You are at eyeway.org : inform : eye products : infotech : window-eyes

Window-Eyes: The latest version

Window-Eyes 4.5 Beta 2 is the latest version of a very popular screen reader. In the recent past GW Micro has partnered with Citrix, and Microsoft to remove many of the problems faced by users of the earlier versions like problems with errors reported on Internet Explorer errors, and slowness on web pages.

In the 4.5 Beta 2 version, the developers have added set files for MSN Messenger, and Real One Player. They have updated sets for WordPerfect 9, Microsoft Office (all versions), Internet Explorer, Adobe Acrobat, and Eudora.

Window-Eyes 4.5 Beta 2 is the first screen reader to offer remote access solutions for Citrix MetaFrame XP (www.citrix.com), Microsoft Terminal Services (www.microsoft.com/terminalservices), and Microsoft Remote Desktop.

General changes: Web page access has been greatly improved with an impressive array of support for items like: access Keys, acronyms/abbreviations, flash, forms, headings, languages, links, lists, long descriptions, new popup windows (with user definable sounds), objects, paragraphs, smart paragraphs, quotes/blockquotes, table headers, table header attributes, table summary, table row grouping, tables with merged cells, graphics with no ALT tags, ability to suspend page refreshes, automatically identify new page information, fully customizable navigation hot keys (use P/SHIFT-P to move through paragraphs, L/SHIFT-L to move through links, or create your own), the ability to move to beginning or end of an element with a simple key press, the ability to fill out forms while in MSAA mode, automatic speaking of multiple languages when using multiple Eloquence or ScanSoft RealSpeak languages, ability to use drag and drop to select text, ability to route mouse to the current element, heading movement keys, a new way to surf with sighted friends, and more. For detailed information on each of the above features, check out the Window-Eyes 4.5 Beta 2 Enhanced Internet Support section of the beta page.

Speech synthesizer

Window-Eyes 4.5 also uses ScanSoft© RealSpeakT Synthesizer. ScanSoft's Real Speak, a widely used text-to-speech solution, uses a very human-sounding voice with high intelligibility, enhancing the user experience. Window-Eyes 4.5 will include the following Real Speak languages: US English, UK English, French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish.

Error reporting

The ability for Window-Eyes to report when it has encountered a problem. You can access the error report feature by either launching Window-Eyes after an error has occurred, or by accessing the Error Reporting dialog under the Help Menu of the Window-Eyes control panel. Error reports are sent through the Internet directly to the GW Micro development team, so you will need to make sure that you are connected to the Internet before attempting to send an error report. This feature, which has already proved highly effective, allows our developers to solve problems quickly. Note that this feature is only available under Windows 2000, XP, or 2003.

Processor systems: Window-Eyes 4.5 Beta 2 supports both dual processor systems, and systems that utilize Intel's Hyper-Threading technology.

Start up options

The Load Before Startup option has been changed to Startup Type, and now has four options: Off, Before Startup, After Startup (Current User), and After Startup (All Users). Off means Window-Eyes will not start automatically.

Before Startup is like the old Load Before Startup, meaning that Window-Eyes will launch early enough to read any log in prompts.

The After Startup (Current User) option is similar to placing a shortcut to Window-Eyes in the startup group for only the user that you have logged in as. The After Startup (All Users) option is similar to placing a shortcut to Window-Eyes in the startup group for every user on the machine. Note that the After Startup (All Users) option is only available in Windows 2000 or greater. Also under Windows 2000 or greater, if you are not logged in as Administrator, or you are not logged in as a user with administrator privileges, you will only be able to choose between two options: After Start (Current User), and Off. Administrators, and users with administrative privileges, will be able to choose between all four options.

Hot key dialogues

The hot key dialog has evolved from one large list into five individual Menu options: Cursor (hot keys that manipulate the cursor), Mouse (hot keys that manipulate the mouse pointer), MSAA (hot keys used for navigating web pages), Miscellaneous (hot keys that perform miscellaneous tasks), and User Windows (hot keys that manipulate user definable windows). Each hot key dialog also has the ability to move between the other groups of hot key options through the use of radio buttons. This enables you to quickly move between the groups of hot keys without having to leave the hot key dialog. Several hot key names have been shortened to make accessing them inside the hot key dialogs even easier. All occurrences of light bar have been changed to Highlight in both the Window-Eyes control panel, and the Window-Eyes documentation.

Caret

All occurrences of caret have been changed to cursor in both the Window-Eyes control panel, and the Window-Eyes documentation.

Marked text: All occurrences of marked text have been changed to highlighted text in both the Window-Eyes control panel, and the Window-Eyes documentation.

Speech Rates

Window-Eyes now stores the screen, keyboard, and mouse speech rates as percentages from 1 to 100 (rather than from 1 to 10) depending upon the synthesizer. For example, if your synthesizer is limited to 10 rates (like the Speak-Out or Sounding Board) then you will continue to have only 10 rates. If you are using a SAPI 4 Engine or DECtalk Access32, however, you will have 100 rates to choose from. SAPI 5 engines support only 21 rates. The Echo PC (yes, we still support it!) only has 2 rates to choose from.

Advanced option pull down Menu: Under Window-Eyes Professional, the Advanced Options pull down contains two additional utilities:

• Video Support Maintenance - This option allows users to enable and disable video support Window-Eyes under various scenarios.
• Virtual Channel Maintenance - This option allows users to enable and disable virtual channel support for remote access solutions such as Citrix and Microsoft Terminal Services.

Virtual Channel Maintenance: Window-Eyes Standard only contains the Virtual Channel Maintenance option. The speak line hot key will now execute the speak summary command if there is no cursor detected. This is a great single key press way to obtain information about where focus is at any time. This also means that something will always be spoken, no matter what. Now you can depend on Window-Eyes even more to always provide you with some sort of feedback regardless of your position on the screen. The only time you may hear nothing when you press the speak line hot key would be if you are on a blank line, and you have the "say blank" option turned off.

Message and Dialogue boxes: Window-Eyes is now smarter when distinguishing between message boxes and dialog boxes in applications like Microsoft Word. Message boxes usually contain only a small amount of text, and at least one control. This feature eliminates the need for specific set files to read or not read specific windows, making Window-Eyes even more compatible with applications out of the box.

Tri-State check boxes: Check boxes that contain three states: checked, unchecked, and partially checked, are now fully supported. Braille will indicate these check boxes with [p].

List boxes: List boxes that contain graphics (such as the MSCONFIG startup list) are now supported internally, meaning that you no longer need to label the check box graphics in an attempt to read the state of the check box.

Toolbox and Properties: The Visual Studio .NET toolbox and properties dialogue is now fully supported. You can move focus to the toolbox, Up and Down arrows will move you through the toolbox options. Currently all items will say "disabled." This is a Microsoft bug, and they are aware of it.

Menu shortcuts: The verbosity option dialog for Menu shortcuts has been updated from on/off to off/before option/after option. Off simply turns Menu shortcuts off. Before option will read the Menu shortcut before the Menu option (for example, P Print). After option will read the Menu shortcut after the Menu option (for example, Print P). Also note that the equals sign has been removed for Menu options as well as controls (i.e. "F equals File," now says, "F File").

Precautions

In order to install and use Window-Eyes 4.5 Beta 2, you MUST already be running one of the following:

Window-Eyes Standard 4.21 or greater

• Window-Eyes Professional 4.21 or greater
• Window-Eyes Demo 4.21 or greater

Note: Window-Eyes 4.5 Beta 2 can be installed on top of Window-Eyes 4.5 Beta 1 with no conflicts.

Dealer contact information:
I. T. Vision International
Contact: Kamlesh Sharma, Director Sales,
E Block 212, Vaishali Nagar, Jaipur, 302021
Ph: +91-(0)141-2351861
Fax: +91-(0)141-2375278
E-Mail: itvisioninternational@hotmail.com

Back to Products Menu

If you are using a screen reader, you can jump to the navigational links to other areas of the site by clicking here

Eyeway intends building a community where people can share and learn from each other. If you would like to share your experiences about Window-Eyes with others, please send us your write-up at inspiration@eyeway.org. We shall include it as part of our website.

Printer-friendly version | Mail this page to a friend