Category: Geeks r Us
Hi, everyone,
I was just wondering for those of you who work in a call centre or technical support, what software packages you use, and which screenreader do you find most compatible?
Cheers,
Jess.
If you want a good screen reader, use jaws witch is from www.freedomscientific.com witch you can order online. it cost 895 for the standard version, and $1000 for the pro version. there is also free demos on that website.
Thanks champ, but I have jaws at present and it's not compatible with the systems for this job, which are dos-based. thanks anyways, I hsould have been clearer in my original post.
Anyone else?
I believe that the jfw dos reader is free. I might be wrong on that but check with freedom scientific.
ok thanks, Cameran.
If JFW doesn't work, try Window Eyes. You will have to learn another screen reader, but if nothing else works, it'd be worth it.
Thank you for youre reply, Jamesc, I'll be looking into that today.
Thanks again,
Jess.
Hal from dolphin reads dos stuff fine, as long as its just a window, and not actually a dos operating system. It might be a bit pricey in $s though.
Hi Jess. I use jaws. Our center finally got smart enough that they had to hire a person to come in and to script our software so it works well with jaws. Before hand they threatened to fire all 6 of us who are blind that work there. I'm the one who stept up with this whole idea. Is your job pressuring you that you can't do your job? Do you have any rehab or job development centers that could help you? You may want to check into those. Your job can't fire you just because you can't do your work. If they do then you can 508 them like I almost had to do with mine.
Troy
the website for window Eyes is www.gwmicro.com. they have a free demo version that you might want ot try out before you buy the real thing. it only runs for forty minutes and then you have ot shut down the comp and restart, but you can at least see if it works or not.
If you have any questions or I can help, drop me an e-mail or PQN me here.
Thanks a lot, all, much appreciated. *smile*.
Jess.
I'd second the suggestion for having your rehab Dept. or equivalent hire someone to script the application, or at least look at feasibility.
We use a product called ServiceCenter at work which I had to have scripts for JAWS written for. It works well though. Pity the actual system is a bit flakey though!
Mel
Hmmmm.
You guys forget she is in another country. as far as rehab teachers or job coaches are concerned her country might not even have a disabilities act of some sort. Jessica you are from Australia, correct? And as for the tech support stuff I guess it all depends exactly on what you are doing, try using window eyes or super nova, it's always best to know more than one screen reader just in case jaws doesn't work out for you.
Just my thoughts
oh and jessica, also look into any kind of disability laws you may have that could help you get some job advocacy agencies and such.
Cheers
Hi, all,
Thanks a lot for your responses. I don't actually have the job yet, they're trying to work out all the technical issues at the moment, is all and have run into difficulty. There are disability job agencies here, too, and that's who I got this job with. Here's hoping it works.
Thanks again, all, much appreciated, *smile*.
I agree with Lonestar about looking into the laws. Good luck and keep us posted!
Troy
Woof! A few questions. you say it is a dos system, is the system actually using M-S-Dos to run, is it a terminal application that perhaps you can telnet in to and then use an emulater to work it? Is it a dreaded a-s-400 mainframe type of unit running a bunch of dumb terminals? I ask these questions because i have had clients with job prospecteds and they will say it's a dos system but if you dig a little deeper it really isn't. Many companys are using A S 400 systems which just won't talk. other companys are using systems that can be accessed via terminal emmulation software or telnet. To the best of my knowledge(as he scratches his head to think, and think, and think) Vocal-Eyes is still available from G-W-Micro for a fea of about $500. Blows Jaws for dos right out of the watter. Also, there are terminal emmulation packages such as teraterm pro which will work with Jaws for Windows via telnet. Dig,dig,dig. Woof, where's my bone?
Our pizza hut call center which I don't work for but know blind people that do still use dos. I say fork out the money, and upgrade! lol.
Troy
Hi, all. I work for Hyatt, and we use a system called Reserve. It's Windows based, but was not accessible until Hyatt contracted with a company called accessibility.net to come in and script it. Now it works fine. I'm also using a Focus Braille display. If you're a Braille reader Jess, maybe that could help you out. Can Hal and Window Eyes be scripted to work with various applications, too?
Window-Eyes uses setfiles and Hal uses mapfiles. Mapfiles are probably almost as powerful as scripting because all the code it written and the scripter just has to be sure the statements are in the right order. This is all done through dialogs and treeviews so if you are a good logical thinker and understand the order of code but not proficient in the various programming languages mapfiles are an excellent way to get somethinkg to work. Setfiles are powerful as well but Mapfiles dig a bit deeper.
Gotta ask, how do you like the focus display? I just recommended one for a client. It was a tossup between the focus and the Braille Voyager. The problem is the client needs a rather small footprint. not lots of space on the desk. The voyager is a nice display but larger then life and unnecessarily so. Takes up lots of room on a desk. ANythinkg you would care to share about the voyager? Likes, dislikes, things to look out for, tips on optimizing it's use? Thanks.
Hi, Willie. I sent you a PM about the Braille display thing. Didn't want to go too off-topic on the thread here. But you know, maybe we should start up a topic about Braille displays...
I have a Focus and love it.
Hey all,
Great news! A guy I know tried Jaws 5 on their system when he was planning to work for them and it worked fine, and and I informed the I.T. guy there, and the result is the same. Seems like it's all systems go now.
Thanks all for your help - much appreciated,
Cheers,
Jess :)
Awesome news, Jess! Keep us posted on how this turns out! Good luck!
Congratulations. It's always nice when the assistive tech does its thing.