
information, in particular Appendix 4 "Keyboard Shortcuts in
Internet Explorer and Outlook Express" and Appendix 5 "Glossary
of Computer and Internet Terms". I have also provided a sub-
section just below with several of the most important JAWS, HAL
and Window-Eyes hot keys for use on Web pages in it as a place
for you to easily find and refresh your memory in respect of
these. Additionally, I have supplied a section covering helpful
tips and hints on using the Internet and related software and
hardware.

This volume of the Internet tutorial is intended to take users
from an intermediate level of competence into the more advanced
and likely more challenging areas of the Internet from a
screenreader point of view. It takes over from where Volume 1 of
the Internet tutorial leaves off.

Alternatively, if you have not already downloaded Volume 1 of
Accessing the Internet from the Keyboard, you should have
gained a reasonable level of skill on the Internet in general and
with your screenreader of choice in particular via other
means, whether from other manuals or tutorials or by trial and
error, so that you have reached a reasonable stage of surfing
attainment before you take on these more advanced skills.

Volume 2 of the Internet tutorial does not instruct the user in
how to use any particular specific screenreader (although some
screenreader special shortcuts are occasionally exemplified or
reminders of their existence given) but instead concentrates on
the general keystrokes provided within Microsoft Windows programs
to get things done. In this way the visually impaired computer
user should be able to reasonably function on the Net
irrespective of the screenreader which is on the computer they
are currently using--something which would not be possible if you
only learned the special keystrokes which come with a given
screenreader package to achieve your goals.

One thing you must keep in mind is that the Internet is
continually in flux, growing and changing. Some Internet sites
and pages you accessed and viewed last week will no longer exist
this week, others will have come into existence within the last
few hours and yet others will still be there but will have been
altered in their construction and general appearance since you
last visited them. Therefore, whilst at the time of writing the
keystrokes given herein were the ones to use to achieve a given
end result, This tutorial aims not so much to get you to follow
precise keystrokes on particular sites only but rather to give
you a general grasp of what the changing Internet is like and the
confidence to use it even if some sites and web pages have
changed since both I and you last frequented them.

To be able to derive the maximum range of experience in
completing Internet forms, I would recommend that you go onto all
of the Websites covered as practical examples in the body of this
tutorial, even if you do not want to download a given program or
join a particular bank. This is because all of the forms you will
encounter in these examples are different and you will therefore
get a broader idea of how they can vary and how to deal with a
larger variety of them. You can always, at the point of download
or submission of a form, duck out and abort the download or
subscription, having gain the practical experience to get you to
the final stage of forms completion.

1.2. JAWS, HAL, Supernova and Window-Eyes Special Web Page
Navigation Hot Keys

Here I list, as a memory jogger, the main JAWS, HAL, Supernova
and Window-Eyes Web page hot keys when using Internet Explorer
5 and later as of March 2005.

1.2.1. JAWS 4.0, 4.5, 5 and 6 

Most of the below JAWS hot keys work with versions of JAWS from
4.0 onwards but a few will only work if you have upgraded to
later versions which have included extra hot keys. If you press
one of these single hot keys and nothing happens, it is likely
that this hot key does not exist in your copy of JAWS, otherwise
you would get some kind of feedback as JAWS would at least report
"no more divisions found" if you press Z and your version of JAWS
does not feature this particular recent addition to its range of
single hot keys.

Please note that the large INSERT key at the bottom left-hand
side of the number pad is also frequently referred to as the JAWS
key. I will only call it the INSERT key throughout this tutorial,
as this is its most common name when the number pad is turned
off. It is often used in conjunction with other number pad and
main keyboard keys to invoke special combined hot key actions and
so is used in a similar way to the SHIFT key when capitalising
letters.

Press A: To jump to the next anchor on a page.

Press B: To move to the next button on a page.

Press C: To get the current column read out in a table on a Web
page. From JAWS 6 this key's function changes and moves you
between comboboxes.

Press D: to skip to the next different element on a page, e.g.
from a link to an editfield and then, perhaps, to another link
or combobox.

Press E: to skip past the next element on a Web page. This
changes to skipping to the next editfield on a page from JAWS 6.

Press F: to skip to the next form (editfield) control on a Web
page.

Press G: To jump to the next graphic on a page.

Press H: to jump to the next heading on a Web page.

Press I: To skip to the next list item in a list on a Web page.

Press J: To jump to any line in the JAWS virtual buffer after
entering the line's number. You use SHIFT J to return to the
starting point before the jump.

Press K: To jump to the next place marker on a Web page if you
have previously inserted markers on that page.

Press L: to go directly to the next list on a Web page.

Press M: to move to the next frame on a Web page.

Press N: To skip past links on a Web page.

Press O: To go to the next object tag on a page.

Press P: To move to the next paragraph on a page.

Press Q: To move to the next block quote on a page.

Press R: To get the current row read out in a table on a Web
page. From JAWS 6 this key's function changes and moves you
between radio buttons.

Press S: to jump to the next same element on a Web page, e.g.
from edit field to editfield.

Press T: To jump to the next Table on a page.

Press U: To go to the next unvisited link on a Web page.

Press V: To go to the next already visited link on a Web page.

Press X: To go to the next checkbox on a page.

Press Z: To jump to the next division on a page.

Press >: To step past the next element on a Web page.

Press <: To step to the element before the prior element on a
page.

Note 1: Hold down the SHIFT key with any of the above single
letter hot keys to obtain the reverse action, i.e. jump backwards
through lists, tables, editfields, etc.

Note 2: From JAWS 6 you can hold down the CONTROL key and the
INSERT key together and then press any of the above single letter
keys to obtain a list of that particular element, e.g. CONTROL
INSERT Z will bring up a list of the divisions on the current Web
page.

Press ENTER: to turn MSAA mode off when on a form editing field
to be able to type text in. Pressing Numpad + (the PC cursor)
turns MSAA mode back on.

INSERT F1: Obtains screen sensitive help. 

INSERT F1 twice: Obtains JAWS help for a specific application.

INSERT A: Reads the contents of the Address Bar.

INSERT W: Provides tips on general Windows shortcut keystrokes.

CONTROL UP or DOWN ARROW: Moves you from one text paragraph to
another on a Web page.

INSERT F6: Places the headings on a Web page into a structured
hierarchical order to quickly ARROW through and press ENTER on
any one to jump there (but only if the page has been written
using HTML structured heading tags, e.g. H1, H2, etc). Before
JAWS 4.01 this command simply took you to the Desktop minimised.

CONTROL INSERT HOME: Takes you to the first form field on a page,
if JAWS has not automatically placed you there already. You will
have to press ENTER to turn MSAA mode off and forms mode on
before you can complete editfields on a Web page or in a form.

CONTROL INSERT TAB: Moves you to the next form field.

CONTROL INSERT SHIFT TAB: Moves you to the previous form field.

CONTROL INSERT END: Takes you to the last form field on a page. 

INSERT ENTER: Jumps you to the next instance of text with no
associated link to read that text.

INSERT F7: Invokes a links list so that you can ARROW up or down
the links on a page or jump straight to a link by pressing the
first letter of its name. You can also select between A-Z or Z-A
order, have them in the original page TAB order, have only
unvisited links displayed, only visited links displayed, etc.
Pressing ENTER on one of these links will activate it.

INSERT F9: Provides you with a frames list of the same type as
the above links list.

INSERT F5: From Version 5 onwards, displays a listbox with all
of the controls and forms on the current Web page similar to the
above two list features.

INSERT Z: Toggles the virtual PC cursor on and off.

CONTROL INSERT F: goes into the JAWS Find dialogue to type text
in to jump to this. 

CONTROL INSERT TAB: Moves you from the current form field to the
next form field.

CONTROL INSERT SHIFT TAB: Same as the above but backwards through
form fields.

Press INSERT DELETE: To route the virtual cursor to the location
of the PC cursor.

Press SPACEBAR: To toggle checkboxes, select radio buttons and
activate buttons without entering forms mode from Version 4.51
onwards.

Press ALT DELETE: To obtain information about how much of an
online document you have already read as a percentage of the
whole text.

ALT CONTROL NumPad 5: Reads the cell in a table which has focus. 

ALT CONTROL left or right ARROW: Moves you left or right through
table columns and cells on a Web page.

ALT CONTROL up or down ARROW: Moves you up or down a cell in a
table. 

ALT CONTROL HOME OR END: Moves you to the first or last cell in
a table respectively.

WINDOWS KEY down ARROW: Moves to the next row in a table.

WINDOWS KEY up ARROW: Moves to the previous row in a table.

WINDOWS KEY .: Reads the current collum in a table.

WINDOWS KEY ,: Reads the current row in a table.

CONTROL J: Is the jump to cell in a table hot key.

Pressing the main keyboard numbers 1 to 6: Jumps you from one
heading to another heading on a Web page, e.g. pressing 1
repeatedly keeps moving you through heading 1 level headings,
pressing 2 repeatedly keeps moving you through level 2 headings,
etc. In this way you can quickly move between headings at the
same level and between different levels of headings.

A new concept introduced from JAWS 5.0 is the place marker
insertion, jump to and list dialogue box. You can insert up to
10 place markers on any Web page and give them individual names.
You can cycle through these place markers by pressing the K key
and you can open up the place marker dialogue and view the list
of your markers, add new markers, name them, move them in the
list, remove them and jump to any one you like. You can do this
whilst on a Web page online on the Net or on a Web page held on
your hard disk without being online. There are only three
essential hot key commands involved, as listed below.

Press CONTROL SHIFT K: To open the place marker dialogue box when
on a Web page to insert a permanent marker or make a temporary
marker permanent.

Press K: to jump forward through markers.

Press SHIFT K: to jump backwards through markers.

In practice, what you do with place markers is:

1. Whilst on a Web page with your cursor at the desired place you
want a marker to be inserted, press CONTROL SHIFT K to open the
place markers dialogue box to permanently add, name, move,
remove, change the name of or jump to any place marker. 

2. Now TAB to "Add" and press ENTER.

3. Next type a meaning full name into the editfield you are in 
such as "phone number for Webmaster" and press ENTER, and you
have now finished inserting and naming your marker.

4. You can now jump to these markers with the above-mentioned K
and SHIFT K commands or you can again press CONTROL SHIFT K to
open the place markers' dialogue and then ARROW to any marker by
its meaningful name and press ENTER on it to jump to it. 

The place marker feature has a few other non-essential hot keys
which you may also wish to try, as follows:

Press CONTROL k: to insert a single temporary marker at the
cursor position on a page.

Press CONTROL SHIFT 1 through 0: To get the name of any of the
10 markers on a page spoken to you (this hot key failed to work
for me but perhaps it will work for you).

Press CONTROL SHIFT 1 to 0 quickly twice: To move straight to the
marker associated with that marker number, e.g. CONTROL SHIFT 5
twice to jump to marker number 5.

1.2.2. HAL 5, 6 and 6.5

Please note that, with HAL 6 onwards,  the CAPSLOCK key at the
left-hand side of the keyboard is also frequently referred to as
the Dolphin key. I will only call it the CAPSLOCK key throughout
this tutorial, as this is its most common name. It is often used
in conjunction with other keys to invoke special combined hot key
actions and so is used in a similar way to the SHIFT key when
capitalising letters.

Please also note that, when either the CONTROL or SHIFT keys are
mentioned in the below list of hot keys, it is the left key which
should be pressed. Pressing the right CONTROL or SHIFT key may
not work.

The following hot keys are available in HAL:

F1: Provides context-sensitive help for the control or other
element which focus is currently on.

F3: Activates HALs find feature to jump to a given word or words
on a Web page. You type the word(s) in and press ENTER to get the
first occurrence of the word found.

F4: This is the find next occurrence of a word hot key, after
firstly invoking the find with F3 as above.

F2: Is the find previous occurrence of a word key, after firstly
invoking the find with F3 as above. 

SPACEBAR: Activates (left clicks on) a link, rather than pressing
ENTER as with earlier versions of HAL.

ENTER (return or carriage return key): Puts you into forms mode
whilst on an editfield on a Web page. You can then type
information into an editfield. You may have to press ENTER each
time you encounter such an editfield to type text in. From HAL
Version 6.03 you enter forms mode by pressing CAPSLOCK ENTER and
HAL should then automatically change from forms editing mode to
reading mode and back again without you having to do anything
more.

NumPad +: Starts and stops continuous document read.

INSERT: Is the left click simulation key. To left click and
change to live focus press the A key and to left double click
press the U key. 

DELETE: Is the right click simulation key. To right click and
change to live focus press the D key and to right double click
press the E key. 

Left CONTROL PAGE UP or DOWN: Moves you upwards or downwards
through any elements of a page which are not links, e.g. buttons,
checkboxes, editfields, etc.

Left CONTROL SHIFT PAGE DOWN or PAGE UP: Moves you from frame to
frame on a page. 

Left CONTROL SHIFT HOME: Jumps you to the first form editfield
on a page.

Left CONTROL shift right ARROW: Moves you to the next occurrence
of text which is not associated with a link.

Left CONTROL SHIFT right ARROW: Opposite of above.

Left CONTROL SHIFT DOWN ARROW: Skips you downwards through links
on a page.

Left CONTROL SHIFT UP ARROW: Opposite of above. 

Left SHIFT Numpad 0: Gives you the URL of a link which is not
entitled or which has a meaningless title, such as "Click Here".

ALT T (for Tools) then ARROW down to "Dolphin Links Navigator"
and press ENTER: Loads the Links Navigator to format the links
on a page in a row to ARROW through in A-Z, Z-A or Tab order or
jump straight to a link by pressing the first letter of its name.
Pressing ENTER will activate the link. With the introduction of
HAL 5.20 and later, the Links Navigator is replaced by what is
known as the Dolphin List Utility, to do the same links listing
and selecting job but more efficiently and it also lists frames
and HTML headings. You can use it for complex Web pages and for
finding your way around HTML help files. With HAL 6, you also
have hot keys of CAPSLOCK 1 to list links on a Web page, CAPSLOCK
2 to list headings, CAPSLOCK 3 to list frames and capslock 4 to
list what is in the System Tray. 

CAPSLOCK ENTER: From HAL 6.03 only, invokes HALs new forms mode
to make such as online shopping sites easier to work on. After
pressing CAPSLOCK ENTER, As you move through a Web page, HAL
intuitively automatically switches out of auto-virtual focus mode
into live mode every time it comes across an editfield or other
similar control to which live mode is appropriate. It will also
automatically return to auto-virtual focus mode when required to
do so in order to allow you to continue reading the Web page to
be able to do things such as activate links.   

CAPSLOCK Numpad 7: In HAL 6.03 onwards, speaks the name of a form
label to the left of an editfield if this is not automatically
spoken by HAL in its forms mode because it is out of HAL's normal
zone of detection.

CAPSLOCK Numpad 8: In HAL 6.03 only, speaks the name of a form
label above an editfield if this is not automatically spoken by
HAL in its forms mode because it is out of HAL's normal zone of
detection.

Note: With HAL 5X the general Windows commands of ALT left and
right ARROWS to take you to your last visited Web page backwards
or forwards respectively do not work. 

1.2.3. Window-Eyes 4.2, 4.5 and 5

Most of the below hot keys apply to all versions of Window-Eyes
from Version 4.0 on Web pages but the hot keys for using Window-
Eyes in MSAA mode to navigate Web pages immediately below apply
before version 4.5. for those which apply from Version 4.5, see
the new list beneath this first one.

CONTROL SHIFT F1: Brings up WE help but this is not context
sensitive.

CONTROL SHIFT F: Enables the WE find feature. Pressing INSERT F
will continue the search in the same direction.

ALT U: Reads the URL for the current page.

CONTROL INSERT S: Reads the status line, which may have useful
Web page download details.

CONTROL SHIFT A: Toggles MSAA mode on and off whilst MSAA mode
is in automatic loading mode. If you find that some links on a
Website are not working properly with Window-Eyes and so not
being activated when you press ENTER on them, you may find that
you can cure this by turning MSAA mode off and then on again by
pressing CONTROL SHIFT A twice. This is a known issue with some
versions of WE, e.g. Version 5.0.

INSERT A: Toggles automatic loading of MSAA mode on or off.

CONTROL SHIFT R: Will read a Web page from the cursor to its end.

CONTROL SHIFT S: Provides information about how many lines are
in the current page and what line the cursor is presently on,
plus advice about whether the page has frames.

ALT SHIFT DOWN ARROW: Moves you through links only on a page,
missing out any other elements or controls, such as editfields,
buttons, checkboxes, etc.

ALT SHIFT UP ARROW: Opposite of the above.

ALT DOWN ARROW: Moves you to the next element on a page, e.g. a
link, an editfield, a button, etc, but it takes you to another
type of control which is not the same as the one you left, e.g.
if you were in a textbox you would not go to another textbox but
to something else such as a button, a link, etc.

ALT UP ARROW: Opposite of above.

INSERT ALT DOWN ARROW: Moves you to the next text-only block
skipping all other controls.

ALT CONTROL SHIFT DOWN ARROW: Takes you to a previously visited
link on a page skipping all other elements and unvisited links.

ALT CONTROL DOWN ARROW: Moves you straight to the first control
on a page which is not a link or text line, typically a form
field such as a search box,  but you must do this from the top
of the page. Another press takes you to the next control on the
page. You will have to press ENTER to turn MSAA mode off before
you can complete editfields on a Web page or in a form. 

ALT CONTROL UP ARROW: Jumps you to the last control on a page
from the bottom of the page.

ALT CONTROL HOME: Takes you to your last position on a page or
to the place you were before you moved to a subsequent page if
moving back to the first page does not land you there
automatically.

INSERT TAB: Invokes the Window-Eyes vertical controls list from
where you can choose to view and ARROW through lists of frames,
tables or links in A-Z, Z-A or to view links in their original
Web page TAB order, etc. Pressing ENTER on a link will activate
it.

F6: Takes you to the attachments list in an e-mail.

ALT CONTROL TAB: Takes you to the first table on a page, when you
then use CONTROL + to enter table mode. CONTROL - leaves table
mode. Pressing ALT CONTROL TAB again will take you to the next
instance of a table on the Web page if there is one. 

ALT CONTROL SHIFT TAB: Moves you backwards through tables on a
page.

CONTROL SHIFT H: Lets you cycle through several ways WE will give
you table information, e.g. announce top headings as well as cell
co-ordinates and contents, side headings as well as cell co-
ordinates, etc.

INSERT right, left, up and down ARROWS: Move you one cell at a
time through a table on a Web page right, left, up and down
respectively.

CONTROL INSERT right or left ARROW: Moves you to the end or start
of a row in a table.

CONTROL INSERT up or down ARROW: Moves you to the top or bottom
of a column in a table.

With the advent of Window-Eyes 4.5 and later versions, the hot
keys for working with Web pages in MSAA mode have changed to
those shown below but, of course, many of the above hot keys of
general use on Web pages still work:

Press A: to skip to the next anchor on a Web page.

Press C: To jump to the next control on a Web page.

Press E: to jump to the next fieldset.

Press F: To skip to the next form on a page.

Press H: to move to the next heading on a page.

Press I: to jump to the next list item in a list on a Web page.

Press L: To jump to the next link on a Web page.

Press P: To jump to the next paragraph on a page.

Press Q: To move to the next block quote on a page.

Press S: to skip to the next list on a Web page.

Press T: To jump to the next table on a page. 

Press V: To jump to the next already visited link.

Press X: to jump to the next instance of a text field on a Web
page. 

Press left BRACKET F: To go to the beginning of the current form.

Press right BRACKET F: To go to the end of the current form.

Note 1: Hold down the SHIFT key with most of the above single
letter hot keys to obtain the reverse action, i.e. jump backwards
through lists, tables, editfields, etc. 

Note 2: Your screenreader may have fewer, more or even none of
the above single key shortcuts, depending on its version.
However, slightly earlier versions than those mentioned here
should have most of them and slightly later versions should have
them plus a few more. You should consult the hot keys section of
the online help which comes with your screenreader version.

Press INSERT V: To bring up the MSAA verbosity settings list,
where you can control how much information WE provides you with
on Web pages in respect of listboxes, forms, tables, lists and
other Web page elements.

Press CONTROL Numpad +: To enter table mode.

Press CONTROL Numpad -: to leave table mode.

1.2.4. Windows Operating System Shortcuts

The description of Web pages and the Windows shortcuts you can
use on them is given here in paragraph and dialogue form instead
of in straight lists of key presses and resultant actions.

A Website is a collection of interlinked Web pages on a
particular computer on the Nett. The first page is the home or
index page. Web pages can contain text, pictures, animations and
audio and video clips. Pressing ENTER or SPACEBAR on a "link" on
a Web page may take you to another link on that same page, to
another page on the same Website or to a page on another computer
altogether anywhere else in the world.

When you have loaded a Web page of text and pictures and the text
on that screen has all been automatically read to you (24 lines
per screen), you press the PAGE DOWN key to hear the next screen
of information. Pressing PAGE UP takes you back a screen of
information and reads it. Pressing CONTROL PAGE down moves you
to the next page and CONTROL PAGE up takes you back a page. Up
and down ARROW keys should permit you to read the page a line at
a time, otherwise do this in your screenreader's navigation or
mouse mode.

Pressing the TAB key moves you forward to the next element on the
current page, e.g. link, button, editfield, etc, whereas pressing
SHIFT TAB takes you back an element. 

If you want to go back to the link you were last at (previous
page, previous site, etc), you press ALT LEFT ARROW key. If you
want to go forward a link, you press ALT RIGHT ARROW key.
(Remember, these two latter commands do not work if you are using
HAL 5X.) To
return directly to where you first started out, i.e. your opening
page when first launching your browser, press ALT HOME.

Internet Explorer also has a Go to visited page history feature,
so that you can view and go back to any page you have already
been to in the current surfing session. You get to this history
by pressing ALT V (for View( and then O (for Goto) and ARROWING
up and down the already visited page names and pressing ENTER on
any of them.

You are likely to find that every time you open a new page within
a site, you are presented at the top of the page with the same
list of pictures, advertisements, logos, navigational bars with
image buttons on them, list of links to go to, etc. The relevant
section of the new page you have loaded may only appear halfway
down the new page. You will have to ARROW or TAB quickly past all
of this time and again to find what you want, which is tedious
but necessary, unless your screenreader has a special jump past
header links shortcut or links only
links list facility which allows you to go easily to a specific
link, put links in alphabetical order, display only unvisited
links, etc, such as is available from JFW 3.7 with the INSERT F7
and INSERT F9 commands, The Window-Eyes 4.0 onwards INSERT TAB
and CONTROL TAB commands or by downloading MS Powertoys and using
its SHIFT F10 and "Links List" option. Another way to quickly get
past these repeated header links is to press PAGE down once or
twice until you jump past them or, if the page has frames, press
CONTROL TAB once or twice to jump past the header frames. 

As you move around a Web page, in addition to encountering
readable text, you will come across icons and images (pictures)
which are meaningful to a sighted person but may be meaningless
to a screenreader. Your screen reader may only be able to
announce such as "image" or "bitmap" (or just say nothing) when
it falls on these pictures. However, if the Webmaster (the person
who wrote the Web page) has done his job thoroughly, he should
have placed text titles at the side of these icons which your
screenreader can read out to you to clarify what the picture is
or what will happen if you press ENTER on an iconised link. These
text titles are known as "ALT tags".

Some Websites employ what are known as "frames". A good
screenreader should be able to allow you to negotiate frames but
some older ones cannot cope with them very well. A frame is an
area on a Web page where similar types of information is stored
but there are likely to be several frames on screen at once and,
depending upon what you do in one frame, the layout and content
of another frame may change. this usually makes browsing such
sites more difficult, although not impossible. The more up-to-
date and better quality screenreaders can now deal quite well
with frames and have special keystrokes to do this. The standard
Windows keystroke to move from one frame on a page to another is
to press CONTROL TAB until you get to the frame you wish to look
at and then you can ARROW down the information in the frame you
are currently on. CONTROL SHIFT TAB moves you backwards through
frames.

                           ********

                           >SECTION 2

                HELPFUL TIPS AND CUSTOMISATION

I have repeated this "Tips and Customisation" section, which also
appears in Volume 1 of the Internet tutorial, as even more
knowledgeable Web users may find something new that is worthwhile
trying amongst the below suggestions. You may wish to make some
of these refinements to your programs immediately or wait until
later. Whichever way you approach this, it is nonetheless a good
idea to glance through this section before you move on.

2.1. Twenty Customisation and Other Tips

1. You may, if your phone line provider is BT, wish to opt for
the BT Friends and Relatives service in order to register your
Internet Service Provider's phone number as your best friend
number to obtain a 20 per cent discount; otherwise, register it
for a 10 per cent discount. This is something which BT may
disallow at any time in future. 

2. World Wide Web addresses have the suffix "http://" but you do
not need to type this in when going to a Web page, as Web
browsers fill this part of the address in for you automatically.
Thus, this suffix has not been given when any website addresses
have been indicated in this manual which may not need it.

3. To print a Web page, with the page on screen, press CONTROL
P.

4. A "link" on a Web page is a place where you can press the
ENTER key to jump from one part of the page to another to obtain
more information, or from one page to another on the same site
or from one computer site on the Web to another computer anywhere
else in the world. Web page links should be announced by your
screenreader saying something like "link" but if this does not
happen with your screenreader you should turn attributes (such
as colour change and/or style change) on in your screenreader so
that these changes will be announced to alert you to their
whereabouts. Links are normally underlined and in blue text. Some
of these links may be embedded in the middle of other text and
form an integral part of the textual information. You have to
navigate to links with the TAB key, the ARROW keys or your
screenreader's special links list facility or hot key and press
the ENTER or SPACEBAR key to activate the link.

5. You can copy links from a Web page (with CONTROL C) to the
Clipboard and then paste them into the Address Bar (with CONTROL
V) in Internet Explorer rather than having to retype them.

6. If a Web page comes down from the Internet scrambled, you can
press CONTROL R to reload it or F5 to refresh the screen.

7. To obtain more screen space and not cause your screenreader
to be distracted, in many Windows programs it is worth turning
off the Toolbar by pressing ALT V, T, and unchecking any of the
Toolbars which are checked, but this is not essential, e.g. in
Internet Explorer and Word. So, in Internet Explorer, you may
wish to uncheck (by pressing ENTER on them) the "Standard
Buttons" and "Radio" options but ensure that "Links" is checked
on. However, if you are likely to want to use a toolbar to effect
a command, do not do this, or turn Toolbars on and off as
required. Ensure that "Status Bar" is also 
checked on in the View Menu. 

8. In Internet Explorer, to speed up page downloading (if you do
not use a monitor), press ALT T (for Tools), O (for Options) and
then CONTROL TAB to the "Advanced" property sheet and TAB once
to the "Accessibility" button. ARROW down this long list of
options and uncheck (turn off by pressing the SPACEBAR) "Play
Animations", "Play Videos", "Show Pictures" and "Smart Image
Dithering". Ensure that the following are checked on: "Always
Expand ALT Text for Images", "Notify When Downloads Complete" and
"Play Sounds". It might also assist some screenreaders if you
then CONTROL SHIFT TAB back to the "General" sheet, TAB to
"Accessibility" and press ENTER, then ensure that "Ignore Colours
Specified on Web Pages", "Ignore Font Sizes Specified on Web
Pages" and "Ignore Font Sizes Specified on Web Pages" are all
checked on; but "Format Documents Using My style Sheet" should
be checked off. 

9. In order to facilitate faster initial page loading and avoid
the introductory advertisements which present themselves when you
first load Internet Explorer, you can have it load with a blank
page. To do this, with Internet Explorer running, press ALT T for
Tools, O for Options, and in the "general" property sheet TAB
forward to "Use Blank" and press ENTER. Then TAB on to OK and
press ENTER. In future, when you start Internet Explorer, it will
open with a blank page and your screenreader may announce the
word "About". You just continue as normal (see Section 4 for how
to launch Internet Explorer).

10. Some screenreaders may read what is on the screen better if
you surf in "full screen" mode. All you have to do to obtain full
screen mode is press the F11 key or press ALT V and arrow up to
"Full Screen"and press ENTER. Pressing F11 again returns you to
normal mode. Experiment to discover which view is best for you
but be aware that full screen mode makes a program completely
fill the screen, so title bars, menu bars, status lines, etc,
will disappear.

11. To speed up connection to your ISP and make site connections
and downloads quicker, go To "My Computer" on your Desktop and
press ENTER. Then ARROW down to "Dialup Networking" and press
ENTER. With the ARROW keys, place the focus on your Internet
provider, e.g. Onetel,
Freeserve, etc, and then open up its context menu by pressing
SHIFT F10. Now ARROW up to "Properties", press ENTER followed by
pressing CONTROL TAB to the "Server Types" property sheet. Now
TAB to "Advanced Options" and in here ensure that all of the
following are unchecked: "Log Onto Network", "Enable Software
Compression", "Require Encrypted Password", "Require Data
Encryption" and "Record a Log File for this Connection". Then TAB
to "OK" and press ENTER to finish. 

12. With Outlook Express 5.1 and later, upload and download time
(especially with a slow PC/MODEM/ISP server) can be saved by
turning off "Request a Read Receipt for all Sent Messages" and
ensuring that "Never Send a Read Receipt" is selected in Tools,
Options, Receipts. 

13. It is not advisable to use standard quality reel-type
multi-strand phone extension wire to extend a MODEM cable to a
far-off phone socket. It may work OK but is likely to cause your
line to the Internet to be dropped more than would otherwise be
the case. The wiring inside this type of extension, whilst fine
for robust voice telephone communications, may not be of good
enough quality to transfer the delicate signals of many MODEMS.
You should extend any cabling with single strand, copper cabling,
which can be purchased from BT shops. 

14. What is known as the "gain" on a phone line is basically the
speed at which or sensitivity with which a phone line carries
messages. The standard gain on a BT phone line is set to zero.
This is fine for robust voice communications but often not good
enough for sensitive MODEM signal transfer, particularly if the
line to your nearest phone exchange is at a considerable
distance. If you are experiencing frequent failed connections to
your ISP or regular line cut-offs, you may be able to remedy or
at least improve this problem by ringing BT and asking them to
increase the gain on the line. I am advised by BT that the
highest level that they can increase the gain to is 4, as a gain
above level 4 is likely to cause echo on the line and thus result
in the line getting worse rather than better.

15. If your MODEM is inexplicably disconnected from the Internet
frequently it could be that your MODEM is too sensitive to signal
lapses. To increase the time that your MODEM stays connected
during lapses you may find that the following helps: 

A. Press Windows key and then S (for Settings), followed by C
(for Control Panel).

B. Press M until MODEMS has focus and then press ENTER.

C. TAB to "Properties" and press ENTER. 

D. CONTROL TAB to "Connections" and then TAB to "Advanced" and
press ENTER.

E. TAB to "Extra Settings" and type the following string in:

s10=50

This is all you type if there is nothing else in this editfield.
If some other information is already in there, you just leave a
space at the end of the other details and type the s10=50 at the
end of it. 

This will now mean that your signal can lapse for up to five
seconds without your MODEM cutting off.

16. Whilst some screenreaders automatically make use of
Microsoft's Active Accessibility facility (MSAA), others can only
use it if it is specifically enabled. JFW and Window-Eyes
automatically use MSAA but some earlier versions of HAL require
that you manually install MSAA. To enable MSAA for Windows 95 and
98, so that ALT tags and other special screenreader friendly
features can be used with HAL before version 5: 

A. Press the Windows key followed by F to open the Find
facility, then press ENTER and type in the editfield which you
will fall in:

msaardk.exe  

B. TAB to "Look In" and ensure that C: has focus--you may have
to ARROW up and down to achieve this--then press ENTER.

C. The msaa.exe file will be found, so just press CONTROL A to
highlight this file followed by pressing ENTRE.

D. You will then be told that MSAA will be installed, so press
ENTER on the "Yes" button. After about 30 seconds you will be
informed that installation is finished, so press ENTER on the
"OK" button. 

E. When asked to restart the PC, TAB to "NO" and press ENTER. u
return to the Find dialogue box, so press ALT F4 to close this
down.

F. You now have to enable MSAA in Hal's control panel by pressing
CONTROL SPACEBAR, followed by CONTROL TAB to the "General
Settings" property sheet. Then press ENTER.

G. Now Press TAB until you reach "MSAA Detection" and select it
by pressing the SPACEBAR. 

H. You finish by pressing ESCAPE twice, when MSAA will be loaded
and usable by older versions of Hal. All you now have to do is
reboot the computer before going onto the Internet.

17. If, when using Outlook Express, you experience the system
intermittently trying to take you back on line when you do not
want this to happen, it may be that you are set up to check for
the existence of new messages periodically. If you wish to stop
this:

A. Press ALT T (for Tools), then O (for Options.

B. You drop into the "General" property sheet, so TAB down to
"Check for New Messages Every" and press SPACEBAR to deselect
this. Otherwise, if you still want periodically taking on line
to check for new messages but less frequently, just TAB once more
to the next line and alter the figure in their to a larger one,
e.g. type in 60 if you only want the system to check for new
messages every 60 minutes.

C. TAB to "OK" and press ENTER to finish.

18. When running Outlook Express, the program may from time to
time, without you requesting this, attempt to take you online.
If this is an annoyance to you, you can stop it by:

A. With Outlook Express running, press ALT T (for Tools), then
O (for options.

B. CONTROL TAB to "Connections" and then TAB down to "Change" and
press ENTER. 

C. Next TAB six times to "Always Dial My Default Connection" and
ARROW down once to "Never Dial a Connection" and then TAB to "OK"
and press ENTER.

D. Now just TAB once more to another "OK" button and press ENTER
to finish.

19. If you can make use of a monitor with Internet Explorer
provided that the text on it is large enough, you can change the
"Medium" size text on screen, which is the default (standard) way
it is set up, by:

A. Press ALT V (for View).

B. Then press X (for Text).

C. ARROW to "Large" or "Largest" and press ENTER.

Conversely, if you do not use a monitor and this will not
adversely affect anyone else using the same PC, you could select
"Small " or "Smallest" to ensure that you get as much text onto
the screen as possible.

20. If you are using JAWS 5.0 or later and you are having
problems with Websites which employ Macromedia Flash, you can
tell JAWS to ignore this and therefore view pages without such
as unwanted frequent page refreshing, screenreader stammer, etc.
You have to do this in the JAWS Configuration Manager by:

A. Press INSERT F2 and then ENTER on "Configuration Manager".

B. Press ALT S (for Set Options".

C. ARROW down to "HTML Options" and press ENTER.

D. Now hold down the CONTROL key and press the TAB key until you
reach "Misc".

E. On the "Misc" property sheet TAB down to "Ignore Flash on Web
Pages" and press the SPACEBAR to check this off.

F. Now TAB to "OK" and press ENTRE.

G. Lastly, leave the Configuration Manager and save your new
settings by pressing CONTROL S and then ALT F4 if necessary. 

                           ********

                          >SECTION 3

                       INTERNET SHOPPING

Internet shopping can open up a whole new world of merchandise
to visually impaired people or at least allow them to obtain
everyday goods without having to risk life and limb going to high
street shops to get them. However, If you decide to embark on
Internet purchasing, you should take great care to ensure that
you put the correct details in the right places on forms. If in
doubt initially, recruit a sighted friend with knowledge of these
things to advise you as to what is happening for the first time
or two that you use an online shop, until you become confident
about what you are doing. The author cannot be held responsible
for any mistakes you may make whilst Internet shopping. You
engage in this at your own risk. Remember, shop sites and
completion forms may change from time to time and the whereabouts
of there credit card editfields, address boxes, etc, may change.

It is also recommended that you have an up-to-date, good quality
virus scanner to avoid potentially devastating viruses whilst
surfing the Web, e.g.  McAfee or Norton Utilities. Or you can
download a good free virus-checker called AVG from:

www.grisoft.com

 Use of a good firewall would also be a sensible idea, e.g. Zone
Alarm or Sygate Personal Firewall.
You can download a free copy of Sygate from:

www.sygate.com

 Additionally, ensure that you run a good spyware scanner on your
system from time to time, e.g. Ad-Aware. You can get this free
from:

www.lavasoftusa.com

3.1. General Overview

There are specific online only shops, such as Dabs, and there are
online shops as well which are also listed in Directory Enquiries
to place phone orders as well as online orders, such as amazon
and jungle, and there are standard high street shops which have
also created a mail order type Web shop, such as argos and Tesco.
When you are at an online shop, you can usually search for
goods you want in order to check if they stock them, what the
price is, a description of the goods, etc. 

After launching Internet Explorer from your Desktop, you can go
to an online store with it by pressing the usual CONTROL O and
then type in the URL. Alternatively, you can go to a Net
"shopping mall" which contains several shops that you can look
through and you can search through the mall to find which shops
stock what you want. Microsoft hosts such an online shopping
mall. You can, of course, also find Internet stores by use of a
standard or meta Web search engine, such as Altavista or Google,
but the first two methods of locating online shops are the more
secure.

3.2. Security Issues

Be aware of the following security risks and safety measures.

3.2.1. Secure HTTP Websites

Quality Internet shopping sites generally encrypt (scramble)
purchase details via a secure information page, so that only the
intended recipient can decode and read them. These pages are
often referred to as secure "padlocked" pages. There is 40-bit
encryption in the UK and 128-bit
in the US. This makes online shopping more secure than shopping
by phone or Fax. It is probably safer for UK residents to stick
to UK online shops so that UK law and guarantees apply and can
be enforced. You should try to limit your purchases to quality
online shopping sites you know give a good service or those
friends inform you are reliable. The site should clearly show
their postal address, e-mail address and phone number and they
should inform you of their return and refund policies. The site
should have a confidentiality or privacy link which you should
browse through. If there is no information of this type, ask them
to post it to you. It is important to keep records of your
internet purchases, e.g. if a company sends a confirmation e-mail
save a copy to disk or print it out. Set up your own file to make
notes of purchase dates, amounts, items ordered, reference
numbers etc. Check your bank and credit card statements carefully
and if you find any discrepancies, contact your credit card
company or bank immediately. 

Do not provide your credit card details to any Internet site
which is not padlocked. When you enter a secure padlocked page,
a message should pop up to advise you of this and you will also
be warned when you are leaving a secure, encrypted page and
returning to standard unpadlocked mode. If you do not get the
security advice message automatically on a site, it is possible
to verify whether a site is padlocked visually by looking for the
picture of a padlock at the bottom of the browser screen or you
can go to your browser's address bar and check the address.
Secure padlocked sites will change the "HTTP://" part of the
address to "Https://" (the "S" indicating "secure"). 

If you would like the peace of mind of only using accredited
Websites that have been approved by the "Which" Web Trader
Scheme, you can guarantee security and consumer protection by
only using UK sites which are listed at:

www.which.net/webtrader

which will provide more information and a list of approved,
compliant shopping sites. 

(Note that last time I tried the above site it was not available
due to reconstruction. Hopefully,it will soon become available
again.)

3.2.2. Ensuring that Your Online Transaction details are Not
Automatically Saved to Disk

If you share a computer with someone else or if you are online
for long periods and do not have a firewall to prevent hackers,
others may be able to get access to your online transaction
details, such as your bank account or credit card information.
You can stop details of such transactions from being save to your
hard disk by Internet Explorer in the temporary internet files
folder (which would normally automatically happen) by:

1. Press ALT T (for Tools) and then O (for Internet Options).

2. Then CONTROL TAB to the "Advanced" property sheet.

3. Now ARROW down the long list of checkable options you will be
in to "Do Not Save Encrypted Pages to Disk" and press SPACEBAR
to check this on.

4. Lastly, TAB to "OK" and press ENTER to finish. 
Henceforth any secure (HTTPS) Website you have visited and
possibly provided personal and/or financial details on will not
be saved to your hard disk.

BE aware, though, that you will also not now be able to view
these pages offline as you would have been able to do otherwise.

3.3. UK Consumer Home Shopping Rights

The under-mentioned UK internet shopping consumer laws applied
as of January 2002 but may be subject to future amendment by
Government so, if any aspect is very important to you, double-
check it with Government sources, e.g. the Department of Trade
and Industry.

UK laws for shopping on the Internet apply to most goods and
services but some areas are not covered, such as sale of land
contracts, online auctions and financial services. Perishable
goods, for instance, flowers, food and beverages may also not be
covered. There may also only be partial cover of items such as
transport and accommodation provided on specific dates. A seller
should provide descriptions of goods/services, prices including
all taxes and delivery charges, arrangements for payment and
delivery, your rights to cancel and who will be responsible for
the cost of returning goods. If you agree to purchase something,
you should receive a letter, Fax or e-mail in confirmation and
detailing your consumer rights. All after sales services and
guarantees should be included.

You have, by law, a seven working days cooling-off period during
which you can freely change your mind and cancel your order. This
is seven working days from agreeing to buy a service or from
receiving a good. To cancel an order, a phone call is not
sufficient; you will need to do this in writing, by Fax or by e-
mail. However, if your purchase was for a service to start before
the end of the cooling-off period, then the cooling-off period
is cancelled. No cooling-off period will attach to computer
software, video or audio goods in which the sealed packaging has
been opened.  

If you have already paid, the supplier must return your money
within 30 days. If anyone fraudulently misuses your credit card
details on the Net, you should inform the credit card issuer
immediately. The card issuer must make good your loss by
refunding the sum lost to your account. 

For more advice (and more up-to-date advice) on your UK home
shopping consumer rights go to the Citizen's Advice Bureaux site
at:

www.adviceguide.org.uk

There is also a UK DTI consumer rights guide on these issues at:

www.consumer.gov.uk

If a seller fails to resolve any complaint you may have, you can
contact your local Trading Standards via:

www.tradngstandards.gov.uk

or look them up in the phone book and ring them.

  When a courier delivers your goods, ensure that you check them
before signing for them. Otherwise, make a note at the side of
where you sign such as "Goods not examined" or ensure that the
delivery man does this for you.

3.4. Cookies and Spyware

Cookies can be either useful or wholly undesirable. No, they are
not free biscuits, they are small files.

3.4.1. What are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files which some Websites copy to your
hard disk whilst you are on their Web site. Some cookies are
desirable, such as those which record your account details when
you are on a site to save you from having to enter them each time
you log on or make a future purchase on that site, whilst others
are called third-party or tracker cookies and are more like
spyware programs and should be avoided if possible. The former
type of cookie can normally be accepted or rejected by you, but
you may find that the latter sometimes copy themselves to your
hard disk without your permission or even letting you know this
will occur. This latter kind of spyware cookie can then perform
a number of different undesirable tasks and relay information
back to the place where you inadvertently picked it up, such as
monitoring your Web surfing sessions, tracking the types of
purchases you make, etc. It is therefore a good idea to have a
cookie removing program or a fully-blown spyware remover on your
PC to get rid of the unwanted cookies (see section 6 for where
to get Ad-Aware from for this purpose).

3.4.2. Accepting or Rejecting Legitimate Cookies
and Controlling them via Internet Explorer

When you first go onto a shopping site you may be asked if you
want to receive a "cookie". If you are happy that this is a
quality site which you are likely to want to use in future, TAB
to the YES button and press ENTER to accept it. Otherwise, press
N for no. Some sites will not allow you to use them if you do not
accept a cookie, which should give you even more reason to doubt
the legitimacy of that site and avoid it in future, unless you
are absolutely sure that it is bona fide. AS already stated, a
ligitimate cookie is a file stored on your hard disk which holds
your personal details such as name, address, account number, etc,
so that if you revisit this site you will not have to provide
this information again. However, be aware that cookies can also
be used by online providers to track your Net surfing trends,
which may result in you receiving unsolicited e-mail or
snail-mail advertising. Some sites copy clandestine third-party
or tracker cookies to your hard disk without asking your
permission or telling you about this. 

To use Internet Explorer's in-built cookie control filter instead
of or as well as any of the later-mentioned spyware programs you
can:

1. Launch Internet Explorer 6.

2. Press ALT T (for Tools) and then O (for Internet Options).

3. CONTROL TAB to the "Privacy" sheet and then TAB to "Advanced"
and press SPACEBAR.

4. Press SPACEBAR to check on "Overwrite Automatic Cookie
Handling". Then:


A. TAB once to a list of three options for first-party cookie
handling. These are: accept, block and prompt. The first of these
lets all first-party cookies onto your hard disk (only allows
cookies directly from the current site and not any from third-
party sites you are not currently on), the second stops all
cookies and the third (recommended for proper control of cookies
without stopping them all) will ask you to say yes or no to
allowing a cookie from the current site. 

B. TAB once again to another list of the same three options but
this time for third-party cookies, i.e. cookies not directly from
the current site but permitted onto your hard disk from any other
site associated with this site--possibly market trends/goods
purchasing and advertising tracking cookies. ARROW to your
preference, e.g. to block all such usually unwanted cookies or
to again ensure that you are at least prompted and can choose yes
or no to each of these.

C. Then TAB once more to "Always Allow Session Cookies" and check
this on with the SPACEBAR if you are willing to allow cookies
onto your PC for the current session you are in on that Website
but which will then be removed after that session or leave it
unchecked if you still want to be prompted, for instance, before
these cookies are let onto your hard disk, depending on your
choices in the last two steps.

5. Then TAB to "OK" twice and press ENTER on each. 

Note: You may find that asking for a prompt before a cookie is
allowed on your hard disk causes you to have to choose yes or no
too often and is more trouble than it is worth. This can happen
very frequently on some Websites. You may, in this case, wish to
accept all cookies and run a cookie/spyware remover regularly to
get rid of the undesirable ones instead of asking for a prompt
(see Section 6 below). Additionally, some sites will not let you
proceed on them unless you firstly accept their cookies--make
your own decision on this based on your knowledge about the
site/company and its quality and bona fides.

3.4.3. Exporting and Importing Your Desirable Cookies for Use on
another Computer

With Internet Explorer, you can save and/or export both Internet
Favourites and cookies for use on another computer, on another
browser on your current computer or simply to have a back-up copy
of them if you wish. You can even copy them to a disk and take
them with you elsewhere. 

3.4.3.1. Saving/Exporting Cookies

For example, to export and save a copy of your list of cookies
contents into one single text file: 

1. Launch Internet Explorer from your Desktop and then press ALT
F (for File) and then I (for Import and Export), and then TAB to
and press ENTER on "Next".

2. You will now be in a list containing four choices, namely to
import or export favourites or to import and export cookies.
ARROW to "Export Cookies" and press ENTER.

3. You are likely to be on the "Export to a File" option and you
can TAB through several options and information fields, e.g. the
default place your cookies' details will normally save to will
be in your My Documents folder with the filename "cookies.txt",
but you can type another path and filename in here to save to if
you like. Then TAB to "Next" and press ENTER. Note that if you
have more than one Internet browser available on your computer,
you may also have a second exporting option available at this
stage, which will be to export to another application.

4. Lastly, TAB to and press ENTER on "finish" and then on "OK".

Note 1: At step 2 above, if you had of chosen "Export
Favourites", you would have been able to save copies of your
saved favourites folder Websites for reinstallation if you ever
lost them or for copying onto another PC elsewhere, such as your
laptop.

Note 2: for some strange reason, if you try to view the contents
of your "cookies.txt" file in such as Notepad, your screenreader
is unlikely to be able to "see" anything in it but the text
contained within each separate cookie will, nonetheless, be in
their. The text will typically be on single, double or triple
lines, each cookie's entry being separated from the others by a
blank line. If you are familiar with DOS, you will be able to
view this with the DOS type command. Otherwise, you should be
able to view it in a word-processor like MS Word but when you
close the word-processor down, do not resave the file, because
if you do this the formatting of the text file will change and
it will become useless as a back-up and restorable cookies file.

3.4.3.2. Importing or Restoring Cookies to a Browser

You can now import (restore) the above cookies file to your
Internet Explorer cookies folder list or to another browser on
another computer by: 

1. On your current or another computer, go through the same
procedure as outlined in the last sub-section but at step 3
select "Import Cookies" to overwrite the cookies list on that
other machine with your saved cookies list. 

2. If you have saved your cookies other than in the default My
documents folder, use the "Browse" button to go to where it is.
If you are importing the cookies into Internet Explorer on a
different computer, you should have copied the cookies.txt file
to a floppy disk or CD first and then browse to the file on that
disk.

3. Lastly, TAB to and press ENTER on "Finish".

3.5. Description of Typical Online Shopping Store Purchase Forms

Shopping sites can vary greatly but when you first transact
business with an online shop you are likely to be asked for your
name and to provide a password of your own creation. When doing
this, if you do not remember passwords very well, use lower case
letters so that you do not forget which
letters you capitalised and which you left small. However, if you
can remember these facts, it is certainly more secure to make
some letters small and others capitalised in a password. You will
probably have to enter this password twice before it is accepted.
You will then have other form-type details to provide such as
your postal address, e-mail address, telephone number, etc. These
forms may have combinations of editfields, pick lists, check
boxes (use the SPACEBAR to check a box on or off), etc. You use
the standard keystrokes of TAB key to move forward through form
elements and SHIFT TAB to go back. When the
form is complete, TAB to the "Submit" or "Go" button and either
press SPACEBAR or ENTER. If you are presented with another
dialogue box to do with security matters, accept this by pressing
ENTER on "OK", or you may have had to do this before reaching the
form completion stage. 

If, on a form,  you encounter a list of choices or a combobox
which combines an editfield and a list of choices, it is usually
good practice to press ALT down ARROW before you start to down
ARROW through the list to ensure that the list opens up for you
first and you do not mistakenly select the wrong option. Any
personal details editfields which you may be presented with may
simply require you to type such as your date of birth in as
"12/08/1966 or they may expect you to type your day of birth in
the first field, automatically move you to the second field for
your month of birth and then move you to the year of your birth
field for you to type this in as 1966. Alternatively, you may
have to TAB from one date of birth field to another manually. Yet
another frequent possibility is that your date of birth (or
similar information requirements fields) may supply a list of the
days of the week, months of the year, etc, for you to ARROW down
and leave focus on before TABBING on to the next field.

At this juncture, (after registering with the site) you should
be able to browse around the online store but be aware that the
layout and format of stores can vary greatly. You can choose
items you wish to buy, which will mean that they will be added
to your "Shopping Basket" or "Shopping Cart", following which you
should TAB to the "Check Out". At this stage you will be asked
for your credit card details and you can provide these each time
you make a purchase or you may be able to check a box for the
site to permanently record these in a cookie. You will
more than likely then encounter a credit card list to ARROW up
and down to put focus on your own type of card,such as VISA, then
TAB on to a credit card number editfield to type in your card
number. Next will come listboxes asking you for the expiry date
of your card, from which you can pick the month and year of
expiry. You may then be asked for your credit card issue number.
You then TAB on to the "Submit" button and press ENTER. The site
is likely to be able to record the above details in a cookie it
puts on your hard disk so that you will not have to enter most
of these next time you make a purchase. 
  
Note: With most screenreaders, when you encounter one of the
above form completion editfields, you may have to press ENTER to
go into forms mode before you can successfully type details in.
HAL 6.03 and later requires you to press CAPSLOCK ENTER and
should thereafter change from MSAA mode to forms mode
automatically and back again as required.

3.6. Shopping Online--Three Step by Step Practical Examples of
Making a Purchase with General Screenreaders to Work Through

Provided that you have a reasonably up-to-date and good quality
screenreader such as JAWS, HAL or Window-Eyes, you should be able
to use it to achieve the two below example Website online
purchase routines.

3.6.1. The UK Cobolt Systems Products for the Blind Site

The Cobolt Systems site is designed to be accessible to
screenreader users and so is a relatively straightforward
shopping site to use and is not too large for shopping site
beginners to tackle. To make a purchase online you would:

1. Launch your Web browser, e.g. Internet Explorer.

2. Press CONTROL O to bring up the Open dialogue and then type
the Cobolt site address in of:

www.cobolt.co.uk

and press ENTER.

3. After a short wait the Cobolt Welcome home page will load in
and you can then either ARROW or TAB down to view the links and
general text on it. Have a look at some of the associated pages,
such as "About Us", "News Page" and "Terms and Conditions", etc,
by pressing ENTER or SPACEBAR on the links to them. Keep
returning to the home page by pressing ALT left ARROW when you
have finished viewing these sub-pages or press ENTER on the
"Return to Cobolt Systems Home Page" link. Note that you have to
have cookies switched on to use this site and you can select to
have the site displayed with white text on a black background or
vice versa. Remember, your screenreader will feature special hot
keys to permit you to move quickly from one kind of element on
a Web page to another, such as between links, editfields, lists,
etc (see the appropriate sub-section above under the main heading
of "JAWS, HAL, Supernova and Window-Eyes Special Web Page
Navigation Hot Keys" to learn these hot keys for your own
screenreader and for the general Windows shortcuts). 

4. To make a purchase, for example, of their talking colour
detector, ARROW or TAB to "Online Shop" and press ENTER or
SPACEBAR. 

5. On the Online Shop page, which now opens up, you can ARROW or
TAB down links which will take you to further pages with
information about given categories of products, such as
"Batteries/Accessories", "Clocks and Watches", etc. When the
"Personal Items" link has focus, press ENTER. You may be able to
get here more quickly by using your screenreader's find hot key,
e.g. CONTROL SHIFT F with Window-Eyes, CONTROL INSERT F with JAWS
and F3 with HAL, and typing in "personal".

6. Now, on the new page which loads in, ARROW down the textual
information on that page. You should then note that each
individual item for purchase is listed in columnar form with
three columns as follows: a link with the name of the product
associated with it, followed by another link to see a picture of
the product and lastly the price of purchasing one item is given.
On the next line you will find a brief description of the product
and what it is designed to do. Either press your TAB key several
times until you reach "Talking Colour Detector" or use your
screenreader's or browser's find feature to jump straight to the
word "colour". Press ENTER or SPACEBAR on the "Talking Colour
Detector" link. 

7. The next page will come up and you should ARROW down the more
detailed description of the colour detector and how it works.
Note that there are links to click or press ENTER on to hear (in
several languages) the type of speech you will get when using the
detector. As you move down the talking colour detector page you
will eventually come upon the price it will cost and below this
a "Quantity" heading with, just below it, an editfield displaying
the quantity of items you want to purchase. It will already have
the quantity of 1 inserted, as this is the number most people
want to buy, but you can press ENTER on this editfield and then
press the DELETE key to remove this figure and then type in
however many of them you would like if you want more than one.
Now TAB to "Add to Basket" and press ENTER to add the item or
items to your shopping basket.  
      
9. Another page will now load in showing how many items are
currently in your shopping basket in columns. The number of items
will be shown and how much they will cost. If you decide you wish
to change the number of items you want to buy, you can go to the
number of items field, press ENTER or SPACEBAR to open it up (or
whatever method your particular screenreader uses) and then
delete the current figure and replace it with the new quantity.
You then TAB to the "Update Basket" link and press ENTER or 
SPACEBAR. There are also buttons in here to remove particular
items and to completely empty the shopping basket if you decide
you no longer want any of your original choices. After making
your item and quantity selections, you TAB to the "Purchase"
button and press ENTER, SPACEBAR or left click on it.   

10. A secure connection page will now load in to keep your
personal details and credit card information hidden from the view
of others and you have to press ENTER on an "OK" button. On this
new page you have to make one of a number of personal
circumstances declarations, e.g. whether you are a UK registered
disabled person, a UK organisation working with disabled people,
a person from abroad, etc. The default selection is number 1,
i.e. that you are a UK-based person who is registered disabled
and therefore exempt from payment of VAT. You can ARROW down the
other choices and select one of these if option 1 is not
appropriate to you. TABBING on from here permits you to provide
your personal details in separate editfields, e.g your name,
company, address, etc. You may have to press ENTER on the first
of these editfields before you can start to type text into any
of them to get into the correct mode with your screenreader. The
country details you give is part of a listbox which you can ARROW
up and down in until you get to your own country or press the
first letter of its name to jump to it. There is also a "Special"
or "Special Delivery Instructions" editfield if you want to ask
Cobolt to take non-standard action for you, e.g. "Do not despatch
the item before 31/3/05 as I will be on holiday up to that date".
Now TAB to the "Continue" button and press ENTER.

11. The "Final Purchase Approval" page now loads in and confirms
what you have ordered, how many of each item and the total amount
which will be deducted from your credit card. There is an
"Existing Account Holders" editfield for you to enter your name
in if you already have an account with Cobolt, so that all your
personal and credit card details are remembered and you do not
have to provide these when you use the site in future. This will
save much time with subsequent purchases. Under this you will TAB
to a list of the five types of credit cards which Cobolt are able
to accept, which are Master Card, Visa cards, Switch, etc. You
will have to open this list to be able to ARROW up and down it
and leave focus on the type of card you use, which can normally
be done by simply pressing ENTER or SPACEBAR on it. As you ARROW
or TAB down the various editfields you will note that your
details are automatically entered for you from information you
have already given. The next press of TAB should take you to one
of four small editfields where you start to type in your 16 digit
credit card number, so type the first four numbers in the first
field, press TAB, type the next four digits in the second field,
press TAB to the next field and continue until the last field is
completed. TABBING again once or twice takes you to two date
listboxes for your card issued date details but you need only
complete these if you are using a Switch card. TAB again to the
"Expire" listbox and then ARROW down to the month your card is
set to expire on, e.g. 04 for April, then TAB again and in the
next list ARROW down to the year of expiry, e.g. 2008. Keep on
TABBING through the completed details editfields until you reach
"Purchase Order" and then press ENTER or SPACEBAR.

12. The last page which now loads in is the "Purchase
Confirmation" page. This will provide an order reference number
which you should note and write down somewhere. It will be
something like: GEB-5A-XKV". You have now completed your purchase
and should receive your goods in a few days. This page also has
a "Continue Shopping" link on it in case you now decide you want
to go back and do some more shopping if you forgot something. You
do not receive an e-mail confirmation from this company.     

13. If you fail to complete any relevant information whilst
making your order, you will be presented with another page
advising you of this and inviting you to return to an earlier
page to complete the fields you missed out or the selections you
failed to make. You TAB to the "Go Back" button to do this.

3.6.2. The Special Tesco Access Grocery Shopping Site

The UK Tesco supermarket online shopping site provides a text
only series of pages which are easier to use for screenreader
users.

However, as of the beginning of April 2005, I have heard that the
accessible Tesco site may soon be discontinued, as they are
making their main Tesco shopping site more accessible. Currently
the two sites do not work exactly the same. Another issue to note
at this point in time (which, presumably, will not persist for
long) is that if you place items in your shopping basket on the
access site but do not purchase them immediately and then return
to it later, your selected goods will no longer be in your
basket. Strangely, they will have been moved to and saved in your
main Tesco access shopping basket instead, from where you can
still effect your purchase if you like. Conversely, if you place
items in your main Tesco site basket and do not purchase them
immediately and then return their, these goods will have
disappeared and have been saved in the access site shopping
basket! This may all mean, therefore, that before long most of
the below special Tesco access shopping site information will
become obsolete. One way you may find that you can fix this
missing items in basket conundrum is to ensure, when you go onto
the Tesco site, that you switch pictures on, as it seems to be
this which can cause problems if turned off. You turn the
downloading of pictures on in Internet Explorer in Tools,
Internet Options, Advanced property sheet and in the list in here
ARROW down to "Show Pictures" and press SPACEBAR to turn it on.
You may wish to leave things this way if you are on broadband or
turn pictures off again after using the Tesco site if you have
a dial-up connection. 

3.6.2.1. Introduction and General Information

In mid-summer 2001 Tesco provided a special series of Web pages
as part of their Website to enable people with special needs or
slower connections, e.g. visually impaired people, people using
mobile phone connections, etc, to be able to more easily use
their online grocery shopping and home delivery service. As yet,
you can only shop for groceries and not some goods, such as wine
and the full range of electrical equipment. However, this may
change over time. You cannot pay for these groceries in any other
way than by credit card online. You have to live in an area close
enough to be covered by a Tesco branch to make delivery feasible
and there is a fixed charge for delivery of œ5.
Whilst Tesco Access makes shopping quicker and easier for
visually impaired people, you do sometimes miss out on several
facts and opportunities which are available on the main Tesco
site, e.g. no information about product ingredients, no access
to the main electrical or wine departments, etc.

Your shopping can be delivered the next or any subsequent day
between the hours of 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. from Monday to Saturday
and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. You can specify a delivery
time within any two hour slot, e.g. 5 August from 1200 to 1400
hours. 

3.6.2.2. Registering Yourself for Tesco Online Shopping

You would provide your details for Tesco registration as follows:

1. With your Internet browser, Go to the Tesco text only shopping
home page of:

www.tesco.co.uk/access

2. This page has only a few links. It is the Tesco Superstore
Login Page and you can TAB to "If you are a new Customer Click
Here to Register link". However, before doing this, have a look
at some of the other links, such as observing that you also use
this page to log on (provide your user password and registration
number) if you are already registered with Tesco prior to
starting to shop. Press ENTER or SPACEBAR on such information
links as "Click here to Find out More About this Service" and
"Click Here for Help on the Site", etc. After viewing the details
on these pages, go back to the Login page as normal by pressing
ALT left ARROW or ALT HOME.

3. Press ENTER on "If you are a New Customer Click Here to
Register" and complete your registration details, after pressing
ENTER on the "OK" button which the security screen provides. TAB
to "Terms and Conditions" and press ENTER on it to be sure that
you understand and accept these. After going through these, move
back to the registration page with ALT left ARROW and TAB down
the page and complete your details, remembering that you may have
to press ENTER on the first editfield with JAWS and Window-Eyes
to enter forms mode before you can type your details in. HAL
6.03s new forms mode is invoked by pressing CAPSLOCK ENTER. The
"Title" field is a listbox, so you just ARROW up or down this
until you have focus on your title, e.g. Mrs, Miss, etc, then TAB
on to complete the rest of your personal details, such as name
and post code. If you have no Club Card number, TAB to a Checkbox
under where it would be entered and press ENTER to check this on
and create a virtual/temporary number. Then TAB to "Send Details"
and press ENTER to complete the first page of your registration
information. You will be asked if you want the site to
automatically complete your personal details when you go online
in future to save you from having to do this and be on the "Yes"
option, so just press ENTER to accept this and save yourself time
in future.

4. A second personal details page now loads in where you will be
told where your nearest Tesco branch is. TAB from the top of the
page to an address field which might already have your address
in it. If it does not, type your house number and street name in
here, Then TAB to "Day Time Phone Number" and complete this plus
all of the other editfields. After the e-mail field you will have
to make up a password that you wish to use when login on in
future of between six and 12 digits, so type this in and then TAB
to the next editfield and retype the same password in here to
confirm. When typing this password in, you will only hear *stars
being spoken, so that no one else can see what you are choosing
for your password. After completing all fields, TAB to "Submit"
and press ENTER. 

5. You will receive a welcome page congratulating you on your
successful registration. You will also receive an e-mail
confirmation of your registration within a few hours showing your
ID number and password but these two registration and login
numbers will also be on the screen for you to make a note of at
this stage if you wish. Underneath this there is a link to press
ENTER on to start shopping immediately but I would suggest that
you first go to the "Help" link and activate this for more
information on how to use the site first. It may take you 30 to
40 minutes to register, complete all details and observe most of
the conditions and usage information.

Note: If you have problems registering online in the above way--
but I know that you will not do this because it will nullify the
object of this exercise!--you can register by phone by ringing
Tesco Customer Services on 0845 7225533. This is not specifically
set up to register people by phone but if you explain that you
are visually impaired and having difficulty registering online,
they can do this for you. They are open 9 a.m to 8 p.m. Monday
to Saturday.

3.6.2.3. Shopping on the Tesco Site and Paying for Your Goods

Basically, you use the Tesco site by login on with your browser,
Searching for what you want, specifying what and how many of each
item you want, placing the items in the "Basket" and then going
to the "Checkout" to purchase them and give your credit card
details. So, for example, you would do this by:

1. With your Web browser go to:

www.tesco.co.uk/access

2. On this login page you will have to go into your
screenreader's edit or forms mode by TABBING to and pressing
ENTER on the first of the provided editfields and complete the
fields with your ID number or e-mail address and your password.
Some of these fields may already be completed if you asked the
site to save this information for you, so you may only have to
enter your password. Then TAB to "Click Here to Login" and press
ENTER. You may get a "Yes" or "OK" button to press ENTER on to
accept the login safety terms.

3. You will soon TAB to the "Search for Products" link and press
ENTER but first TAB to and have a look at some of the links you
can press ENTER on to view your past order history (previous
purchases), a link to view your favourite items, plus a "View
Your Shopping Basket and Proceed to Checkout" link. There is
usually a help link at the top of each page and it is a good idea
to activate this the first time you use the site for more
detailed guidance. 

4. After pressing ENTER on the "Search for Products" link above,
you get a welcome page with links to such as "Department" and
"Search for a Product". If you press ENTER on the "Department"
option, you will enter a page which you can TAB or ARROW through
links to given departmental areas of goods, such as bread, beer,
baby items, etc. 

5. On the "Department" page you are able to go directly to a
particular department, followed by a particular aisle, a
particular shelf of goods and, eventually, to the precise product
you want.  Alternatively, you can activate a "Search" editfield
by pressing ENTER on it to have a given item found immediately
for you which you then have to add to your basket of goods to
eventually take to the checkout and pay for by credit card. Using
the department/aisle/shelf way of finding things can be slow but
will let you know the full range of goods available. The search
method is preferable for quick shopping when you know exactly
what you want. Remember, if you have pressed ENTER on any given
link to view what is on the next page, you can always press ALT
left ARROW to take you back to the previous page.

6. If you ARROW to the "Search for a Product" heading and go to
the editfield just below this and press ENTER to open it up, you
can then type such as "apples", "sausages", etc, to have the full
range of one of those items displayed below on a results page.
Do not use words like "the" or "and" in the search string, e.g.
do not search for such as "apples and sausages". Then TAB to and
press ENTER on the "search" button after typing your search
item's name in the editfield above this.

7. When you are at the level where the individual goods, such as
different types of loaves of bread or apples, are listed, you
will be given information on each good as follows: Description,
price and quantity. In the "Quantity" editfield you type in the
number of individual items or packets/boxes of that item you
want. Each time you type the amount of an item you want in this
editfield you should press ENTER, when it will be automatically
added to your shopping basket and this will be confirmed. You can
now TAB to and press ENTER on "Go Back to Previous List" and add
more items in the same way if you like.

8. If you want to be sure that you have got everything you want,
the correct amount and nothing you did not want, TAB to "View
Your Shopping Basket and Proceed to Checkout" and press ENTER.
Here the quantity, product, price and total of what you have put
into your basket for purchase are listed. Each individual item
price is shown and the full total which will later have the œ5
delivery (or whatever they may change this to) charge added. 

9. If you decide that you want to change the number of items of
a particular product you want or get rid of a product altogether,
you can just press ENTER on the "Quantity" field to go into forms
mode and then delete the number currently shown and type the new
amount in followed by TABBING to "Update Basket" and pressing
ENTER. To remove an item from the basket, just delete the figure
and type in a 0. Then press ENTER to have the basket updated. 

10. Near the bottom of the page, you can TAB to "Checkout Your
Order" and press ENTER or SPACEBAR on this to finish your
purchase by providing your credit card details for payment. You
are told that the cash transaction is done in a secure
environment and have to press ENTER on OK. The cost will again
be shown and you now provide the following details:

A. TAB to "Please Select a Delivery Slot" and ARROW down through
the choices. They have a day and two hour delivery time slot. Go
into forms mode by pressing ENTER and put the focus on the
day/time you want and then TAB to the next field.

B. In the next field you type in the persons full name who owns
the credit card. Then TAB to and complete the other fields one
by one. Note that the "Expiry Date" field is a dropdown list
which you ARROW up and down in until your credit card month of
expiry is revealed, e.g. 04 for April; then TAB once to do the
same for the year expiry date, e.g. 05 for 2005.  

C. Lastly, TAB to "Send Your Order" and press ENTER or SPACEBAR
to finalise the purchase.

11. Notice, at the end of many pages, there is a "Logout" link
which you should press ENTER on before leaving the site.

12. Now,if you have finished surfing, exit your browser as normal
and close it down, e.g. with ALT F4 or ALT F and then C. All you
need now do is prey that the Tesco delivery man does not turn up
the following day with 480 tins of baked beans!

Note 1: The Tesco site has many more features not covered here,
so experiment by activating the links. The above should, however,
provide enough to get you going and stop you from starving!

Note 2: If you regularly buy certain commodities on the Tesco
site, you can build up "Favourites" and speed up shopping by
block selecting these followed by any extra purchases you need. 

Note 3: The standard Tesco home page for general public use is
at: 

www.tesco.co.uk

and if you want to see what is on the Tesco page which offers
goods other than groceries, e.g. wine, books, DVDs, Cds,
electrical items, etc, go to:

www.tesco.co.uk/extra

but be aware that these are not text only access pages and will
be full of graphical pictures for people to look at.

3.6.3. The Amazon Website

The following walks you through the standard famous Amazon
online-only Internet store to buy a print book:

NB: The Amazon site is a massive and therefore difficult site to
navigate and make sense of with a screenreader. It has hundreds
of links on its home page and features both new and second-hand
goods, including books, music Cds, garden equipment, mobile
phones, and the like. To have any chance on this site you need
a good dedicated Web browser like PWWebspeak, Webbie or Home Page
Reader or an up-to-date general screenreader because your
whereabouts can be much clearer and the search forms, editfields
and "Submit" buttons are found much easier than with older
screenreaders.  You will need such as JAWS 4X, Window-Eyes 4.2
or HAL 6 or later. Additionally, depending on which screenreader
you possess and which version of it, after pressing ENTER on a
given link or button, you may find yourself partway down the next
page on the next link or editfield you require or you may find
yourself back at the top of the next page and have to ARROW or
TAB down the header links to where you next want to be. 

To make a purchase on the Amazon site:

1. Run Internet Explorer and press CONTROL O, then type in:

www.amazon.co.uk
(for the UK)

or

www.amazon.com
(for the US)

and press enter. 

2. The page will open and you can press CONTROL END to the bottom
of the home page and then press SHIFT TAB about 15 times until
you reach a "Text Only" link and press ENTER to go straight to
the text only page to avoid graphics. Alternatively, on this
large page you will find it worthwhile employing your
screenreader's list links feature to jump quickly to the above-
mentioned "Text Only" link, for example, with JAWS press INSERT
F7 and in the list of links you are now in simply start typing
the word "text" and you will be taken straight to the link in
question to press ENTER on it and load the text only page. The
Window-Eyes links list is opened with INSERT TAB. The HAL links
list for HAL before version 5.02 is open with ALT T and press
ENTER on "Dolphin Links Navigator" and for later versions of HAL
you are provided with the Dolphin Links Utility to list links on
a Web page by pressing CAPSLOCK 1 but you will then have to
repeatedly press the T key until you get to the "Text Only" link
as typing "text" in will not jump you straight there.

There are many header links on most pages on this site before you
get down to the new information which opens up when you get to
a new page, so use your PAGE down key once or twice to skip past
much of this repeated information. If you like, to get an idea
of the size of this home page and where things are, ARROW down
from the top of the text only home page and listen to its
contents and vast size until you reach the bottom. 

Note: with some screenreaders you may have to go into
navigation/mouse mode to be able to ARROW down a page and may
have to press PAGE down to obtain the next screenful of
information. 

3. Now go to the top of the home page with CONTROL HOME and ARROW
down several times to the category of item you want to buy, e.g.
the "books" link, and press ENTER. 

4. After the next page loads in, you should already be on a
search link called "Book Search"  to press ENTRE on. If not, it
comes about 16 TAB presses down from the top of the page. You
will now be in the next page and on an "author" editfield and you
should press ENTER to go into forms and editing mode. If you are
not automatically on this editfield, TAB down to it or use your
screenreader's jump to first editfield hot key, e.g. CONTROL
INSERT HOME in JAWS and ALT Control down ARROW or just the X key
in Window-Eyes from the top of the page. you now type in to this
field the details of what you wish to have searched for, e.g. an
author's name, such as Charles Dickens. Now immediately press
ENTER or press the TAB key again until you reach the "Search Now"
button and press ENTER or SPACEBAR to find these books, both
should do the job. 

5. You will be at the top of the page with all of the annoying
header links below again, so you should skip past these again by
pressing PAGE down once or twice and by ARROWING down a few
times, when you will then find All Dickens' books supplied by
Amazon will be displayed in all formats and you can ARROW down
them and press ENTER on any book title link to bring up a details
page called "At a Glance".  

6. The At a Glance page will allow you to view such as editors'
reviews on the book you chose, customers' comments about it, what
Amazon's price for it is, and so forth. You can even give a book
on their site a rating from one to five yourself if you have read
it and want to do this. 

7. Now press ALT left ARROW to return to the last page you were
on and then ARROW down a few times to a "Add to Basket" link if
you want to buy this book and add it to your shopping basket to
be paid for shortly. Do this with each book you want to buy. Then
ARROW down a lot more to the "Proceed to check Out" button and
press ENTER or jump to it with your screenreader's find feature,
e.g. CONTROL INSERT F with JAWS, CONTROL SHIFT F with Window-Eyes
and F3 with HAL . Note that the Amazon site and checkout button
changed in the last quarter of 2004 and with some screenreaders
you may not be able to activate the Checkout button without first
going to it and then going into Jaws or navigation mode and
routing your cursers together before pressing your screenreader's
simulate left mouse click button. 

8. If you already have an account set up with Amazon, you will
be thanked for your order and your name and the fact that the
book will be sent to you will be confirmed. 

9. If this is your first Amazon purchase, you will have a form
to complete with your personal details , so TAB to the first
editfield, which is the e-mail address field, and press ENTER to
go into forms mode before typing it in. Then TAB to and complete
the other fields in this way with the requested personal details
and ARROW to the "I am a New Customer" option if you are not
already on it. Then TAB to the "Sign In"  button and press ENTER
and also press ENTER on the security "OK" button when this comes
up. After the above stage, you have to provide such as credit
card details and you can create a password for future use here. 

10. After completing the above form, you should then TAB to the
"Submit" button and press ENTER to confirm. If you find this
providing of personal details stage in these forms to be
difficult, you might like to get sighted help at this stage.
Thereafter, as someone who is signed on with all pertinent
details recorded with Amazon and a password, it will be much
easier to pay for your goods in future. 

11. You will be advised that your order has been accepted and
that you need do no more. The process is now at an end and you
should receive your book in a few days.

Note 1: If you want, in future, to skip the Amazon graphics home
page and go directly to the text only home page, at step 1 above,
you can simply type the below into the Internet Explorer Address
Bar: 

www.amazon.co.uk/text

or

www.amazon.com/text

Note 2: Because the Amazon Web site is so large, you would be
advised to use your screenreader's place marker feature, if it
has one, to mark where certain links, editfields and buttons are
to be able to get to them quickly in future, e.g. CONTROL SHIFT
K with JAWS.

Note 3: Do not forget that if you get stuck or a little
frustrated with this or any other Web site and if you do not have
a broadband Internet connection and want to be able to take more
time over finding your way around it without being online running
up a phoned bill, you can always open as many pages on a site as
interest you and then come offline. You can then re-launch
Internet Explorer and type www.amazon.co.uk/text into the Address
Bar and then press left ALT key and O when your Dial-Up
Networking dialogue comes up to abort going onto the Net and
instead load in the pages you have already displayed on the site
and run them and move between them. They are all held on your
hard disk in your Internet Explorer history folder, although any
HTTPS:// pages will not be their if you turned off the saving of
these types of pages for security reasons.

3.7. Step by Step PWWebspeak Dedicated Web Browser Example of
Making a Purchase on the Amazon Site

PWWebspeak is a dedicated and independent Web browser for
visually impaired users. It comes complete with its own speech
capability, so you do not require any other screenreader working
along with it. It used to be a purchasable program but is now
given away freely, although it is not kept updated by its makers.
It works well on basic Websites.

To download a free copy of PWWebspeak, go to:

www.soundlinks.com/pwgen.htm 

You should then install PWWebspeak as normal, read its Readme.txt
files and provided manual, etc, and when familiar with the basics
of how it works, use it as follows.

1. Start up PWWebspeak and press F2 to open up the address
editfield. Type in:

www.amazon.co.uk

or

www.amazon.co.uk/text

and press ENTER.

2. The Amazon home page will load in and you can either TAB
forward or ARROW down the information and links until PWWebspeak
speaks a "Books" link. Press ENTER on this and the books page
will load in. 

3. Now TAB to a "Book Search" link and press SPACEBAR.

4. TAB until PWWebspeak says "Start of a Data Entry Form and "TAB
again until "A Single Line Text Entry Field" is spoken and press
ENTER. Then enter the key words for the search, such as the
author's name, book title, etc, e.g. Charles Dickens, then TAB
to the "Go" button and press the SPACEBAR to submit the search
string.

5. The full list of Dickens' books will be displayed and you can
ARROW down through these and also see what formats they are
in, such as paperback. If you press ENTER on the title David
Copperfield, the "At a Glance" page will open where you can view
reviews, customer comments, etc, about this book. 

6. You will have to ARROW OR TAB down to get to the
"Add to Shopping Basket" link and press SPACEBAR to add this book
for purchase.

7. You should now ARROW down to the "Proceed to Check Out" button
and press the SPACEBAR. 

8. The check out page will load with guarantees and instructional
information on it. You should ARROW down to a form where you will
have to enter your personal details, select the "New Customer"
button by ARROWING to it and press ENTER on the "Sign In" button
to create a password, etc. You will then have your credit card
details,
card expiry date, etc, to provide, before submitting this
information with the submit button. 

9. You will be advised that your order has been accepted and
that you need do no more. The process is now at an end and you
should receive your book in a few days.

3.8. E-Wallets

Internet forms can be difficult and time-consuming to complete,
so some online stores permit you to set up an account with your
personal details to speed up online shopping for frequent
shoppers (as indicated in the above paragraphs in respect of
cookies and online forms). However, a more
convenient and flexible alternative to this is to use an "e-
wallet", where all of your personal details are stored on your
PC for transfer to a vendor's server quickly and easily. For
example, Microsoft's offering in this field is called "Wallet"
and is built into Internet Explorer 4 and above, but for it to
work a vendor must agreed to participate in the scheme. Thus, e-
wallets are not globally accepted by online shops and so have
limited use, and may not be available in your version of Internet
Explorer. I only mention them here for informational purposes.

3.9. UK and US Shopping Price Comparison Sites

A UK-based prices comparison site for shopping is:

www.Shopsmart.com

This site ensures that you find the best price for an item by
automatically comparing prices it has on books, music, DVDs,
computer software, food and drink, etc, across various Websites.
It then lists the prices it finds for you, so that you can get
the best deal available. Shopsmart also has links to over 2,000
secure UK online shops for you to jump to.

Other UK comparison Websites of interest on an energy saving
theme are:

www.energywatch.org.uk

www.ukpower.co.uk

Some equivalent US prices Comparison sites can be found at:

www.pricewatch.com

www.computershopper.com

www.shopping.com

www.lowermybills.com

and Yahoo has a prices comparison search feature on its e-
commerce page found at: 

www.yahoo.com

3.10. Some good Places to Find Online Shops

Try surfing to and browsing through some of the below offerings.

3.10.1. The Amazon Shop

www.amazon.co.uk
(In the UK)

or 

www.amazon.com
(in the US)

This has a vast choice of print books, music Cds and other goods 
and quick delivery. When on this site you can search for a book
by its title, author, publisher or date, or peruse through the
various categories of books. Sometimes only best-sellers are
listed but other titles can also be purchased. You can complete
the transaction and obtain delivery with a single click after
registering, providing your home address and credit card number.
If you change your mind, you can cancel the order online within
90 minutes. You can also store titles in your "shopping basket"
for up to 90 days before finally deciding if you want them. Each
book has a short write-up and there may be e-mail or Amazon
editors reviews and customers comments. The site's search
facility finds and mixes together audio books, hard backs and
paper backs. Books can be gift- wrapped. Purchase of single items
is likely to work out dearer than standard retail shopping but
buying several books at once may work out cheaper. You can also
purchase other items such as Cds and hear music online. Delivery
is likely to be within two or three days and your order
confirmation should be e-mail to you within ten to twenty hours. 

Early in 2004 Amazon created an ability on their site for people
to view the whole content of a book before purchase. 

To be taken step by step through the Amazon site to purchase an
item with both general screenreaders and the PWWebspeak dedicated
Internet browser, see the examples earlier in this section.

3.10.2. The Cdnow Shop

www.cdnow.com

This US-based online shop sells CDs, DVDs and
videos. You can sample selected tracks using
streaming audio and download MP3s. The Web page has a list of
options on the left and on the right special offers and many
links. Cds cost about 30 per cent less than UK prices but may
take up to five weeks to be delivered to the UK. 

3.10.3. The Emusic Shop

www.emusic.com

This is a site where you can hear and buy music online.

3.10.4. The Expedia Shop

www.Expedia.co.uk

This UK Microsoft site permits you to book a flight, holiday,
rent a car and obtain travel related information. You can use the
flight wizard to search for available seats on given flights. You
can compare available flight prices for a particular journey. The
Places Section is an information magazine. The Resources Section
provides information on insurance and health requirements. You
can reserve a flight until midnight the following day. After
placing an order you should receive an e-mail confirmation in ten
to twenty hours and the tickets should arrive within a few days. 

3.10.5. The Train Enquiry Shop

www.thetrainline.com

You can check UK train times, reserve seats, buy tickets and
obtain rail-related information from this site.

3.10.6. The Index and Argos Shops

www.indexshop.com

and

www.argos.co.uk

These are the sites of the Argos and Index retailers which are
found throughout the UK and also have many high street outlets
supplying a full range of household, clothing and other goods.

3.10.7. The Cdwow Shop

www.cdwow.co.uk

Provides a UK site to purchase cheap music CDs, videos and DVDs 
without incurring a delivery charge. 

                           ********

                          >SECTION 4

                        ONLINE AUCTIONS

Another aspect of online shopping--but with a different and more
participative feel about them--are the online auction sites. You
can get genuine bargains at some of these but others do no more
than sell high street suppliers' goods at a reserve price equal
to the shop price and if you bid more you end up paying more than
the shop prices. If you bid for an item and win it, you have
entered into a legally binding contract as normal. Some such
auctions are as follows but first make yourself aware of some of
the basic Website auction terminology.

4.1. Auction terminology

Bid: When you offer an amount of money for an item, you are said
to have made a "bid" for it.

Hammer Fall: When the exact time for the auction to end on a
given lot is reached the sale of that item is complete and the
highest bidder wins the item (provided that any reserve price has
been reached) and the "hammer" is said to fall at that time in
favour of the highest bidder.

Maximum Autobid: This is whereby you tell the auction site the
maximum amount you are prepared to go up to for an item and when
your last bid is beaten the system will automatically bid up for
you by just enough to secure the item, until your maximum bid is
reached, when it will then duck out for you.

Lot: A lot is the name given to an item being bid for.

Reserve: Some items in an auction have no reserve price and so
can sell at the highest bid irrespective of how low that might
be. However, some items will have a "reserve" put on them so that
they will not sell if the highest bid is below that reserve.

Win: If you make the highest bid for an item in an auction and
it becomes your property, you are said to "win" that item.

4.2. Different Types of Online Auctions

There are a large number of online auction sites these days and
you can buy anything in the world from many of them. Have a
general browse around some of the below examples.

4.2.1. The QXL Auction Site

www.qxl.com

QXL is a UK site where you can bid for anything from antiques and
holidays to computer equipment. This is not really a bona fide
auction, as they sell many things direct from new suppliers, so
be sure you are getting good value before bidding over a certain
price. You will have to register and give your credit card
details to take part in substantial auction bidding but you can
bid for second-hand goods without submitting your credit card
details first.

QXL auctions normally go on for a period of five to seven days
but if you want something you should pay particular attention to
the bids in the last hour or two of bidding. You can also use the
maximum auto-bid facility, whereby you enter the maximum amount
you are prepared to go up to and when your last bid is beaten
the system will automatically bid up for you by just enough to
secure the item, until your maximum bid is reached, when it will
then duck out for you. If you need more information about a lot
before deciding whether or not to bid, such as a better
description, warranty details, etc, e-mail the company for this
first. 

If you win a lot in the auction, you will receive an e-mail
confirmation of your bid price and the cost of post and packaging
on top. Your credit card will be debited automatically
straightaway. The good should arrive in a few days by carrier.
If the goods are not in good order when delivered, you should
contact the company within 24 hours to complain. ask for a
replacement and if none is available insist on a cash refund
rather than accepting a credit note. If you have to ask for your
money back, be sure to include any cost of posting the goods back
to the company as well. If you have problems with auction
companies, you have the same recourse to Trading Standards as
usual, e.g. if the goods do not match the auction description.

Most auction sites work very similarly to QXL, although many deal
almost exclusively in second-hand goods and so these will be
proper auctions where you can obtain many bargains--but also many
bad deals, so be careful.

Some other auction sites you may wish to look at are detailed
below.

4.2.2. The Morgan Auction Site

www.morgan-auctions.co.uk

This is where new end-of-the-line and second-hand PCs and
computer accessories and goods like mobile phones and dictaphones
are sold off. Morgan do not have reserve prices, so you can get
genuine bargains here. Morgan have a few high street shops where
you can pick up your goods from or take them back to if they are
faulty. Morgan give their own warranties on goods they sell. I
walk you through using this auction site in an example at the end
of this section.

4.2.3. The Free Serve Auction Site

www.freeserveauctions.co.uk

Here is Freeserve's auction site, with a wide range of goods such
as new and second-hand computer hardware, holidays, etc, and you
can even bid for personal lots from other members of the public
registered with the site. Since Wanadoo took over Freeserve,
their auction site has changed and much of it now links to the
Ebay auction site.     

4.2.4. The American Blind Treasures Auction Site

www.blindtreasures.com/auction

Here is an auction site set-up in September 2002 specifically for
blind people to auction anything they like, not just IT
equipment. There are no charges and the site simply provides an
interface to bring competitive buyers and sellers together. It
is US-based, so not everything may be suitable for UK
participants to bid for, e.g. mains Electrical goods may have a
different power rating and the cost of shipping goods may make
it uneconomical to purchase them.

4.2.5. The Ebay Auction Site

www.ebay.co.uk
(in the UK)

or

www.ebay.com 
(in the US)

Ebay, in the last couple of years, has become the world's biggest
online auction site. You can buy and sell just about anything on
Ebay's auction sites and you can pay for your goods using Ebay's
own secure payment system called Paypal. Ebay has all of the
procedures and notification systems that you would expect from
a top auction site.

4.2.6. The Nochex Auction site

www.nochex.co/uk

Nochex is not itself an auction site. It is a service for paying
money over electronically, instead of using a paper cheque or
credit card, just like Paypal is. However, on the Nochex site,
you will find a list of UK-based auction sites to surf to and
examine for more information about auction sites and to try your
hand in bidding, etc, if you like.

4.3. Step by Step Example of Using an Online Auction--The Morgan
Site

To use the Morgan computer auction site you must sign up with
them and provide your credit card details and choose your own
username and password. However, it is possible for anyone to have
a look around this site before signing up and placing a bid. What
you do is:

1. Launch Internet Explorer (or your browser of choice) and press
CONTROL O then type in the Morgan site URL, which is:

www.morgan-auctions.co.uk

2. TAB and ARROW through the elements and text on this site and
press ENTER or SPACEBAR on some links to have a good look at the
help and information pages which Morgan provide, e.g. "Customer
Information", "FAQs", "Terms and Conditions", "Auction History",
etc. Keep returning to the home page after reading these sub-
pages by pressing ALT left ARROW.

3. Tab (or ARRow down) to "Register to Bid" and press ENTER to
register (or do this later if you do not wish to at this stage).
The registration form which loads in is basically as follows:

A. The registration form comes up and tells you that you are on
a Red Kanetics secure page which no one else can view. Press
ENTER on OK and then ARROW or TAB down to the "Preferred
Username" editfield and press ENTER to go into forms mode to be
able to type this in, e.g. JohnW or whatever you like.

B. Then TAB to "E-Mail" and ENTER your e-mail address, as they
need this to e- mail your registration confirmation back to you
and confirmation of any lots you have bid for and won.

C. TAB to "First Name" and type your Christian name in as normal,
followed by TABBING and completing the rest of the form in the
usual way.

D. In completing the rest of the information fields you will have
to enter your password twice in both fields, sometimes you will
have to ARROW up and down multiple selection lists and when you
get to the "Expiry Date" field, you first type in the month
expiry date of your credit card, e.g. 02 (for February), then TAB
to the next field and type in the year expiry date, e.g. 2008.
In the "Fax" editfield, if you have no FAX, type your standard
voice phone number in, as the site will not accept you leaving
this blank or just typing none in.

E. You will eventually TAB to the "Submit" button, so press ENTER
or SPACEBAR on this to send the completed form to Morgan. Your
confirmation e-mail will be returned in a few hours or perhaps
the following day.

4. After your username and password confirmation e-mail has been
received by you, you can bid by TABBING to the "Current Bid" link
on any of the offered lots and by pressing ENTER or SPACEBAR on
this. If you are outbid by someone later, you will be e-mailed
to advise you of this.  

5. To get to the "Current Bid" buttons, you have to TAB (or
ARROW) down the home page to where you encounter a table with
four columns and about ten rows. This is where the lots which are
nearest to reaching their final day of bidding are listed. The
first column holds an item's name/model number in it, the second
column contains the item's brief description, the third column
advises you of the date/time the bidding will close and the last
column contains the "Current Bid" link and tells you how much the
last bidder bid, which is the amount you will have to beat if you
are to have any chance of winning the lot. Continuing to ARROW
down will reveal more lots with the same four columns of
information. Remember, your screenreader may feature a hot key
to jump you straight to the first and subsequent tables on a Web
page, e.g. pressing T with JAWS and Webbie and pressing ALT
CONTROL TAB with Window-Eyes.

6. If you TAB to the "View All Lots" link and press ENTER, you
will be able to look at all of the lots currently available for
bidding. You just make a bid for one of these in the same way as
with the ten or so maturing lots shown on the above home page.

7. Make your bid by pressing ENTER or SPACEBAR on the "Current
Bid" link, when another page will load in giving you more details
about this lot, e.g. if it is a Pc, you will be told such facts
as the monitor size, type and amount of RAM, make of CPU, type
of sound card fitted, type and number of ports, etc. You will
also be told if the item is new or second-hand and how many of
this particular item are available. The Morgan warranty period
will also be indicated. You may have to bid in multiples of œ10
or whatever this page advises. At this point you will have to go
to the username and password fields to enter this information.
You can also type a figure in the "Maximum Bid" field to tell the
system how much it should automatically bid up to for you before
you want to duck out--the bids will go up in œ10 stages in this
example. After completing these fields and typing in the amount
of your bid, you TAB to the "Bid Now" button and press ENTER.

8. This is the end of your current bid, unless you put a figure
in the "maximum Bid" field. You should keep a check on the
progress of bidding, especially in the last hour of the bidding
period if you really want an item. 

9. If you have any problems or want more details on a particular
lot, e-mail Morgan or phone them on 0208 5750055.

4.4. Step by Step Example of Using an Online Auction--The US
Blind Treasures Site

The auction program used on the Blind treasures Website is
freeware so is a little limited and inflexible. It is at:

www.blindtreasures.com/auction

1. Registering to Bid for Items or to Sell Items

A. To use the Blind Treasures auction service you must register
your self first by going to the above URL with your browser and
then TABBING to the "register Now" link and pressing ENTER.

B. You then come onto a page to ARROW or TAB to and go into
editing mode and supply several pieces of personal identification
information in the following order: firstly "Your Name", which
could be your personal name or any other name you want to be
known by, e.g. Brian clark; secondly, you TAB once to and type
in any username you want to be known as, e.g. BrianClark or
spaceman007 (no spaces); and, Thirdly, you TAB once to and type
in your desired password. These usernames and passwords must be
at least six characters long each and you have to type your
password in twice in different places. You will also have to TAB
to and supply your e-mail address annd date of birth in
12/11/1966 format. You must also provide your address and
telephone number. 

C. Lastly, TAB to the "Submit Query" button and press ENTER and
you should them receive a page advising you that you have
successfully registered and get an e-mail confirming this as
well.

2. Posting an item for Sale

A. To place a lot on the Blind Treasures auction site you go to
the usual www.blindtreasures.com/auction home page and then TAB
to "Log In" and press ENTER. Partway down the log in page you
will encounter two user's log in editfields to press ENTER on to
go into editing mode and be able firstly to type your username
in, TAB and then type your password in, then press ENTER on
"Submit Query". 

B. Then CONTROL HOME to the top of the next page and TAB down to
the "Sell an Item" link and press ENTER.

C. You now come onto a page with several editfields, choice lists
and checkboxes to deal with by TABBING through them, ARROWING up
and down in them and pressing SPACEBAR to check them on or off.
Remember, if your screenreader works in this way, to press ENTER
on the first of these editfields, called "Item Title",  to go
into editing mode. You have in these fields to type in such as
the title of what you are selling, e.g. Sharp's Talking Clock
Calculator. Next you find an editfield to type in a description
of what you are selling. TABBING through other fields, which
appear in this order, allow you to upload a picture of what you
are selling by typing the whereabouts of the URL of the picture
you wish to make available for viewing (optional). You can next
TAB to and ARROW in a two choice list to pick standard auction
or Dutch auction. After this you have to TAB to a "Items
Quantity" editfield and accept the "1" default number of items
to sell or backspace this out and type in any higher figure which
is appropriate. In "Auction Starts With" you can, if you like,
specify the lowest amount of money you want the auction to start
at, e.g. 50.00 (for 50.00 US dollars) and you can TAB to and
ARROW to have "Yes" or "No" selected to specify a reserve price
for your lot and type this into the editfield below this choice,
e.g. 100.00 (for 100.00 US dollars). TABBING again lets you ARROW
and select to use the built-in proportional increments table or
select your own custom fixed increment figure, e.g. 10.00 if you
want bids of at least 10.00 dollars only to be made each time an
improved bid is made. Next you get a list to select either to
have a one day, three day or one week long auction and the next
thing you get is a list of countries to ARROW through to select
your own country of residence followed by typing your zip code
or postal code into an editfield just below this list. Next comes
a "Shipping Conditions" list to indicate if you are prepared to
pay any mailing/postal costs or if you expect the buyer to do so
on top of the purchase price and you can press SPACEBAR on a
checkbox to indicate if you are prepared to ship the item
internationally. Near the end of the form you can TAB through
five separate "Payment Methods" checkboxes to press SPACEBAR on
if you want to use any or all of these means of accepting payment
for your lot, e.g payment by cheque, money order, credit card,
etc. Then TAB to the "Choose a Category" list and ARROW down to
select a category to put your lot into, e.g. assistive,
computers, jewellery, etc and, under this, if there is no
suitable category in this list, you can type the title of a new
category in to create a new category for your lot.

D. Now, after completing all necessary editfields, TAB to the
"Submit Query" button and press ENTER.

E. You will next come onto another page asking you to confirm
your lot submission by supplying your username and password
again, well down the page, after viewing your recorded lot
details. Supply these and press ENTER again on the "Submit Query"
button.

F. If you have done everything OK, you will then receive a page
advising you of your success and, shortly afterwards, an e-mail
confirmation showing your registered details and those of your
just submitted lot for sale. This e-mail will confirm the number
of days your auction is to be conducted over, when the ending day
is and at what time your auction countdown time started, e.g.
"14:15" would mean that you submitted your lot for sale at 2.15
p.m. and so, for example, a three day auction would automatically
end 72 hours after this time. This 14:15 or 2.15 p.m. auction
starting time is, of course, referring to US central time, not
UK time and so would be the same as 8.15 p.m. in British
summertime.

G. After the duration of your auction ends you will automatically
receive an e-mail advising you of who has won your lot and of how
much they bid for it. This lot winner will also receive a similar
e-mail telling them of their success. You and the lot winner will
then have to liaise to arrange payment, shipping time/means, etc.
You cannot pay for lots you have won via the Blind Treasures site
itself. 

3. Bidding for an Item

To bid for a lot yourself:

A. Go onto the Blind Treasures auction site and TAB to the "Log
In" link and press ENTER. Then TAB to and supply your username
and password as described in the last sub-section.

B. Now TAB to the first "Search" editfield to find lots you might
be interested in and press ENTER to go into edit mode. In this
search field you can type things like someone's name or the title
of their lot for sale if you know these things and TAB to "Go"
and press ENTER to get them found. A list of lots will appear
below for you to view. However, if you do not know such
identification details, you can TAB to the second "Search" list,
press ENTER and then ARROW up and down this list of item
categories to look through. ARROW to such as "Computers" and TAB
to and press ENTER on "Go" to open up a page with all of the lots
in that category displayed for you to ARROW down and read.

C. If you come across a lot you want to put a bid in for, ARROW
or TAB to its title line, where there will be a link to its bid
submission page, and press ENTER.

D. Now that you are on the page to make your bid, you can view
such information as how many other people have already viewed
this lot, what the current winning bid is and you can activate
links to find out more details or even e-mail the seller to ask
him/her more questions. To make a higher bid than the current bid
you would ARROW to the "Place Your Bid Here" label and then to
the editfield just below and go into editing mode, usually by
pressing ENTER. Now type your higher bid in here, e.g. 50.00, for
50 US dollars. Now TAB to "Go" or "Submit" and press enteR to
submit your bid. After this initial bid, you will be asked on
another page to confirm your bid by ARROWING through and checking
the lot details and then supplying your username and password and
then activating the "Submit Query" button.

E. Keep checking the auction site if you really want a given lot,
particularly in the last hour of its running time, as most bids
are likely to be submitted at that time. The Blind Treasures
auction site, in the last of five columns where it supplies you
with a lot's details such as lot title, current bid,etc, also
advises you in columns four and five of how many days the auction
has to run and how many hours, minutes and seconds there are to
go, e.g. "Days 2" and "11:30:25" means that the auction for the
lot you are interested in will finish in two days' time plus 11
hours, 30 minutes and 25 seconds; or, to put it another way, in
59 hours, 30 minutes and 25 seconds.

                           ********

                          >SECTION 5

                REALAUDIO RADIO, NEWS AND VIDEO

You can listen to radio music and live concerts on the Internet
and hear and view shows or sports and news bulletins. To do this
you Will need relevant hardware and software such as that
outlined below.

5.1. Basic RealPlayer 8 Hardware and Software Requirements

To use RealPlayer 8 Basic and some other older media players to
stream realaudio from the Internet you will need:

1. A 16-bit sound card as an integral part of your computer's
motherboard or a similar or better sound card slotted into an ISA
or PCI slot on the board. In the case of listening to music, you
may wish to purchase a higher quality sound card, such as a
modern Creative Labs Sound Blaster, e.g. Sound Blaster Live 5.1
or a Soundblaster Audigy card, or a Turtle Beach Montigo card or
one of the range made by Roland. If your sound card is one of the
on-the- motherboard type, i.e. an integral part of the
motherboard manufacture, it is possible that it is only half
duplex and not a multi-channel card and so, whilst it will
work with your synthesiser and play realaudio media, it will not
allow you to record and listen to sound at the same time. Some
sound cards which come as part of the motherboard die and are
full duplex will permit recording but may give a lower-than-
expected level of performance, e.g. background noise, less than
half normal recording volume level, etc. However, in the last
couple of years sound cards on motherboards have improved and you
can now get 5.1 surround sound from some of them, so motherboards
with onboard sound cards in modern computers should not suffer
as much from these inadequacies.

2. A pair of stereo speakers. These can be obtained from computer
fairs for as little as œ5. However, in the case
of music, it is probably worth investing in better quality and
higher Wattage speakers, e.g. 500W stereo or surround sound
speakers with a large separate bass speaker as well as the
satellite speakers. Remember, the Wattage quoted for computer
speakers and their onboard amplifiers does not compare with the
Wattage rates of standard hi-fi speakers--PC speakers are far
less powerful on a Watt by Watt basis.

3. A program to play Web audio over, such as Realnetworks
RealPlayer, downloadable free from:

www.realnetworks.com

or Microsoft's Media Player, which you can obtain free from many 
radio station Websites.

4. A Pentium 120 Mhz-based PC or better.

5. An enhanced video card (if you can make use of the screen).

6. At least 16 Mb of memory.

7. For best video quality (if this will not adversely affect your
screenreader--it should not(, set your colour palate to 16-bit
high colour by pressing Windows key, S for Settings, C for
Control Panel, D for Display (press ENTER) and then press CONTROL
TAB until you reach "Settings". You will land on the "Colour
Palate", so arrow up or down to "High Colour (16-bit)" and then
TAB to OK and press ENTER. Finally, leave the Control panel by
pressing ALT F4 or ALT SPACEBAR followed by C.

8. If you are using RealPlayer 8, you may also be able to benefit
from some of the provisions of the RealPlayer 8 accessibility
features by pressing Windows key, S for settings, R for
RealPlayer (press ENTER), then TAB forward to "Settings" and
press ENTER. Then check "Use Accessibility Features when
Available" by pressing the SPACEBAR. Then TAB to OK and press
ENTER. This "realPlayer" Control Panel option also houses several
other configuration control tabs such as the "Transport",
"Connections" and "Performance" property sheets, etc.

5.2. How Does Web Radio or Webcasting Work?

Very basically, Web radio (also known as webcasting) works by
taking the standard radio signal, converting it to digital output
and then reinterpreting it as sound.

You can log onto multiple radio station sites and then choose
from the radio programmes which they host or go to individual
radio sites. You will have to do this with your browser, e.g.
Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, PWWebspeak, Webbie, etc,
by pressing CONTROL O and typing one of the below music site
addresses in. The home page will then open up and you can TAB or
ARROW down to a likely music link and press ENTER on it. It may
come up playing straightaway or you may have to start the playing
by pressing CONTROL P (in RealPlayer) or ALT P and press ENTER
(in Windows Media Player).

5.3. General Multiple Radio Sites to Listen To

Listen to the streaming audio from some of the below radio sites:

www.about.com--This site carries discussions and interviews and
invites listeners worldwide to provide feedback.

www.radio.sonicnet.com--Permits listeners to design their own
"station" which will play only requested artists or preferred
types of songs.

diskjockey.com--Hosts many radio stations and lets you select
stations in particular cultures or languages.

http://urn.nott.ac.uk/tuner--Lets you select from a list of Uk-
based radio stations.

www.radio-locator.com--Is a tool for finding Web radio providers
throughout the world.

www.sightconnections.com/radio/radio.htm--To listen to a variety
of global radio programs.

www.mikesradioworld.com--Where you can select a country and then
display a list of radio stations. You can also get these stations
categories into genres such as pop, easy listening, classical,
etc.

www.tafn.org--You go to the radio link and will then find links
to hundreds of UK radio stations.

www.live-radio.net--For a selection of live radio programmes.

www.virtualtuner.com--To hear live radio stations.

5.4. Individual and Single Topic Radio Sites to Listen To

A selection of individual streaming audio radio sites covering
specific tpopics is given below:

www.sky.com/news/radio--Lets you stream audio and download MP3
files of the latest bulletins. 

www.billsparks.org--Provides a site for streaming music and other
audio content.

www.doowop.org--Provides streaming old-time music tracks. This
webcasting site is more commonly known as Doowop Jukebox Gold.

www.npr.org--Provides 24-hour news broadcasts plus archives of
many shows to access.

www.kbon.com--Plays such as country and cajun music.

www.kcrw.org--Features live broadcasts and archives of US
programmes.

www.radiolovers.com--Provides streaming audio of music and US
old-time shows, including comedy, drama, mystery, westerns, si-
fi, music and more. You just need an MP3 player on your PC such
as Windows Media Player or Winamp to hear them. 

www.francelink.com--Gets you European news and music from such
sites as radio Sorbonne, Radio France and Europe 1.

www.whrb.org--Provides music and is run by Harvard University
students.

www.wmbr.org--Supplies its own rock music and links to many other
global radio stations.

www.wwoz.org--Features Louisiana music and jazz shows.

www.acbradio.org/--Contains on stream radio listening programmes
and blindness-related stories and information. The UKs National
Talking Express monthly magazine for visually impaired persons
can also be listened to from this site.

www.bbc.co.uk--Houses the BBCs site where you can view programme
schedules and listen to any of the BBcs radio programmes from the
last 7 days, e.g. go to www.bbc.co.uk/radio1 to hear radio 1,
www.bbc.co.uk/radio 2 to listen to Radio 2, etc. You must have
a version of the RealPlayer or the Real Alternative audio player
on your PC to hear these streams and you can also download
RealPlayer from here.

5.5. VI-Specific Multiple Radio Site to Listen To

From April 2001 a new site was created called "Audio Clicks"
which is designed to speak, via a screenreader, all of the
important links, radio station details, country of output, etc,
for hundreds of radio stations in dozens of countries around the
world. When you TAB through the radio stations, you hear the name
of the station, where it comes from and the station's name. This
site is also enhanced for magnification software users. 

Radio Clicks can be found at:

www.redwhiteandblue.org/news/baud/RADIOCLI.HTM

(but note the case of the above URL)

5.6. Example of Streaming and Listening to Realaudio using the
Windows Media Player

For example, to play music offered by the Harvard University
radio site of www.whrb.org you would:

1. Run Internet Explorer, then press CONTROL O and type in the
above URL:

www.whrb.org

and press ENTER.

2. The home page will load in, so TAB to a music link which
interests you, e.g. the WHRB Regular link, and press ENTER.

3. The Windows Media Player will open up (as this site is set up
to play music via this realaudio player).

4. You may receive a security warning dialogue asking you if you
want to install and run Windows Media Player and trust Microsoft
content. If you are happy with this, press ENTER on the "Yes"
button after TABBING to it. 

5. The Media Player will then be ready to play your above WHRB
Regular music and you should press ALT P (for play) and ENTER on
the "Play" option. 

6. You should now hear whatever music is currently being played
on this online radio station. 

7. To examine the other menu options in Windows Media Player 6
(or whichever version you are using), press your ALT key and
right ARROW through the menu titles and then ARROW down these to
look at the available features.

Note: If you hear nothing because your software screenreader is
interfering with the flow of music, you may have to unload your
screenreader, although this is not likely to happen with up-to-
date computers and sound cards. When you are on the music link
to press ENTER on,  unload the screenreader as normal, e.g. with
INSERT F4 and ENTER with JAWS; with CONTROL \, then ALT F4 and
ENTER with Window-Eyes; or with CONTROL SPACEBAR, THEN ALT
SPACEBAr and press ENTER on "Quit" or "Close" with HAL; and then
press ENTER to hear the music or show. This may be necessary if
you do not have a multi-channel sound card in your PC. 

5.7. Example of Listening to RealAudio Using Winamp


To be able to do this with Winamp you must, of course, have
downloaded a copy of the Winamp player to your computer and
installed it first. You can get a copy of Winamp from:

www.whitestick.co.uk

or

www.winampheaven.com

If you want to go directly to and hear a continuous streaming
audio radio station on the Internet using Winamp:

1. Launch Winamp.

2. Press CONTROL L and type in the editfield the radio station's
location address, e.g.:

http://166.90.143.149:10998

and press ENTER.

3. You should hear the Radio Caroline radio station from this
location, after a short delay whilst the audio fills Winamp's
buffer. However, this station only plays at certain times of day
or night, so you may hear nothing when you try it. Nonetheless,
this is how you would play streaming audio with Winamp in this
direct way.

Note: Winamp and the whole theme of audio playing copying and
editing is covered in more depth and breadth in both of my two
tutorials entitled "Audio Playing, Copying and Sound Editing from
the Keyboard". To find out more and view the TOCs for these
specialised sound-related tutorials, have a look on my Website
at:

http://web.onetel.com/~fromthekeyboard

5.8. Installing and Using RealPlayer 8 Basic

I originally provided a description of how to go onto the
RealPlayer Website to download RealPlayer in this section but,
since RealPlayer 8 is not now available on this site, this is no
longer appropriate. If you do not already have a copy of
RealPlayer 8 basic and cannot find anywhere to download it from
or someone who can supply you with an old copy, you will need to
obtain the most up-to-date version, which is currently RealPlayer
10, and skip to the section below which deals with this. I was
originally considering removing this older sub-section altogether
but decided to leave it here because I know that some visually
impaired people still use this version because they prefer it to
later versions and think it more screenreader-friendly.

When installing the RealPlayer 8 Basic program, you have to
complete the registration form, indicate the speed of
your modem, etc, and then accept all of the "Next" buttons to the
"Finish button". The program should automatically start with
music and a few welcome sentences and offer to take you online
to send the registration form and start your first media session.

Note: The RealPlayer 8 program runs for 120 days, after which you
are permitted to uninstall it and reinstall it for another 120
days' use.

5.8.1. Pen-Picture of the RealPlayer Basic Screen

The likely layout of the RealPlayer 8 screen as its default is
as follows.

At the top of the screen is the standard Title Bar with
the word "realPlayer" displayed as the running program. Just
under this is the Menu Bar, with File, Edit, etc and below this
there is a Toolbar of options to click on. Below this appears the
"Location Bar", which shows the address of the file you are
currently playing. Below this is the rest of the screen with, on
the left, the "Content Panel", which displays advertisement-type
details, such as Take 5, Bloomburg, ZD TV, etc. to the right is
the majority of the main display panel where any script or video
clips, etc, would be displayed when you are running realPlayer.
Then, at the very bottom of the screen, comes the "Status Bar"
showing the state of progress of clip downloads, etc.  

However, you may wish to reduce the number of panels displayed
so that the screen is less cluttered and so that your
screenreader does not continually chatter the contents of the
"Contents Panel". You can do this by pressing ALT V (for View)
and ARROWING down and unchecking the "Location Bar" and "Content
Panel" by pressing ENTER on them. You will
probably want to keep the "Status Bar" checked on and, in order
to give you access to Realplayer's search facilities, you may
wish to check on the "RealPlayer Media Bar". This Media Bar will
pop up just above the Status Bar. 

Alternatively, if you press CONTROL M, you will get a compact
view of the above screen with most of the bars turned off and
with a reduced Toolbar and Status Line. This view is similar to
the display of a CD player and suitable for audio playback. 
Pressing CONTROL N will return you to the normal screen view. 

If you want to know the title, author and copyright for the
current playing clip (block of sound or video data) or portion
of a multiclip, you should enable the "Clip Info Bar" by pressing
ALT V and then I.  

Note: The RealPlayer 10 Basic screen and View Menu options are
different from those in RealPlayer 8.

5.8.2. Using RealPlayer 8 Basic

Start RealPlayer by pressing ENTER on its shortcut on the
Desktop. It will come up with a short burst of introductory music
and your screenreader may get into a loop and continuously speak
what is called the "Content Panel". To stop this, press ALT V to
get into the View Menu and ARROW down to "Content Panel" and
uncheck this by pressing ENTER. There are many more of these
panels or bars in the View Menu and you may wish to uncheck some
or most of these in order to obtain a less cluttered screen.
However, it is recommended that you leave the "Status Bar" and
"Realcom Media Bar" checked on. The former keeps you up to date
on the state of clip downloads, the stream bandwidth, etc, and
the latter makes four useful buttons available to you.

RealPlayer plays media in "clips", which are blocks of video or
audio data. These may be snippets of news, whole lectures or a
block of several music tracks. The latter are called multiclips. 

5.8.3. Loading a Clip for Playing in RealPlayer

You can load and play a media clip in several ways:

1. Provided that RealPlayer has been made your default media
player, press ENTER on a media link on an Internet page and
RealPlayer will launch automatically and play it.

2. Drag a media file or link to the RealPlayer or RealPlayer icon
on the Desktop, when RealPlayer will play the clip.

3. Select a favourite from the RealPlayer Favourites Menu, when
the media will automatically be accessed without opening a
browser, even if the media is on the Web.

4. By pressing CONTROL L and then entering a location on the Web
(Internet address path to a video or audio media file) which
begins with "rtsp://" or "pnm://" or "http://" in the dialogue
box that appears. For example:

Type:

http://www.acb.org/acblive/mainstream.pls

or

www.abcradio.org/mainstream.ram

and press ENTER.

Note 1: You can only play a media clip in this way if you have
the full path to the file. You cannot simply type in the site's
home page and go on from there, so you could not type in any of
the URLs mentioned under the above "Individual and Single Topic
Radio Sites" heading.

Note 2: The above-mentioned CONTROL L shortcut does not work in
RealPlayer 10.

5. By pressing CONTROL O and choosing a local (on your hard disk
or on a CD) media file. For instance, press CONTROL O, and type
in the editfield the full path to the media file, e.g.:

C:\Program Files\Real\RealPlayer\firstrun.rm
(with RealPlayer 8)

or

C:\Program Files\Real\RealPlayer\Firstrun\firstrun.smil
(with RealPlayer 10)

and Press ENTER.

Or you can browse to it by TABBING to the "Look In" button where
"RealPlayer" should be highlighted (or you can ARROW to it), then
TAB again once to a list of audio and video files which you can
play by pressing ENTER on one of them, e.g. press ENTER when you
get to "firstrun.rm, and the RealPlayer introduction file will
play or ARROW to "videotest.rm" and press ENTER to see this video
test file run.

6. By pressing ALT f and ARROWING down to a recently opened clip
at the bottom of the File Menu to replay one of these. By
default, the last eight clips you played are stored here.

The Channels Menu (ALT C) holds quick links to services, such as
news, sports, etc. It updates headlines from the services it is
associated with on a regular basis when connected to the
Internet. 

Note: If you wish to listen to audio from the UK BBC Website, you
will need to have RealPlayer installed on your PC to hear it, as
most other players will not work on this site. However, since the
beginning of 2005, the BBC has also been providing its own audio
player and so you can now use this accessible BBC player or
RealPlayer (see "Shortcuts for use with the BBCs own Accessible
Streaming Audio Player" below for more about this). Since early
in 2005 Manchester University has also been supplying several
free blind-friendly accessible players for listening to current
and past BBC programmes and for accessing online news bulletins
(see "Accessible BBC Current and Past Programs Listening
Software" later in this section. As another alternative, there
is also a free media player available for download which can play
the same media formats as RealPlayer called Real Alternative
from:

www.whitestick.co.uk/download.html

5.8.4. Searching for Things to Listen to or Watch

You can find media to watch or listen to by navigating to the
"Realcom Media search Bar" buttons (just above the Status Bar)
with your mouse cursor and pressing ENTER or SPACEBAR on either:

1. Radio Tuner--To find radio stations. This "Radio" option is
in the View menu in RealPlayer 10.

2. TV Guide--To open Real.com Guide which is a Realnetworks site
which searches the Internet for interesting content and pulls it
all to one place for you to find. This is activated with CONTROL
SHIFT W in RealPlayer 10.

3. Search--This is the same as a typical search engine on the Net
but it only finds links which include streaming media. What
happens is that Realcom opens www.real.com in your browser which
allows you to choose search and find content by pressing ENTER
on links or typing in words or phrases to do with the
 subject you are interested in. In RealPlayer 10 this "Search"
feature is in the View menu and on the Toolbar and its shortcut
is CONTROL SHIFT S. 

4. Message Service--This keeps you up to date by automatically
updating channels and channel headlines, so that the best Web
content is always available to you.

Note 1: Some Web media sites house their own realaudio player
links and will play video and audio directly from those links if
you press ENTER on them without you having to start your own
realaudio program first. 

Note 2: To get to some of these features with RealPlayer 10 you
will have to go to the Toolbar buttons just under the Main menu
and use your screenreader's left click simulation button in mouse
mode on any of them, such as the "Real Guide", to access these
services. You can also use shortcuts to them, e.g. CONTROL shift
S and CONTROL SHIFT W for search and Real Guide respectively.

5.8.5. The Play List 

The Playlist is where you can, in some circumstances, select
which clip or track to play when several are available in a media
file. You open Winamp's Play list with ALT V (for View) and then
Y (for Playlist). While a multiclip is playing the play list will
display the currently playing track of the multiclip. This is not
available with single clips. To see the rest of the play list or
table of contents, e.g. album, track titles,  etc, press ENTER
on it to view a dropdown menu and select a different heading to
cause the player to jump to that position within the multiclip. 

5.8.6. The RealPlayer Basic Favourites Folder

This Favourites menu option lets you return to your favourite
media and programmes quickly. You can add a favourite by pressing
ALT A and pressing ENTER or by pressing CONTROL A while playing
a clip. When you next want to go to this same entertainment
source, you just go into the Favourites menu, (with ALT A) ARROW
down the options to where its name is and press ENTER. 

If you want to go to some sites with interesting realaudio on
them already set up for you in RealPlayer, press ALT A (for
Favourites) and ARROW down to "Websites" and press ENTER. A list
of such sites will appear for you to press ENTER on any one to
be taken to that site, e.g. Musicnet, Live Concerts.com, etc.

Please note that all of the sub-menus in the Favourites menu,
such as within "Web Pages", "Radio", etc, will be empty in
RealPlayer 10 until you have been online and searched for and
downloaded some media content.

5.8.7. Using the RealPlayer Help System

Some versions of RealPlayer 8 Basic do not come automatically
with an online help file as part of the downloaded program but
others do. If you have the help file, after launching the
program, you just press F1 or ALT H and then Enter to open it.

If you have a version of RealPlayer 8 with no online help file,
after downloading the help file from the Realnetworks.com site
(see the "Note" below the list of shortcut keystrokes, you can
successfully use the standard Windows-type help file with your
screenreader but you will need to maximise the help window (with
ALT SPACEBAR and then press X) so that the information lines are
not truncated. Note that the help file is the whole RealPlayer
Plus help document, so some of the features mentioned in it will
not work in the free basic version, e.g. you cannot stop a clip
partway through and mark it to recommence later, you cannot make
your own recordings, you do not have the
 use of "Perfect Play", etc. 

To use the RealPlayer help system:

Press F1 (or ALT H and ENTER) to load the RealPlayer help menu
bar just below the normal Windows menu bar and to hear the
initial help introduction.  Use PAGE DOWN to hear the next page
of information. There will usually be a number of links at the
end of the help text which are related to the topic which you can
TAB through and press ENTER on to obtain more details. After
perusing the initial help pages, you can only get back to the
help contents sheet to obtain more detailed headings and
sub-headings by going to the "Contents" button at the top of the
window with your mouse cursor (the JAWS cursor, HAL
navigation/virtual cursor mode, Window-Eyes mouse keys, etc) and
by pressing the left mouse click key on it. You can then ARROW
down the help file main headings and open them with ENTER as you
go along. When you have read the whole of a particular topic, go
back to the "Content" button and left click on it again to return
to the contents list.

By pressing ALT H (for Help) and ARROWING down, there are also
FAQ (frequently asked questions) files which you can be taken to
on the Real.com or realnetworks.com site in the Help Menu under
"Common Questions" and a whole "Knowledge Base" from which to get
answers to technical questions.The "Check for Update" option will
enable you to download the latest versions of any of the
realnetworks software you already have. 

If you are using JFW 3.5 or higher, you can obtain more
RealPlayer help and information by activating JAWS application
help by pressing INSERT F1 twice whilst RealPlayer is open.
However, be aware that, whilst most of this is
still applicable to RealPlayer 8 Basic, the version of RealPlayer
they are referring to may be the older RealPlayer G2.

5.8.8. RealPlayer 8 Shortcut Keystrokes

RealPlayer Basic has a standard Windows-type Menu Bar which you
can view by pressing the ALT key and ARROWING left and right.
Most of the more important functions, however, can be achieved
by use of shortcut keystrokes, and these are outlined below: 

Press F1: To load the help contents sheet (but see below if no
Contents are currently available).

Press F5: To refresh the HTML.

Press ALT F4: to exit the RealPlayer.

Press CONTROL P: To start and pause play.

Press CONTROL S: To stop play and take it back to the start.

Press CONTROL left ARROW: To rewind play.

Press CONTROL SHIFT left ARROW: To super rewind play.

Press CONTROL right ARROW: To fast forward play.

Press CONTROL SHIFT right ARROW: To super fast forward play.

Press CONTROL up ARROW: to increase the volume.

Press CONTROL down ARROW: To reduce the volume.

Press PAGE UP: To go back to the previous clip in a multiclip
file or the next location when scanning.

Press PAGE DOWN: To go to the next clip.

Press CONTROL H: To initiate a search.

Press CONTROL L: To open location and let you play real media
files on the Net without using your Web browser. You then enter
the URL of any streaming content, such as a .rm, .ra or .ram
file. 

Press CONTROL O: To open a local file on your hard disk and play
it, after selecting a media file, such as a .ra, .rm or .ram
file.

Press CONTROL N: To obtain normal view displaying all
RealPlayer buttons and controls.

Press CONTROL M: To switch to compact view, where only the image
area is displayed, together with a subset of the buttons and a
reduced Status Bar and menu selection.

Note: When you press F1 (or ALT H and press ENTER) to obtain the
help file, with some RealPlayer versions,  it may not be
available unless you go onto the Real.com Website and download
it by following the instructions which come up when you press F1.
At the same time you can download other free software such as
RealJukebox and Netzip. To obtain just the help file, put focus
on it by ARROWING down the files list, press the SPACEBAR to
check it and then go into your navigation or mouse mode to find
the "Get it Now" button (it is in a right-hand column) and double
click your left mouse simulation button. Simply TABBING to the
"Get it Now" button in
your screenreader's normal mode is not likely to achieve the
desired result. The file will only take about two minutes to
download.

5.9. RealPlayer 10 Basic 

If you wish to use the added features of RealPlayer 10, you can
download it from:

www.acbradio.com

1. Just TAB to the "Download" link an press ENTER.

2. Then TAB again to the "RealPlayer 10" link and press ENTER.

3. You will get the usual save to disk and filename dialogue box
and should press ENTER on the "Save" button.

4. The approximately 10 Mb file will be called something like
"realplayer10-5gold.exe", depending on the version available when
you do this download. It was Version 10.5 when I did this. It
took about 50 minutes to download with a 56K modem.

5.9.1. Basic RealPlayer 10 Hardware and software Requirements

To use RealPlayer 10 you will need a minimum of:

1. A 16-bit sound card as an integral part of your computer's
motherboard or a similar or better sound card slotted into an ISA
or PCI slot on the board. In the case of listening to music, you
may wish to purchase a higher quality sound card, such as a
modern Creative Labs Sound Blaster, e.g. Sound Blaster Live 5.1
or a Soundblaster Audigy card, or a Turtle Beach Montigo card or
one of the range made by Roland. If your sound card is one of the
on-the- motherboard type, i.e. an integral part of the
motherboard manufacture, it is possible that it is only half
duplex and not a multi-channel card and so, whilst it will
work with your synthesiser and play realaudio media, it will not
allow you to record and listen to sound at the same time. Some
sound cards which come as part of the motherboard die and are
full duplex will permit recording but may give a lower-than-
expected level of performance, e.g. background noise, less than
half normal recording volume level, etc. However, modern
motherboards come with better onboard sound cards and sometimes
have 5.1 surround sound as well. 

2. A pair of stereo speakers. These can be obtained from computer
fairs for as little as œ5. However, it is probably, in the case
of music, worth investing in better quality and higher Wattage
speakers, e.g. 500W stereo or surround sound speakers with a
large separate bass speaker as well as the satellite speakers.
Remember, the Wattage quoted for computer speakers and their
onboard amplifiers does not compare with the Wattage rates of
standard hi-fi speakers--PC speakers are far less powerful on a
Watt by Watt basis.

3. A Pentium 350 Mhz-based PC or better.

4. An enhanced video card (if you can make use of the screen).

5. At least 64 Mb of memory but 128 Mb for Windows XP.

6. For best video quality (if this will not adversely affect your
screenreader--it should not(, set your colour palate to 16-bit
high colour by pressing Windows key, S for Settings, C for
Control Panel, D for Display (press ENTER) and then press CONTROL
TAB until you reach "Settings". You will land on the "Colour
Palate", so arrow up or down to "High Colour (16-bit)" and then
TAB to OK and press ENTER. Finally, leave the Control panel by
pressing ALT F4 or ALT SPACEBAR followed by C. Note that
RealPlayer 10 offers you the option to do this without you having
to go through the above when it installs.

7. You may also be able to benefit from some of the provisions
of the RealPlayer 8 accessibility features by pressing Windows
key, S for settings, R for RealPlayer (press ENTER), then TAB
forward to "Settings" and press ENTER. Then check "Use
Accessibility Features when Available" by pressing the SPACEBAR.
Then TAB to OK and press ENTER. This "realPlayer" Control Panel
option also houses several other configuration control tabs such
as the "Transport", "Connections" and "Performance" property
sheets, etc.

For more information about these requirements and details about
known issues with the use of RealPlayer 10 and other hardware and
software, see the RealPlayer 10 Read.me file found at:

C:\Program Files\Real\RealPlayer\Readme.html

5.9.2. Downloading and Installing RealPlayer 10

Having downloaded RealPlayer 10 as outlined in the last sub-
section from:

www.acbradio.com

you should press ENTER on the downloaded .exe file, which will
be about 10 Mb in size. Then:

1. After a minute or two wait, you TAB to the "accept" button and
press ENTER to accept the licence agreement.

2. The Internet connection page now comes up and you should
select the speed/type of your modem for use whilst streaming
audio from the Net, e.g. Tab to "I do not have an Internet
connection", then TAB once more and then ARROW down to such as
"56.6 Kbps", etc, or the appropriate broadband modem and
connection speed if you are on broadband. Then TAB to "Next" and
press ENTER.

3. Next comes the set-up options page where you are told that
RealPlayer will be installed at:

C:\Program Files\Real\RealPlayer\RealPlayer

and you will automatically be provided with a Desktop shortcut
to run RealPlayer from. So again TAB to "Next" and press ENTER.

4. After RealPlayer installs, you will be presented with the
media types page to select or deselect the media types you want
RealPlayer to be the default (regular)  player for playing those
types of files on the Web and on your PC instead of any other
player on your system when you select them for playing. You can
TAB through these to observe them and uncheck any which are
already checked by pressing SPACEBAR on them or check any others
which are not already checked. For instance, the media types
already checked on are for playing MP3, Cds, DVDs and WAV.   

5. Lastly, TAB to "Finish" and press ENTER.

6. If your video display settings are not optimal for RealPlayer
10, this version of RealPlayer will offer to open the display
option in the Control Panel for you to make any necessary changes
when you press ENTER on the "Open Display Panel" button. You can
then select Realplayer's recommendations of 16 bit high colour
and 800 by 600 resolution. This should not affect your
screenreader's ability to work properly but if you do experience
any adverse effects, change things back again in the Display
settings of the Control Panel and RealPlayer should still work
OK but any video clips may be substandard.

5.9.3. Tips on the Use of RealPlayer 10 on the Net

The below basic guidelines and comments should help you to get
a start with RealPlayer 10 basic on the Net and for use with hard
disk based audio files.

5.9.3.1. How to Listen to Audio Streaming from the Net

You only have to go to any Web page with your Internet browser
which has audio links on it to listen to that audio. In the main,
when pressing ENTER on an audio link on a Web page to hear
streaming audio, you will simply hear the music or spoken show
as soon as it has time to fill the RealPlayer buffer on your
computer and then be sent to your speakers. The quality may not
be very special, as you only get RealPlayer's best quality sound
if you purchase their professional version of RealPlayer known
as RealPlayer Plus with their premium features. If you only have
a 56K modem, you may also experience intermittent cutting off of
audio before it then resumes where it left off. This cutting off
should not occur if you have a broadband Internet connection.
Many of the instructions given for using RealPlayer 8 above in
sub-sections 5.8.2. to 5.8.6. will also give you an idea of how
to use some of the features of RealPlayer 10 but, as this is not
a tutorial specialising in the in-depth use of audio software,
many of RealPlayer's more exotic features are not covered here,
e.g. RealPlayer 10 can now burn CDs for you (but not DVDs) and
it can go online and download CD album and tracks information
from the online free cd database. You should also note that most
of the realPlayer 8 shortcut keystrokes have changed in Version
10, so you will have to re-learn these if you have been a user
of earlier RealPlayer software. I have listed these new shortcuts
in the below sub-section entitled "Real Player 10 Shortcut
Keystrokes" for your convenience.

5.9.3.2. Essential Shortcut Keystrokes when Playing Streaming
Audio and Audio from your Hard disk

Playing streaming audio from the Internet is akin to playing
audio live, therefore not all RealPlayer's commands/shortcut
keystrokes will work in this environment. Whilst listening to
streaming audio from a Website, pressing CONTROL P will pause the
playing of audio, Pressing CONTROL P again will restart its
playing and pressing CONTROL S will stop the playing of the file.

If you wish to play a local file from your hard disk, then the
full range of RealPlayer's shortcut key commands becomes
available. In this case, what you could do is open the audio file
for playing by pressing CONTROL O and then type into the
editfield which opens up such as:

c:\programfiles\real\realplayer\firstrun\firstrun.smil
(this file really exists in RealPlayer 10 and so should play)

or

c:\my music\strawberry fields.mp3
(this is a fictitious example only)

or TAB to the "Browse" button and press ENTER and then navigate
in the usual Windows way to the audio file you wish to play and
press ENTER on it.

When the file starts playing, just like playing a track from a
cassette or mini-CD, you can then not only use such as CONTROL
P to pause and unpause its playing and CONTROL S to stop it but
you can also:

hold down the CONTROL key and the left BRACKET key (next to the
P key) together to cause the file to rewind

hold down the CONTROL key and the right BRACKET to cause the file
to forward wind

hold down the ALT key and the left BRACKET key to fast rewind at
10 times normal speed

hold down the ALT key and the right BRACKET key to fast forward
wind at 10 times normal speed

hold down the CONTROL key and repeatedly press the up ARROW key
to incrementally increase the volume of the playing of the file
if it is not already on full volume

hold down the CONTROL key and repeatedly press the down ARROW key
to incrementally decrease the volume of the file

The above is how you would play and deal with audio links you
come across on a Website or on your hard disk. You can, of
course, use the RealPlayer Real Guide, Radio sub-menu of the View
menu, etc, to go to numerous audio media sites and select shows
or specific music programs to stream and listen to from there. 

5.9.3.3. Making Tonal Changes in the RealPlayer Equaliser

By default, the RealPlayer equaliser is set to zero for bass, mid
and treble. If you would like to change the tonal quality of a
playing audio file, you can do this in the RealPlayer Equaliser
by pressing ALT T (for Tools) and then ARROWING to and pressing
ENTER on "Equalizer". Now TAB once to "Bass" and ARROW up to
increase the bass, e.g. five times to increase the bass to 50 per
cent of full bass ability, or ARROW down to decrease this. TAB
to "Mid" and then to "Treble" and do the same again to suit your
listening ear and then press ESCAPE to leave this dialogue box.

5.9.3.4. Observing the Playing Quality of your Audio Files and
Where You are in them

At the top of the RealPlayer screen just to the right of the
RealPlayer Title Bar and playing filename, you will observe a
figure with a Kbps attached to it, e.g. typically 10 Kbps
(kilabits per second) when nothing is playing and 30 Kbps when
you are listening to streaming audio from the Net. This indicates
the level of RealPlayer's full quality of playback which is
currently being used. As already stated, when streaming files
from the Internet, this is typically 30 Kbps and also 30 Kbps
when playing a file from your hard disk. You will only achieve
a better percentage of quality playback approaching 100 per cent
of the program's top quality (100 Kbps) if you are using the
purchased premium version of RealPlayer Plus. The figures to the
right of this Kbps figure are to let you know at what point you
are in a playing audio or video file and what the total length
of a file is, e.g. with the first lot of figures, 0:00 means that
you are at the beginning of the file, 0:05 means you are five
seconds into the file, 1:20 means that you are one minute and 20
seconds into the file; and, with the second lot of figures, 4:16
means that the whole file is four minutes and 16 seconds long.

Note 1: If you wish to use RealPlayer to record an audio stream
from the Internet to your hard disk so that you can play it again
at a later date, you can only get access to RealPlayer's
recording abilities by purchasing RealPlayer Plus.

Note 2: If you experience long waits before streaming audio media
is heard from a Website, you may improve things if you check on
the "Instantly Play Web Page Media Links Instead of Downloading
Them" option in Tools, Preferences, Playback Settings.  

Note 3: It will become apparent to you fairly quickly, by the
number of times RealPlayer 10 Basic tries to take you onto the
Internet, that it is truly designed for dealing with Internet
media content rather than other forms of media manipulation. If
you pay for RealPlayer 10 Plus, however, you will then get access
to many more features both for online use and on-your-hard-disk
use, e.g. use of cross-fading, use of mic and line-in recording
to disk, the full 100 per cent sound quality, and so forth.  

5.9.4. Using the RealPlayer 10 Help System

You can access RealPlayer 10 help by pressing F1 or ALT H and
then ENTER on "Help Contents". You then get the standard type of
Windows help structure where you can ARROW down subject headings
and right ARROW to open up subject books to reveal their sub-
headings and/or their individual topics. Pressing ENTER on any
topic will open up the help text for you to ARROW down and listen
to it but you will have to press F6 to move to the text window
first. Pressing F6 again takes you back to the headings and
topics list. This help is HTML-based and so works via hyperlinks
on each page and obeys general Internet Explorer keystrokes, e.g
press ALT left ARROW to return to the last page you were on, ALT
right ARROW to move right through already visited pages, etc.

Some of these help subjects and topics will already be online on
your hard disk for you to view but others will not and will only
become available to you if you then download them from the
Internet. For example, the "Keyboard Shortcuts" file is not
available without downloading it.

After using help, you can close it by pressing ALT F4.

There is a "Download Help Now" button to use to download the full
help document which you can ARROW down to when you first open
RealPlayer help with ALT H and ENTER on "Help Contents", followed
by pressing the F6 key. Additionally, on this first page you come
into in Help, you can also ARROW down to two links labelled
"Download Screenreader Accessible Help Now" and "Install
Screenreader Accessible Help" to enable you to download and
install screenreader accessible help files. You should press
ENTER on these and let it take you on line again to automatically
download and install these help files, which will only take a
couple of minutes. To get back to the usual Help Contents list
of headings and topics press F6 again.

5.9.5. Real Player 10 Shortcut Keystrokes

If you have downloaded the later version 10 of the RealPlayer
program, you will immediately discover that most of the old
RealPlayer 8 shortcuts do not work. A few only still work as
before, e.g. F1 for help, CONTROL P for pausing play and
restarting it, etc. The new shortcuts for RealPlayer 10 are:

Player Controls

Press CONTROL [ (left bracket): To fast rewind the playing audio.

Press CONTROL ] (right bracket): To forward wind. 

Press ALT [ (left bracket): To rewind at 10 times standard rewind
speed.

Press ALT ] (right bracket): To fast forward at 10 times standard
speed.

Press CONTROL P: To play and/or pause playback.

Press CONTROL R: To play the previous clip.

Press CONTROL T: To play the next clip.

Press CONTROL S: To stop the playing.

Press control up ARROW : To turn the volume up.

Press CONTROL down ARROW: To turn the volume down.

Press F11: To mute the playing.

View Controls

Press F7: To go into normal mode.

Press F8: To go into Toolbar mode.

Press F9: To go into theatre mode.

Press CONTROL 1: To place the screen display into normal size.

Press CONTROL 2: TO make the screen double size.

Press CONTROL 3: To go into full screen theatre mode.

Press CONTROL SHIFT up ARROW: To resize upwards.

Press CONTROL SHIFT down ARROW: To resize down.

Media Browser/Task Bar

Press CONTROL B: To open or hide the browser.

Press CONTROL SHIFT D: To open the burn/transfer page.

Press CONTROL SHIFT B : To attach or detach the browser.

Press CONTROL SHIFT S: To go to the search page.

Press CONTROL SHIFT W: to go to the realguide page.

Press CONTROL F: To use find on a Web page.

Press CONTROL SHIFT L: To go to the My Library page.

Press CONTROL SHIFT N: To toddle now playing on and off.

Press CONTROL SHIFT C: to go to the cd/dvd page.

Press CONTROL O: To open the open dialogue.

Press F12: To go to the next page.

Press SHIFT F12: To go to the previous page.

Miscellaneous

Press CONTROL G: To add the current Web page to your favourites
list.

Press CONTROL I: To view clip information.

Press CONTROL H: To edit clip information.

Press CONTROL SHIFT M: To open the message centre.

Press ALT M: To open the toolbar menu.

Press F1: To open help contents.

Press ALT F4: To close a window or the program.

Media Browser Pages

Press F5: To refresh a page.

Press CONTROL F: To find something on a page.

Press CONTROL N: To open a new browser window.

Press BACKSPACE: To move back a level.

Press SHIFT BACKSPACE: To move forward a level.

Press F2: To rename whatever you are on in My Library.

Press CONTROL W: To open up a new playlist.
     
Press CONTROL L: To add clips in the Playlist.

Press CONTROL J: To eject a CD. 

As usual, shortcuts such as CONTROL A, CONTROL C, etc, work as
normal for selecting, copying, pasting, etc.

Note: Some of the above shortcuts may clash with your
screenreader's own special hot keys, so if this happens use your
screenreader's bypass or allow next key through hot key first,
e.g. INSERT 3 with JAWS, INSERT B with Window-Eyes and CONTROL
Numpad 7 with HAL.

5.10. How to Create Your Own Radio Station

There are now several ways you can create your own radio station
for Webcasting purposes, so that you can host your own radio
station.

5.10.1. On Live 365

You can do this for a monthly charge (it used to be free) by
signing up at:

www.live365.com

When you will be allocated a free Web radio station with 365 Mb
of media storage space at your disposal. You can use this to host
music, chat shows, comedy programmes, etc. 

You would upload your programme material in MP3 format, select
the order you want clips to play in and the site will run these
in a loop continuously until you change the material by uploading
another programme. 

In March 2003, Live 365 introduced an online music library, which
is a secure online record pool for recording labels and artists
to make their music available to the Live 365 community. So, if
you are a musician,  you can upload your own created music to the
library and listen to music from other contributors.Its at:

www.live365.com/musiclibrary

You would record, mix and edit your audio material with a sound
recording and editing program like Cakewalk, Cool Edit, Sound
Forge or GoldWave and then convert your sound files to MP3
format. Then you upload these MP3 files to the Live365 server.
You can purchase and download the GoldWave audio editor from:

www.goldWave.com

Or just download the demo first and test it to see if it suits
your purposes and purchase it later.

After putting your radio show together or creating your own music
tracks, you would upload these sound files using an FTP (file
transfer protocol) client, such as FTP Explorer, which is similar
to an HTTP Web browser but with file uploading abilities. You can
download a free copy of FTP Explorer from:

www.ftpx.com

5.10.2. On Yahoo Launchcast

In a similar vein to Live 365, Yahoo offers the Launchcast
service for you to host your own radio programmes from. It is a
browser-driven radio station at:

 htpp://launch.yahoo.com/launchcast

5.11. Promote Your Own Station on the Streammadness Mailing List 

The "Streammadness" mailing list permits you to promote your own
show or radio station. Anyone interested in listening to such
streaming audio can also join the list to learn about up and
coming broadcasts from stations around the world. To Join this
e-mail list send a blank message to:

streammadness-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

5.12. Sharing Streaming Audio Content Over the Net by Peercasting

Whereas webcasting is concerned with creating your own music or
other audio content station and uploading these to a server for
listeners to stream and here the content from, "peercasting" is
where you use file sharing technology to share audio directly
between peercast participants' computers, i.e. you can stream and
listen to audio from John Smith's PC and he could do likewise
from yours if you are both signed up to the peercasting system.
Note, however, that this service will only work in a tolerable
fashion if you have a broadband connection to the Internet. You
can join up with such a peercasting provider at:

www.peercast.org

5.13. Recording/Ripping Streaming radio Audio to Disk 

If, whilst listening to a radio station streaming from the
Internet, you would also like to rip (record) it to your hard
disk, you can obtain a number of software packages which can do
this. For example, you can download a program called Station
Ripper from:

http://ratajik.com/stationripper

You can also record straight to hard disk from a streaming audio
source with such programs as Total Recorder, Recall Pro and
GoldWave 5. A demo of the GoldWave sound editor can be downloaded
from:

www.goldwave.com 

5.14. Shortcuts for use with the BBCs own Accessible Streaming
Audio Player

Since early 2005 the BBC has been providing a set of players for
streaming audio content from certain types of programmes
including:

News Player
Weather Player
Sport Player
Radio Player

You can download this special RealPlayer streaming audio player
as directed in note 2 below.

When on the BBCs site and listening to this streaming audio you
can use a set of the BBCs own accessible hot keys to control how
the audio you hear behaves. These are:

Press ALT 0: To bring up the access keys guide.

Press ALT 1: To go to the home page.

Press ALT 2: To get to audio controls and information.

Press ALT 3: To jump to a list of shows, when IE users should
also then press ENTER.

Press ALT 4: To start and stop audio from playing.

Press ALT 5: To rewind by 15 minutes for speech programs only.

Press ALT 6: To rewind by one minute for speech programs only.

Press ALT 7: To move forward by one minute for speech programs
only.

Press ALT 8: To move forward 5 minutes for music programs only.

Press ALT 9: To move forward by 15 minutes for both speech and
music programs.

Press ALT Q: To increase the volume by 20 per cent.

Press ALT W: To decrease the volume by 20 per cent.

Note 1: If any of the above BBC player shortcut keys should
happen to clash with your own screenreader's hot keys, use your
screenreader's bypass hot key so that the above BBC keystroke
will then be allowed through to work, e.g. INSERT 3 with JAWS,
INSERT B with Window-Eyes and CONTROL Numpad 7 with HAL.

Note 2: You can download and install the BBC RealPlayer streaming
audio program from:

www.bbc.co.uk/radio/audiohelp_install.shtml

and follow the download and installation links supplied here.
Now, wehn you next activate a link to a BBC Internet radio
program or show, it should automatically play for you. 

Alternatively, for as long as it lasts (and if you can type the
following string without hitting a wrong key!), you may be able
to directly download the BBC RealPlayer streaming player from:

www.real.com/r/rdx.fail-click.r/software-
dl.real.com/215423af4c5657038506/windows/oem/bbc02d/rp10-bbc-en-
setup.exe

Note 3: If the BBC radio player does not suit you, or will not
work correctly for you (which many people have experienced), you
can still, as was always the case, use RealPlayer or Real
Alternative to stream audio with from the BBC site.

Note 4: Another way of listening to the BBC is via the below
Audio Network, where you can switch between playing stations with
only one keystroke:

www.yrguk.com/radio/bbc.htm

You can also listen to BBC audio from:

www.tafn.org.uk

5.15. Accessible BBC Current and Past Programs Listening Software

Since early in 2005 Manchester University has been writing and
freely supplying several blind-friendly programs to make finding
and listening to the BBC's online programmes quick and easy. They
are, in effect, easy to use front-end interfaces to the main BBC
Website, which itself is very large and may be difficult or time-
consuming to use from a screenreader perspective. The main two
of these are:

Accessible Radio
Accessible Listen Again

Their is also a program called "Accessible RSS" for viewing news
pages online.

These three accessible software packages for listening to BBC
programmes or viewing news headers can be downloaded from:

www.webbie.org.uk/downloads.htm

The links you are looking for to download each separate program
from are near the bottom of the home page and, after downloading
the .exe files, just press ENTER on them to start the
installation and follow the straightforward installation
instructions.

The software installs itself at and can be run from:

Start Menu\Program Files\Webbie

You do not need to have either Internet Explorer or RealPlayer
running to use these programs.

For example, to use the Accessible Radio software, having
downloaded and installed it as directed above, you would:

1. Go online onto the Internet.

2. Press WINDOWS key, then P (for Programs), W several times
until you get to "Webbie" and then press ENTER.

3. ARROW down to "Accessible Radio" and press ENTER.

4. You will come into a list of national and local BBC radio
program titles to ARROW down. Leave focus on any of these, e.g.
"Radio 2", and TAB once to "Listen" and press ENTER. You will
hear this BBC radio program start to play for you after a short
pause.

5. At any time you can TAB through other buttons in this
interface, e.g. TAB to "Stop" and press ENTER to stop the playing
of the program you are listening to.

6. If you want to listen to a different program, just stop your
current program from running and then ARROW to another program
in the above programs list and start that playing as before.

Listening to Past BBC Programmes

If you wish to listen to recently broadcast programs which you
have missed hearing earlier (usually limited to the last seven
days), you can do this in the same way as you used the Accessible
Radio software but this time using the Accessible Listen again
software. You launch it as in steps 1 to 3 above but this time,
in the list of available radio programmes mentioned in step 4
above, you ARROW down a list of past programs to listen to.
Currently only Radio 4 programs are available in this list and
not all Radio 4 programs at that but, perhaps, this list will
grow as this program matures and newer versions are released.

Viewing RSS News Headlines

If you would like to view headlines and, if you wish, be taken
to Web pages with more information on them in respect of those
news headlines, you can use the Accessible RSS reader, again
found in the above list of accessible readers. ARROWING to and
pressing ENTER on any headline in the list of headlines will take
you to Web pages with more details elsewhere on the Net. You can
elect to get your headlines from such as the BBC headlines feed
source or you can choose several other news headline source
providers for this purpose.

                           ********

                          >SECTION 6

       DOWNLOAD MANAGERS, ADVERTISEMENT BANNER REMOVERS,
             COOKIE CRUNCHERS AND SPYWARE REMOVERS

A download manager is a piece of software which may perform a
variety of functions for you but is mainly intended to speed
up your software downloads and, wherever possible, pick a
download up and continue from that point for you if you get
cut off part-way through a download. Both can save you much
download time and thus expense, particularly if you have an
unreliable pay-as-you-go connection to your ISP and you do not
have a broadband Internet connection.

On the other hand,  cookie removers and advertisement removers
(also known as spyware removers) are software which root out
unwanted tracker cooky files (but not those you have accepted and
therefore want to keep) and removes them and may also be able to
find and remove unwanted advertising banners which some sites and
software plant on your computer. Some of these tracker cookies
and other spyware files have the purpose of relaying information
back to a Website about your Internet surfing patterns so that
they can record this and use it themselves or sell it to
advertising and marketing companies for their ad campaigns.

6.1. Where to Obtain Freeware and Shareware Download Managers

There are many sources of freeware and shareware download
managers. One of the below should suit your needs.

6.1.1. Download Accelerator

The Download Accelerator software is free and can be
downloaded from:

www.speedbit.com

Download Accelerator 7 was released in 2004 and has many facets,
including: automatic integration with your Web browser, e.g.
Internet Explorer 4 and above, Netscape Navigator, etc; can
resume downloads from a long list of file-type extensions such
as MPeg, MP3, exe, zip, etc; automatic resume of failed
downloads; manual pausing and resuming of downloads;
Downloading in chunks from several servers simultaneously and
checking several servers to find the fastest before commencing
a download to enhance downloading speed; it promises no spyware
will be placed on your computer; and so on (see the
"Example of Using a Download Manager" sub-section below for how
to use this software).

6.1.2. Download Wonder

This is a freeware download program which can be obtained from:

www.forty.com

6.1.3. RealDownload

This one is from RealNetworks and is shareware
which will run for 128 days, when you then need to pay thirty
dollars to register it. The RealNetworks advertisement banner
will then disappear. The Realnetworks home page is at:

www.realnetworks.com

6.1.4. GetRight

Getright is a manager which can pause, resume and schedule
downloads for later. It has a beginner's basic mode to make
things simple but the advanced mode provides more features. If
you later register the software for around twenty dollars, the
advertisement banner which comes with it will
disappear. It can be downloaded from:

www.getright.com

6.1.5. DLEXPERT

Here is a manager which can resume a broken download, can
download files in parts to speed things up, can run a virus
checker as soon as a download has finished and can employ sounds
to report events. It integrates with Internet Explorer and
automatically looks for URLs written to the Clipboard. It has no
advertising banners and is a free download from:

www.yanew.com

6.1.6. regit

This is yet another source for a download manager from:

www.regit.com

It incorporates most of the standard downloading enhancement
features.

6.1.7. Download Assistant

When installed, Download Assistant finds your browser and
integrates itself with it. It then links itself up with your
anti-virus software and uses it to scan programs as they are
downloaded. It has an Internet Explorer-style interface, comes
without company advertising banners and is free for the first
month. Thereafter, to register it, the price is thirty dollars.
It can be downloaded from:

www.downloadassistant.com

6.1.8. Download Butler

This provides the standard range of download features but you
have to copy the link you want to go to and paste it into the
Download Butler window to get things started. Its shareware and
you have to pay thirty dollars to register it after 30 days
trial. It can be found at:

www.downloadbutler.com

6.1.9. Tweakdun

This is not, strictly speaking, a download manager.
What Tweakdun does is speed up your downloading times by
making changes to such as your Win.ini file and tweaking your
ISP to discover the highest MTU (maximum transition unit)
setting you can use on your PC to get the best out of your
MODEM using that ISP. An MTU is the largest packet size or piece
of information that can be given to your computer in one
chunk over the Internet. The software can be downloaded from:

www.pattersondesigns.com

6.1.10. Go!zilla

This is another multi-facetted download manager which is free of
charge. it can, however, be somewhat in-your-face
during downloads. It is available at:

www.gozilla.com

However, I would advise against this one as it is known to also
place tracker cookies on your hard disk as well.

6.1.11. Winget

Winget is a download manager which integrates itself with your
browser and can automatically re-establish broken downloads. You
download a zip file from:

www.listsoft.com/13633

The download link is near the bottom of the home page. After
unzipping the downloaded file, you install the program from the
file called "winget.msi".

6.2. Where to Obtain Advertising Banner, Spyware and Cookie
Removers

There are many sources of freeware and shareware cookie and
spyware removers. One of the below should suit your needs.

6.2.1. Ad-Aware

Ad-Aware allows you to find and safely remove known cooky and
other types of spyware parasites which are installed on your PC
when you download certain programs, go onto some Websites and
install software from dodgy CDs. It can also detect and remove
undesirable entries made in your computer's registry file by
unauthorised Websites and software. Therefore, the spyware
perpetrators will not be able to track your movements on the Net
and sell this information to advertising and marketing companies.
Free programs such as Audio Galaxy, Gator, Bearshare and Go!zilla
carry such spyware. At the time of writing the most up-to-date
version of Ad-Aware is 6.05, Build 181, which can be freely
downloaded from:

www.lavasoftusa.com  

(See the "Example of Using a Spyware and cooky Remover"
sub-section below for how to use this software.)

6.2.2. Popupkiller

This free advertisements removing program is found at:

www.software.sfx.net

6.2.3. Cookie Cruncher

Here is a free cookie remover to get rid of any spyware cookies
which have been lodged on your hard disk without your knowledge
or permission from:

www.rbaworld.com

6.2.4. Cookie Muncher

This is another cookie remover but this time downloadable from
a site which boasts blind-friendly software downloads and
programs. It is specifically for Internet Explorer users but IE
must not be running when you use it. It is freely downloadable
from:

www.blindsoftware.com

Warning: Running the last-mentioned two pieces of software will
remove all cookies, including any you might have wanted to keep,
so use them with care. Remember, block removing cookies might
mean you can no longer access certain Websites or Web pages
because of the absence of the required cookie. You might like to
use the below cookie viewer before deciding wither or not to
block delete all cookies.

6.2.5. Karen's Cookie Viewer

This screenreader-friendly program lets you view your cookies and
decide which you want to keep and which to remove. Download it
from:

www.karenware.com

6.2.5. Proxomitron

Proxometron is a powerful cookie and banner manager and remover
which can also do much more and it is free. You can have it
reformat and render in the way you want such things as forms,
blinking text, JAVA script, frames, etc. You can have these
things removed or displayed as text. It can be downloaded from:

www.proxomitron.info

6.2.6. Spyware Doctor

Spyware Doctor is from a famous software producer called PCtools.
It has a paid-for version which is kept up to date with the
latest signature files and has a larger variety of options than
you get in the Free version. However, the free version will still
allow you to find, remove and quarantine spyware. Spyware Doctor
can detect tracker cookies, Windows Explorer and Internet
Explorer hijackers, trojans, malware files and key counters. It
has an interface which is quite usable with screenreaders and can
also run an "Onguard" option in the background to keep your
system monitored to detect any spyware as you use it. Note,
though, as stated, the free version is not as up to date with
spyware fingerprints/data files as the purchased version. You can
download it from:

www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/?ref=download.com

6.2.7. Spybot Search&Destroy

Spybot Search&Destroy can find and remove tracker cookies,
trojans and other kinds of malicious code. It is downloadable
from:

www.safer-networking.org

6.2.8. Online Cooky, banner and other Spyware Removers

There are also some online Websites which will let you log onto
them via the Internet and get the software on the Website server
to scan your computer for spyware, scumware and other unwanted
parasites whilst you are online, for example at:

www.spywareinfo.com/xscan.php

and

www.doxdesk.com/parasite

but you may also have to download some software from these kinds
of sites first to be able to do this.

You can also obtain a free scan of your system for unwanted
cookies and spyware on the Zone Labs site at:

www.zonelabs.com

where you can also,if you like, download a free Internet firewall
called Zone Alarm, which is reasonably screenreader-friendly.

6.3. Step by Step Example of Using a Download Manager--Download
Accelerator 7.4

It must be said that Download Accelerator supports very few
shortcut keystrokes but, nonetheless, its menu options and
dialogue boxes are reasonably user-friendly, and it does most of
its important work automatically in the background anyway. Its
only shortcuts are CONTROL O to open a file and CONTROL S to save
a file. Note, also, that when not online all of the "Start
Download", "Download Now", "Resume All", etc, features are
disabled. These will only become available after you go on line.
Still, not all options will be usable, presumably because you
only get access to the full program if you buy the fully
featured version, e.g. Virus Checking may remain disabled,
depending on the version of DAP you are using. Moreover, whether
this particular download manager or one of the others listed
above works best for you will, of course, depend largely on your
personal preferences and the make and version of screenreader you
use.

6.3.1. Download and Installation

1. See the general description of this manager in the above sub-
section for a description of its range of features. Download
Accelerator can be downloaded free from: 

www.speedbit.com

Just TAB four times from the top of the home page to a link which
ends in/dap74.exe and press ENTER.

Or, if you cannot find it on the many pages and links on the
Speedbit site, provided they have not changed things again (which
they do often), you should be able to get the download started
by typing the following URl and path of:

www.speedbit.com/redir.asp?id=2308&filename=dap74.exe

It should only take 10 to 15 minutes to download with a 56K
modem.

2. Locate the dap74.exe" file (or whatever name is given to any
later version) on your hard disk with Windows Explorer--it may
have gone to your Desktop or to any folder which you have
specified as your default download folder in advance. Press ENTER
on the filename and it will start to install. 

3. TAB to and complete the user details and other questions,
pressing ENTER on "Next" each time it appears, until you reach
the "Finish" button to complete the registration and
installation.

4. Download Accelerator will now run a wizard which will ask you
for certain facts, such as if you use a proxy server and if you
use a firewall,  and it will run a connection check for you on
this information, so you will need to go online at this point so
that it can achieve this successfully. You then again eventually
end up on another "Finish" button to press ENTER on to compleat
things.

5. Lastly, for Download Accelerator to work properly, you should
restart your computer. 

6.3.2. Using Download Accelerator

1. A. Download Accelerator integrates itself with your Web
browser and so automatically runs in the background every time
you go onto the Net and download a file with one of its
supported file extensions, e.g. MPeg, MP3, zip, exe and many
more. If you are
downloading a file which is not supported, you can still
achieve this but you must do it by holding down the CONTROL
and ALT keys whilst clicking on or pressing ENTER on the file
download link.

1. B. As the download is taking place, you should be able to
go into navigation or mouse mode and observe certain pieces of
information, such as the fact that Download Accelerator is
actually functioning, the speed of download in Kbs per second,
the filename of the file you are downloading, the place it is
being downloaded to on your hard disk, the remaining time it
will take to complete the download, whether the site you are
on supports resumption of downloads should you get cut off,
etc.

2. A. If you wish to run the software manually, launch the
program from your Desktop or by navigating to:

C:\Program Files\Download Accelerator\Download Accelerator

and by pressing ENTER.

2. B. Running it in this way lets you view the various menus on
the menu bar by pressing ALT and ARROWING right, left, up and
down through the menus and options.

2. C. To get Download Accelerator to download a file manually,
press ENTER on the "Add New Download" option in the Download
Menu. Then
type the exact filename in here and press ENTER. Remember, it
must be the path to the precise place and filename you want,
which must start with http:// and end with a supported
filename extension. You may not know such precise information,
however, so just relying on it running automatically as in 1A and
B above may be preferable. 

6.3.3. Resuming a Lost or Paused Download

1. To pause a download, with the DAP program having been launched
manually, press ALT D, P. You may wish to do
this if you have to turn your PC off or if you urgently need
to use it for something else in the middle of a long download,
for instance.

2. Alternatively, should your download be unexpectedly cut off
for any reason, you should be able to resume downloading from
where the download was cut off by Launching Download Accelerator
whilst online.

Note: You must be online to achieve the below results.

3. A list of downloaded files will appear on screen after
launch (you may have to view these in mouse mode).

4. Press ALT D (for download) and ARROW up to the "Resume All"
option and press ENTER to recommence downloading of any
accidentally cut-off or willingly paused downloads. All
files/programs which are currently in your "Add New Download"
list (whether added manually via the URL Menu or by allowing
Download Accelerator to run in automatic mode) which have been
deliberately or inadvertently cut-off will be picked up and, if
at all possible, the downloads will be recommenced from where
they were cut off. You will be advised of the successful
resumption of any downloads.

5. You will be told when the download resumption is complete
and where the file has been placed, which is likely to be your
Desktop unless you have changed the default.

6. If you want to have a good look at the configuration
defaults (usual settings) which Download Accelerator uses (and
perhaps change
some of these), with DAP running manually, press ALT T (for
Tools) and then O (for Options" and also press ALT D (for
download) and ARROW up to
"Properties" and press ENTER whilst online. One interesting
option here which can be enabled is "Always Resume" whereby
files of between 300 Kb and 10 Mb can be automatically resumed
with a slow MODEM as soon as you go back on line. However, the
program authors recommend that you resume a lost download
manually as outlined above for the most reliable results.  

7. To remove all of the download URLs/filenames from your
Download Menu "Add New Download" list either press ALT D and then
ENTER on "Remove", or when you have the focus on one of them
press DEL to remove only that single URL.

6.3.4. Changing Configurations with the DAP 7.4 Configuration
Wizard

You can change all of the configurations you firstly selected
when installing DAP by using the Configuration Wizard.

1. Go online first, otherwise things will not work. Then launch
DAP from its place on your hard disk.

2. Press ALT T (for Tools) and then C (for Configuration Wizard).

3. TAB to "Next" and press ENTER. 

4. You will now be taken through the same or very similar pages
and options as were offered to you earlier in the installation
section above. Just deal with them in the same way.

5. If you are running this wizard because your computer set-up
has changed, for example, if you have installed a firewall, you
will be able to make changes in here. For instance, the fourth
step you come to will offer you the opportunity to change your
option from not having a firewall installed to "I am Using the
Firewall Application Selected Below" and TABBING once from here
will enable you to ARROW down several options of firewalls, such
as Sygate, Zone Alarm, etc, to the one you are using.

6. The configuration will be tested online and you will be told
if it succeeded. It will only succeed if you are online before
running this wizard. 

Note 1: With Download Accelerator, you can recommence a broken
download simply by going to the original download link with your
browser and asking for another download with the same conditions,
e.g. "Save to Disk", same filename, etc. Download Accelerator
will recognise that there has already been a part download of
this same file and offer to recommence from where you last left
of. You will be on the "OK" button, so just press ENTER to
recommence. This, in practice, therefore means that, after
setting DAP up from its own interface after launching it, you
rarely have to do this again, as it will automatically run itself
in the background every time you go online with your browser to
find the best download sites, record the state of download of
files in case they are cut-of, etc, without you having to do
anything more yourself. 

Note 2: With the more up-to-date versions of Download
Accelerator, such as Version 7.4 which is being considered here,
you get a Search and a Media menu which you can use to search for
music files and other media files on the Net and on your 
hard disk. You also have access to an "FTP" menu to have FTP
downloads monitored and resumed if they are lost.

Note 3: Again, with later versions of DAP, you may find that
every time you turn your computer on DAP tries to take you online
by opening up the Windows Dial-Up dialogue. If this happens, and
you do not want to go on line at this time, just press the ESCAPE
key several times to stop this.

6.4. Step by Step Example of Using a Spyware and cooky Remover--
Ad-Aware

Ad-Aware does not support keyboard shortcuts of its own but is
still usable with a screenreader. You can use it by going into
your screenreaders mouse mode and left or right clicking on
buttons and options, etc, or, with some versions of Ad-Aware, you
can use special JAWS scripts to automate the procedure, if you
are a JAWS user. (See the general description of this spyware
remover earlier in this section for an idea of its full range of
features.)

6.4.1. Download and Installation

Ad-Aware Version 6.05 can be downloaded free from: 

www.lavasoftusa.com  

or

www.jfwlite.com/programs

You receive a typical self-extracting .exe file, which will
download to your Desktop by default or wherever else you specify
that it should go.

To install Ad-Aware from this .exe file:

1. Locate the downloaded file and press ENTER or SPACEBAR on it.

2. The installation is fairly straightforward and typical of
Windows. It opens on the welcome screen and you just TAB to
"Next" and press ENTER.

3. Next comes the licence agreement, so TAB to "Next" and press
ENTER.

4. The next screen of information tells you that the program will
be installed at:

C:\Programs\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware6

so TAB to and press ENTER on "Next" again to accept this.

5. You now encounter a list of additional extras to the standard
program and English language to install if you like, including
the Ad-Aware user manual and several other languages. TAB to this
list and select any extras you might want, e.g. the first option
is to install the user manual, so press SPACEBAR to select this
and then TAB to "Next" and press ENTER. If you want to install
all of these extras, you could have pressed CONTROL A to select
all in the above list.

6. You TAB again to the "Next" button and press ENTER.

7. Lastly, after a few seconds installing time, you TAB to and
press ENTER on the "Finish" button to complete the procedure.

Ad-Aware will have been installed and a shortcut will
automatically have been placed on your Desktop from which to
launch it.

6.4.2. Using Ad-Aware from its On-Screen Interface

Ad-Aware does not have a conventional Windows-style Menu Bar and
sub-menu system. You have to do everything via buttons and
checkboxes on the main screen in mouse mode.

For people not using JAWS or without the correct version of JAWS
and/or Ad-Aware, you can use it as directed below. However, if
you are a JAWS user, you may wish to skip to the sub-section
after the one immediately below and try using Ad-Aware with the
special Ad-Aware JAWS scripts which sometimes work with it.

1. start Ad-Aware from its shortcut on the Desktop or from its
place of installation in Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware6.

2. You now go into your screenreader's mouse/navigation/jaws mode
and ARROW down the screen from the top to get an idea of what is
on there. Three-quarters of the way down the screen you will
encounter a "Scan Now" button and you should place your cursor
on this and then press your screenreader's left mouse click key.
In future it will be quicker to start finding this "Scan Now"
button by going straight to the bottom of the screen and ARROWING
up to it. You can also start a scan by activating the "Start"
button. 

3. If you are not automatically taken to a "Next" button you will
have to go to the bottom of the next screen which comes up and
then ARROW up to this "Next" button and again left click on this
to commence the scanning of your system. This scanning/checking
for spyware may take more than 10 minutes.

4. If some form of spyware cooky or other spyware file is found,
Ad-Aware will emit an unpleasant warning sound and give you the
opportunity of selecting and deleting these unwanted files. You
can delete them as outlined in the next sub-section.

Ad-Aware sends its deleted files to what is known as the
"Quarantine", where you can later examine them and completely
delete them if you wish. Ad-Aware keeps a count of the number of
times you have scanned your system with it, of how many spyware
files it has removed from your computer and of how many such
files it currently holds in its objects quarantined folder.

6.4.3. Removing Detected Spyware

If Ad-Aware tells you that it has found spyware files or unwanted
running processes or registry entries on your system, you should
remove them as follows:

1. After the warning sound (in mouse mode) you should ARROW down
the screen to a "Next" button and press ENTER. However, in some
cases, you may find that you are automatically taken to this
"Next" button. 

2. Now ARROW down the screen to just past the "Scan Complete" and
"Summary" lines to a list of objects found which will have their
filenames in a list.

3. On any of these found objects just press your right mouse
click simulation key to bring up a menu which you can ARROW up
or down to a "Select All" option to press ENTER or SPACEBAR on.
You can also select such as tracker cookies only for deletion and
have a copy of your Windows registry copied to hard or floppy
disk for examination to find suspect lines of code in it for
removal. Note that not all screenreaders can "see" this Context
menu list of options without you going into mouse mode.

4. Again locate another "Next" button in mouse mode and left
click it.

5. Lastly, near the top of the screen, you locate an "OK" button
to press ENTER or left click on to complete the removal to the
quarantine of your spyware files.    

6. If you have finished with Ad-Aware, just press ALT F4 to close
it down.

6.4.4. Emptying the Ad-Aware Quarantine Folder

When you have several spyware files in the quarantine objects
folder, you can empty it by:

1. ARROWING to the "Quarantine Objects" or the "Open Quarantine
List" button on screen in mouse mode and pressing your
screenreader's left mouse click key on it.  
2. On the next screen go to any one of the named objects and
press your screenreaders right mouse button on this. You may also
find that pressing SHIFT F10 works wen on this screen.

3. In the Context Menu which opens up, ARROW to "Delete All
Archives" and press ENTER on this to finish.

4. All spyware may have been deleted from the Quarantine folder
at this stage or you may firstly have to press ENTER on an "OK"
button to confirm.

5. If you have nothing else to do in Ad-Aware, press ALT F4 to
close it down.

Note: Ad-Aware is not the most screenreader-friendly program you
will ever encounter but, unfortunately, not many of these free
spyware utilities are. The most difficult thing you are likely
to encounter is the step where you have to select the found
spyware files before they can be deleted. Sometimes, particularly
if it has only found one suspect file, you cannot get focus on
this file to select it. Using your screenreader's route cursers
together command whilst on the found objects list may succeed in
opening the Context Menu to select files for deletion. You may
then be able to ARROW down the Context Menu to the delete all
option or you may have to go into mouse mode with your
screenreader to be able to view and hear these menu options and
left click on the one you want; it really does depend on the
version of Ad-Aware and on the screenreader and version of that
screenreader you have as to how you will have to approach this.
It seems that Ad-Aware gets more and more unusable without
special scripts and sets each time you downlod updated data and
signature files. 

6.4.5. Using Special JAWS Scripts to Automate the use of Ad-Aware

If you are a JAWS user, you can download the special scripts for
use with Ad-Aware from:

www.jfwlite.com/programs

and they should be put into the usual scripts folder of, for
example:

c:\jaws51\settings\enu
(with JAWS 5.1)

or

c:\documents and settings\user name\application data\freedom
scientific\jaws 6.0\settings\enu
(with JAWS 6.0)

Whether these scripts will work for you will depend on the
version of JAWS you have and the version of Ad-Aware which is
current at the time you download the scripts. If they do not work
for you, you can still use Ad-Aware in mouse mode as directed
earlier in this section.

The basics of how you use these scripts is as follows:

1. Start Ad-Aware from the icon on your Desktop.

2. Press CONTROL S to activate the "Scan Now" button.

3. Press CONTROL N to activate the "Next" button to start the
scan.

4. Wait for the scan to complete (which could take 10 minutes or
longer, depending on how much software you have on your hard
disk) and then press CONTROL M to mark all of the spyware
detected. You will know if some spyware is found because the
program emits a quite horrible warning sound wen it finishes
scanning. If no spyware is present on your computer, you will be
told that nothing was found and there will be no warning sound
heard.

5. If some spyware is detected, you then press CONTROL N for
"Next" and you will be asked whether or not you wish to delete
the files. Press ENTER on the "OK" button to delete them and
finish. If no spyware was detected and therefore none was marked,
you can exit by simply pressing ALT F4.

6.4.6. Updating Ad-Aware's Scanning Files

In a similar vein to keeping a virus-checker up to date with the
latest virus data files, you must keep Ad-Aware updated by
allowing it to go onto the Internet regularly and download and
automatically install updates to its data files. You might wish
to do this once a week or at least once a month. Do this by:

1. Locate (in mouse mode) The "Open Web Update" button near the
top of the opening Ad-Aware screen when you launch it and left
click on this. 

2. Then ARROW down the screen to a "Connect" or "Connect
Settings" button and left click this.

3. If you have an always on line Internet connection, you will
immediately start receiving the update download. If you have a
dial-up connection, you will find yourself in your usual dial-up
dialogue box to go onto the Net with and start receiving the
download. The downloaded update will automatically install and
update itself on your system.

********

                           >SECTION 7

                       INTERNET BANKING

7.1. Online Banking Introduction and Security

Whilst some Internet banking sites can be a little tricky to use
from the keyboard, others are perfectly usable after a little
practise. Many sites have a demo or dummy run feature on them for
you to familiarise yourself with and determine if a particular
banking site is for you and see if they are usable with your
screen reader. Once set up, Internet banking can provide a
relatively quick and very convenient method of transacting
business or viewing your savings and obtaining up-to-date bank
statements. In many cases, you can also obtain some of the best
rates of interest from online banking. Such banking is invariably
conducted in a Secure environment, as all
transactions and personal details are heavily encrypted and made
as secure as possible from outside influences. You will be
advised when you are about to enter such a secure page and when
you are about to leave it (for more on security, see "Security
Issues" in Section 3).

A number of Internet banking sites are listed below for you to
have a look at but one I can personally confirm is usable is that
offered by the Nationwide building society. The E-Savings account
provides a good rate of interest, at around 5 per cent gross as
of January 2005, and so is one of the two sites which I have
chosen for my below detailed example of how
to use Internet banking. 

7.2. A Selection of Internet Banking Sites

I have not opened accounts on any of the banks in this list,
other than the Nationwide and ING Direct, so I cannot comment
precisely on their usability and navigability, but the sites
looked OK when I went onto them for a general browse around. It
is not practicable, of course, for me to open several accounts
on numerous bank sites. You will have to try them yourselve to
see which works best for you if you do not wish to experiment
with the Nationwide or ING Direct. The details given in this list
were correct as of the middle of January 2005, but are, of
course, subject to change at the banks' will. In particular the
rates of interest will not stay the same for long. 

 7.2.1. Smile Online Bank

Smile Internet banking HQ is in Skelmersdale and their Website
is at:

www.smile.co.uk

Smile have six types of online account. The savings account is
called "Savings Account" and usually provides a good rate of
interest and even more interest if you also open a "Current
Account" with them as well. Smile is an Internet-only bank, so
it has no branches of its own. However, they are allied to the
Co-Operative bank, so you can transfer
cash there to pick up personally if you wish. You can also use
your banking card at the Post Office to obtain up to œ100 in
cash. The Smile bank, via its current account,  also provides all
of the normal banking facilities, such as a chequebook and credit
and direct debit facilities, etc. For more details, phone 0870
8432265 or just have a look on the above Website.

7.2.2. Cahoot Online Bank

Cahoot are at:

www.cahoot.co.uk

This is another bona fide internet-only bank but this time allied
to the Abby National. Cahoot's current account usually pays a
good rate of interest. It provides instant access together with
the ability to set-up standing orders and direct debits but there
is no chequebook supplied. There are some online accounts with
chequebooks but the rates of interest are lower. Cahoot allow
œ250 overdraft at no charge and provide a credit card at only
around eight per cent interest. For more details phone 0870
6000655 or just have a look on the above Website. 

7.2.3. Halifax Bank

The Halifax's Internet banking site is at:

www.halifax-online.co.uk

It is a savings-only account, so you cannot have a chequebook
with it, set up standing orders, etc. However, you can have your
wages paid into it and you can transfer money from it to other
Halifax accounts which have chequebooks, and the like. This
account is called the "Websaver". It usually pays a good rate of
interest. For more information, phone 0845
6039010 or just have a look on the above Website.

7.2.4. First Direct Bank

Here is another Internet banking provider at:

www.firstdirect.com

The three possible online accounts, rather unimaginatively, are
called "Savings Account", "Current Account" and "Credit Card
Account". You can transfer money on the Net from one to the other
but the Savings Account does not have such as chequebook and
direct debit facilities. It usually pays a reasonable rate of
interest. For more details call 0800 242424 or just have a look
on the above Website. 

7.2.5. Barclays Bank

Barclays Net banking site is called "E-Savings" and is found at:

www.ibank.barclays.co.uk

It can only be opened online and is used in conjunction with a
Barclays branch-based current account. No chequebook, standing
orders, etc, are available directly from the E-Savings account.
The interest rates tend to vary from around 1 to 5 pre cent gross
but will change frequently. For more information, phone 0845
6002323 or just have a look on the above Website.

7.2.6. Natwest Bank

Natwest's online savings-only account is also called "E-Savings".
It is at:

www.natwest.co/uk

You also have to have a standard branch-based current account
with which to transfer money to and from the E-Savings account.
As usual, no direct debits, standing orders, chequebooks, and the
like, are usable directly from the E-Savings account. The rates
of interest are usually reasonable. Further details from 0845
6025588 or just have a look on the above Website.

7.3. Step by Step Example of Opening and Using Online
Banking--The ING Direct Bank Site

The ING Direct bank is an online-only bank and so has no
traditional branches, although you can deal with their central
office via the telephone. You can open an account by phone or via
their Internet site. You can then withdraw funds using their
Website or using your phone pad buttons with their automated
procedures or by speaking to a member of staff to do this. This
bank only provides one account, which is a high interest saving
account giving one of the country's best rates of interest for
a savings account with no strings attached, e.g. no minimum
balance and no period of notice when withdrawing cash. To open
an ING Direct account, you have to have a linked feeder/receiver
or donor/receiver account with another bank or building society
from which to transfer money to and fro, e.g. a standard current
account with the likes of Barclays, Natwest, etc. ING Direct use
the BACS and CAPS transfer systems and monies you withdraw from
your ING account to your linked account will be available three
days after you request the transfer. You have to open your ING
account with a cheque initially, after which you can transfer
funds from your linked account to the ING Direct account and
withdraw funds from your ING Account to your linked account. You
can also top up your ING account with further cheques, if you
like.

Since the ING Direct Website is quite small, offering only one
account, I will exemplify the opening of this saving account
wholly online. The next example shows a more complicated site
with many accounts and facilities and I have opened that account
partly online and partly by visiting the local branch of that
building society. 

7.3.1. Opening an ING Direct Account Online

To open an ING Direct savings account online:

1. With your browser, go to:

www.ingdirect.co.uk

2. When the home page, which has only around 16 links on it, 
opens ARROW through some of the information and links and have
a look at some of these links by pressing ENTER on them, for
instance, the "About ING Direct", "About our high interest
savings account", etc.

3. TAB to the "Open an ING Direct Savings Account Now" link and
press ENTER.

4. ARROW past the initial links which appear on every page to
some paragraphs which advise you that to open an account you must
be at least 18, a UK resident for tax purposes, etc, and when you
reach the "Please click on the button below to open an account
in minutes" line, TAB once and press ENTER on the "Click here to
open an account now" link.

5. You now come onto the typical secure server dialogue to advise
you that no one else can view what you are doing now, so press
ENTER on the "OK" button you should already be on.

6. You now have to go through seven distinct steps to open this
account, as outlined below.

Step 1: Personal Details

You now start to complete the account opening procedure. Step one
of this is by far the most complicated and time-consuming and
potentially difficult. Typically, they say it will only take a
few minutes but, in reality, with a screenreader, it is more
likely to take you 30 minutes to complete everything. However,
the experience should give you a good idea of what this sort of
thing is all about and you may also in future encounter bank
accounts which will permit nothing else but online opening, so
this should be a good exercise in what to expect. 

1. After a few seconds, the Step 1 of 7 steps page will load in.
This first page wants your personal details. In order for you to
get some idea of the full titles of each editfield you will be
required to complete, ARROW down from the top to the bottom of
the screen to listen to each editfield title, as not all of them
will be spoken out to you when you go into forms mode and start
TABBING through them. You may even wish to use a recorder to
record this personal information page so that you know what all
editfields need you to type in but, of course, I will walk you
through this below.

2. From the top of this page, TAB or ARROW (or use your
screenreader's jump to first editfield hot key, e.g. CONTROL
SHIFT HOME in HAL, CONTROL INSERT HOME in JAWS and ALT Control
down ARROW or just the X key in Window-Eyes) until you get to the
first editfield entitled "Joint Account" and press ENTER (or
CAPSLOCK ENTER with HAL 6) to go into forms mode if your
screenreader does not automatically take you into forms mode. If
you are opening a joint account, leave this checked; if not,
ARROW to the "No" option to open an account for a single person.

3. TAB once to the "Title" field and ARROW down this list to
"Mr", Mrs", etc.

4. TAB again to the "Gender" list and ARROW to whatever you are.

5. Now TAB again to the first of three small editfields to enter
your date of birth into but the titles of these may not be spoken
by your screenreader. The first wants you to type in your day of
birth, e.g. 10 (for the 10th day); TAB once, the second your
month of birth, e.g. 08 (for August); TAB once again, and the
third field wants you to type in your year of birth, e.g. 1966.

6. Next TAB once to the "First Name" field and type your
Christian name in here; TAB then to "Middle Name" and type this
in if you have one; and then TAB to "Last name" and enter this.

7. Now TAB to "Postcode" and type this in here as normal.

8. You now TAB through a few flat name/number and house
name/number editfields, so, for example, if you live in a house
with no name and the number 20, just type "20" into the "House
Number" field.

9. Now TAB to the "Find my address" button and press ENTER, which
will cause the system to search for an find your full address,
etc, on its database of UK householders/residents. It will
display this on screen for confirmation. You will probably have
to come out of forms/editing mode (if you have not automatically
done so) to be able to read the screen more easily at this stage.

10. You next TAB or ARROW to a line which says that if you have
been in your current address less than three years, then you will
have to complete your last address details as well. This
comprises two editfields but it is not clear just what figures
it wants you to complete in these. What it wants in editfield
number one is the number of years you have been in your current
address, so type this in here, e.g. "10" for 10 years, and then
TAB once to the second field to type in the number of months,
e.g. "0" if you have lived there for over three years because
this field is not then of any particular importance. In the case
of you only having lived in your current address for less than
three years, for instance, enter 2 in the first of these fields
and, say, 4 in the second field for having lived their for two
years and four months. In this latter case, you will have more
editfields to complete with address details, etc, if you have
been here for less than three years.

11.   TAB to the next field, which is the "Phone Number" field,
and enter your correct phone number with your code in the first
of these fields and your main number in the second of these phone
fields, after pressing TAB to get on to it.

12. The next two presses of TAB take you to each of two mobile
phone number fields which you can complete if appropriate or
leave blank.

13. Now TAB once more to the "Email Address" field and type this
in here and TAB once again and type it in again to confirm it.

14. You now TAB to a "How did you hear about us" title with a
list of options to ARROW to and leave focus on the appropriate
answer, e.g. "Billboards", "TV", etc. If you now TAB again you
will get another list to be more specific in, e.g. if you chose
"TV" above, you will be able to ARROW to the channel you heard
the ad on, e.g. "ITV". 

15. Another press of TAB takes you to a useful box you can check
on if you like but the title to this box may not be spoken by
your screenreader. This is to receive quarterly statements in
large print if you are visually impaired. Going into forms mode
(by pressing ENTER) will permit you to check this on with the
SPACEBAR if it does not check on automatically for you. I have
suggested that they add another option to this for Braille
statements and that they attach editfield titles alongside of all
of their editfields so that screenreaders can "see" them and read
them out when in forms mode.

16. The next two editfields you TAB to are to do with completing
details if you are opening an account as part of a promotion and
you will therefore know what to enter in here if so; otherwise
just skip them.

17. Lastly, as part of step 1, you TAB to a "Continue" button to
press ENTER on. If you have completed everything correctly, you
will be moved to a new page for step 2 of the procedure. If you
have not completed a required editfield or given details which
the system knows to be incorrect, you will be told what the
problem is near the top of the screen and be able to go back and
correct this omission or mistake. Note that you cannot use
fictitious names, addresses, phone numbers, etc, to get you past
this stage. If you are experimenting with this site for
experience purposes only, you can use your correct personal
details at this and the next step and simply duck out and abort
the account set-up when you get to the final submission step. 

Step 2: Bank Details

You now have to supply your bona fide linked bank current account
details for the bank you wish to use as the account for money you
withdraw from the ING account to go into when you need to get
funds out of the ING account, such as your Barclays, Natwest,
HSBC, Lloyds TSB or other bank or building society current
account which you already have in your name.

1. On the next page, ARROW quickly past the usual header links
and you will encounter a Customer Number which will have been
allocated to you.

2. TAB to a link entitled "Your bank Sort Code" and go into forms
mode with ENTER and type in your current account with your linked
bank's Sort Code in a single six figure string with no spaces.

3. TAB once more and type your linked current account Account
Number in here.

4. TAB once to the "Find bank details" button and press ENTER.
These will be found and verified from their system and connected
databases and confirmed on screen.

5. Lastly for this step, TAB to "Continue" and press ENTER.

Step 3: Linked Account Details

1. On this new page you will be able to ARROW through information
about your bank details, when and how money will be transferred
from one account to another, i.e. from your linked current
account with such as Barclays, Natwest, Lloyds TSB, etc, and your
new ING Direct account. You will be given some direct debit
details. 

2. Then TAB to "Continue" and press ENTER.

Step 4: Direct Debit Guarantee

1. On the next page more direct debit details are provided to
ARROW through and you will be told that this DD will not be set
up until you send them an initial account opening cheque to open
the account. What is happening here is that ING Direct will be
setting up a DD between themselves and your linked bank current
account to permit the transfer of monies between both accounts. 

2. Then TAB to "Continue" and press ENTER.

Step 5: Personal Details Confirmation

1. You can on this page ARROW through a final check of the
details you have provided and their system has found to be sure
that they are all correct.

2. When you reach a "Please tick this box to confirm that you
agree to our terms and conditions" you will find alongside or
below it a checkbox which you will have to check on to be able
to move further, so press ENTER to activate forms mode and, if
the checkbox does not automatically check on, press SPACEBAR to
achieve this.

3. Now TAB to "Continue" and press ENTER.

Step 6: Account Options

1. If you are opening a joint account, you will have to complete
many of the same details you provided for yourself for the other
person to be named on this account.

2. After completing all required fields, TAB to "Continue" and
press ENTRE.

Step 7: Confirmation of Account

1. This last page is the confirmation page and also asks you to
give your account a name if you like but this is not essential.
ARROW through this last page to check all is in order, to note
your Customer and Account Numbers and to make a note of the ING
Direct address which you have to post your initial opening
account cheque to. You would be advised to print this page out
for your records (CONTROL P will achieve this). 

2. Lastly, this procedure ends by you TABBING to the last
"Continue" button to submit your details to the ING Direct
computer and finish this online registration. Note that if you
are only going through this example exercise for practice and
experience purposes, do not press ENTER on this final "Continue"
button but, instead, press ALT F4 to close things down and abort
the procedure. If you do want to open an account, press ENTER on
the final "Continue" button and your account will be set up on
the ING Direct computer pending them receiving your first check.
This essential account opening cheque will be awaited for 45 days
but if you do not ratify the account within this time, it will
be closed. You can, of course, also put more funds into your INg
account by sending them further cheques after your first one if
you wish, rather than transferring money from your linked current
account to them.

The postal address for your essential first account opening
cheque and any others you may also elect to send them is:

          ING Direct, 
          freepost NATW1784, 
          READING, 
          RG6 1BR.

Note 1: The above example, of course, is a practical exercise
example and demonstration of dealing with this type of banking
site. It is not the easiest of banking sites to complete forms
on but it is quite typical and is also a site with few links and
complications from an accounts choices point of view. If you want
to open an account with ING Direct and find the online forms to
difficult to complete, you can always just phone them on 0800
3768844 and a member of staff will open an account for you. You
can thereafter use the staff, the automated phone button system
or the Website to transfer funds to and from your account with
ING Direct and your linked current account.

7.3.2. Transferring Funds from Your ING Direct Account to your
Linked Current Account

The below procedure is somewhat tortuous at first but you soon
get used to it if you use it regularly. It may take you 15
minutes at first but only 5 minutes once you know what you are
doing. Again, it provides a typical procedure to go through to
deal with moving money around on an Internet banking site and so
is a good example to try your hand on as a practical exercise.

After you have deposited funds into your above opened ING Direct
savings account you may wish to get access to some of these by
transferring a sum to your linked current account at your regular
bank. You do this as follows:

1. With your browser, go to:

www.ingdirect.co.uk

2. On the home page TAB twice to the "Log into Bank online" link
and press ENTER.

3. The usual secure server notice will come up and you press
ENTER on the "OK" button to close this and move on.

4. On the Customer Login page which now loads in you should ARROW
down to the "Please enter your Customer Number" line and just
below this you will find an editfield to press ENTER on to go
into forms mode. type your Customer number straight into this and
then TAB to "Continue" and press ENTER.

5. The next page is where you entre any random three digits from
your six digit PIN number which the site asks for. This could be
the first digit of your PIN, the fourth digit and the fifth digit
or any other combination of three of these digits, so carefully
note which three of these figures it requests. Then ARROW further
down from this information paragraph to the word "PIN" and below
this come the editfields to type your PIN into. Press ENTER on
the first of these three fields to enter forms mode and then type
these three PIN digits one at a time. The cursor will jump to the
editfields automatically after you type each individual digit in.
Therefore, after typing the third of your required PIN digits in,
you can TAB once to the "Continue" button and press ENTER. Note
that after you have once carried out the next step, you no longer
have to provide a new memorable date as part of your security
details but will rather find three editfields just after the
above three fields for your PIN number and you can type your
memorable date in here as directed below but you only need to do
it once from this point onwards. It does not need confirming.

5. You will be able to type your current memorable date, place 
or name in at the above stage just after your PIN numbers if you
have already created one but, if not, you will have to make up
and type in a new memorable date for current and future use as
added security. So ARROW down the page to the first of six
editfields, each of which wants two digits typing into it. The
first three fields are for a day, month and year date entry (do
not use your own date of birth) and the second three are to
repeat these figures to confirm that you have done it correctly.
So, when you reach the first field, press ENTER to go into forms
mode and, for example, type 02 for the 2nd day of the month, "10
for October and 66 for 1966. As with the PIN fields, the cursor
automatically jumps to the next field for you as soon as you have
completed the current field. When you reach the fourth field,
just repeat the details of 02, 10 and 66.

6. Now TAB to "Continue" again and press ENTER.

7. The Account Summary page now comes up and you can TAB or ARROW
through several links and paragraphs of information to view your
most recent transaction on your account or accounts (you can have
more than one savings account). If you press ENTER on the "View
quarterly online statements" you will be able to see all of those
pertinent to your account when you have been using the service
for a while. Using the "Print" button below the above link will
send copies of your statements to your printer. To transfer money
from this account to your linked bank current account press ENTER
on the "Move my money" link near the top of the screen.

8. The Move My Money page loads in and you should ARROW past the
standard links at the top of the page to underneath the "Move
money from" line to a "Transfer from" line where, if you have
more than one savings account, you can ARROW to the specific
account you want to remove money from by its specific account
name (if you gave it one) or its number. You will have to open
this combobox by pressing ENTER, SPACEBAR or going into mouse
mode and left clicking on it to reveal your single or multiple
accounts. If you have only one savings account and you did not
give it a name when you set it up, it will simply be listed as
Account 1. 

9. Now ARROW down to a "Transfer to" line and put focus on the
linked current account you want to transfer the money to by
ARROWING to it if you have more than one linked account you can
transfer to.

10. Next ARROW down to the "Amount œ" line and then to an
editfield to press ENTER on to go into forms mode to type in the
amount you want to transfer. In the first field type the number
of pounds, e.g. 50 (but with no pence) and then TAB once to
another field where you type in the pence, e.g. 00, for œ50.00
altogether. You may hear your screenreader read out a decimal
point when you TAB to the second editfield for the pence.

11. Moving further down the page you will find a "carry out
transfer today" line with a checkbox to press ENTER on to check
on if it is not already checked on to move your money
straightaway but it is usually already checked on. Otherwise, you
can TAB to listboxes further down the page to a number of lists
where you can specify any future day and date you want the money
to be transferred on by ARROWING down these lists.

12. Lastly, TAB to "Continue" as normal and press ENTRE to
complete the transfer.

13. You then have to press ENTER on the "Log Out" link near the
top of the screen and you return to the home page and press ALT
F4 or ALT F, C to close down your browser. 

Note: Again be aware that if you find the above too problematic,
you can use the ING Direct phone service or their staff to
transfer funds to and from your accounts, so you will never be
left stranded without being able to get to your money (but do not
do this until you have mastered this site because you have
obtained this tutorial to become competent at using Internet
sites and forms!).

7.3.3. Other Facilities Available on the ING Direct Site

You have several of the usual facilities available on the ING
site after logging onto your accounts page. They include such as
viewing up-to-date statements, viewing your last few
transactions, viewing your present account(s) balance and quickly
opening more ING accounts as a known account holder.

7.4. Step by Step Example of Opening and Using Online
Banking--The Nationwide Building Society Site

With this high street building society, which also has an online
banking site, you can open an account entirely online or do part
of the opening by going to your local branch and part by going
online. As the last example was done wholly online, I will
exemplify the opening of this account by starting things off at
the local branch and then completing the process on their
Internet Website as, initially, some people may feel happier with
this until they become more accustomed to Internet banking. 

7.4.1. Making Arrangements with Your Local Branch and Providing
Identification

1. You will have to open two accounts: a "Flex" account, which
is a basic current account; and the actual "E-Savings" account,
which is for leaving any surplus cash in to earn higher interest.
For more information, phone the Customer Services on 0845
7302010.

2. Go to your local Nationwide branch with appropriate ID, e.g.
two or three up-to-date utility bills plus your Birth Certificate
or Passport, and open a Flex and E-Savings account.

3. You will be vetted for a debit card as well and a chequebook
and small overdraft facility. You will be told if your
application is accepted and then you go home to await further
details. 

7.4.2. What Happens Next

4. After seven or so days,  your Customer Number, Pass Number and
chequebook come through the post, all in three separate envelops.

7.4.3. Activating a Branch Opened Account Online

5.  At this stage you will have to "activate" the E-Savings
account before you can transfer money and access your account
details. Do this as in 6 to
9 below.

6. You sign on by going onto the site at:

www.nationwide.co.uk

 and by TABBING around 12 times to and pressing ENTER on the
"Sign on to Internet Banking" link. After a few seconds you will
be told that you are in a secure environment for sending and
viewing information, so press ENTER on "OK" or "Yes". Now you are
on the secure sign on page and you must complete several
editfields of information specific to you and your account, as
follows:

A. TAB or ARROW to the "Customer Number" heading and in the
editfield underneath this Type in your ten digit customer number
after pressing ENTER or SPACEBAR (or CAPSLOCK ENTER with HAL 6.03
and later) to go into your screenreader's forms and editing mode.

B. Then TAB once and type in one of your secret items of
"Memorable Information" in the next editfield below. You will
have chosen these whilst at the building society opening the
account.

C. You next come to a series of three single digit comboboxes
where you are required to provide three of the six digits of your
personal password which you will have been asked for. So again
press the TAB key and in the first of the next three combobox
editfields you do not type figures in but rather ARROW down a
list of digits to the required digit which the site requests from
you.Then TAB once to the next single digit field and ARROW down
to the figure which the site asks for and, lastly, TAB to the
third single digit field and ARROW to the necessary digit. 

D. Lastly, TAB to the "Sign On Now" button and press ENTER.  

Note: If you prefer, you can get directly to the secure log
on/sign on page instead of having to find the "Sign On" link on
the above home page by using the address path of:

https://olb2.nationet.com/signon/index2.asp

7. The next page is where you can now view the amounts in your
Flex account and any others you may have. It is also here where
you must activate the account. ARROW or TAB well down the page
to the "Flex Account" link and press ENTER. Then move well down
the next page to "Activate E-Savings" and press ENTER. 

8. You ARROW down the next page and have to check a box to say
you are a UK resident by pressing SPACEBAR and then type in your
country of residence, e.g. British. Otherwise, check the option
to say that you are not a resident and enter your country. TAB
and then press ENTER to say you agree to the terms and
conditions. You next TAB to a confirmation button and press ENTER
to confirm/send these details. This is the end of the "activate"
process which you only have to do once. If you make any mistakes,
you will be told what they are and be able to redo the mistake. 

9. When you have finished, you go back to near the top of the
page and press ENTER on "Sign Off" to finish. you will be told
that you can now close down your browser and log off.

You will now have another five days to wait before you can use
the activated accounts.

Note: You must go to and press ENTER on "Sign Off" every time you
use this site before leaving it.

7.4.4. How to Move Cash from One Account to Another Online

To transfer money between Nationwide accounts:

1. Load Internet Explorer (or your browser of preference), press
CONTROL O and then go onto the site by either typing into the
address bar: 

www.nationwide.co.uk

to get onto the home page; or

https://olb2.nationet.com/signon/index2.asp

to skip the home page and get straight to the Sign On page. If
you take this faster route, you are likely to get the secure
server message on screen at this stage and will have to press
ENTER on "OK" to close this and carry on.

2. Sign on as described in step 6 in the previous sub-section by
providing your Customer Number, Memorable word and the three
digits of your password which the system requests.

3. After the next page loads in, TAB down around nine times to
the "Transfer Money" link and press ENTER. This link is, in fact,
in the second frame on the site, so you could get here quicker
by pressing your screenreader's jump through frames hot key or
the Windows shortcut of CONTROL TAB and then by TABBING to the
"Transfer" link.

4. Now, on the next page which loads in, TAB down to a "From"
heading and press ENTER and you will then be in a drop down list
which you can ARROW up and down to highlight the account you wish
to move the money from. All of your accounts with the Nationwide
will be in this list. 

5. Now, again, just TAB once to another listbox headed "To" in
which you can ARROW up and down to put focus on the account you
wish the money to be transferred into. 

6. Next TAB once to a blank editfield where you type in the
amount you wish to transfer between your two Nationwide accounts.
Type the sum in here with no commas but using a decimal point if
necessary, e.g. 5000.25.

7. Lastly, TAB again to the "Transfer" button and press ENTER to
complete this stage of the transaction. Note that there is also
a "Clear" button here for you to use if you have made a hash of
the above and want to start again. 

8. You will be told that your transaction has been successful
and the processing of accounts affected will be confirm to you,
so press ENTER on the "OK" button. The money will normally be in
your other account by first thing in the morning. You can go back
to the "My Accounts" button near the top of the page to view the
changed balances on both of the relevant accounts at this stage
if you like. 

9. As always, you must then go back to near the top of the page
and press ENTER on the "Sign Off" link. You will get a "Yes" and
a "No" button to then use, the former being another way to view
your changed account details and the latter being a sign off
confirmation without further viewing. If you select the "Yes"
button, you can elect to either "Print this (activity summary)
Page in a Printer Friendly format" or "Download as a .CSV File"
for viewing in a spreadsheet. After a few seconds you
will be told that you can now close down your browser, as the
whole process is now complete. 

Note 1: Initially this money transferring process may take you
10 or 15 minutes but, after you are accustomed to the site and
where all the appropriate links are, you will probably achieve
the desired results in five minutes or so. If your screenreader
has a place marker feature, as does JAWS 5 onwards with the
CONTROL SHIFT K hot key, you could set several place markers at
strategic points on this site to be able to jump straight to them
quickly when you next use it (see section 1 above for more
details about how to do this with JAWS).

Note 2: Depending on the speed of your MODEM and CPU, it can take
quite a few seconds for some of the above pages to load for use.

7.4.5. Other Facilities available on the Nationwide Site

When you go onto the Nationwide home page, there are over 40
links which permit you to make use of general facilities such as
viewing the "Help" screens, go to the "Are You Paying the Right
Amount of Tax" link, check share prices with the "FTSE100" link,
use the "Branch and ATM Finder" link, and the like.

 After "Sign on" is achieved, as directed in 6 above, you have
many personal facilities available, such as obtaining account
statements, using e-mail links to send Nationwide a message,
checking if you have any messages from them, viewing the current
balances on all of your registered Nation wide accounts, 
viewing which retailers you can obtain discounts from as a
Nationwide customer, and so forth. To view the balances on your
accounts, go down to the heading "My Accounts" and view the
information on the lines immediately below this. 

You can transfer cash into other peoples' accounts at other
banks but you must first transfer it to your Flex Account and
then use the BACS or CAPS systems to achieve the transfer or use
your chequebook.

Credit cards can be applied for online and you can make use
of the Nationwide facility of requesting foreign
currency/travellers cheques and have them delivered to your door.

There are many more facilities available for you to browse
through and look at in your own time.

Note: Please remember that you can speed up the location of
headings and links by use of the find facility of your
screenreader or of Internet Explorer with the CONTROL F shortcut.
You can also, if your screenreader has a place marker facility,
insert markers at salient points on these pages to be able to
jump straight to them instead of having to TAB through the many
links on this site.
 
                           ********

                          >SECTION 8

INTERNET CHAT

8.1. Microsoft Chat with Windows 95 and 98

There are many Internet chat programs and chat rooms (places
where people meet online to discuss topics of mutual interest to
them), although some are better frequented than others and easier
to use with a screenreader. Large companies such as Microsoft,
Yahoo!, AOL, and the like, provide chat rooms of their own
creation and sometimes allow individuals and groups to create
their own chat rooms.

8.1.1. What is Internet Chat?

To call traditional Internet chat programs "chat" is a
misnomer--they would be more accurately described as Internet
type-talk programs--as there is no vocalisation involved. You
type a message to people on your keyboard and they respond by
typing back to you. The difference between chat and e-mail
programs is that with e-mail you type a message and send it
without expecting a reply immediately, whereas chat occurs in
real-time, which means you type a message and the person(s) you
are typing to sees it almost instantly and can respond to you
almost immediately and you will see the response straightaway.
So you are actually conducting a keyboard conversation. 

However, more recently (and particularly with the advent of
Windows XP) people have increasingly moved from chatting via the
keyboard to chatting in real-time vocally using such as
Microsoft's MSN Messenger or a program called Skype and a
microphone and speakers. This voice chatting will be covered in
Section 9. Indeed, the Microsoft Chat program is no longer
provided with versions of Windows after Windows 98 and ME.

8.1.2. Microsoft Chat Overview

There are two main types of chat sessions: private and group.
What you normally do is join a group "Chat Room" in which many
people are type-talking simultaneously, after which you may be
invited by one of the participants to a "Private Room" where
you can have a two-way conversation without you being in the
"Group Room". There are chat rooms which cover every
conceivable topic but be aware that one of the most common is
sex.

8.1.3. What can Chat Rooms be used for?

Chat rooms are useful for:

1. Public group chat rooms can be used as lecture forums for
experts to give answers to general public questions.

2. Worldwide technical support by software and hardware
vendors.

3. Families spread across the world can hold family chats.

4. Weekly chat sessions by international companies in a closed
chat room between their managers/staff.

5. Colleges could provide learning or mentoring sessions for
students via chat. 

Caution: Whilst group Chat sessions are obviously available
for anyone to observe, be aware that even private discussions
are not particularly secure because it is not too difficult
for someone with the knowledge to hack into these to eavesdrop.

8.1.4. Pen-Picture of the Microsoft Chat Screen in Text Mode

Generally speaking, most chat programs give their main screen
area over to three distinct windows: one for displaying
the textual details of what is being said in the present
conversation and who is saying it; the second is an editfield
where you may compose and type in your own comments to the group;
and thirdly there is a window which keeps track of who is
entering the chat room and leaving it during the conversation.

With the Microsoft Chat program, the top line of the screen will
contain the words "Microsoft Chat" with the name of the chat room
you are currently in. Under this comes the standard Menu Bar with
File, Edit, View, format, Room, Member, Favourites, Window and
Help. Under this there is a toolbar with quick click icons. Then
most of the rest of the main screen is taken up with the chat
text and each time someone has participated their code name or
nickname followed by "Says:" will be displayed and on the next
line will be shown the text they have typed in as their next
contribution to the conversation. 

8.1.5. Online Chat Rooms with Microsoft Chat

In Windows 95 the Microsoft Chat program is found in:

Start Menu\Program Files\Accessories\Internet Tools\Microsoft
Chat

In Windows 98 it is found in:

Start Menu\Programs\Internet Explorer\Microsoft Chat

But you may wish to create a shortcut to this on your Start
Menu or Desktop to obtain quick access to the chat program.

The Microsoft Chat utility is not provided with Windows XP, as
XP supplies a more advanced typing and voice chat utility called
Windows Messenger. You can also download an even better chatting
program called MSN Messenger, which will be covered in the second
part of this section. 

8.1.6. Using Microsoft Chat Version 2.5 with Windows 95 and 98

You may wish to jump straight in at the deep end and try the
below typically busy chat site but if you find this daunting
(whether before logging onto it or after logging on), just have
a look through this step-by-step section, then move to the
section below, entitled "Accessible Chat Specialist VIP Chat
Site", and try that first, to get a feel of what chat is about.
Note, however, that most standard chat sites will be
more like the ones provided by Microsoft Chat than the Accessible
Chat site is. 

8.1.6.1. Group Chatting

To chat with a group of people:

1. Launch Microsoft Chat but instead of going online immediately,
press the ESCAPE key and ENTER on OK to load the program offline.

You can then enter your personal details at your leisure by
pressing ALT V (for View) and then O (for Options), when you will
fall on the "Personal Info" property sheet. You type in details
such as your name, nickname, e-mail address, etc, by TABBING
through these editfields and then press ENTER on OK. You should
then close the program down with ALT F4.

2. Re-run Microsoft Chat and you will now encounter a dialogue
box from which to select the server you want to work with. You
can ARROW up and down several server choices, e.g. "Microsoft
Chat Servers", "Chat.Net", IRCnet, EFNet, etc. If you choose
EFNet, you should then go to OK and press ENTER. You should now
encounter your Dial-Up Network  "Connect" button to press ENTER
on to go online if you do not have an always online broadband
connection which would mean that you are already online. 

3. Besides type-talking to a group of people in these chat rooms
you can include links in your messages to Web pages, e-mail
addresses and send files and sounds, in addition to holding
private conversations with other chat room members. If someone
presses ENTER on a Web link (URL) shown on the chat screen, they
are taken to that Web page to view its contents and can then
return to the chat session after observing what the other chatter
was referring you to.

8.1.6.2. Chatting in Private Chat Rooms 

If you invite someone to a private room to have a two-way
conversation, you can make this invisible to those not invited
or specify an access password. 

8.1.6.3. Microsoft Chat Modes

There are two available chat modes when using the Microsoft Chat
program: text and comic chat. The latter being in pictorial form,
it will not be covered here. You ensure that you are in "Text"
mode by pressing ENTER on this option in the View menu. 

8.1.6.4. Microsoft Chat Commands

The Member Menu

If you go to the "Member" menu (Press ALT M) on the Microsoft
Chat Menu Bar you will find the following options if you ARROW
down it:

User List--Shows a list of people currently participating in
the chat session.

Ignore--Permits you to blank out messages from a specific
user.

Invite--Allows you to invite someone in the current group chat
session to a private chat room.

Get Profile--Permits you to view information about a given
participant, e.g. e-mail address, name, etc, depending upon
what they decided to make known about themselves. However, it is
highly likely that most, if not all, of these personal details
will be fictitious--you may be chatting to a female called
Cassandra who turns out to be a male called Rodney!

8.1.6.5. Practical Example of Joining a Chat Session with
Microsoft Chat

Follow the below steps as an example of what is involved but
remember that in recent years chat rooms have become less
supported by ISPs and other providers and so are reducing in
availability all of the time. In fact, since October 2004, even
Microsoft has closed its own chat rooms, so two of the chat room
options in the below list no longer exist and even more may
disappear shortly.

1. Run Microsoft Chat and ARROW down to the "EFNet" chat
room, then TAB once and ARROW down to "Show all available Chat
Rooms"  and then TAB to "Connect" and press ENTER to go online.

2. You will come online in Microsoft chat, Room 1, in the "Input"
window. You may now encounter a splash screen with statistics on
it about how many rooms they have and how many people are
currently online, etc, so TAB to "OK" and press ENTER to close
this, after reading some of its contents for an idea of what is
available and who is providing the current set of chat rooms and
topics.

3. If you want to find a chat room with a topic which suits you,
press ALT R and ARROW down the Room menu to "Room List" and press
ENTER, unless you are already in the below dialogue box.

4. After a short delay, a dialogue box will appear and you
will be asked "Display Chat Rooms that Contain", so type in a
topic you are interested in, e.g. "golf". Then TAB to "Update
List" and press ENTER.

5. After a short wait whilst a search is done on the EFNet system
for chat rooms covering your requested topic (if there are any),
TAB past several more options to a list of 
member golf-related chat rooms. This list may be empty if there
is no chat room covering this topic, or it could have just one
or many entries. 

6. You can now TAB to "List Members" and press ENTER on this.
A list of current participants in this chat room will be shown
(if anyone is participating when you try this, of course). 

7. You can now come out of this dialogue box by pressing the
ESCAPE key to go back to the first dialogue box. TAB forward
through the various options here to get a feel for what is there.
Then go to the "Join Room" button and press ENTER. 

8. You will now have joined the discussion about golf in a chat
room  (You are likely to have to use your screenreader's mouse
mode to view information about the chat room you are in. The end
of this information will say something like "Four Members",
indicating how many people are currently enjoined in golf-related
chat. If you continue to use your TAB key you will move past the
"Input" window, "Output" window and then the "Users" window where
the current participant chatters will be listed, including
yourself. 

10. Ensure that you are in text-only mode by pressing ALT V (for
view) and ARROWING down to "Plain Text" and pressing ENTER.

11. TAB to the "Input" window editfield and type your message
in and press ENTER or CONTROL Y. Perhaps just ask for a feedback
response from someone initially to be sure things are working OK.

12. If, for instance, you have used "Buck Rogers" as your
nickname when setting things up initially, your message will
almost immediately be shown on screen for everyone to view,
including yourself. For example, if you typed:

"Hello, I'm Buck. Will someone reply to confirm that my message
is being received, as I am a newcomer to chat rooms"

and then press ENTER.

13. The words "Buck Rogers Says" will be displayed on screen
and your word-for-word message will follow it on the next
line.

14. Hopefully, within a few seconds or perhaps a minute, you will
receive a reply from one of the other chat room participants,
which your screenreader should automatically red out to you. If
it does not, you should TAB to the Output message window and
ARROW down the screen to read it. You can, in the Output typing
window,  either thank them for replying and then press ALT F, X,
to shut down MS Chat or continue with the conversation if you
wish by typing more into the input window. 

Note 1: whilst some screenreaders I have used perform acceptably
in this type of chat program, others have proved unusable.

Note 2: If you are more interested in having a one-to-one chat
with someone you already know in a program which works more
consistently and reliably with screenreaders, the next sub-
section in respect of MSN Messenger will probably be preferable
to you.

8.1.6.6. Microsoft Chat Shortcut Keystrokes

Microsoft chat has a good range of shortcut keystrokes for use
in different windows and at different stages.

General

Press F1: To bring up the help topics file from anywhere.

Press TAB: To move the focus through the various windows/panes.

In the Input Window or Pane

Press CONTROL Y: To send the contents of the Compose or input
window. 

Press CONTROL T: To send the contents of the input Pane as a
thought.

Press CONTROL W: to send the contents of the input window as a
whisper.

Press CONTROL H: To play a sound.

Press CONTROL B: To make a selection bold.

Press CONTROL I: To make a selection italic.

Press CONTROL U: To have a selection underlined.

Press CONTROL K: To give a selection a colour.

Press CONTROL F: To format a selection in a fixed pitch font.

The standard cut, copy, paste, etc, shortcuts are also
available. So are the normal methods of selecting/highlighting
prior to underlining, emboldening, etc, with the above
shortcuts.

In the Output Window or Pane

Press CONTROL N: To open a new connection after disconnecting
from another.

Press CONTROL O: To open a file.

Press CONTROL P: To print a file.

Press CONTROL Q: To open the options property sheets.

Press CONTROL L: To open the chat automation dialogue box.

In the Microsoft Chat Interface

Press CONTROL f6: To switch between active rooms and the
Status Pane if it is open.

Press the ARROW KEYS: To move the black dot around the emotion
wheel.

Press HOME: To return the black dot to the centre of the
emotion wheel.

Press CONTROL S: To save a file.

8.2. Chatting with MSN Messenger 6.2

Windows XP does not come with the Microsoft Chat utility dealt
with in the last sub-section. Instead it comes with a program
called Windows Messenger. However, you will get a more feature-
rich chat client if you download and use MSN Messenger instead
of using Windows Messenger, which you can then use on Windows
98(SE) and most other operating systems through to Microsoft XP.
I will therefore describe how to use MSN Messenger as the most
up-to-date instant chatting program in this section instead of
Windows Messenger. This is because it is a more advanced means
of using chat and other facilities than is Microsoft Chat or
Windows Messenger and most of the screenreader makers have
included some of their own hot keys and automatic readout script,
map and set files to make its use easier. However, note that,
since MSN Messenger 6.2 is a very recent version of this
software, it will work better with more up-to-date versions of
screenreaders on a Windows XP operating system. You will just
have to experiment to see if your combination of screenreader
version and OS work together with MSN Messenger adequately well.

To use MSN Messenger's features, such as e-mailing, type
chatting, voice chatting, etc, you yourself must already be
online on the Internet. This is also true of when you want to
access the majority of the options in the Main menu, such as in
the Contacts menu, the Actions menu, etc, as they generally
remain disabled whilst not online and signed into the Net
Passport site. Similarly, of course, the person you want to type
chat to will also have to be online at the time you are trying
to instantly chat with them, otherwise they will not be available
to take the message and reply to it. So both of you must be
online with MSN Messenger either running in the foreground or in
the background from the System Tray. Realistically, therefore,
whilst you can still use MSN messenger and other instant
messaging programs with a pay-as-you-go Internet connection, this
type of software will be much more effective if you have an
Internet connection which is always on, such as a monthly payment
package with your 56K modem or a broadband connection. 

Please note that the option to go to "Chat Rooms" in the MSN
Messenger File menu and chat in the way described in the last
sub-section is no longer available because Microsoft have closed
down their online typing chat rooms.

It must also be said that MSN Messenger works best if you have
an up-to-date screenreader such as HAL 6.5, Window-Eyes 5 or JAWS
5.1 or later. Messenger also works best if you are running it on
a Windows XP system rather than on a Windows 98 operating system,
although you can still use it with Windows 98. All three of these
up-to-date screenreaders on a Windows XP system will both echo
your typed message when you send it and also automatically speak
out any replies you receive. They will also tell you, on the
Status Line, what the person you are having a conversation with
is doing, e.g. if they are currently typing, if they have just
gone to lunch (very rude in the middle of a conversation!), and
so forth.

8.2.1. What Can You Use MSN Messenger For?

With MSN Messenger you can:

1. Talk to one or several people using voice chat, where you will
need a sound card in your PC, one or more speakers attached to
it and either a microphone or mic/headset.

2. Transfer computer files to people you are chatting with and
provide them with links to such as referred to e-mail addresses
and Websites.

3. Hold social club meetings with members not in the same town
to organise future events.


4. Briefing of groups of home workers from a small central
office, i.e. a kind of telecommuting.

5. See the list of other uses supplied in the last sub-section
entitled "What can Chat Rooms be used for?".

8.2.2. Signing on to the .Net Passport Service

You have to register with the Microsoft .Net Passport service
before you can use MSN Messenger. This is because MSN Messenger
has to sign on to this Passport site and use its information and
connectivity network before it can work. It is possible to
register/sign on with the Net Passport just before you download
the MSN program or you can download it first and then sign on
with Net Passport later. However, if you already have signed on
with Net Passport for some other reason or have set up an Hotmail
account for yourself, then you are already signed on and do not
have to do this again, as you can use your same username,
password, etc.

To sign on with Passport first and then get the download
immediately:

1. Surf to either:

www.msn.co.uk
(for UK residents)

or

www.msn.com
(for Us residents)

2. you should move well down the home page, which has over 180
links, to the "MSN Messenger 6.2" link and press ENTER or
SPACEBAR. You will get there quicker if you use your
screenreader's find feature or page down twice and then start to
ARROW down from there.

3. On the next page you should TAB around 13 times to a
"Download" link and press ENTER.

4. On the next page, if you already have an Hotmail account or
a MSN.com e-mail address, you are already registered and do not
need to do it again. For new users you should ARROW down to the
second "Go" button where it says "Register your own E-mail
Address" just below it and press ENTER on this "Go" button. A
standard secure server message will come up and you just press
ENTER on the "OK" button.

5. Now the registration page with editfields to complete loads
in. In normal live mode you should ARROW down this page to get
an idea of what personal details you have to supply, because not
all of the editfield labels are likely to be spoken by your
screenreader after you go into forms/editing mode. Then:

A. TAB to the first editfield and go into forms mode and type in
here your e-mail address, e.g. john-willaims27@onetel.com.
Depending on the screenreader you are using and its version, you
go into forms/editing mode by pressing the ENTER key (with JAWS
and Window-Eyes) or by pressing SPACEBAR (with HAL 4 and 5) or
by pressing CAPSLOCK ENTER (with HAL 6.03 and later).

B. TAB once to the password field and make a password up you will
be able to remember of at least six characters.

C. TAB once again and retype this same password in here to
confirm.

D. Another press of TAB takes you to a combobox where you can
ARROW down a list of days to select your day of birth, so ARROW
down to this.

E. TAB again and ARROW down the next list to your month of birth.

F. TAB once again to another editfield which is where you type
in your year of birth in full, e.g. 1977.

G. When you TAB again, this is where things can get a little
difficult. You are required to see and type into an editfield a
number of digits and letters but these letters are deliberately
made blurred on screen. If you cannot see them, there is an
alternative way to deal with this by getting them spoken out to
you through your computer speakers. You press ENTER on a link
which invites you to do this if you cannot see the digits and
figures, so do this. Next:

i. Now another dialogue or window opens up and in here you TAB
to "Listen to the Characters in the Audio file" and press ENTER
on this. In Windows 98 this audio file would be opened and spoken
to you straightaway but in Windows XP you will encounter another
dialogue box first to TAB to "Open" and press enter on this
first.

ii. What happens now is that your default audio player, such as
Windows Media Player or Winamp, will open and you will hear the
letters and numbers spoken but not in a very clear voice. If you
mis-hear this and type it in wrongly, you will be given another
chance but with a different set of numbers and figures which,
hopefully, will be easier to decipher than the last ones! You may
be advised to have a tape recorder to hand to record this spoken
string of letters and numbers.

iii. You should now close your computer's audio player with ALT
F4 to return to the dialogue box you were just in and then TAB
once to an editfield where you have to type these spoken figures
and letters in.

iv. Then TAB to "Continue" and press ENTER to leave this pop-up
window and return to your first dialogue box. 

H. The text you typed in above will now have automatically been
inserted into the appropriate editfield in this first dialogue
and you should now TAB to a field just above the "I Agree" button
and in here you again type your e-mail address in for
confirmation.

I.  Lastly, TAB to and press ENTER on the "I Agree" button. 

6. The form completion is now over and MSN Messenger 6.2 should
now automatically be downloading to your PC for you and it may
also automatically open and install itself. If it does not start
to download automatically, see the next sub-section for how to
start the download.

7. Shortly after registration and download, you will get a
confirmation message on screen if all is OK. You will before long
also receive an e-mail from Microsoft confirming your
registration and your submitted details and providing some advice
and guidance on using the Net Passport service in future if you
want to. You will be invited to use a URL in this message to go
online and confirm your Net Passport registration, where you just
complete your registration details again and then receive a
successful message. However, it is not essential to reply to this
e-mail to remain registered and be able to use MSN Messenger.

Note 1: There is an alternative way of approaching this
registration and download sequence. If you like, you can, in step
4 above, TAB to the third "Go" button, press ENTER and download
MSN Messenger without signing on to the Net Passport at this
stage but, after installing it,  you will not be able to use it
without later signing on to the Passport after installing it. You
could sign on to the Net Passport later as outlined above or you
could go to the:

www.passport.com

site and sign on there instead, it all has the same effect. You
can, in fact,  sign on with .Net Passport in many ways and on
many different sites.

Note 2: This necessary .Net Passport registration can be simply
left and nothing else done with it (other than MSN Messenger
signing in with it when you want to use it) if you like or you
could now, in certain circumstances,  use your Passport to verify
your identity and personal details when shopping on the Internet,
so it could be of convenient use to you in other ways in future.
Initially, Microsoft had intended the Passport service to be a
single online storage place for Internet users' sensitive data
but now they have scaled it back to support only services from
Microsoft and its own close partners. Another example of how Net
Passport can be used is if you are a MS Outlook user you can
publish your Outlook Calendar on the Net Passport site for people
with permission to view and they can publish theirs for you to
view.

8.2.3. Downloading MSN Messenger

After registering with Net Passport (or before if you elected to
press ENTER on the third "Go" button and download the program
first, see the last sub-section) what will happen is:

1. A new page will load in and you may already be downloading and
installing the software, but if it is not automatically
downloading now, you TAB to the "Click here to Download Manually"
button and press ENTER to start the download. It will take about
30 minutes with a 56K modem.

2. You will receive the usual download type and filename dialogue
box and should choose "Save to Disk" before TABBING to and
pressing ENTER on the "Save" button.

3. The program which downloads is about 6.5 Mb in size and will
be called something like "setup9x.exe". You should go to this
file and press ENTRE on it to start the installation.

Note: You can also download MSN 6.2 via the "Downloads" link on
the Whitestick site at:

www.whitestick.co.uk

8.2.4. Installing Messenger

To install MSN Messenger:

1. Go to the above downloaded .exe file and press ENTER on it.

2. You then TAB to a "Next" button and press ENTER.

3. To agree to the terms of use, ARROW down to the "I Agree"
button and then TAB to "Next" and press ENTER.

4. Now the MSN features for Microsoft Explorer page loads in. You
can make your own decisions on this. I would suggest that you
leave the MSN Toolbar checked on and turn of the other two
options by pressing SPACEBAR on them, unless you do want MSN to
be your default search engine and your default home page. Then
press ENTER on "Next".

5. The installation wizard will now take a few minutes to install
the program and you should then press ENTER ON "Finish".

6. After this installation you must press ENTER on the "Sign In"
button which you should now be on. Otherwise, sign in by going
to the "MSN" icon at the bottom of the screen in mouse mode and
pressing ENTER or double left clicking on it, or you can also
achieve this via the File menu with ALT F (for File) and then by
ARROWING to and pressing ENTER on the "Sign In" option. You then
type your e-mail address in the "Sign in Name" field and your
password in the second editfield to match the details which you
used when registering with the Net Passport service. 

7. You will also TAB to a "Remember my Name and Password on this
Computer" checkbox and if you press SPACEBAR to check this on,
you will not have to remember and enter your e-mail name and
password in future but, of course, this is less secure than you
leaving this unchecked and being prepared to enter these details
when requested--it is your decision. The File menu will then
contain an option for you to sign in with your e-mail address as
wellas the "Sign In" item.

8. Now TAB to "OK" and press ENTER to finish.

9. You will now automatically be taken online to the Net Passport
site to confirm your passport details and complete the procedure.
This will only work if you have previously registered with the
.Net Passport service because if you have not yet registered it
will not know you.

MSN Messenger will install itself at:

C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger 6.2
(or whichever other sub-version of Version 6 you end up with)

Note: If you did not register with the Net Passport services
earlier, you can TAB to and use the "Don't have a Passport, get
one Here" button and press ENTER on it before going to the "OK"
button in step 8 above. 

8.2.5. Launching Messenger

If you do not make the Windows start up launching configuration
change suggested in the next sub-section, MSN messenger will
automatically start every time Windows starts. If you then shut
it down, it will close but leave an icon in your System Tray from
which to again open it and by which it can continue to run in the
background and monitor any incoming e-mail or messages which may
be sent to you and alert you to these. It can also alert you to
any of your contacts simply coming online as well. In this case,
you can launch Messenger again by either:

1. Via the Program Files option in the Start Menu in the normal
way. Press:

Windows key, then P (for programs), then M (for MSN Messenger"
several times until you get to it and then press ENTER to launch
it.

or

2. From its System Tray icon by going there with INSERT S or
Windows key B with Window-Eyes, left SHIFT Numpad / with HAL or
INSERT F11 with JAWS and then ARROW to it. You then press the TAB
key once or twice to the single right click button and press
ENTER. In the Context Menu which opens up, you can ARROW to "Open
MSN Messenger". Note that you can also achieve several other
commands from this menu, such as signing in, checking your e-mail
(if you have set up a Hotmail e-mail account with Microsoft),
etc.

If you do make the launching change suggested in the next sub-
section, in future you will have to start Messenger manually by
either of:

1. Via the Program Files option in the Start Menu in the normal
way. Press:

Windows key, then P (for programs), then M (for MSN Messenger"
several times until you get to it and then press ENTER to launch
it.

or

2. Press Windows key M or D and then press M until MSN Messenger
is spoken, then press ENTER on your Desktop shortcut icon for
Messenger.

You create the above Desktop Icon by again going to "MSN
Messenger 6.2" as above (in method 1) via Program Files\MSN
Messenger but instead of pressing ENTER to launch it, you press
SHIFT F10 to open a menu and then ARROW down to "Send To" and
press ENTER. Then ARROW down to "Desktop, Create Shortcut" and
press ENTER twice TO FINISH.

Note: You can also create shortcuts in the above way for any
other file, folder or disk drive on your computer and to Web
pages.

8.2.6. Configuring Messenger for Optimal Use with a Screenreader

You can have MSN Messenger launched automatically when Windows
starts or run it afterwards, depending on your preferences. By
default, Messenger will launch every time you start Windows but
if you want to change this so that it only launches when you want
it to, what you do is outlined below, plus a couple of other
tips.

8.2.6.1. Stopping Messenger from Automatically Launching and
Obtaining a Simple View of the Screen

To stop Messenger from automatically Launching itself every time
you start Windows and trying to take you onto the Internet to the
Passport server, so that it will only run when you want it to:

1. After Messenger starts up it may try to take you online to the
Net. Just press the ESCAPE key a few times to stop this.

2. Now with Messenger running, press ALT T (for Tools) and then
O (for Options).

3. Then CONTROL TAB several times to the "General" property
sheet.

4. In the General sheet, TAB to "Automatically Run Messenger when
I Log onto Windows" and press SPACEBAR to turn this off.

5. Then TAB a couple more times to "Display MSN Today when
Messenger Signs In" and check this off as well.

6. Then SHIFT TAB to the "OK" button and press ENTER.

Note: The above dialogue box has seven property sheets in it. You
can CONTROL TAB through them all and TAB down their options and
observe how Messenger is set up to work. You can change any of
these set-up settings to suit your personal preferences.

8.2.6.2. Making Changes in Messenger Tools Options and Enabling
your Virus Scanner

There are a few more options configuration changes which you may
wish to make but, of coarse, these will depend on how much you
can see on the screen and on your screenreader's and your own
preferences. Consider the below for starters: 

1. Go back into Tools, Options by pressing ALT T and then O.

2. You should be in the "Personal" property sheet, so if you have
no display picture and you cannot make use of others' pictures,
you may want to check these two options off with the SPACEBAR.
Note that there are other options near the top of this Personal
sheet which will be disabled and not seen by your screenreader
unless you are currently online, such as "My Display Name", so
go to this sheet when you first go online and type into this
editfield what you would want to be known as when passing
messages from yourself to others, e.g. "John Wilson" or "Chess
Master!", etc. This will then hold for future sessions.

2. Then CONTROL TAB to the "Messages" sheet and in here TAB to
"Change Font" and press ENTER on this if you can see enough to
read the messages on screen with a larger and different font. In
the main multi-sheet dialogue box, TAB on and note where any
files you receive from others together with your messages will
be save to for you to view later, which will be:

C:\My Documents\My Received Files

and if you have no My Documents folder or want to designate a
different folder, after making this folder, press ENTER on the
"Change" button and then tell Messenger where to save them
instead. Now (and this is of particular importance), if you have
a virus-checker and want to enable it to scan any files you
download when using Messenger, TAB on to "Scan Files for Viruses
Using" and press SPACEBAR to turn this on and then TAB once again
and if you know the precise path to the executable file of your
virus scanning program, type this in here, e.g. with the free
version of AVG 7 it would be:

C:\Program Files\Grisoft\AVG Free\avg.exe

If you do not know the precise path to your virus scanner, TAB
once more to the "Browse" button and press ENTER on this to
navigate through the folders to the appropriate .exe file to
select it in this way.

3. Now CONTROL TAB to the "Privacy" sheet and in here TAB to and
if you do not want the trouble of always having to provide your
password, check the first of these options off with the SPACEBAR.

4. Next CONTROL TAB to the "General" sheet and note that most
things in here are checked on by default and you will probably
want to leave them that way so that you will be alerted to people
sending you e-mail, sending you a typed instant message, etc, and
so that you can automatically be signed onto Net Passport
whenever you are online without having to do so manually.

5. Now just CONTROL TAB through the rest of the seven property
sheets in here and TAB through them to see if any other changes
would suit you and make them.

6. Finally, TAB to one of the "OK" buttons and press ENTER to
finish and save your changes.

Note: If you are using JAWS 6.10 and incoming messages are not
being spoken to you automatically, you may have to amend the
pixels per tab from 10 to 80, in the "Advanced Options" of the
JAWS MSN JCF file.

8.2.7. Pen-Picture of the Messenger Screen/Windows

MSN Messenger 6.2 in chat mode works through two main interfaces
or windows. Near the top of the screen it has a standard Main
Menu Bar with such as File, Contacts, Actions, etc, menus on it,
which you can access by pressing the ALT key and ARRoWING right
or left through these and then ARROWING down the options, most
of which will be disabled unless you are currently online and
signed in with Net Passport. It also has a Status Line which
provides much useful information about what is happening at the
present moment whilst online, e.g. letting you know if someone
is currently typing to you, when you last received a message,
etc. The Titlebar also provides some useful information of this
type when someone is typing to you. The two main windows are:

1. A window on the right of the screen (the main MSN interface)
with a list of your contacts in it to ARROW down, showing which
contacts are currently on line and available for chatting to and
which ones are offline altogether or shown as at lunch, etc. You
are automatically in this right-hand window when you launch
Messenger. 

2. A typing window near the left top of the screen which provides
an editfield to type your short message into. You just type into
it in the same way as any other editing window, like Notepad, MS
Word, etc. You are automatically taken to this window/editfield
when you start a chat session yourself. This same editing field
also acts as a message history Window which shows the thread of
conversation which has already passed between you and your single
or multiple contact(s). In its default size (it can be maximised)
it holds about 10 lines of text five or six inches wide and
scrolls off of the top as it becomes full. During a chat session,
for example, it would contain such as:

"John Wilson says: Hello, Jim, how are you today)"

and, under this, Jim's reply, such as:

"Jim says: I'm fine, John, how did you go on last night at the
chess club?"

and my reply might have been recorded below the above as:

"John Wilson says: I won two games and lost one, so things are
improving over last week!"

So, in this way, by ALT TABBING to this editfield and then
ARROWING down these messages you can see the natural flow of the
typed conversation if you need to review what was said. On the
other hand, of course, since you are in the conversation, you
will probably only need to check your contact's last message to
keep track of things, unless you are having a three or four way
conversation, when things may become a little more confusing
without regularly reviewing the screen in this window or using
your screenreader's read out last message, read out second to
last message, etc, hot key, if it has them (see the JAWS hot keys
for this at the end of this sub-section). If you have a
reasonably up-to-date screenreader, e.g. JAWS 5.1 and higher, HAL
6.5 or Window-Eyes 5 on a Windows XP system, you will
automatically have the message someone sends to you read out to
you by the screenreader as soon as you receive it without you
having to keep going to the above editing and message history
window.

Whilst composing a message Some screenreaders, e.g. JAWS,
automatically make the typing/editing window full screen when you
use Messenger with them. JAWS also has a CONTROL SHIFT H hot key
to take you directly to the typing window. If you are using HAL,
you can jump to the typing editbox by pressing CONTROL SHIFT HOME
when in the left-hand window.

You move between the two Messenger windows by pressing the ALT
TAB key combination. When in the left side of the screen, you
move between several action buttons and the editing/message
history window by pressing the TAB or SHIFT TAB keys. As well as
using the Context Menus and Main menu bar to effect commands, you
can press SPACEBAR on any of these action buttons to achieve some
of the same things, e.g. send an instant message, add a contact,
and so forth.

Note: When you have MSN Messenger running (either full screen or
in the background from the System Tray), Some screenreaders will
also automatically alert you to the fact that one of your
contacts has just come online and signed onto Messenger as
available to be communicated with. You will then know that you
can stop whatever you are doing in another application, close
that other application and locate this contact in your contacts
list to send him a message, if you like.

8.2.8. How to Chat to One or More People with Messenger 

You can start an instant chat session without adding someone to
your Contacts List or you can create a Contacts List and add
people to this list to be able to initiate a type chat with them
from the list.

8.2.8.1. Initiating a Chat without Using the Contacts List

If you know someone who uses MSN Messenger and you know the e-
mail address which they use as their sign in name and you want
to have a chat with them, you can attempt to initiate a chat
session with them by:

1. With Messenger running, go online and sign in if you are not
already in this mode, otherwise this will not work. Ensure that
all other programs other than your screenreader are closed when
you use Messenger so that you can move from window to window
without anything else interfering.

2. Press ALT A (for Actions) and then ENTER on "Send an Instant
Message".

3. A dialogue box with two property sheets will open up and you
should CONTROL TAB to the "Other" sheet if you are not already
on it.

4. In the "Other" sheet you can type into an editfield the e-mail
address sign in name of the person you want to commence a type
chat with, e.g. john.wilson1255@hotmail.com,
jimsmith901@onetel.com, etc.

5. Now press ENTER to open up the Messenger typing editing window
to start typing your short chat message in and then press ENTER
again to send it.

6. If the person you are starting up a chat with is online, which
you will not know if you send a message in this way, he/she will
receive your message in a second or two and be alerted to the
fact that you have sent this message. If they are not online and
signed in or if they do not use the e-mail address you have
provided as their sign in name, then you will be advised of this
on screen and will be able to go no further.

7. If the recipient is online with Messenger running in the
foreground and receives your message, it should be announced and
read to them. If they have Messenger runnning in the background
and iconised in their System Tray, they will be alerted to the
fact that a message has been received and they can open the Sys
Tray up and open messenger full screen to receive the message and
interact with the program full screen. If their screenreader does
not automatically read the message out, they can use the ARROW
keys in the message history window to read the message. If they
are using JAWS 5.1, HAL 6.5 or Window-Eyes 5 or higher as their
screenreader and Windows XP (but this may not always work
correctly with Windows 98), these messages should be read out
automatically by JAWS without having to ALT TAB to the message
history window or use any hot key to get there. 

8.  After automatically hearing the message or reading it with
the ARROW keys, the recipient can then make a reply to it by
typing in the typing/editing field (where they should already be)
their next message and pressing ENTER to send it.

The flow of typed message conversation would be recorded in the
message history window something like:

"John Wilson says: Hello, Jim, how are you today)"

and, under this, Jim's reply, such as:

"Jim says: I'm fine, John, how did you go on last night at the
chess club?"

and my reply might have been recorded below the above as:

"John Wilson says: I won two games and lost one, so things are
improving over last week!"

So, in this way, by ARROWING down these messages in the contacts
window you can see the flow of the typed conversation if you need
to review what was said. On the other hand, of course, since you
are in the conversation yourself, you will probably only need to
check the person you are chatting with's last message to keep
track of things, unless you are having a three or four way
conversation, when things may become a little more confusing
without regularly reviewing the screen in this window or using
your screenreader's read out last message, read out second to
last message, etc, hot key, if it has them, e.g. ALT 1, ALT 2,
SHIFT `, etc, with JAWS.

You move between the three typing, contacts and message history
windows by pressing the ALT TAB keys.

9. At any time you can consult the Status Line to get some
feedback as to what is happening, such as if the person you are
chatting to is currently in the process of typing to you and what
their display name is, or to be advised if you have just received
a message from them and should now SHIFT TAB to the message
history window to read what it is if it has not been read out to
you automatically. 

10. When you have finished chatting, you should press ALT F (for
File) and then ENTER on "Sign Out", after which you may then
encounter a message asking you if you want to also disconnect
from the Internet or stay online. 

Note: You can also initiate the sending of a message in this way
by going to the System Tray, pressing ENTER on "MSN Messenger .
. ." and then ARROWING to and pressing ENTER on "Send an Instant
Message".If you examine the other commands in this Context Menu,
you will see that you can effect several other useful commands
from here as well, e.g. signing in, signing out, Opening
Messenger, and you can even go to your e-mail inbox on the
Hotmail server if you have an Hotmail e-mail account and read
your mail online.

8.2.8.2. Adding People to Your Contacts List 

As you already know, users of MSN Messenger submit their e-mail
address as their MSN name and sign in name with Net Passport. You
can therefore, if you know someone's e-mail address who is also
a Messenger user and signed in with that e-mail address, add them
to your Contacts List manually by:

1. With Messenger running, go online first and sign in, otherwise
this will not work.

2. Press ALT C (for Contacts) and then ENTER on "Add a contact".

3. Then press ENTER on the "Next" button and, in the dialogue
which opens up, you can type into an editfield the username/sign
in name of the person you wish to add to your Contacts List, i.e.
their e-mail address.

4. TAB to the "Finish" button and press ENTER to save this person
to the list. Do this for each person you want to have as part of
your close contacts or friends list to regularly chat with. Note
that, if you are trying to add someone to your Contacts List who
is not signed in to the MSN service, you will encounter a couple
of on-screen messages and other "Next" buttons before you get to
the "Finish" button (see Note 1 directly below for more about
this.

Note 1: If any person you put into your Contacts List is not
currently signed in as a MSN Messenger user, before pressing
ENTER on the "Finish" button above, you can TAB to a "Send E-
Mail) button to have the MSN service send him/her an e-mail to
tell them about MSN Messenger, where to get it and how to install
it. You can add some text of your own to this message for the
recipient to realise that it is you generating this message for
them. Just because you know someone's e-mail address does not
mean that you can simply add them to your Contacts List. They
have to be signed in to the MSN Messenger network with a Net
Passport account with that same e-mail address for you to be able
to add them to your list.

Note 2: If you want to delete someone from your Contacts List,
you can do this via the "Manage Contacts" option within the
Contacts menu.

8.2.8.3. Initiating a Chat from Your Contacts List

You can start a chat from your Contacts List with one or more
people. What you do is:

1. Ensure that you are online and signed in, otherwise this will
not work. Ensure that all other programs other than your
screenreader are closed when you use Messenger so that you can
move from window to window without anything else interfering.

2. Either:

A. Press ALT TAB to the Contacts List in the contacts window if
you are not already there.

or

B. Press ALT A (for Actions) and then ENTER on "Send an Instant
Message", When a dialogue box will open up and you should be in
the "My Contacts" sheet.

or

C. Go to the System Tray and ARROW to "MSN Messenger . . ." and
press ENTER. Then ARROW to "Send an Instant Message" and press
ENTER. (This latter method will only be available if you have
already launched Messenger and still have it running in the
foreground or you have closed it so that it still runs in the
background from the System Tray.)  

4. In the contacts window or the My Contacts dialogue box you
will find a list of contacts (provided that you have entered some
as outlined in the last sub-section) to ARROW to one and press
ENTER to commence the chatting session. Each person's display
name will be in a vertical list of "Online" or "Offline"
contacts, which you can ARROW down so that you know who is
available to receive your message. Note that if you want to
initiate a chat with more than one of the people in your Contacts
List, you can do this if you select/highlight the appropriate
people in the usual way in the second list before pressing ENTER.
As an alternative to simply pressing ENTER at this stage, note
that you can also press SHIFT F10 on the contact's name to open
a Context Menu and ARROW to a number of other commands to perform
on this contact, such as sending them an e-mail and starting a
voice message session.

5. You will now be in the chat typing/editing window to type your
short message in and then press ENTER to send it.

6. If the person you are starting up a chat session with is
online, which you will know as this will have been indicated in
the above Contacts List, he/she will receive your message in a
second or two and be alerted to the fact that you have sent this
message. They will know this because the MSN Messenger entry in
their System Tray flashes, which their screenreader should advise
them of. 

7. The recipient can then open up Messenger in whichever way they
prefer, e.g. via the System Tray, and then, if necessary (that
is, if their screenreader does not automatically read this
message out to them),  ALT TAB to the editing/message history
window and use their screenreader's ARROW keys to read the
message.

8.  After reading the message, the recipient can then make a
reply to it by immediately typing their next message contribution
to the discussion and then by pressing ENTER to send it.

9. At any time you can consult the Status Line with your
screenreader's read Status Line hot key to get some feedback as
to what is happening, such as if the person you are chatting to
is currently in the process of typing to you and what their
display name is, etc.

10. When you have finished chatting, you should press ALT F (for
File) and then ENTER on "Sign Out", after which you may then
encounter a message asking you if you want to also disconnect
from the Internet or stay online. 

Note 1: MSN Messenger can, of course, be used as a spoken
telephony program just like the telephony program called Skype
(see Section 9). However, since this current section is to do
with chatting (i.e. type-talking), this aspect of MSN Messenger
is not covered here. Try using Skype for speech telephony, as it
is a little clearer and more responsive in speech mode than is
MSN Messenger and, if you want to try speech communication in MSN
Messenger, transfer many of the principles and concepts discussed
in the Skype section to MSN Messenger and do some experimenting
of your own. You initiate a voice call with MSN Messenger via
"Start an Audio Conversation" from the Actions menu.

Note 2: You can also send a text or picture file to a contact if
you like. Do this via the "Send a File or Photo" option in the
Actions menu.

8.2.9. Being notified that One of Your Contacts has come online
and/or sent you a message

If you are online and have MSN Messenger running either full
screen or closed down and running in the System Tray, your
screenreader should automatically let you know when one of your
contacts comes online and is therefore available for you to chat
with. He/she will then appear in your Contacts List as online
instead of offline as previously. What happens is that the
Messenger icon in your System Tray flashes and this should be
picked up by your screenreader and announced to you. However, not
all screenreaders do automatically alert you to someone combing
online, so you may have to check the contacts online and offline
status lists from time to time. 

If you are online and running Messenger and someone sends you a
message, your screenreader should automatically tell you that a
given person has just sent you a message and should echo that
message to you. You can then make a reply if you like. If you
need to review what this person has typed to you, you can ALT TAB
to the message history window and ARROW through the message or
use your screenreader's special MSN Messenger hot keys (if it has
any) to get the last message re-read to you.

If you are online with MSN Messenger but now decide you want to
be unavailable to take messages for a while, you can go to the
System Tray, activate the MSN Messenger item and select to be
shown to others in their contacts list as such as at lunch, not
available, etc. 

8.2.10. E-Mailing with MSN Messenger

You can both send and receive e-mail via Messenger. What happens
is that Messenger opens your default e-mailing program and uses
that to achieve this.

8.2.10.1. Sending Someone an E-Mail 

If you want to send someone an e-mail via MSN Messenger you can
do this by:

1. ALT TAB to the Contacts List window if you are not already
there.

2. ARROW to the name of the contact you wish to e-mail.

3. Press SHIFT F10 to open a list of commands to carry out on
that contact.

4. ARROW to "Send an E-mail" and press ENTER.

5. What happens now is that your e-mail program, such as Outlook
Express, MS Outlook, Eudora, etc, will open up and the "To" field
will be completed with this contact's e-mail address.

6. You now just complete the rest of the e-mail headers and body
as usual and send the e-mail message in the usual way, e.g. by
pressing ALT S in Outlook Express.

Note: You can also send e-mail via the "Send E-Mail" option in
the Actions menu. 

8.2.10.2. Downloading Your E-Mail 

To go to your e-mail mailbox and download your mail into your e-
mail client's Inbox:

1. You should be online with Messenger running, in the main
right-hand Messenger window.

2. In the main Messenger interface window with your Contacts List
you will find at the top of the window, above the Contacts List,
there is a "Download E-Mail" button which you can ARROW to and
press ENTER on.

3. Your default e-mail program will launch, e.g. Outlook Express,
Eudora, etc,  and commence downloading your e-mail into your
Inbox as usual.


4. You can now read your mail in your e-mail program.

8.2.11. MSN Messenger General Shortcut Keystrokes and Specialist
Screenreader Hot Keys

MSN Messenger obeys several standard Windows basic keystrokes and
your screenreader may have several hot keys specifically for use
with MSN Messenger.

8.2.11.1. Windows Shortcuts

You would use several general Windows keystrokes to move about
and view messages in MSN Messenger. For example:

Press ALT TAB: To move through the two main Messenger windows.

Press TAB: To move forwards through action buttons and editfields
in the left-hand editing and message history window. SHIFT TAB
moves you backwards.

Press up or down ARROWS: to read through messages in the message
history window.

Press: your standard querty keys in the message typing/editing
composition window to create your message.

Press ENTER: To send a message after typing it.

Press SHIFT F10: To open a Context Menu on a contact's name in
the Contact's List to then select a variety of commands to carry
out in respect of that contact.

8.2.11.2. JAWS 4.5 to 6.0 Screenreader Hot Keys for Messenger

JAWS automatically maximises the main Messenger interface window
on the right-hand side for you when you run Messenger and in this
state JAWS is then able to inform you of when a new Hotmail e-
mail message is received or of when a contact in your Contacts
List has signed on. As long as you are online with Messenger
running full screen or closed but in your System tray, Jaws will
make these announcements to you automatically, even if you are
working in a different application, such as MS Word.  
When you are working in another window, JAWS will play a sound
to alert you that someone has sent you an instant message, so you
should press ALT TAB to switch to this message and get the most
recent message read out to you if Messenger is already open or
open it from the System Tray first. You may find that things work
better if you also shut down any other program you may have been
working in before you received your message.

JAWS from Version 4.5 has an impressive range of hot keys for use
with MSN Messenger 5X and 6X, as follows:

If an incoming message has an emoticon (smiley) in
it, JAWS will advise you of it and of its type.

General

Press INSERT Numpad 3: To hear the contents of the Status Line,
where much activity taking place when using Messenger can be
monitored.

Press INSERT F11: To get to the System Tray to be able to open
an MSN Messenger Context Menu to launch Messenger and perform
several other commands on it. 

Message Reading Hot Keys

Press ALT 1: To get the most recent message you received read out
to you. With JAWS 6, repeatedly pressing ALT 1 will read
increasingly older messages to you.

Press ALT 2: To read the second most recent message.

Press ALT 3: To read the third most recent message.

Press ALT 4: To read the fourth most recent message.

Press ALT 5: To read the fifth most recent message.

Press ALT 6 to 10: To hear the fifth to tenth most recent message
if you have JAWS 6.

Press shift `: To check for a status message, read this status
message and the last message in the conversation.

Press alt shift v: To get incoming messages spoken or turn this
off; it is on by default.

Press CONTROL SHIFT V: To toggle the speaking of the contact's
name on and off; it is on by default, so that the contact's name
is reported before the message is read out.

Press CONTROL SHIFT M: to insert an emoticon at the cursor point
into your message. You get a list of these to ARROW down and
press ENTER on the one you want. 

Press CONTROL SHIFT H: To switch to the message history and
editing window with JAWS 6. 

Typing Sound and Announcement Hot Keys

Press CONTROL SHIFT F12: To toggle typing sound on and off; it
is on by default.

Press ALT CONTROL F12: To toggle typing announce on or off; it
is on by default.

Press F12: To check the typing status. If typing announcement and
the typing sound are disabled, this hot key generates a single
click if the contact is typing.

Conversation Hot Keys

Press CONTROL WINDOWS key 1 TO 5: To assign a conversation to a
given channel from channel one to channel five, so that you can
then easily switch to that conversation channel from any other
window, including windows in other applications. These channels
hold given conversations so that you can have several
conversations going on at once, should you be able to follow and
cope with this.

Press WINDOWS key 1 to 5: To switch to an assigned conversation
channel, after assigning this channel as outlined above.

Press CONTROL SHIFT -: To switch to the conversation currently
demanding attention, so that the most recent message is read out.

Contact Hot Keys

Press ALT SHIFT F12: To announce the last contact signed in.

Press ALT SHIFT F12 twice quickly: To get automatically announce
contacts signing in switched on.

8.2.11.3. Window-Eyes 4.21 to 5.0 Screenreader Hot Keys for
Messenger

Window-Eyes automatically notifies you of when your contacts sign
in and send you messages, provided that a message window is not
already open and active. Otherwise, Window-Eyes has few hot keys
for MSN Messenger. Hyperactive window A automatically reads
changes on the Status Line and hyperactive window B automatically
reads when contacts have gone off line or when their online
status has changed, e.g. if they are showing as gone to lunch.
Additionally, the below general hot keys will be of use.

Press CONTROL INSERT S: To hear the contents of the Status Line,
where much activity taking place when using Messenger can be
monitored.

Press INSERT S: To get to the System Tray to be able to bring up
an MSN Messenger Context Menu to open Messenger from and perform
several other commands on it. 

8.2.11.4. HAL 4.5 to 6.5 Screenreader Hot Keys for Messenger

HAL has no special hot keys for MSN Messenger but watch the
Dolphin Website as they may make some available before long. HAL
automatically notifies you of when your contacts sign in and send
you messages.

You will find the general HAL hot keys below of use:

Press Numpad 2: To hear the contents of the Status Line, where
much activity taking place when using Messenger can be monitored.

Press left SHIFT Numpad /: To get to the System Tray to be able
to bring up an MSN Messenger Context Menu to open Messenger from
and perform several other commands on it. 

8.3. Other Chat Providers

There are numerous chat providers, both for the general public
and for blind people in particular.

8.3.1. General Providers

Most of the better-known Web search engine providers, such as
Yahoo!, Altavista, Lycoss, etc, host Web chat links of their
own. Some speech-friendly sites are VoxChat and ICQ. In
addition Windows 95/98 also provides Microsoft NetMeeting in:

Start Menu\Program Files\Microsoft NetMeeting

8.3.2. Specialist Blind-Friendly Chat Providers

More of these are becoming available but try the below two.

8.3.2.1. A-Chat

There is a free keyboard and screenreader-friendly chat program
called A-Chat downloadable from:

http://snow.utoronto.ca/chat.html

Which is specifically designed for blind and low vision users.
The user can control how often messages are refreshed and stop
the screen from refreshing before the message has been read. You
can choose to receive an audible prompt each time a new message
is received and read messages in your preferred order. The type,
size and colour of font on screen can be customised. 

8.3.2.2. The Million Web Chat

Since the beginning of 2004, a chat service which has been
created and designed so that it can be used with JAWS and Window-
Eyes has been available, known as "The Million Web". It is a free
text chat program downloadable from:

www.themillionweb.com/chat 

8.3.2.3. Accessible Chat

There is also a user-friendly, text-based chat group for
visually impaired chatters on the Topica list, called
"Accessible Chat". You can get more information and download
the requisite software by following the below instructions.

Accessible Chat can be found at:
 
www.gamesfortheblind.com

Where you should TAB to and press ENTER on the "Accessible Chat"
link.

This software is free and provides a special blind-friendly 
interface via JFW or Window-Eyes but your typed in messages and
the replies are immediately available. Private chat rooms are
also catered for. The whole environment, whilst not being exactly
the same as general chat rooms, is speech-friendly and moves
at a pace which you can cope with. You can chat about anything
here, compete against others using specialised online games,
meet people and interchange ideas. You will have to download
three files: a Visual Basic file named "vbrun60.exe" (but you
may already have this version or a higher one of VB on your PC
already); the JFW or WE script or set files, e.g. chat28.exe";
and, lastly, the "jfwchat.exe" compressed file, which is the
actual chat software itself. Note that by the time you do this,
these filenames may have changed slightly because of version
updating.   

You should install all the three downloaded files, starting with
the VBrun60.exe file. When unzipping the jfwchat.exe file, accept
the default folder which it will copy into, if you have JFW
Version 3.5; otherwise, type in the correct path if your
version is earlier or later than Version 3.5, e.g. which is
likely to be something like:

c:\jaws50\settings\enu
(with JAWS 5.0)

or

c:\documents and settings\user name\application data\freedom
scientific\jaws 6.0\settings\enu
(with JAWS 6.0)

When installed the chat software can be launch from:

Start Menu\program Files\Accessible Chat

You should open the "Chat Help" file (also in the above
folder) and read it thoroughly before using the service. Press
the F2 key any time you want help in a particular place in the
running program. 

Accessible Chat has the usual Windows Title Bar and Main Menu,
with File, Edit, Channels, etc, so ARROW through these and
note the shortcut keystrokes which are listed alongside the
menu descriptions. The program is mainly keystroke driven,
with the top row of F keys being the main method of
interaction. to learn what each of these F keys does, just
press CONTROL followed by any of the F keys for a verbal help
message. 

When you first launch Accessible Chat you will be asked for a
nickname, so provide one, and press ENTER on "OK"--and that is
all the information you have to give. You should obtain a
burst of audio sound and be taken online. Then, after a short
wait, you can TAB around the options and ARROW up and down the
list of currently online chatters.

The Accessible Chat providers intend to extend this chat group
to include voice chat in the very near future, so, if you have
a sound card, speakers and a microphone, you will be able to
chat in real-time audibly, instead of having to type your
discussions. In fact, by the time you read this, voice chat will
probably already be available.


                           ********

                          >SECTION 9

              USING THE INTERNET TO PHONE PEOPLE

You can replace your telephone with the internet to make calls
between computers anywhere in the world if you have the correct
software. In this way you can keep your phone bills down to
around a penny a minute on some pay-as-you-go Internet
connections and to nothing extra if you have a monthly payment
ISP connection. Skype is one program which you can do this with
and it is reasonably accessible for screenreader users. Another
such telephony program is Microsoft's MSN Messenger. However,
note that you cannot use Internet telephony between different
telephony programs, as you and your callers/contacts all have to
be using the same software and related network server.

9.1. The Skype Internet Telephony Program--An overview

Skype allows you to make phone calls via the Internet with other
Skype users who are currently also online, registered with the
service and also using the Skype software. You cannot phone other
people's regular landline phones with Skype; you can only phone
between computers currently online and running the Skype program
at the same time as you are. However, the Skype makers do offer
a piece of software called "SkypeOut" which will permit you to
use your PC to phone anybody in the world's landline or mobile
phone at a low minute by minute charge.

Skype is quite good (with or without appropriate scripts, sets
or maps) for screenreader and keyboard users and has shorter
delays between you speaking into your microphone and the
recipient hearing you than is the case with some other similar
programs. Skype works best if you have a broadband connection but
is also designed to work via a standard 33.6K or better modem.
However, my experience is that those using dial-up modems will
send poorer quality speech transfer to others. 

9.2. System Requirements

To run Skype you will need a minimum of:

1. According to the Skype makers you should be running A PC with
Windows 2000 or XP but I have also successfully installed Skype
on a Windows 98(SE) operating system and it has worked OK.
Perhaps it may not be as stable on Windows operating systems
before XP and they therefore do not want to support earlier
versions of Windows. 

2. A 400 MHz CPU.

3. 128 Mb of RAM.

4. 15 Mb of free hard disk space.

5. A sound card (with up-to-date drivers), speakers and good
quality designed-for-the-purpose microphone/mic-headset.

6. A broadband Internet connection or a dial-up modem at at least
33.6 baud.

Note 1: If you are running a screenreader, the above minimum CPU
and memory requirements will need to be increased slightly to
take account of the extra resources requirements of
screenreaders.

Note 2: For best quality audio output and reception, it is
preferable if both parties to a conversation use a headset with
onboard microphone rather than a stand-alone mic and speakers.

9.3. Downloading Skype and JAWS Scripts for Skype

You can download the latest version of Skype (currently Version
1.1.0.79) and some JAWS scripts to work with this same version
of Skype from the same site. Otherwise, if you are not a JAWS
user, you can just download the Skype software. What you do is:

1. Use your browser to surf to:

www.panix.com/~ccn/projects/jfw/skype.php

2. TAB about 14 times and press ENTER on a link entitled
"Download the Scripts and Program".

3. Now move down to a table with a "Skype/JFW Scripts" link and
press ENTER, If you are a JAWS user, otherwise skip this step and
go straight to step 5.

4. You will receive the normal dialogue box telling you that the
JAWS scripts file will be saved to disk and what the saved
filename will be, e.g. something like "jfw-sk30.zip". This will
only take a minute or two to download.

5. After the above scripts download (or skip to this stage
without downloading the scripts if you do not use JAWS), you can
now just ARROW down the same page two or three times to another
link in the same table entitled "Skype Program" and press ENTER
on this. The correct version (currently Version 1.1.0.79 of
Skype) which corresponds with the just downloaded JAWS scripts
will now take about 20 minutes to download with a 56K modem and
the filename will be something like "skype-1.1.0.79"

Note: If the above site stops providing Skype, the maker's home
page where you can download it from as an alternative is:

www.skype.com

Just press ENTER on the "Download Skype for Windows, Linux,
Pocket PC or Mac OSX Here", link near the top of the page.

9.4. Installing Skype and the JAWS Scripts

To install the scripts firstly and then the Skype program
continue as directed below.

9.4.1. JAWS Scripts Installation

1. If you are a JAWS user, now go to the downloaded JAWS scripts
.zip file and unzip it as usual. If you do not use JAWS, skip to
the next sub-section. 

2. put these unzipped files into such as:

c:\jaws51\settings\enu
(with JAWS 5.1)

or

c:\documents and settings\user name\application data\freedom
scientific\jaws 6.0\settings\enu
(with JAWS 6.0)

Note: These scripts will only work with versions of JAWS from
4.51 onwards.

9.4.2. Skype Software Installation

To install the main Skype program:

1. Go to the downloaded Skype .exe file on your Desktop or
wherever else you may have downloaded it to and press ENTER or
SPACEBAR.

2. If Skype tries to take you online at this stage you can let
it do so or, if you prefer, you can press the ESCAPE key a couple
of times to stop this. You will now encounter the Skype welcome
and installation wizard. You will find a list of languages which
Skype recognises, so ARROW to the correct one for you and then
TAB to "Next" and press ENTER. 

3. Next you come to the licence agreement page, so TAB to "I do
not Accept the Agreement" and then ARROW up to indicate that you
do accept, then TAB to "Next" and press ENTRE.

4. Accept the default installation folder for Skype of:

C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone

by TABBING to "Next" and pressing ENTER.

5. You can now choose how Skype will behave after being installed
or the means of launching it after installation. You will be in
a list of three or four options. You can ARROW to "Create a
Desktop Icon", "Start Skype when the Computer Starts", etc,
depending on how you want Skype to be launched in future. You
might wish to choose the second of these options if you have a
broadband Internet connection and want Skype to launch every time
you start your PC or the "Create a Desktop Icon" if you are using
a pay-as-you-go dial-up connection; the choice is yours. Just
press ENTER on the one you want.

6. The software will be installed in seconds and you will be on
the last step. You can now ARROW through three choices: for
launching Skype now or for viewing online release notes or an
online user guide, the latter of which will immediately take you
onto the Net to see this literature. Make the choice which suits
you, e.g. press ENTER on "Launch Skype" if you want the program
to start up without you firstly going onto the Internet.

7. The first of two forms completion stages is now encountered.
If you are on broadband, you are already online and so you can
complete a form to create a new Skype account. If not, you can
press ENTER to leave the dial-up dialogue and complete these new
account details offline, before then going online to submit this
form. Do it whichever way you find to be the most convenient. 

8. This new user form requires you to go into forms mode and
complete several editfields with straightforward details such as
entering a name for yourself (either true, a nickname, a
pseudonym, or whatever you like), not exceeding 32 characters in
length, starting with an alphabetical letter and having no spaces
in it, e.g. "John-Wilson007", and you may have to try a second
name for yourself if the first one you chose is already being
used by someone else; the password should be at least four
characters long; the "Log this user on Automatically" checkbox
is off but if you want in future to get logged onto Skype
automatically without having to provide log on details, press
SPACEBAR to check this on; and the other important field is to
provide your correct e-mail address so that Skype can communicate
with you and also remind you of your password if you forget this.
The list of countries you have to choose from provides "Great
Britain" as a choice for UK residents. At this stage, if you are
already online, you can press ENTER on the "Next" button to
submit your log on details. If you are working offline, you
should now go online before pressing ENTER on the "Next" button
to submit your form.

Note 1: The above create new account dialogue also holds a
property sheet for existing Skype users to use to sign on to
their Skype account. You move from the create new account sheet
to the existing user sheet by pressing CONTROL TAB. However, when
you are already online and launch Skype, it should automatically
log on to the Skype network site for you.

Note 2: If you elected to receive information from the Skype
network about updates, etc, when completing the above form, you
will receive an e-mail from them straight after logging
on/signing on which provides some general Skype information.

9. After a few seconds you will encounter another form on which
to complete some personal identification details so that any
other Skype user can use the Skype search for contacts feature
to find people and thereby be able to find and phone you when you
are online with Skype. This form asks many personal details but
will not display your e-mail address if you provide this. You can
complete all of these details if you wish or just the bare
essentials if you like, such as your name, e-mail address,
country and town of residence, and so on. After completing the
fields you think appropriate, TAB to the "Update" button and
press ENTRE to submit the form. Note that you do not have to fill
this form in at all and that you can later open this form and
complete or change it by going into "Your Personal Profile" in
the File menu whilst online. However, if you want to make
contacts and have a list of other Skype users to talk to, you
would be advised to fill in at least the bare ID essentials
suggested above.

10. You have now completed the essential Skype registration and
sign on/log on details.

Note 1: If you decide to uninstall Skype, you should do this in
the usual way via the Control Panel. However, note that you will
be asked if you want to keep your friends and Contacts List on
hard disk to have this available if you later wish to reinstall
Skype, so TAB to and press ENTER on "Yes" to retain this or "No"
to completely remove all traces of Skype.

Note 2: If you use a firewall which blocks Skype from connecting
to the Skype network on the Internet to log on, you will have to
open some extra outgoing TCP port connections (see the section
entitled "Viewing/Changing Options whilst Offline" for more about
where to do this). 

9.5. Launching Skype

You can launch Skype in a number of ways:

1. It will automatically start up when you start Windows if you
set it up to do so during the above installation.

2. You can Launch Skype from the shortcut icon on your Desktop
if you installed it in this way, by pressing Windows key and M
or D and then S until Skype is spoken and then press ENTER.

3. You can find it in the System Tray (which means that it is
actually running in the background to alert you to anyone trying
to contact you) and ARROW down and press ENTER on "Skype
Connecting". A Context Menu opens up and you can ARROW down the
several options in here and press ENTER on "Open Skype".

4. You can go the long way about this via the Program Files
folder by pressing:

Windows Key, P (for Programs), s (for Skype) several times until
it is spoken and then press ENTER twice to launch Skype.

9.6. Pen-Picture of the Skype Screen

The Skype screen can change according to whether or not you are
online and which Toolbars and tabs you have enabled or turned
off. However, the basic view is that the top line has the word
Skype on it and your Skype name. Below this comes the usual Main
menu with menus of File, View, Tools, Call and Help. Straight
underneath this is the Toolbar, if you have not turned this off,
but your screenreader may only read graphic numbers here unless
you run your screenreader's automatic labelling of graphic
feature, e.g. Insert G with Window-Eyes and CONTROL INSERT G with
JAWS. On the next line you come to the Skype tabs, of which there
may be only two or three or up to eight or nine. The first four
are usually labelled: "Start", "Contact", "Dial" and "Contact
List". Underneath the above comes the main part of the window
which will hold a list of your contacts (when you have created
one) and you will also encounter an editfield you can get to by
pressing the TAB key which is designed for you to type a
contact's Skype name into and press ENTER to enable you to call
that contact.   

9.7. Skype's System Tray Context Menu and Skype Me Mode

When you start your computer, Skype places itself in your System
Tray to run in the background and monitor anyone trying to
contact you whilst you are online. You can effect several
commands via this Context Menu:

1. Enter the System Tray by pressing your screenreader's hot key
for this, e.g. INSERT S or Windows key B with Window-Eyes, left
SHIFT Numpad / with HAL and INSERT F11 with JAWS.

2. ARROW down to "Skype Connecting" and press ENTER to open the
Context Menu.

3. In this menu you have several commands you can carry out,
including:

A. The "Quit" option: This lets you close Skype down altogether
so that it is no longer even running in the background from the
Sys Tray.

B. The "Change Status" Option: This has a sub-menu to right ARROW
into with options like "Skype Me" to let people know you are
ready to take phone calls from anyone in the world whether or not
you have given specific authorisation for them to do so (but
beware of potential nuisance, fraudulent and spam-type calls if
you connect in Skype Me mode), "Away" to let people know you are
not available to take calls, etc. For these commands to be
effective, you have to be online at the time you give them. You
can also access these status options in the File menu.

C. The "Open Skype" option: This, of course, launches Skype in
full screen mode for you to use.

Note: This Skype Context Menu can hold other options as well,
depending on your status when going into it, e.g. it may be
labelled "Skype not logged in" if you have not logged on yet or
automatically done so. Within this option you will then have a
"Log In" option to log you in with and will have to provide your
log in details, such as name and password.

9.8. Making and Receiving Audio Calls with Skype

You can talk to people with Skype in a number of ways but firstly
you may wish to create a Contacts List from which to select them.

9.8.1. Making a Call without using the Contacts List

You can make a call to any Skype user without firstly adding them
to your Contacts List but you will be doing this without knowing
if they are online to answer it. You will already have to know
their Skype name to do this or firstly have to find them by
searching for them. To call someone without using the Contacts
List (which will be blank when you first install Skype):

1. If Skype is not already running, launch it from its place on
your hard disk or from any shortcut icon you may have for it on
your Desktop or from the System Tray.

2. If you have already signed on and provided a name and password
with the Skype network as directed earlier, you will
automatically be logged on with the Skype system when you connect
to the Internet. However, you may have to physically switch from
"Offline" mode to "Online" mode before you can continue by
pressing ALT F (for File) and ENTER on "Change Status". In here
ARROW to and press ENTER on "Online". You can also achieve this
via the System Tray.

2. If you know the person you want to call's Skype name (not
necessarily their correct personal name), you can simply TAB on
the Skype screen until you get to an editfield and then type this
Skype name in here, e.g. Firefly" or "John-Wilson007", etc, and
then press ENTER or SPACEBAR to open up a line to them and make
the call.

3. If this person is online and has Skype running, they will be
able to answer you if they choose to; otherwise your call will
fail.

Note: You can also call someone by firstly searching for them on
the Skype network's database, opening up a Context Menu on their
found name and pressing ENTER on the "Call" option (see the next
sub-section for how to search and find people in this way).

9.8.2. Logging On and Finding Contacts

To place people into your Contacts List for easy access and to
be able to call them and know whether or not they are online and
available to take a call:

1. If Skype is not already running, launch it from its place on
your hard disk or from any shortcut icon you may have for it on
your Desktop or from the System Tray.

2. If you have already signed on and provided a name and password
with the Skype network as directed earlier, you will
automatically be logged on with the Skype system when you connect
to the Internet. However, you may have to physically switch from
"Offline" mode to "Online" mode before you can continue by
pressing ALT F (for File) and ENTER on "Change Status". In here
ARROW to and press ENTER on "Online". You can also achieve this
via the System Tray.

3. To find and add friends/contacts to your Contacts List, you
have to press ALT T (for Tools) and then ARROW down to "Search
for Skype Users" and press ENTER. This will be unavailable if you
are not already online on the Net.

4. In the new window/dialogue which now opens up, you can search
for friends or other contacts by name or any other information
which they have provided in their personal profile. What you do
is:

A. You will be in the "Look For" editfield to type the name of
someone in to see if they are current Skype users and can be
found on the Skype network of users, provided that they are using
their correct name or you know what nickname, pseudonym or Skype
name they use. 

B. You then TAB once to "Search" and press ENTER.

C. After a few seconds' wait, you will be able to TAB several
times to just past an "Advanced" button to a listbox entitled
"Responses" and ARROW up and down a list of found Skype users of
that name with some basic ID details about them, if any were
found. Note that if you are using an earlier version of JAWS
which the above scripts do not work on or a different
screenreader without special set or map files, the "Responses"
list title may not be announced and you may hear nothing if you
ARROW down in this list. However, if you go into your
screenreader's mouse mode, you will be able to view the found
Skype users list and access the related Context menu as outlined
below.

D. IF you continue to TAB through this dialogue, you will observe
other buttons, such as "Clear" to clear the Look For editfield
to type other names to find in and you can press ENTER on a
"Advanced" button to extend the range of editfields/criteria you
can do searches for people on within this same dialogue box, e.g.
you can search on a phone number only, on an e-mail address, on
a date of birth, etc. However, remember that these search
criteria will only work if the person you are looking for has
entered these details in his/her personal profile form.

5. To add one of these searched for and found people to your
Contacts List, you just ARROW to the person's name from the above
"Responses" list and press SHIFT F10 or right click to open a
Context Menu. In here ARROW to "Add to Contacts" and press ENTER.
You should also note the other options you have in this menu as
well, such as either to call them or to send them a typed chat
message. You can use the "Call" option at any time and will get
through to them if they are currently online, even if you do not
put them into your Contacts List.

Note 1: When you first find someone to add to your Contacts List,
this person will not immediately be available for full inclusion
in this list, as they must firstly be asked by the Skype network
system if they want to be available to receive calls from you at
any time when they are online and they must give permission
first. The ability for you to put them into your Contacts List
and know when they are online is at this stage known as "Pending
Authorisation" but this person will still currently show in this
list as pending.

Note 2: If you cannot find someone by their real name but you
know their Skype name, you may be able to find them using that.

6. Shortly after you have initially added someone to your
Contacts List as described above, they will receive a message
from the Skype network advising them that you want to be able to
call them and asking them to agree or decline this. The message
they would receive (and which you will receive when someone wants
to add you as a friend to their Contacts List) basically brings
up a pop-up message on screen and provides an audible tone as
well to alert you to this. You are told that this person wants
to add you to their Contacts List as a friend so that they can
be notified when you are online. There is a checkbox you can TAB
to and view the current status of this, which will be checked on
to accept this request, so all you have to do is TAB to "OK" and
press ENTER to allow that person to see when you are online so
that they know when they can call you. If you want to deny this,
press SPACEBAR on the checkbox to turn it off first, although the
person who requested this will not be advise that you do not want
to let them know when you are online. This person will still be
able to call you but will not know whether or not you are online
when they do so, so it will be pot luck.  

9.8.3. Calling Someone from your Contacts List

Once you have added one or more friends to your contact list you
can call one of them from this list by:

1. Go to the "Contact" tab on the row of tabs just below the
Toolbar (in mouse mode if you are not a JAWS user or are using
JAWS 4.50 or earlier or have not downloaded the JAWS scripts for
Skype) and press your screenreader's left click button to open
the contact list. This tab is the second tab from the left side
of the screen. If you are using JAWS 4.51 or later and the JAWS
scripts, you can achieve this by pressing CONTROL SHIFT 2 quickly
twice and then ENTER.

2. You next ARROW with either the upside down T-shape set of
ARROW keys or the ARROW keys on your Numpad to the contact's
Skype name you wish to phone and press SHIFT F10 or your
screenreader's right mouse key click button to open a Context
Menu and ARROW to "Call Contact" and press ENTER. Before going
into this Context Menu you will know if they are currently online
to take your call as it will tell you in the Contacts List at the
end of the line with their name on, e.g. it will say "Offline",
"Online" or "Pending Authorisation". 

3. You will hear, through your speakers or headset, a typical
phone-type ring tone until the recipient of your call answers it
and speaks to let you know he is there. So you now simply talk
to one another as if you were using normal landline telephones.
If the contact you are calling is offline, you will receive a
message advising you of this. Remember, if you are having more
than a one-way conversation (conferencing) or you have yourself
received a call and are not sure who it is you are talking to,
you can press CONTROL SHIFT O with the JAWS scripts to identify
the person. 

4. You or the other conversation participant can terminate the
call at any time by pressing ALT C (for Call" and then ARROWING
up to and pressing ENTER on "Hang Up".  

Note 1: If you know the Skype name of a contact you wish to call,
such as jim.oxford777, you can just press the TAB key when on the
Skype main screen to an editfield. This is the speed dial field
which you can just type the contact's Skype name ( possibly not
their real name) into and then press ENTER to make the call. You
can also right click a contact who is also shown as online in
your friends Contacts List or Call List (history of already made
calls) and then ARROW to and press ENTER on "Call". 

Note 2: You can also call someone (whether or not they are in
your Contacts List) by simply pressing ENTER on the "Call" option
in the Context Menu mentioned in step 5 of the last sub-section
above entitled "Logging on and Finding Contacts". 

9.8.4. Answering a Call Someone is Making to You

If someone is ringing you while you have Skype running and you
are online:

1. You will hear the sound of a ringing phone through your
speakers or headset.

2. If Skype is not already the application you are working in,
ALT TAB to it or open it from the System Tray or from the Desktop
and then either:

A. Press ALT C (for Call) and then A (for Answer) and then press
ENTER on the caller's name which will be displayed in the sub-
menu you are now in; or

B. Go to the tabs just below the Toolbar at the top of the
screen. A new tab will have appeared their called "Incoming Call"
(or it may just have the name of the person calling you). Left
click on this and select whether you want to answer the call or
reject it.

3. As soon as you elect to answer a call you can start your two-
way voice conversation. Remember, if you are having more than a
one-way conversation (conferencing) or you have yourself received
a call and are not sure who it is you are talking to, you can
press CONTROL SHIFT O with the JAWS scripts to identify the
person, when you will hear a message such as "1 contact online -
 Jim Smith". 

4. You or the other conversation participant can terminate the
call at any time by pressing ALT C (for Call" and then ARROWING
up to and pressing ENTER on "Hang Up".  

9.9. Configuring Skype in its Options Dialogue

You can change the way Skype works and decide who may and may not
call you from Skype's three property sheets within its Options
dialogue. However, this dialogue contains different property
sheets, depending whether or not you are online or offline when
you go into it.  

9.9.1. Viewing/Changing Options whilst Offline

When offline, Skype has only one sheet in its Options dialogue,
which is the "Configuration" sheet.

1. Whilst offline, press F (for File) and then P (for Options),
when you will come into a single property sheet dialogue labelled
"Configuration".

2. TAB through the various options in here and note that, in the
main, it covers which ports Skype uses on your PC to listen to
incoming calls from other Skype users. It also has a "Proxy"
checkbox you can check on if you use a proxy server.

3. If Skype is working OK for you, do not change anything in
here. If Skype is unable to communicate through your firewall,
you may have to change some of the default ports it communicates
through. Go into mouse mode and read the information on screen
about this and perhaps contact the Skype support team for
detailed advice via the "Report a Problem" option in the Help
menu.

9.9.2. Viewing/Changing Skype's Options whilst Online

If you go online with Skype, the above-mentioned Options dialogue
will now contain:

1. Press F (for File) and then P (for Options), when you will
enter the first of three property sheets, called "General".

2. In the "General" sheet, you can TAB through and view or change
such things as whether or not Skype will start automatically when
Windows starts, how long in minutes you want the program to wait
before it starts to automatically show you as being away from
your computer and not available, e.g for 5 minutes is the default
but you can change this, etc.

3. Now CONTROL TAB to the second sheet which is labelled
"Personal". In here TAB through and note such things as the
ability to change your Skype password.

4. Again CONTROL TAB to the "Privacy" sheet and TAB through the
options. In here you can check on with the SPACEBAR "Remember my
Password" if it is not already on so that you do not have to
provide this every time you use Skype. You can delete your
history of past Skype conversations and who they were with, and
there is a "Manage Blocked Users" button to activate if you want
to specify a given troublesome caller as in future not being
allowed to call you. If you do this and this person calls you,
you will simply not know about this as the call will not be
allowed through. You can also do this blocking via the "Manage
Blocked Users" option in the Tools menu.

5. If you make any changes in the above sheets, remember to TAB
to the "Save" button and press ENTER to keep these changes.

9.10. Shortcut Keystrokes for Use with Skype 

Skype has no specific shortcuts for its use. It is simply either
Toolbar, TAB or menu driven.

9.10.1. General Skype Shortcuts and Notification Sounds

As already stated, Skype has no special shortcuts of its own but
later versions may soon get some built into them. When you are
online and on the Skype main screen, you can press your TAB key
and get to an editfield to type the Skype name of one of your
contacts into and then press ENTER or SPACEBAR to call that
person. 

Despite this lack of shortcuts, you should be able to
successfully use Skype via its menus and TAB buttons but you will
have to employ your screenreader's mouse mode and left and right
click simulation keys or SHIFT F10 from time to time.
Additionally, Skype will provide you with automatic sounds as
prompts, e.g. tones when you ring out and ringing sounds when you
receive a call, musical notes when messages are placed on screen,
etc.

9.10.2. JAWS Specialist Hot Keys for Skype

If you have downloaded the correct, corresponding Skype program
and its Scripts from the site I recommended in "Downloading Skype
and JAWS Scripts for Skype" above, things should work OK. If you
have unassociated scripts and Skype version, then they probably
will not work at all. The Skype scripts I have recommended were
only written in Mid-February and you have Chris Nestrud to thank
for these.

Of course, you will have to be online and signed on with the
Skype network for most hot keys to work and, indeed, for several
Main menu options and Toolbar buttons to work as well.

The hot keys provided by the JAWS Skype scripts Version 3.0 are:

Press CONTROL SHIFT O: To get online contacts announced, or to
identify the person calling when you receive a call or to
identify the person you currently have on hold.

Press CONTROL SHIFT L: to go to the responses list within a
contact search dialogue.

Press CONTROL SHIFT M: If all of the above responses are not
displayed in the search dialogue, i.e. after pressing the above
command first.

Press CONTROL SHIFT T: TO find out how many tabs are showing just
under the Toolbar. If you press CONTROL SHIFT T twice quickly,
this will bring up a list of currently available tabs so that you
can ARROW to and open one by pressing ENTER on its name.

Press CONTROL SHIFT W: To launch the Skype scripts home page.

Press CONTROL SHIFT 1 through 9 (depending on how many tabs are
actually showing): To switch to a particular tab, e.g. CONTROL
SHIFT 1 to switch to the "Start" tab, CONTROL SHIFT 2 to switch
to the "Contacts" tab, etc. If you press CONTROL SHIFT 1 through
9 quickly twice, this will set focus to the tab control itself
so that you can then use your left and right ARROW keys to move
amongst tabs. With focus on a tab in this way, you can then press
your screenreader's right mouse click simulation key to bring up
a CONTEXT Menu of commands, e.g. in the Conference tab you can
change conference properties or close the conference, etc.

Press CONTROL SHIFT H: To train the scripts to recognise the
correct colours if you are unable to ARROW through your Contacts
List, otherwise this is not necessary so do not do it.

Press INSERT V: To toggle several Skype options, e.g. to read
chat activity, automatic speaking of online status, etc.

Note: JAWS itself (at least up to Version 6.0) comes bundled with
no specific built-in hot keys of its own for Skype, so you will
have to exist on the above JAWS 3.0 scripts hot keys and/or by
activating Toolbar options and tabs and by using the Main menu
options and Context Menus.  

                           ********

>APPENDIX 1

WHERE TO FIND MORE INTERNET INFORMATION

More information on various aspects of using the Internet can
be obtained via a number of resources. Below I list some of
particular interest.

10.1. From the Internet Itself 

Go to net.dummies.net

10.2. In Braille 

A Guide to the Internet and How to Access It, from the RNIB--A
free beginner's brief, non-technical overview of Internet
facilities. Phone: 0845 7023153.

Internet for Dummies, 1997, from the NLB, on 0161 494 0217--an
in-depth tour of the Internet from a screen and mouse-click
point of view (but a little out of date now).

Access-It, from the RNIB--a monthly specialist visually-
impaired oriented computer magazine in Braille. This is also
available on floppy disk and by e-mail.

Compute-It, from the RNIB--a braille monthly with standard
articles of interest to visually impaired people from a
collection of the mainstream PC magazines. This is also
available on floppy disk and by e-mail.  

10.3. On Cassette

Several PC magazines published monthly and recorded onto
cassette, floppy disk, downloadable files  and CD-ROM by
TNAUK are available, Tel: 01435 866102. Website:
www.tnauk.org.uk

A UK organisation produce a monthly C90 computer tape called
Talking Computers. Ted Martin runs it and is on e-mail 
     ted@pound.charitydays.co.uk.

Another UK C90 tape sponsored by Dolphin Access Systems but
produced independently by Simon Wilks is called The Whistler and
he is on: 020 84780673. 

10.4. By E-Mail 

The Microsoft Accessibility Update, From Microsoft--a periodic
access-related bulletin e-mailed to subscribed persons.
Registers for it by completing the online form at
www.microsoft.com/enable/news/subscribe-u.htm. However, they
suspended publishing this Accessibility Update in 2004 but may
resume its provision at some later date. To see what
accessibility news bulletins and articles Microsoft are currently
supplying, just go to:

www.microsoft.com/enable/news

A weekly US bulletin taken from the New York Times called Tech
Update is e-mailed to subscribers by Wil Smith. Wil can be
contacted at: e-mail wilsmith@iglou.com.

A monthly UK magazine bulletin available worldwide and sponsored
by the RNIB is called "Eaccess". You can register to receive it
free by sending an e-mail to: 

eab-subs@headstar.com

with 'subscribe eab' in the subject header.

********

>APPENDIX 2

LIST OF E-MAIL LISTS DEALING WITH
PARTICULAR TOPICS OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

11.1. List of VI-Related Lists and Examples of How to Subscribe
to Them

BASR-L--Discusses Web browser and screenreader accessibility
matters. To subscribe send an e-mail to:

listproc@trace.wisc.edu

Leave the subject line blank and in the body type:

subscribe basr-l firstname lastname

BCAB--UK Blind Computer Users' Association list. To subscribe
send an e-mail to:

majordomo@cs.man.ac.uk

Leave the subject line blank and in the body of the message
type:

subscribe bcab

AVIOS--This is the UK Association of Visually Impaired Office
Staff information and discussion list. They discuss telephony and
general UK office-worker-related topics.To join send a blank
message to:

avios-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Leave the subject line and the body of the message blank.

to Unsubscribe from the AVIOS list, send a blank message to:

avios-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

To temporarily suspend AVIOS list messages so that you receive
none until you tell the list to start sending messages again,
e.g. for whilst you are on holiday, send a blank message to:

avios-nomail@yahoogroups.com

and to recommence receiving mail at a later date, send a blank
message to:

avios-normal@yahoogroups.com

Note: these subscribe, unsubscribe, nomail and normal commands
are universal for all lists on Yahoogroups, so if you know them
for one Yahoogroups list, you know them for them all.

audyssey--This is a dedicated games magazine for blind people.
To receive this e-mail magazine send an e-message to:

jmeddaug@cris.com

Leave the subject line blank and type in the body:

subscribe audyssey 

Blind-L--Deals with non-Windows computer issues. To join send
an e-message to:

listserv@uafsysb.uark.edu

and type in the body:

subscribe blind-l firstname lastname

Lookout--A list for users of the Lookout and Dual screenreader
and magnifier. It provides peer support and update information
for these packages. To subscribe send an e-mail to:

lookout-support-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

and leave the body of the message blank. 

blindwebbers--Provides discussion on and tips about creating
blind-friendly Internet Websites for both experienced and
learner visually impaired Web authors. To subscribe just send
a blank e-mail to:

blindwebbers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

and leave the subject line and message body blank.

To contribute to the Blindwebbers discussions, send your
message to:

blindwebbers@yahoogroups.com

GUIspeak--Discusses Windows-related computer topics. To add
your name to the mailing list send an e-mail to:

listserv@listserv.nodak.edu

And in the body type:

subscribe guispeak firstname lastname

National Talking Express--Discusses matters arising from the UK
NTE monthly tape magazine. To subscribe just send a message to:

nteexpress-subscribe@smartgroups.com

and leave the subject line and body of the message blank.

Blind Attic--This is the US Blind Treasures trading, buying and
selling list for all types of goods, whether new or second-hand.

To subscribe to the Blind Attic list send an e-mail to:

blindattic-request@blindtreasures.com

If you want to advertise something for sale or request if someone
has something you want on the Blind Attic list, send your e-mail
to:

blindattic@blindtreasures.com

VIsector--A UK-based list for UK companies in the field of VI
commodities to post job vacancies to. To subscribe and receive
notice of these job vacancies send an e-mail to:

visector-request@ukvijobs.com

Leave the subject line blank and in the body of the message type:

subscribe visector jwjw@onetel.com

but, of course, do not type my e-mail address in, rather insert
your own address.

You cannot post messages to the VIsector list, only receive them
and then respond directly to the job vacancy advertiser. 

Blind-Chit-Chat--Provides a forum for blind people to have
informal discussions. You can subscribe by sending an e-mail
to:

blind-chit-chat-subscribe@egroups.com

Further examples of the format to use when subscribing to
mailing lists:

To subscribe to the JAWS discussion lists:

For UK residents, send a message to:

jaws-uk@freelists.org

and type:

Subscribe

in the Subject Line and leave the body of the message blank.

To suspend mail whilst away for a few days send a message to:

jaws-uk-request@freelists.org

and in the subject line type:

Vacation

When you return from holiday send to the same address the
following command:

unset vacation

To leave the jaws-UK list, send to:

jaws-uk-request@freelists.org

and type:

unsubscribe

in the subject line. 

If you wish to join the US JAWS list, send a blank message to:

jfwlite-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

and leave the rest of the message blank.

To subscribe to the UK Recycle-It second-hand computer equipment
and other items list send an e-mail to:

recycle-it-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

and add something like "Please add me to your list" in the
subject field and leave the body of the message blank.

To join the UK Access UK list for discussion on general
technology and other access-related issues, send a message to:

access-uk-request@freelists.org

Leave the message body blank and in the subject line type:

subscribe

To post a message on Access-UK, send your message to:

access-uk@freelists.org

To suspend mail or leave the Access UK list, use the same
commands as outlined above for the JAWS-UK list.

To find a mailing list on a particular topic you are
interested in and to subscribe, send an e-mail to:

listserv@listserv.net

and in the body of the message type, for example:

list global blindness

or

list global fishing

with the last word(s) being the subject you are interested in,
namely "blindness" or "fishing". In a few minutes you will
receive an e-mail telling you how to sign onto any lists which
Listserv have registered with them in respect of these topics.
Of course, this will only be a list of the available Listserv
lists and not any which are hosted by other providers like
Smartgroups, Yahoo!, Freelists, etc, so you will have to do
something similar (but probably not exactly the same) to get
lists from other providers.

11.2. Downloadable Comprehensive List of e-Mail Lists of Interest
to Visually Impaired People

There is a list of e-mail lists for you to peruse and find lists
which might interest you to join. This is at:

www.whitestick.co.uk

and you can find and download many more texts and programs from
this site as well.

********

>APPENDIX 3

LIST OF HUNDREDS OF GENERAL WEBSITES OF INTEREST

12.1. Recommended Sites to Visit

Many of the Websites in this appendix are repeats of those
mentioned in the main body of this tutorial, although many more
are only mentioned here and nowhere else. This appendix, however,
does not encapsulate every site which is alluded to in the above
sections. If you cannot find what you want here, search the main
body of the tutorial for it.

When entering one of the below Website URLs in to your Web
browser's Address Bar, type all characters and symbols
up to the two dashes (--), but do
not include the dashes. You do not usually need to type in the
prefix of an address (http://), as browsers automatically insert
this for you. 

The sites with an asterisk (*) at the end of their brief
description have been created with the screenreader in mind
for maximum accessibility. Most of the others should be found
to be reasonably accessible with a good screenreader.

Please remember that websites are appearing and disappearing
on the Internet all of the time. Some are frequently rewritten
and others change their URL from time to time. Additionally,
the sites at the top of this list are more likely to be
recently created than those towards the bottom.

www.tpb.se--This site provides two free daisy book reading
programs. The most basic is called TPB Reader and is around a 12
Mb download or can be ordered on CD. The more advanced reader is
called Playback 2000 and is only available on CD due to its size.
This is a Swedish libraries site and you should go to the
"English" link near the top of the home page.* 

www.en.wikimedia.org--Holds the site of an impressive online
encyclopedia which is kept up to date and added to by volunteers.
This is one of the world's largest reference points and
encyclopedias.


www.savemoneynow.com--Is a site where you can compare prices and
obtain advice on making savings on household bills such as gas
and electricity.

www.apple.com/podcasting--This is where you can view an online
tutorial to learn how to create and listen to podcasts. A podcast
is a broadcast on any topic they like either made by a
corporation or private individual and posted on the Net for
anyone else to download and listen to. They are usually posted
as compressed files, such as in MP3 format.

www.switchwithwitch.com--Is another prices comparison site but
this time mainly for phone providers. It also tells you how to
switch provider.

www.moneysupermarket.com--Lets you compare credit card interest
rates to get the best/lowest rates.

www.tradingstandards.gov.uk--Provides a Government site with
information about the UK postal and telephone preference service
to get onto the list so that you receive no or at least fewer
unwanted phone calls from advertisers and promoters and fewer
unsolicited junk mail letters.

www.revealweb.org.uk--Here is the UK's National Library for the
Blind's Revealweb Website holding the names and details of many
UK organisations and individuals who provide accessible goods and
services for visually impaired people. 

www.vip-highstreet.com--From this consumer-orientated Website you
can jump from links to high street shops which themselves have
accessible shopping sites. There are links to supermarkets,
furniture shops, electrical and computer shops, etc, and there
is information pertaining to customer rights.*

www.applianceonline.co.uk--Is a shopping site where you can
purchase many different types of home appliance, such as cookers
and washing-machines, often at prices significantly lower than
high street shops. 

www.cinebench.com--Allows you to download a free computer
benchmarking program to run and find out the efficiency of the
most important parts of your PC such as processor and memory to
see if it has any running problems, bottle-necks and parts which
could do with upgrading, etc.

www.websightuk.org--Hosts a site for VI persons which provides
information of interest to blind people, holds reviews and
permits you to hear online features such as the UK Soundings tape
magazine.*

www.processtext.com--Provides a site where you can download
several programs which are designed to convert many types of
files to other formats, including converting Adobe PDF files to
other formats such as MS Word.

www.cbfsms.com--Is where you can access a free computer to mobile
phone text messaging service.

www.tafn.org.uk/audio.htm--This is a radio guide from where you
can listen to a range of on-demand BBC, general independent UK
and also some international radio stations from one site. There
is no subscription and the site also has zoom facilities on each
page for screen magnification.*

www.talkingproducts.co.uk/index_text.htm--Supplies information
about many of the talking gadgets and other products which might
be of use to visually impaired people.*

www.yrguk.com/entertainment/jungle--Provides a speech-enabled and
blind-friendly jungle adventure game. The main site at
www.yrguk.com also carries several other blind-friendly games and
information links.*

www.yrguk.com--Contains an audio news, radio station etc, site
specially created for blind users. You can get results without
having to navigate Web pages, just by pressing specific numbers
on your keyboard.* 

www.webformator.com--Is where you can download a free Web page
formatting program called Webformator to make Web pages more
accessible to blind people. It works with all screenreaders and
can deal with pages containing Flash 6 and also pages with tables
on them. You will need IE5.01 or higher and Windows 98 or
higher.* 
www.gamesfortheblind.com--Provides a chat facility called
Accessible Chat free of charge. This features a special
speech-friendly interface you can access via JFW or Window-
Eyes for visually impaired people to engage in type-talk
chatting in a manageable environment.*  

www.moneyspider.com--Contains free information for ISA investors.

www.themillionweb.com/demos--Here is where you can download a
demo of a screenreader-friendly version of the Millionaire quiz
game.

www.callcredit.co.uk, www.equifax.co.uk and www.experian.co.uk--
Are all sites where UK residents can check their own personal
credit worthiness files and discover their standing and, perhaps,
get an idea if anyone else has tried to use your personal details
illegally to obtain such as credit cards, loans, etc and given
you a bad record.

www.upmystreet.com--Allows you to enter your UK post code (or
anyone else's) and then receive lots of information about that
area, e.g. the name of the local M.P., whereabouts of local take-
ways, restaurants, etc.

www.sightconnections.com--Is a site created by a visually
impaired person to facilitate the use of over 250 e-mail
discussion lists for visually impaired people plus many Internet
radio stations. It features Europe's only radio station
specifically for blind people, which is called VIP On Air.*

www.chpi.org/whatsnew.html--Is the url from which to download a
braille translator called "XML2BRL". It converts either XML or
TXT files to embossable Braille or Braille which can be then read
on a Braille display and is freeware. It only works on Linux-
based computers but a Windows version is due out soon.*

www.aprompt.ca--Provides a place to download a Web page
accessibility repair tool called A-Prompt to find problems with
Website accessibility and take the Web Master through how to fix
them step by step.* 

www.adaptech.org--This site permits you to view and download a
selection of free and low-cost adapted software packages for
visually impaired people, such as screen magnifiers, OCRs and
text-to-speech programs but some of these are only available in
the French language. Go to the "Downloads" link to get to the
list of software.*

www.aida32.hu--Provides a Web-based utility which can tell you
how much RAM you have in your computer and what type of RAM and
speed it is. It will also advise you if you have any free RAM
memory slots on your motherboard.

www.phonedirectorysearch.com/internat.htm--Is a source for
obtaining international phone numbers. Many listings are in
English but some are in their countries native language. 

www.lastminute.com--Is the location to find last-minute, cheap
travel tickets for flights and holidays.
www.tesco.com/access--This is the online shopping site for the
Tesco supermarket, from where you can choose your goods and then
have them delivered. This link has been made specially accessible
for screenreader users.*

www.centralwebs.co.uk/links/books.html--Is a Web page from which
you can download a number of free book texts, view online
references and also the site contains a free text to speech
reading program.

www.sightconnections.com--Provides a Web page with links to
around 47 streaming radio stations and 2 TV streams from
Australia.

www.oneformat.com--Since September 2003, has been making
available a way of overriding a Web designer's choice of colour,
print size and font and background images by providing a Website
where users can create and download their own style sheets. These
style sheets can then link to a Web browser for use on other
Websites.

http://en.wiipedia.org--Is the site for a free encyclopedia which
is not especially for blind people but can be used quite
successfully.

www.moneyfacts.co.uk--Which provides a site to view many
financial organisations' offerings in accounts, bonds, mortgages,
interest rates, etc. You can also find out this type of
information at www.news.ft.com and at www.fsa.gov.uk.

www.jungle.com--A site from which you can make online
commodities purchases, such as music Cds, computer software
and hardware, mobile phones, PC games, electrical goods and
much more. Sign up for their weekly newsletter near the top of
their home page.  

www.disabledworkers.org--Is where you can find information about
disabled workers in given fields in your locality if you need one
of them to do work for you and where you yourself can register
on the database for inclusion as a disabled worker if you
qualify.

www.sports.com--Gives Net access to a great wealth of sports
information.

www.ihavemoved.com--Provides a site on which, if you have just
changed address, you can have everyone who needs to know
automatically advised of your new address. Your new details will
be passed on to the people/organisations you tell it to advise
at no charge, e.g. banks, utility companies, clubs, friends, etc.

www.ebooklocator.com--Provides a searching site to help find
details of book titles published in e-book format. It contains
details on many thousands of e-books published by over 400
publishers.

www.sortit.org.uk--This is a newly created RNIB Website aimed
at the 11 to 16 age group, containing general information,
details on leisure subjects, teenage magazine availability,
etc.*  

www.royalmail.com/access--Provides an accessible equivalent of
the Royal Mail's general Website. It meets with Bobby standards.
You can access all kinds of postal-related information and supply
an address in order to be given the post code which pertains to
that address*

www.home.earthlink.net./~blindworld--Features an American site
specialising in blindness issues, such as news, medication, blind
sports, blindness research, products and gadgets for the blind,
and the like.*

www.telediscount.co.uk--Is a UK company which provides a Website
through which you can make cheap phone calls abroad without
having to register with them or put money up front to use them.
You just log onto the site, open up a list of about 150 phone
call destination countries, view what the charge will be and then
type in the abroad phone number you wish to ring. You can obtain
standard (non-mobile) calls for the cost of UK local calls or
less. 

www.uswitch.com--Provides a UK energy price comparison service
to find out where to get the best gas, electricity, phone bill,
etc, suppliers.

www.eyes2eyes.com--Is a site run by a visually impaired American
providing blind-related information about such matters as
personal, employment, medical, safety and vision issues. Visitors
can submit articles and tips and post messages to others.*

www.allexperts.com--Provides a large Website where you can select
a topic and ask any questions of an expert by activating an e-
mail link and typing in your query. The expert, who will be a
volunteer and a real live person, will e-mail the answer back to
you. They have experts on just about any topic you can imagine.

www.audiobooksforfree.com--Provides a download site where books
can be obtained for free.

www.saveonyourbills.co.uk--Gives you access to comparative
information about goods, services and utility providers to check
if you are getting the best value for money with your current
providers. This type of information can also be obtained at
www.ukpower.co.uk and www.energywatch.org.uk.

www.handybits.com/shredder.htm--Is a Web page from which you can
download a free file shredder, i.e. a small program which does
the same for computer files that an office shredder does for hard
copy paper. Shredded files can then not be recovered by
unauthorised persons (or yourself) and reinstated and viewed on
your PC.

www.accessplace.com--Is a daily updated site of over 4,000 links
to other sites in over 300 categories. Its a quick way to find
what you want and then intuitively and easily select and be taken
to any of them.

www.blindtreasures.com--This is a US site specifically for blind
people to auction just about anything, not just IT equipment. For
more information and how to use it, just surf to the site and
look around.

http://onlineshop.rnib.org.uk--Hosts the UK RNIB Internet
shopping site to purchase VI adapted goods and services.

www.disabledgo.info--Houses a site for people with sensory
impairments where info on accessible places like pubs,
restaurants and theatres can be found in many towns and cities.
How to get there, etc, is given and the cities/places listed are
being added to continually. If you want to give them details of
an accessible venue you have discovered, do so via their e-mail
address of: feedback@disabledgo.info.

www.grabameal.co.uk--Contains online menus for foodstuffs by food
type/region. 

www.meru.org.uk/speechmakers/powertalk.html--Is the download URL
for a free MS Powerpoint speech API to verbalise what is on the
screen when using Powerpoint. It is called Powertalk and is a 2.5
Mb download.

www.topica.com--Hosts a large number of features, such as e-
mail and tips on how to use common software programs, e.g.
Word 2000, Access 97, etc. You can sign up free and then
select the information categories which interest you from the
"Tips World" link.

www.everyhit.com--Provides a fast-moving, up-to-date site on
which you can ask questions about music and obtain answers, such
as obtaining a list of any particular artist's single hits and
the dates they were hits on. You can also do many other searches
for details on albums, tracks, artists, etc, to find facts.

ftp://ftp.mindspring.com/users/n8kl/nfbtr767.zip--Is the URL to
download Version 7.67 of the free American Grade 2 Braille
translation software. You can also download this free translation
package plus a Windows user interface program called Wintrans
from: www.wintrans-bt.org.   

www.ispreview.co.uk--Contains reviews of different Internet
service providers to help you choose the best one for you. 

www.archive.org--Houses the Wayback Machine which is a web
trawling and archiving program which takes a mirror image of the
internet every two months and saves this as a kind of historic
record or Internet library. To find a site as it was on a given
day, you provide the URL of the site you want and from the table
provided select the date you would like to go back to to obtain
a copy of that site on that particular day. 

www.expita.com--Supplies a site where you can read much
information about accessing the Internet by e-mail. It is the
Access by Mail Website known as "accmail".

www.e-accessibility.com--Provides a Website and monthly
newsletter for VI persons, jointly supported by RNIB, NLB and
GDB.*

www.bookshare.org--Provides for US citizens an online community
for scanning and sharing copyrighted books legally. Any book
scans can be submitted for sharing by e-mailing the recognised
scan and (preferably) the image scan. To obtain instructions on
how to join, submit and discover what books are available for you
to download send an e-mail to*:

volunteer@bookshare.org

www.192.com--Is the best site to find anyone in the UK. It
searches databases of all phone books and electoral registers
in the country.

www.thefreesite.com--Provides one of the best Websites for
locating freebies, whether promotional items, gifts by
competition or computer software.

www.jetform.com--Is where you can view and purchase a copy of an
online and offline electronic forms completion program for VI
people. It is called Verbal-Eyes and works with JFW 3.5 and
Window-Eyes 3.1 upwards.

http://validation.nlb-online.org--Holds over 70 high-quality
reference resources, by three different providers, such as the
Hutchinson Encyclopedia of Britain, Hansard and the Good Bed and
Breakfast Guide. This same site also features a link to another
reference resource called X-Refer with information available from
Penguin Dictionary of Business, Dictionary of Law, Dictionary of
Wine, Penguin Encyclopedia of Places, Collins Concise Dictionary
of Quotations, Dictionary of British History, Penguin Dictionary
of Psychology, Bloomsbury Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, New
Brove Dictionary of Jazz, Dictionary of Shakespeare, Compact
American Dictionary of Computer Words, etc. There is also the
AEBSCO UK Reference Centre with over 300 full text archive
newspapers and magazines such as BBC Gardener's World, the
Economist, The New Scientist, Computer Weekly, The Guardian, The
Rolling Stone, and the like.  For more information and to get a
username and password, phone Una Regan at the NLB on 0161 3552083
or e-mail to
una.regan@nlbuk.org.

www.redwhiteandblue.org/news/bonsmenu.htm--Hosts a site where you
can find links to other blindness related sites and advertise and
review accessibility products. You can also join the BONS (Blind
Online News Service) weekly e-mail news letter which also
contains links to other Websites with blindness-related subject
matter.* 

www.howitworks.com--Is a site providing information of an IT
nature, plus educational facts and coverage of PC games.

www.gamesfortheblind.com--Is a blind-friendly site providing
specialist games for the blind and a chat room called Accessible
chat.*

www.xe.com/ucc/--Contains a facility for you to type in a
currency and have it converted into its up-to-date equivalent in
another currency.

www.tlorimer.btinternet.co.uk--Is where you can download several
useful free and shareware programs, e.g. download managers, MP3
players, Web search engines, etc. It is maintained by Tom Lorimer
who is himself blind. He has also created and made available a
HTML Web page creation tutorial which can be downloaded.* 

www.blindhelp.comThis is where you can find a link to a messenger
program which reads incoming messages. This program is called
Talking Messenger.
 
http://pages.sprint.ca/radioclicks/files/default.htm--This is
where you can find a screenreader-friendly radio and vide
stations playing site with media from dozens of countries and
hundreds of stations.*

www.register.co.uk--This is the UK information technology site
to obtain up-to-date IT information specific to this topic.

www.screenreader.co.uk--Contains a free Web page rendering
program called Webbie for download. This makes Web pages easier
to work with for some screenreader users by presenting the page
like a word-processor document.

www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/en/download--Is the
Microsoft page where you can download a free copy of the latest
version of MS Windows Media Player and other media-related
software.

www.drivershq.com--Contains links to every PC equipment
manufacturer in the world, e.g. to download up-to-date
drivers.

http://members.fortunecity.com/mhunkin/marval_man/index.html--
Holds information on blind-related topics, accessibility
information and links to music and entertainment stations (US
based).*

www.speedbit.com--A Website from which you can download a program
called Download Accelerator to help speed up your downloads,
allow you to recommence a cut off download, etc. 

www.morganauctions.co.uk--Is an Internet-based auction house for
computer and some other electrical goods.

www.shopsmart.com--Provides a place to search for best prices for
goods.

www.enablelink.com--Hosts information about disability aides,
such as magnifiers and screenreaders.

www.enablemart.com--This is another site for disabled people to
access information, find out about screenreading programs,
magnifiers and much more.

www.audio-tips.com--Is the site of the 1-step vocal e-mail
program for those who prefer to speak and hear e-mail.

www.seti-search.com--Is where you can go to operate a Web-based
 search engine which was written to be used by blind people. 

www.bfmsoft.com/--Here you can find a useful shareware program
named CD Wizard to play your CDs with and go onto the Net to
search for information on that CD.  

www.airoboform.com--Is the site of a freeware online automatic
forms completion program.

www.dictionary.com--Hosts an American online dictionary for
free use. If you use the URL www.dictionary.com/translate you can
get languages translated for you.

www.microsoft.com/enable/products/keyboard/keyboardsearch.asp--Is
where you can find lists of keyboard shortcuts for
Microsoft products all in one place.

www.webopedia.com--This is an Internet-based encyclopedia of
computer-related information and support.

www.thescreenreader.org.uk--Provides a regularly updated FAQ file
with answers to numerous questions about HAL in zip, text and
HTML formats.*

www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass--Contains a text-only page
for browsing masses of historic, archaeological, and so forth,
information held at the British Museum. The home page has a
text-only link and screenreader and Braille display users,
plus the ability to change font size, colour, style, etc, for
partially sighted people.* 

www.192enquiries.com--Lets you search for business phone numbers.
You can search on countries, towns, do a national search, search
by trade group, etc. 

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/lists.html--Lists over
12,000 English language books for free reading as full text on
the Net. These texts have been compiled by the University of
Pensylvania.

www.recipeweb.co.uk--Provides cooking recipes from top UK
chefs and nutritional advice. The ingredients, method and
equipment needed are clearly listed. You can add a recipe to
your online recipe book, e-mail a selected recipe to a friend
or have it print out for you. 

www.useit.org.uk--Hosts information and links to Internet
shopping, online texts, accessibility subjects, radio ham
information, and so forth.*

www.wingletang.com--Is a new site created especially for the
use of visually impaired computer users. It has links to other
sites of accessibility interest and is maintained by the hosts
of the Whistler computer tape magazine.* 

www.windrivers.com--Boasts the Web's largest collection of
drivers for all device types. It has a driver installation
help link and you can register for their e-mail newsletter.

www.download.com--Permits the free download of numerous
freeware and shareware programs.

www.amazon.co.uk--This is the site of an Internet-only shop,
selling books, CDs, videos, and the like, which has an impressive
selection. It has a text only link in the preferences at the
bottom of the home page.*

www.audiotips.com--Offers a voice chat room so that you can
chat without having to use the keyboard. You will need a
suitable sound card and microphone.

www.forteinc.com--This is where you can download the very useful
and keyboard-friendly newsgroups reader called Free Agent from.
 
www.bigfoot.com--Is a service which provides a way to search for
people and also gives permanent free e-mail addresses and sends
e-mail from your Bigfoot address to your e-mail account.

www.toad.net/~quinnbf--Is a site where a speech-friendly,
Windows-based American football game can be downloaded from.

www.acbradio.org/--Contains on stream radio listening
programmes and blindness-related stories and information. The
National Talking Express monthly magazine can also be listened
to from this site.*

http://bobby.watchfire.com--Provides a Website checker which will
check
the accessibility of sites for you and Webmasters in order to
effect improvements for screenreader users.*

www.webwasher.com--Allows you to download a free program
called "Webwasher" which blocks or disables cookies. This will
block advertising cookies but not those from sites which you
might want a cooky from.

www.mailwasher.com--Is the download URL for a good shareware e-
mail cleaning program which allows you to eliminate spam and
other types of unwanted e-mail. 

www.rnib.org.uk/library--Where Braille, large print and tape
book readers can enjoin in joint discussions about these,
where there are book reviews from around the world, new book
releases, regular literature competitions, and the like.*

www.efax.com--Is a site where you can register and be given a
number to receive online Faxes. The Fax you are sent goes to
your ISP server and is then appended as an attachment to an e-
mail message for downloading to your PC together with the rest
of your e-mail messages.

www.digalo.com--This is a French site which offers what is
said to be a good quality English SAPI software speech
synthesiser for only around œ29.00. Other languages are also
available and you can download MP3 files of the speech to
check for quality and suitability.

www.reelbooks.com--Permits the online purchase of over 60,000
book titles and belongs to Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind
in Washington USA.*

www.realnetworks.com--Is where you can download several software
utilities from the Realnetworks site, such as the Realaudio
Player program.

www.music635.co.uk--Hosts up-to-date pop music news and single
and album reviews. 

www.flatline.org.uk/silas--Provides an access gateway for blind
and partially sighted surfers which converts Web pages into more
usable formats.*

www.spaceports.com/~mprobert/access/index.html--This is the
site of an online British encyclopedia which is mainly text-
based and easy to use from the keyboard. Mr Probert's
encyclopedia can also be downloaded from:

www.wilma.co.uk/book.html for free personal use.*

www.netlingo.com--Provides an Internet language dictionary to
help you understand Net terminology.

www.bbc.co.uk/education/betsie/--Contains much educational and
general BBC-related information and reviews and also the
Betsie program which can be used by programmers to make
Websites that are easier for visually impaired people to
access.*

csun.edu/cod/--Contains a "Virtual Exhibition Hall" with links
to all the previous year's CSUN accessible software and
hardware exhibitors sites. Just navigate to the "Virtual
Exhibition Hall" link and press ENTER.*

www.deja.com--Is a facility to search for online news
information.

www.alltheweb.com--Is a very prolific meta-search engine which
runs on the Web rather than on your hard disk.

www.tipworld.com--Is a source of computer and Net reference
material.

www.askjeeves.com--Is the site of a question-based Web search
engine.

www.sitesforwomen.com/--Contains several topics of interest to
women in general, such as shopping, cookery, consumer rights,
etc.

www.ferretsoft.com--Hosts a suite of very useful utilities,
downloadable free, such as the Ferret search engine and Ferret
chat room finder.  

www.mudhut.co.uk--Features new music and new groups and
contains a selection of downloadable music from new bands. 

www.prodworks.com--Is the Productivity Works site containing
their dedicated speech-assisted Web browser called PWWebspeak.*

www.dolphinuk.co.uk--This is the Dolphin Computer Access
company's Website with company information and a free DOS
screenreader called HAL Lite for download.*

www.freeloader.com--Is another site for downloading many
programs and utilities for free.

www.web.csd.scarolina.edu/bck2skol/bck2skol.html--Is a site
providing lessons for people new to the Internet.

www.freestuffcentre.co.uk free software download site.

www.annmorris.com--Is the US Ann MorrisEnterprises site where
specialist equipment for the blind can be purchased.*

www.cdnow.com--Is another Internet shop selling CDs which is US-
based.

www.fergusonenterprises.com--Provides the same type of service
as Ann Morris above.*

www.freebies4u.co.uk--Free download site for programs,
utilities, demos, drivers, etc.

www.highstreetcentral.co.uk/free.htm--Houses a directory of
free download software sites.

www.cs.queensu.ca/faqs/email/finding.html--Holds information on
numerous avenues of Web search techniques.

www.doherty71.freeserve.co.uk/yorkblind.htm--Is the York Blind
and Partially-Sighted Society's website cataloguing many
accessible attractions in the historic city of York. You can
take a virtual walk along York's Bar Wall.*

www.empowermentzone.com--Deals with many net and general
software accessibility issues and holds a number of
accessibility related files.* 

www.four11.com--Hosts a search tool to find companies and their
addresses. 

www.zdjournals.com/w9p/9702/w9p9723.htm--Holds a thorough
document about how to set up multi-boot computer systems.

www.rnib.co.uk--Is the RNIBs Web page with news, services,
etc.*

www.wrn.org/audio.html--Provides a list of available audio
books.

www.cheapflights.com--Acts as a filter for people looking for
bargain air flights, holidays, holiday insurance, etc, and can
send you periodic e-mail showing last-minute bargains.

www.go-fly.com--Is the site of an Internet flights booking
company called "Go".

www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk--This is a new site which went online in
December 1999 which permits surfers to address health-related
questions. It meets the accessibility criteria set down in the
WAI standard.*

www.gwmicro.com--GWMicro's Window-Eyes screenreader site.*

www.kurzweiledu.com/kurzweil1000.html--Is where you can browse
information about the Kurzweil OCR system and download a copy
of the Kurzweil 1000 user manual.*

www.dss.gov.uk/ba/index.htm--Contains benefit and other
Benefits Agency information.

www.thevillas.demon.co.uk--This is a site where second-hand
specialist computer equipment can be bought and sold.

www.officialdocuments.co.uk/uk.htm--Is the site of HMSO (now
called the Stationery Office), where Hansard, Acts of
Parliament and budget documents can be read and downloaded.

www.henrichsen.org--Hosts many blind-friendly games and
programs of interest for downloading.*

www.scansoft.com--Contains downloadable software, including
the 1998 version of the Textbridge OCR program for free.

www.microsoft.com/enable/--Contains information and software
for people with access needs.*

www.gutenberg.net--Holds over 6,200 book texts for free
download whose copyrights have expired.

www.soundlinks.com/accessit.exe--This is the downloadable
archive of the "Access IT" magazine from the RNIB with back
copies up to the last three months. It is also where you can buy
a copy of the IBM Home Page Reader from in the UK.*

www.hoover.com--Is where you can search for companies, obtain
share values, etc.

www.convertafile.com--Is a site which can upload a file of
yours and then convert it into any of 70 different formats for
you. It then downloads it to you a few minutes later in the
new format.

www.mp3.com--Is a popular MP3 file (music) site where you can
download free music tracks and also obtain free MP3 playing
software, such as Winamp. FAQs and technical information are
also available.

www.wyfiwyg.com--Contains access technology for sale plus
newsletters and computer information for the visually
impaired.*

www.netcore.ca/~imagic/--Provides talking books on line.

www.google.co.uk--Provides an online meta-search engine which
intelligently searches and lists its hits in order of
importance/frequency of occurrence.

www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk--Is the Inland Revenue's Website for
tax information and to read and download tax forms.

www.thisismoney.com/--This is a site containing information in
respect of financial matters, stocks and shares, etc.

www.yahoo.com--Is the site of the well-known Yahoo standard Web
search engine. 

www.nexttage.com--This is a site where you can buy and sell
anything (not just VI equipment) without going through the
auction process. You state what you want to buy and how much
you are prepared to pay and if any supplier is interested in
selling at that price, he will e-mail you about this.

www.winzip.com/--This is the site to download a copy of the
famous Winzip software compression and decompression software.

www.zdnet.com--Contains a safe site to buy software and
download shareware and demos. It contains numerous things,
such as holiday specials, PC sales, software, share investing,
driver downloads, online shopping of all kinds, etc.

www.freedomscientific.com--Henter-Joyce/Freedom Scientific's
screenreader and magnifier Website.

www.hotbraille.com--Contains a free Braille transcription
service of up to 4 Braille pages. Your print copy will be
translated and then posted free anywhere in the world.

www.microsoft.com/enable/training/tips-u.htm--Is where a
useful tips file is stored for disabled users of Internet
Explorer.*

www.itreviews.co.uk/maillist.htm--Will get you onto the
mailing list of a site which is speech-friendly and holds many
up-to-date software and hardware reviews. You can also
register for a regular e-mail letter.

www.assist.com--Is a site with good information in respect of
assistive technology.*

www.dti.gov.uk, www.homeworking.com and www.smarterwork.com
are all sites containing valuable information for the self-
employed.

www.internic.net/wp/whois.html--Provides listings of Internet
domain owners and associated information.

www.jokerdog.com--Contains some free access games for use with
JFW.

www.futureforms.com--Is the place to find a Web forms reading
and completion program for visually impaired persons.*

www.indexbraille.se--Is a Website where you can obtain a free
download of a Braille translation program for Index embosser
owners. You must provide your Index embosser serial number.*

www.raging.com--Hosts an online Web search tool.

www.sunsite.berkeley.edu/alex/Where you can find a catalogue
of on line electronic books.

www.tucows.com--Holds thousands of files and software programs
for free download.

www.stroud.com--Same type of site as Tucows above.

www.thtech.mit.edu/shakespeare/works.html--Is where you can
find the complete works of William Shakespeare online.

www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer-help--Offers advice on avoiding
financial fraudsters and answers many of the commonest
financial questions. It is run by the Financial Services
Authority.

www.enablelink.com--Enablelink is a Website run by De Witt and
Associates solely about blindness issues. It covers
technology, family life, reviews, assistive software and
hardware sales, etc, and aims to create an online community.* 

www.altavista.com--Another Web-based online standard Web search
engine.

www.companies.online.com--Is where you can find information on
lists of companies.

www.nyise.org/whatsnew.htm--Covers Internet-related topics
specific to visually impaired people.*

www.wordweb.com--Is a speech-friendly Web-based dictionary and
thesaurus. This is free of charge and you can obtain Window-
Eyes set files for this from www.gwmicro.com

www.screaming.net--A UK site where you can obtain a free ISP and
charge-free Internet surfing.

www.teddy.fcc.ro--Provides a Downloads link where, amongst other
things, you can obtain a free file called Advanced PDF Password
Recovery which removes all passwords on PDF files so that you can
unlock and read them with the Adobe Acrobat Reader or any other
software able to convert PDF files to other formats.

18.2. Website Resources Accessible by E-Mail 

Below are a couple of resources which you can access without
going onto a Website, rather by directly e-mailing them.

To access an e-mail database of thousands of online cooking
recipes send an e-mail to:

recipes@recipebyemail.com

and in the subject line put the type of food you want specific
lists of recipes on, e.g. pork. You will receive back in a few
minutes a list of numbered pork recipe titles. When you have
decided which recipe you would like to try, send another e-mail
to:

recipes@recipebyemail.com

and on the subject line just type in the recipe number you want.
The recipe will be e-mailed back to you within seconds.

To convert a PDF file to a text file, attach the
PDF file to an e-mail message and send it to:

pdf2txt@adobe.com

After which it will be returned to you by e-mail converted.

Note: Since the end of 2002 Adobe's Acrobat Reader 5.1 has been
available and Acrobat 6 has also been released in 2004. These
have been written in conjunction with some screenreader
manufacturers so that it will render and read PDF files correctly
and easily with a screenreader, e.g Window-Eyes 4.1.

To obtain a copy of Acrobat 5.1 go to the download page of:

www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html

By the time you come to use the above-mentioned pdf2txt
conversion service, it is very likely that it will have been
discontinued because of the additional conversion abilities of
Acrobat 5.1 and 6X. 

********

>APPENDIX 4

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS IN INTERNET EXPLORER AND OUTLOOK EXPRESS 

The following list of Microsoft keyboard shortcuts may be useful
for revision purposes or as a means of quick reference. The left-
hand side of the two dashes below shows the keystrokes to
press and the right-hand side of the dashes shows the effect
of the shortcut.   

These are Windows general shortcuts and not any of the specialist
shortcuts/hot keys provided by your screenreader maker, although
some may overlap. To study your screenreader's own specific
specialist hot keys, refer to that screenreader's help files and
online manual. Additionally, for JAWS, Window-Eyes, Webbie and
HAL, I have provided in sub-sections of Section 1 of this
tutorial lists of some of the most important Internet-related hot
keys.

13.1. Internet Explorer 5 and 6

F1--Displays Internet Explorer help or gives context sensitive
help when on an item in a dialogue box.

F5--Refresh the current Web page.

F6--Moves you forward between frames.

F11--Toggles between full screen and normal browser window
view.

UP ARROW--Moves you towards the beginning of the document.

DOWN ARROW--Moves you towards the end of a document.

END--Move to the end of a document.

ENTER--Activate a selected link.

ESCAPE--Stop downloading a page.

HOME--Move to the beginning of a document.

PAGE UP--Move towards the beginning of a document in large
increments.

PAGE DOWN--Move towards the end of a document in larger
increments.

SPACEBAR--Marks or unmarks a checkbox.

TAB--Moves forward through the items on a Web page, the
address bar and the links bar.

ALT DOWN ARROW--Opens a drop-down listbox.

ALT RIGHT ARROW--Takes you to the next page.

ALT LEFT ARROW--Takes you to the previous page.

ALT HOME--Takes you to your home page.

ALT D--Takes you to the address bar. 

CONTROL CLICK--In History or Favourites bars, open multiple
folders.

CONTROL D--Adds the current page to your Favourites Menu.

CONTROL E--Open search in Explorer bar.

CONTROL F--Find on this page.

CONTROL H--Open history in Explorer bar.

CONTROL I--Open Favourites in Explorer bar.

CONTROL L--Go to a new location.

CONTROL N--Open a new window.

CONTROL P--Print the current page.

CONTROL S--Save the current page.

CONTROL TAB--Moves you forward through frames on a Website with
frames.

CONTROL W--Close the current window.

CONTROL SHIFT TAB--Moves you back between frames.

SHIFT F10--Displays a shortcut menu for a link.

SHIFT TAB--Moves backwards through the items on a Web page.

13.2. Outlook Express 5 and 6

Shortcut keys can be used to select commands and navigate
through the Preview Window and the Message Window. The
following shortcuts apply to both e-mail and newsgroups unless
otherwise indicated.

Main Window, View Message Window and Send Message Window:

F1--Opens help topics.

F5--Refreshes news messages and headers.

ALT ENTER--Views the properties of a selected message.

CONTROL >--Takes you to the next message in the list.

CONTROL <takes you to the previous message in the list.

CONTROL A--Selects all messages.

Main Window and View Message Window:

DEL--Deletes a message.

CONTROL F--Forwards a message.

CONTROL I--Takes you to your Inbox.

CONTROL L--Toggles between show and hide the folders list.

CONTROL M--Sends and receives e-mail.

CONTROL N--Opens a new window or posts a new message.

CONTROL P--Prints the selected message.

CONTROL R--Reply to the message author only.

CONTROL U--Takes you to the next unread e-mail message.

CONTROL Y--Takes you to the folders list.

CONTROL SHIFT B--Opens the address book.

CONTROL SHIFT E--Opens the create new folder dialogue box.

CONTROL SHIFT R--Replies to all who received the original
message.

CONTROL SHIFT G--Replies to all in newsgroups only.

CONTROL SHIFT U--Takes you to the next unread news
conversation.

Main Window:

ENTER--Opens a selected message for viewing in the View
Message Window..

LEFT ARROW OR - (minus)--Collapses a news conversation and
Expands a news conversation showing all
responses.

RIGHT ARROW OR +--Expands a news conversation showing all
responses.

TAB--Moves between the Folders Window, Message Window, Preview
Window and your contacts Address Book Window.

CONTROL ENTER--Marks a message as read.

CONTROL J--Takes you to the next unread newsgroup or folder.

CONTROL W--Go to a newsgroup.

CONTROL SHIFT A--Marks all news messages as read.

CONTROL SHIFT M--Downloads news for offline reading.

Message Window, viewing or sending:

ESC--Closes a message or halts the download of a page.

F3--Starts a find text operation.

CONTROL SHIFT F--Starts a find message operation.

CONTROL TAB--Moves between edit, source and preview tabs. It also
moves forward through frames on a Web page.

Message Window sending only:

F7--Checks spelling.

CONTROL K OR ALT K--Checks names.

CONTROL SHIFT S--Inserts your signature.

CONTROL ENTER OR ALT S--Sends a message.

Help Window only:

ENTER--Activates the help link you are currently on.

TAB--Moves between elements in the help window and moves from one
link to another in a help document.

CONTROL C--Takes you to the Contents tab.

CONTROL S--Takes you to the Search tab.

********

>APPENDIX 5

GLOSSARY OF COMPUTER AND INTERNET TERMS

14.1. Glossary

Active-X: An object-based Microsoft standard for computer
program building blocks.

Adware: Software displaying advertisements whilst you use it. 

ALT: An alternative system of Usenet newsgroups.

Altavista: A World Wide Web search engine.

Anonymous FTP: A way of getting onto an FTP Website by typing
"Anonymous" as your username and your e-mail address as your
password.

Archive: A storage file(s) in a compressed format.

ASCII (American standard code for information interchange):
The most common way of representing characters in a computer
(as plain text).

Attachment: A file, such as from a word-processor, attached to
the body of an e-mail and sent with it.

AVI (audio video interleaved): A format devised by Microsoft to
cope with the large size of digitised video by compressing it.

Baud: The quantity of electronic symbols that a MODEM can send
down a phone line per second.

BBS (bulletin board system): An electronic bulletin board you
dial up to read messages from and copy messages to.

BCC (blind carbon copy): A person or place where a copy of your
e-mail goes without other recipients knowing about it.

Binary file: A file that contains more than just text.

BIOS (Basic input-output system): This interfaces PC hardware
to the operating system.

BIT: the smallest portion of computer data.

Bitmap: A picture constructed from small dots.

BPS (bits per second): The speed at which data is transmitted,
e.g. through a MODEM.

Broadband: A high speed connection to the Internet, e.g. with a
cable or ADSL modem. 

Browser: A program which lets you navigate around and read
information on the Web.

Byte: A block of eight bits.

Cable Modem: High speed modem for data transfer use via cable
television network systems.

CC (carbon copy): A list of other people who also receive a
copy of an e-mail.

Client: A PC which logs onto and uses the services of a second
computer, known as a server.

CMOS (Complementary metal oxide semiconductor): The memory
that stores a PCs hardware configuration.

Communications Program: A software program which permits your
computer to talk to another computer.

Cookie: A piece of data placed on your computer by a website
you have visited that lets that same site recognise you next
time you visit it.

Dial-Up Network: The TCP/IP provided with Windows 95 to get
you connected to your PPP account.

DLL (Dynamic link library): A shared subroutine library, used
mainly by Windows programs. 

Domain: Part of the official name of a computer on the Net,
e.g. onetel.com or freeserve.co.uk.

Download: to copy a file from a computer on the Internet to
your computer.

Duplex: Full duplex is able to send data in both directions,
e.g. copying to and from the Internet.

Embedded link: A link situated within the text of a Web page
and forming an integral part of the text (see "Link" below).

EMS (Expanded memory specification): Additional memory above
the conventional 640 K DOS limit.

Eudora: An e-mailing program.

FAQ (frequently asked questions): Answers to frequently asked
computer questions.

Fidonet: A network of BBSs throughout the world which have e-
mail addresses.

Firewall: A security system restricting the kinds of in and
outgoing messages on the Internet via a specially programmed
network computer. You can also get them for stand-alone
computers, e.g. Zone Alarm.

Freeware: Freely provided Computer software.

Focus: The part of the screen which currently has the
attention of the program.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol): An Internet-based method of
transferring files from one PC to another.

Gateway: A method of connecting two networks which use
different protocols via a computer.

GIF (graphics interchange format): Graphics files and
pictures.

Gigabyte: One billion bytes or characters of information.

Handle: A user's nickname.

Header: The to, from and subject part of an e-mail message.

Hardware: The solid, physical components of your computer and
computer peripherals, e.g. hard disk, sound card, printer,
 scanner, etc.

Highlighting: Highlighting (also known as "selecting") is the
process in Windows of singling out or focusing attention on a
particular word, line, paragraph, chunk of text, whole
document, etc, to carry out a specific operation on, e.g. to
delete, move, copy, change the case of, etc.
Highlighting/selecting is done by holding down the SHIFT key
whilst moving over the text you want to highlight with
standard Windows keystrokes such as ARROWING up and down,
holding CONTROL down and ARROWING left or right a word at a
time, pressing the CONTROL key followed by the END key to
highlight everything to the end of the document, etc, e.g.
hold down the CONTROL and SHIFT keys and press the right ARROW
key three times to highlight the three words to the right of
the cursor and then press the DEL key to delete these three
highlighted/selected words. 

Home page: The introductory Web page about a person or
company.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language): The computer language that
Web pages are written in.

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol): The method by which Web
pages are transferred over the Internet.

IDE (Integrated drive electronics): Used with many hard disk
drives which have most of the controller electronics inside
the drive package.

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol): Modern protocol for
dealing with e-mail.

Internet: A network of interconnected networks of computers
which can communicate with each other.

IRC (Internet Relay Chat): Provides the ability to speak to on
another over the Internet in real-time.

Inter-NIC: The Internet Networking Information Centre.

Intranet: An internal microcosm of the Internet which uses
browsers, etc, e.g. within a company.

ISDN (integrated services digital network): A digital phone
system which usually works at either 128 kilobits per second or
64 KBPS.

JAVA: A modern computer programming language. Browsers such as
Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer can access sites
written in JAVA but some specialist browsers for visually
impaired people cannot, e.g. PWWebspeak and IBM Home Page Reader
prior to Version 3.0. 

JPEG: A kind of image file frequently found on the Internet.

Link: A hypertext place on a Web page where a mouse can be
clicked or the ENTER key pressed to obtain more information
from the current site or be taken to other sites on the Web.
Links are underlined and normally highlighted in blue.  

Linux: A publicly-owned version of the Unix operating system
with open source code.

Listproc: A program which handles mailing lists.

Listserv: A program which automatically handles and manages
mailing lists.

Lynx: A text-based Web browser.

Mac-TCP: The Mackintosh's version of a TCP/IP.

Mail server: An Internet computer providing e-mailing
facilities.

Mailing list: A method of mailing all incoming mail to a list
of subscribers to the list.

Majordomo: See Listserv.

MAPI (Mail application programming interface): Microsoft's E-
Mail standard.

Megabyte: One million bytes or characters of data.

MIDI: A method of transmitting music.

MIME (multipurpose Internet mail extension): A method of e-
mailing non-textual files.

MODEM: Short for modulator/demodulator, it permits your PC to
talk over the phone.

Moderator: Someone who vets messages before sending them to an
e-mail list or newsgroup.

Mosaic: An old Web browser.

MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group): This is a video file.

MSN (Microsoft Network): A commercial means of accessing e-
mail, the Usenet and the Web.

Netscape Navigator: A Web browser.

Network: Interconnected computers, known as a LAn (local area
network) if they are in the same building or a WAN (wide area
network) if the computers are further afield.

Newsgroups: Subject areas on the Usenet.

Newsreader: A method of reading and posting messages on Usenet
newsgroups.

Node: A host computer on the Internet.

OLE (Object linking and embedding): A file or program which is
embedded as an object in another file.

PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International
Association): Credit card sized computer accessories, such as
a MODEM or network card.

PDF file (portable document format): A text format for
distributing files, which requires an Acrobat Reader program
to access it. To convert a PDF file to a text file, attach the
PDF file to an e-mail message and send it to:

pdf2txt@adobe.com

After which it will be returned to you by e-mail converted.

Pine: An e-mailing program used with Unix.

PKZIP: A DOS or Windows-based file compression program.

POP (Post Office Protocol): A method of collecting your e-mail
and downloading it to your PC from a mail server.

PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol): A method of connecting your PC
to the Internet via the phone line.

Protocol: The accepted rules by which one computer
communicates with another.

Realaudio: A facility for listening to audio programs over the
Net. 

SCSI (Small computer systems interface): An interface standard
for connecting peripherals, including hard drives.

Server: A computer that provides services to other computers,
called clients, on a network.

Shareware: A program provided on the understanding that if you
keep it you pay the requested sum.

SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol): See PPP.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol): A system by which
Internet mail is passed from one PC to another.

Spam: The process of posting unwanted commercial material to a
large number of Usenet newsgroups and mailing lists.

Spyware: Programs designed to collect information from the user's
computer and send it to someone else's computer without their
permission or knowledge. 

Streaming audio: A downloaded sound file from the Net which
starts playing before the download is complete, e.g.
Realaudio.

Tag: A tag is an instruction on a Web page which tells your
browser how to display the text which follows it, e.g. the tag
<B> will make the following text bold.

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol): The
method networks use to communicate with each other on the Net.

Telnet: A program that lets you communicate with and log into
other computers on the Internet as if you were actually
sitting at that remote computer.

Terminal: A method of connecting a screen and keyboard to a
computer, as in terminal emulation, e.g. Windows 95
Hyperterminal.

Text file: a file that contains text only and no graphics or
pictures.

Thread: A chain of related articles posted to a newsgroup.

Trumpet: A Windows-based newsreader program.

TSR (Terminate and stay resident): DOS programs that reside in
memory so you can run them within other applications.

TWAIN (technology without an interesting name): If a scanner
complies with this standard you can run it from many windows,
graphics and desktop publishing applications.

Unicode: An advanced form of ASCII.

Unix: A computer operating system.

Upload: To copy files from your PC to someone else's computer
on the Net.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator): The addresses which link pages
together on the World Wide Web.

Usenet: A system of myriads of newsgroups.

Virtual reality: A realistic 3-D representation of something.

Virus: A program written to spread between computers and cause
malicious damage to them.

VOIP (Voice-Over-Internet Protocol): A means of phoning people
using your phone handset but being connected over broadband
Internet cabling rather than over a phone company's network. 

WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative): A Website creation
standard outlined by the W3C group to ensure that Websites are
accessible to people with disabilities such as the visually
impaired.

WAV files: Windows sound files ending in .wav.

Webcaster: Someone who broadcasts programmes of music, talk
shows, etc, over the Internet. 

Webmaster: A person who creates, designs and updates Websites
with HTML.

Web Page: Part of a Website which can be displayed on screen.

Website: A collection of Web pages covering a particular topic.

Windows Explorer: An Internet browser from Microsoft.

Winsock: A way that Windows programs work with TCP/IP, e.g.
connecting to the Internet via PPP.

World Wide Web: An information system of millions of
interlinked pages of information on the Internet which you can
jump back and forward amongst, known as "surfing".

XML (Extensible Markup Language): This is an up-and-coming, more
advanced type of HTML which permits the exchange of information
between computers in a way that preserves the structure of the
information , e.g. between databases or exchanging data across
the Internet. XML describes the data on a Web page, rather than
just describing the look of the page. You could, therefore, copy
a whole Web page into a spreadsheet, for instance, and
immediately work with it.  

XMS (Extended memory system): The additional memory commonly
used in memory in 80386 and 80486 PCs above the conventional 1
mb DOS limit.

Yahoo!: A program with Web information and search facilities.

ZIP: A file compressed with PKZIP or WINZIP which has a .zip
extension.

********

>APPENDIX 6

OTHER Tutorials AVAILABLE FROM THIS AUTHOR

15.1. List of Tutorials with Brief Description of Each 

All of the below titles are available as plain text files as
downloads from my Website at:

http://web.onetel.com/~fromthekeyboard

Tutorial titles and brief descriptions

1. "Accessing the Internet from the Keyboard", Volume 1, covering
Web and e-mail protocols, Web Search engines, navigating the
Internet with Internet Explorer 5.0/5.5/6.0, e-mailing with
Outlook Express 5.0/5.5/6.0, Downloading files and programs from
the Net, using a range of Internet search engines, Joining
Internet newsgroups with Free Agent 1.92, configuration and hints
and tips for screenreader users, and much more.

2. "Accessing the Internet from the Keyboard", Volume 2, covering
hints and customisation, Download Managers, Online Auctions,
Internet
Chat Rooms, RealAudio, Internet Shopping and Internet Banking.

3. A selection of separate and individual manuals instructing
visually impaired people how to use off-the-shelf print
scanning/reading programs via screenreaders and the keyboard,
including TextBridge Pro 98, TextBridge Pro 9 and Millennium,
Omnipage Pro 10, 11 and 12, ReadIRIS Pro 6, TypeReader Pro 6 and
Abby FineReader Pro 5, 6 and 7. Each scanner tutorial is an
independent manual in its own right. For example, the titles of
the principal two of these scanner tutorials are entitled: "Using
OmniPage Pro 10, 11 and 12 from the Keyboard to Scan Print" and
"Using FineReader Pro 5, 6 and 7 from the Keyboard to Scan
Print". 

4. "Audio Playing, Copying and Sound Editing From the Keyboard",
Edition 1. This covers Easy CD Creator 4, Sound forge 4.5,
Windows Media Player 6, Windows Recorder, Winamp 2.72,
Freerip.mp3, RealPlayer 8 Basic, and much more.

5. "Audio Playing, Copying and Sound Editing From the Keyboard",
Edition 2. This covers Winamp 5.0X, GoldWave audio editor 5.06,
CDEX ripper 1.51, Basics of burning with Nero 5.5 and much more
introductory and general sound-related information.

6. "Nero Burning-ROM Versions 4,5 and 5.5 from the Keyboard"
(includes Nero INCD 3.3 and Nero Media Player). This covers
burning of data and audio CDs and DVDs withe Nero Burning-ROM and
the Nero Wizard, Saving and reopening compilation templates,
Using Nero online help, burning/cloning whole hard disks and
partitions to CD or DVD, converting MP3 files to other formats,
a good deal of specific configuration and general information on
CD and DVD burning drives and CD and DVD disks, using Windows
Volume Control, and much more.

7. "Nero Burning-ROM 6 Ultra and Enterprise Editions from the
Keyboard" (includes Nero INCD 4). This covers burning of data and
audio CDs and DVDs withe Nero Burning-ROM and the Nero StartSmart
interfaces, Saving and reopening compilation templates, Using
Nero online help, burning/cloning whole hard disks and partitions
or folders to CD or DVD, converting MP3 files to other formats,
ripping sound files to MP3 or MP3 Pro files, a good deal of
specific configuration and general information on CD and DVD
burning drives and CD and DVD disks, using Windows Volume
Control, and much more.

8. "Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002 and 2003 from the Keyboard".
This takes spreadsheet users from the beginner stages of Excel
through much intermediate material and also covers a few more
advanced features. It will give you the skills to use Excel for
home accounting purposes, for keeping self-employed small
business records and for use in the employment workplace. 

9. "Microsoft Outlook 2000 and 2002/XP from the Keyboard". This
is a tutorial instructing on how to use the richly-featured suite
of programs which is a must for anyone seeking employment or
wanting to do advanced e-mailing or calendar and other related
tasks at home or at work. It covers all of the main features of
MS Outlook and many other more technical topics. Covered is:
E-mailing, Calendar, Journal, Tasks, Notes, Contacts, arranging
appointments and meetings, searching, plus customising Outlook
for visually impaired and blind users and appendices of Outlook
general shortcuts and HAL, JAWS AND Window-Eyes hot keys and much
more.

10. "Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002 and 2003 from the Keyboard".
Available as a plain text file and instructs on how to use over
45 separate skills in these powerful leading word-processors for
use at home or in the workplace to make you highly productive and
efficient.

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COMPLiMENTARY CLOSE

Now that the second stage of this Internet odyssey is over, I
hope that following these sections has not been too arduous but,
having been through the Internet beginner's stage a few years ago
myself, I understand just how confusing and inconsistent a place
the Internet and World Wide Web can be. You are likely to have
to revisit several of these sections before you become fully
comfortable with using the Internet but remember that it is
practise which makes perfect.

Best Regards,

John Wilson.

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