pwWebSpeak(tm) Release 2 Documentation Last Updated: August 12, 1998 Table of Contents 1. Introduction 1.1 Overview of Functionality 1.2 Hardware and Software Requirements 1.3 Getting Started 1.3.1 Product Installation 1.3.2 Testing pwWebSpeak 1.3.3 Setting Up Your E-Mail Response Capability 1.3.4 Transferring Your Favorites File to This Release 1.3.5 Basics of Browsing 1.3.6 Interacting With Dialogs and Data Entry Fields 1.3.7 Getting Help 2. New Facilities in pwWebSpeak Release 2 3. The Setup Dialog and the pwWebSpeak INI File 3.1 The Setup Dialog 3.2 The pwWebSpeak INI File 3.2.1 Speech Synthesizers - The [Speech] section 3.2.2 The [Speech] section - Speech Rate, and Volume 3.2.3 The [Settings] section - Starting Web Page 3.2.4 The [Settings] section - Default Search 3.2.5 The [Settings] section - Proxy Servers 3.2.6 The [Settings] Section - Other Options 3.2.7 The [Mail] Section 4. Command Line Parameters 4.1 Working Directory 4.1.1 Files and Directories Used by pwWebSpeak 4.2 Initial Page to be Loaded 4.3 Kiosk Mode 5. The Command Menu 6. Command and Function Details 6.1 Command Summary 6.2 Opening a Page 6.2.1 Opening Local Pages 6.3 Saving a Page 6.4 Saving a Page Element to the Scrap Book File 6.5 Maintaining and Using the Favorites List 6.5.1 The Favorites File - webspeak.fav 6.6 The History List - Going Back to Prior Pages 6.6.1 The History List File - webspeak.his 6.7 Ways to View a Page 6.7.1 Recognizing and Reviewing Images 6.7.2 Client-Side Image Maps 6.7.3 Reading Tables within a Page 6.7.4 Recognizing and Using Pages with Frames 6.7.5 Media Support - Audio, Music and Video 6.7.6 Downloading Files and FTP Support 6.7.7 Sending E-Mail to Links on a Page 6.8 Filling in Forms 6.8.1 Completing a Form 6.8.2 Types of Form Fields Supported 6.9 Searching the Web 6.10 Control of Visual Presentation 6.11 Terminating the pwWebSpeak Session 7. Customizing the Keyboard Commands 8. Customizing the Help File 9. Customizing the Audio Style Sheet 10. Customizing the Command Menu pwWebSpeak is a trademark of The Productivity Works, Inc. Copyright © 1995-1998 The Productivity Works, Inc. Other Trademarks and Service Marks used within this documentation are the property of their respective companies. pwWebSpeak was designed and developed by The Productivity Works, Inc. in conjunction with DeWitt and Associates as accessibility consultants, and Thomas Edison State College. ---------- 1. Introduction pwWebSpeak is a browser designed for users or applications that wish to access information and services in a non-visual or dual mode manner. This includes users who cannot be tied to a keyboard or monitor, blind or visually impaired users, users with dyslexia or other learning disorders, and users who are learning new languages. pwWebSpeak is also for use in Kiosk and other applications where audio feedback from local or Web-based Pages is required. pwWebSpeak is designed specifically to interact directly with the information on the Pages and to translate the information content into speech. The user may navigate through the structure of a page or set of pages based on their contents and interactions rather than having to deal with scrolling and interpreting a structured screen display. The intelligence built into pwWebSpeak understands the HTML constructs that define the Pages, and automatically bypasses those constructs that have no relation to the information content of a document. Both speech and large character interpretation of the Pages are provided so that all classes of users can use the software effectively. NOTE: This documentation references keyboard commands and the Command Menu that are the defaults for pwWebSpeak. You may customize both the keyboard commands and the Command Menu for your own usage, for usage by a set of similar users, or for an application. The methods used for customization are completely described within this document. The following sub-sections of the Introduction provide you an overview of functionality, hardware and software requirements, a section on getting started, and then some other basic information which may be of immediate interest or use to you. We have prepared this documentation to help you install and work with the pwWebSpeak and to assist us in providing you support for the product. We welcome your feedback on the product and the documentation. Please feel free to send us feedback either by e-mail or regular mail: Our e-mail address for feedback is: info@prodworks.com Our mailing address is: Customer Support The Productivity Works, Inc. 7 Belmont Circle Trenton, NJ 08618 USA 1.1 Overview of Functionality pwWebSpeak has the following key functions: * Direct support for speech output through understanding the HTML itself * Simplified character-oriented presentation of the Page information that includes synchronization of audio and display when reading Page Elements as well as user controlled font size and contrast to give a large character display for low vision users * Simple command structure for interacting with both pwWebSpeak and the information content of the Pages as well as automatic recognition and identification of headings, links, forms and other major page attributes * Browsing of the Page structure and links without having to go through the text itself * Support for reviewing an element of a Page, e.g. a header or paragraph, one word at a time and being able to spell out, character by character, any word * Support for Tables, Client-side image maps, Frames, and Forms to allow full user interaction with applications and search engines, e.g. Alta Vista, Yahoo, InfoSeek, etc. * Reading speeds that may be set dynamically * Support for multiple speech engines * Support for special file types and functions including: MAILTO, Audio, and Video (audio portion) * Support for Real Audio and Real Video (audio portion only) * Searching for text within a full Page, a special simplified interface to the major search engines for simplified specification of search topics across the Web (this includes Alta Vista, Yahoo, Lycos, Info Seek, and Excite) * Creation and maintenance of a list of favorite Pages as well as automatic loading of an initial page on execution * Fully accessible History List * Support for Proxy Servers to allow users on a LAN to get into the Internet through a firewall * Support for browsing Pages locally, including following links to local and Web-based Pages * Support for saving Pages locally in either HTML or text formats and support for saving or appending individual elements of a Page or Pages into a scrapbook file 1.2 Hardware and Software Requirements pwWebSpeak Release 2 is a 32-bit Windows 95, 98 and Windows NT program. It requires approximately 5 megabytes of hard disk space and a recommended minimum of 16 megabytes of main memory for Windows 95 and 98, and 32 megabytes of main memory for Windows NT. pwWebSpeak is used in conjunction with, and requires, one of the supported speech synthesizers. pwWebSpeak Release 2 supports both the 32-bit version of the SoftVoice synthesizer, the DECtalk Software synthesizer and Microsoft Speech API (SAPI) compliant speech synthesizers, which register their voices. Later releases will include support for the 32-bit Arkenstone SSIL drivers so that all speech synthesizers that have an SSIL driver may be used with pwWebSpeak Release 2, as well as extended support for SAPI synthesizers. pwWebSpeak will operate on both local and Web-based pages and text files. To access the Internet, however, it requires that you have either a direct Internet connection or a connection to Internet via a dial-up account. This release of pwWebSpeak uses the standard 32-bit winsock connection to Internet that is part of the Windows operating systems. 1.3 Getting Started The following sections describe how to get started with pwWebSpeak and how to test the product. They also provide you a basic introduction to browsing using pwWebSpeak. 1.3.1 Installation To install the program, you will need to run the setup program as indicated in the installation instructions delivered with the product and in the readme.txt file that accompanies the installation CD or diskettes. The installation process uses a standard Windows Installation Wizard which provides you a series of prompts which guide you through the simple installation process. If you are installing to a LAN directory, you will need to make sure you have authorization to do so and you should check the sections on Command Line Parameters and Working Directory, for more information on running on a LAN using a shared copy of pwWebSpeak. The installation process goes through the following steps: * Introductory and verification screen - This is a basic welcome screen that lets you know you are installing pwWebSpeak. * End-User License Screen - This is the license for you to use pwWebSpeak, and you must accept this license before you can move forward and install and use the product. * Selection of installation directory - by default pwWebSpeak will be installed into the: \Program Files\pwWebSpeak32\ directory. You may change this by pressing the Browse button and select any directory you wish to install into. * Creating Backup Copies of Files - By default the installation process will create a BACKUP sub-directory and copy current versions of your files to this directory if they will get updated by the install process. You may select whether or not to create the backup copies of the files, and you may also select a different directory for the backup copies if you so desire. It is recommended to always select to create backup copies as you can then roll-back your system to its current state if you need to un-install pwWebSpeak for any reason. * Setting Your Default Browser - You are now prompted to see if you wish to set pwWebSpeak as your default browser. This means that any files with the .HTM or .HTML extension will automatically be displayed using pwWebSpeak if you select the file. The default is not to have pwWebSpeak set as your default browser. * Select the Speech Synthesizer - The next dialog asks you to specify the synthesizer being used. You may select the SoftVoice synthesizer, DECtalk Software synthesizer, or the generic SAPI compliant synthesizer. pwWebSpeak supports direct interfaces to both SoftVoice and DECtalk Software synthesizers. Please note that your synthesizer may be changed at a later point by simple modification of the webspeak.ini file as described in the section on The Setup Dialog and the pwWebSpeak INI File. You have now completed the questions associated with the installation and the last dialog presented allows you to start the actual installation process and the copying of the installation files. Once the installation is complete, it is always a good idea to re-start your PC before testing pwWebSpeak and entering the setup parameters for your e-mail address. NOTE: With pwWebSpeak Release 2, the favorites list from any prior releases is not supported. The format of the favorites file has changed. A utility will be provided to move favorites to the new format. 1.3.2 Testing pwWebSpeak pwWebSpeak is very simple to test, and you do this without even needing a connection to the Internet. There are some simple steps that are useful to follow in this process. Step 1 - Create a shortcut on your PC's desktop to run pwWebSpeak. It is also useful to create a shortcut key at this time as well. You do this using standard Windows facilities. Step 2 - Run pwWebSpeak. You can do this via the shortcut icon or the shortcut key if you created one, or from the Start and Programs menu. Please note that pwWebSpeak is a self voicing application, this means that it will be reading to you. If you have a screen reader running, you will need to turn off the screen reader's voice. Otherwise you will end up with both pwWebSpeak and the screen reader trying to read to you. Step 3 - pwWebSpeak will display and voice an introductory screen, usually called the splash screen, and you can move past this simply by pressing the Enter key. You will then hear a tone as pwWebSpeak completes its loading process followed by the announcement that the starting Page has been loaded. By default pwWebSpeak will load a Page when it is run, and this page is called the pwWebSpeak Start Page. Step 4 - To check that pwWebSpeak is working correctly, press the F10 key which reads you a summary of the contents of the page. You can then read the page itself either one paragraph at a time or the entire page. You can read a paragraph at a time by pressing the Cursor Down key for the next paragraph, and the Cursor Up key for the prior paragraph. You can read the entire page by pressing the F3 key. You have now tested pwWebSpeak on a local file and it is working correctly if it is reading to you understandably. If there are any problems, just follow the procedure noted in the Getting Help section below. 1.3.3 Setting Up Your E-Mail Response Capability pwWebSpeak allows you to send e-mails to links on pages that are explicitly e-mail links. pwWebSpeak is not a full e-mail package and you cannot receive e-mail using pwWebSpeak. Our pwEMail software is a full e-mail package, and you should visit out Web site if you are interested in this capability. In order to set up pwWebSpeak to be able to respond to e-mail links on pages, you need to first setup your e-mail server name, or SMTP name, and your e-mail ID. To do this you run pwWebSpeak and then go to the Setup Dialog by selecting this from the Command Menu or by pressing Alt-U. The Command Menu is accessed by pressing Shift-F1. Once the Setup Dialog is announced and the Starting Page field is announced, press the Tab key until you are at the E-Mail Server field. The default value entered, which is read to you, must be replaced with your actual e-mail server name. This is typically in the form: mailreader.isp.net When you are positioned on the field, type the address of your e-mail server as provided to you by your Internet Service Provider. Then press Tab to move to the E-Mail ID field. This field allows you to enter your e-mail address and this will be posted on all e-mails you send from pwWebSpeak. You need to ensure this is correct so that recipients of your e-mails can simply reply to them. You may enter just your e-mail address, for example: phillips98@somewhere.com Or you may enter both your full name and your e-mail address in order to better identify yourself. To do this, use the syntax shown below: Brian Phillips Now Tab to the Save Settings button on the Setup Dialog screen, and press either the Space Bar or the Enter key. This will save your settings for all future times pwWebSpeak is run. Please note that more details of the Setup Dialog are covered in the section on The Setup Dialog and the pwWebSpeak INI File. 1.3.4 Transferring Your Favorites File for This Release The file in which information on your favorites is stored has changed with this release of pwWebSpeak. If you are currently using pwWebSpeak Release 1.4.3, or an earlier release, or the beta version of pwWebSpeak 32, then you will need to transfer your favorites files over to the new format. The prior releases used two files to hold the favorites information: webspeak.hsl and webspeak.hst, and this release uses a single file, webspeak.fav, into which all information is saved. A utility has been created to allow you to transfer favorites to the new format. The steps to follow are: a. Copy your old favorites files, webspeak.hsl and webspeak.hst, into the installation directory for this release b. From the RUN menu, available from the START menu, execute the file pwfav.exe which is in this releases installation directory c. The pwfav.exe utility will read in your old files and create the new webspeak.fav file with all of your favorites Your favorites are now fully accessible in this release. 1.3.5 The Basics of Browsing with pwWebSpeak pwWebSpeak provides both a keyboard command interface and a menu interface, called the Command Menu, through which you may control the process of browsing a page. As you read a page, pwWebSpeak provides contextual announcements that let you know where you are on the page.For example, if there is text on the page identified as being a heading, pwWebSpeak will announce: "A Heading Entitled". This allows you to place the information in context with other information on the page. A basic capability when browsing is to follow a link from one page to another. These cross references allow you traverse a series of related pages or play media files, and allow the Page designers the ability to give you access to more information without having to clutter a single page. When you are browsing and a link is recognized, pwWebSpeak announces that a link is present. You can then follow the link simply by pressing the Space Bar or the Enter key. The basic commands that you use to browse a Page are all directly accessible from the Command Menu. You can then select what you want to do from the simple menu we provide. To activate the Command Menu, just press Shift-F1, and then you can move through the menu using the Down and Up cursor keys, and you can select any menu item by pressing the Space Bar or the Enter key. pwWebSpeak also provides a direct keyboard equivalent for these commands, and the keyboard commands typically used to browse through a Page are: Shift-F1 - This causes the Command Menu to be activated and you can move through the menu using the Cursor Down and Up keys. Pressing Enter will select an entry from the Command Menu, and pressing F1 will read a more detailed description of the option to you. The Command Menu has two levels, a heading level and an action level. Pressing Escape will exit you from the Command Menu or take you back to the heading level. F1 - This allows you to review the details of each keystroke command. You step through the help file using the Cursor Down and Up arrows, or by pressing the first letter of the command you wish to get help for. Pressing Enter returns you to the page you were browsing. F10 - This reads you a summary of the Page and gives you the title, number of headings, number of links, number of data entry forms, and the total number of tags on the Page. This gives you an idea of the contents and size of the Page you are dealing with, and is very useful when you get to new Pages you have not read before. F3 - Read the entire Page from my current position Q - Stop reading F4 - Pause or re-start reading Cursor-Down - Read the next element on the Page. This is frequently a paragraph or a link. Cursor-Up - Read the prior element on the Page Enter or Space Bar - This allows you to follow an announced link. F2 - Open a new Page. This takes you to dialog into which you can enter the address of the Page you wish to go to. For example you could enter: www.npr.org and this would take you to the National Public Radio Home Page. When you have entered the address, or URL, of the Page you wish to go to, you then press Enter and pwWebSpeak will give you progress messages while it accesses the Page. When you hear that the Page is Ready, you can then browse the Page. Alt-B - Takes you back to the prior page you were on. pwWebSpeak will retrieve the page again for you and will give you progress messages and let you know when the Page is ready again for browsing. NOTE: Both the keyboard commands and the Command Menu are customizable, and that the keyboard commands shown above are those used by default with pwWebSpeak. See the sections on Customizing the Keyboard Commands and Customizing the Command Menu for further details. 1.3.6 Interacting With Dialogs and Data Entry Fields Within pwWebSpeak there are several dialogs into which you may enter information for requests, settings, or descriptions of favorites. When you interact with Pages they may also contain data entry forms. In all these cases you will be making entries into fields, and editing those entries if you make a mistake, and this section describes the process of how to make and correct entries in dialogs and data entry fields on Forms. There are certain keys that help you with reviewing and changing your entries. The default assignments for these keys are as follows: F9 - This tells you where you are and what the current value of the field is. Pressing the key again will give you more detail on the entry, and pressing the key a third time will spell the entry for you. F11 - For fields which may contain multiple words, this is useful as it allows you to review each word separately. Pressing the key a second time will then spell the current word for you. Escape - This is the key you use to exit a dialog without completing it. There are a few standard keys which you use to edit or review an entry character by character, and these keys are: Home - This takes you to first character of the entry and will announce the first character End - This positions you just after the last character in the entry, and it will announce that you are at the end of the entry Cursor Left - This moves the cursor to the left and it will announce the character over which the cursor has just moved. Cursor Right - This moves the current cursor position to the right and will read the character immediately to the right of the new cursor position Backspace - This deletes the character to the left of the current cursor position and will read to you the next character to the right of the cursor Delete - This deletes the character to the right of the current cursor position and will read to you the next character to the right of the new cursor position 1.3.7 Getting Help We supply help to our users primarily through our support e-mail facility which is: support@prodworks.com although you should also feel free to call us at our general office number if you feel direct support is required. Please note that ongoing support is provided for users who are subscribed to our optional support, maintenance and upgrade services. The first year subscription fee is included in the commercial cost of pwWebSpeak and is available on a fee basis to these users for the second and subsequent years of product usage. Qualified users who get the product at no charge need to subscribe separately if they desire to receive these support, maintenance, and upgrade services. If you need to e-mail support, please provide the following information: * A clear description of the problem * The version of Windows you are using * The version of pwWebSpeak being run * The speech synthesizer you are using * The page address, URL, where the problem occurred If the problem relates to installation and initial execution of pwWebSpeak, then the webspeak.ini file and the pwerrlog.txt file should also be attached to the e-mail with the above information. ---------- 2. New Facilities in pwWebSpeak The following are the new facilities in pwWebSpeak Release 2 as compared to pwWebSpeak Release 1.4.3 * 32-bit system designed for Windows 95, 98 and Windows NT * Support for FTP from a single file, link on a page, or from an FTP directory * Command Menu function for simple menu navigation of commands * Ability to customize the Command Menu for an application or usage style * HTML 4 options supported: use of the Title and ID attribute tags; support for the Option tag and the Fieldset, Legend, and Button tags in Forms processing, and support for the Longdesc attribute in the Image tag * Direct search to text capability to skip long lists of links and most advertising on Web pages * Ability to add Audio and other direct media links to the favorites list * Ability to customize the Keyboard commands for an application or usage style * Ability to customize the Audio Style sheet used to identify characteristics of the pages being read * Multiple audio style sheets provided to give both concise and verbose presentation styles * Enhanced Page-Back capability to return to last browsing position in prior page * Support for dynamic changes of audio style sheets by the user * Support for large Web pages (the prior release supported only up to 60K web pages) * Support for Incremental Browsing so that browsing may start prior to the page being fully interpreted * Long files names are supported * Support for multiple synthesizer voices and languages * Support for SAPI compliant speech synthesizers * Support for Real Audio and Real Video (audio portion) * Enhanced Forms processing * Enhanced Field Editing Capabilities * Enhanced Favorites Processing * Enhanced reading of Tables * Enhanced History List Processing and History List Maintained Across Sessions * Improved performance * Kiosk-style operation capability * Ability to set pwWebSpeak as your default browser at installation time * Corrections to errors in prior releases ---------- 3. The Setup Dialog and pwWebSpeak INI File 3.1 The Setup Dialog The Setup Dialog is reached from the Command Menu or directly by pressing Alt-U. This dialog allows you to change certain parameters used by pwWebSpeak so that they will remain in place across uses of the software. These changes are then automatically written to the pwWebSpeak initialization file, webspeak.ini, for use the next time pwWebSpeak is executed. The parameters that may be changed through the dialog are: Default Page This is the address of the first Page you wish to have displayed when the browser is executed. This can be either a local Page or a Page from the Web. There is a default setting for this Page which is the standard starting page provided as part of the pwWebSpeak installation process. The format for entering both a local and Web Page are described below. Example for Entering a Local Web Page as the Default Page: file://c:\program files\pwwebspeak32\pwstart.htm Example for Entering a Web Page as the Default Page: http://www.prodworks.com Speech Rate The Speech Rate parameter determines the rate at which the speech synthesizer will read to you. The values may be different between different synthesizers, but generally represents the number of words per minute that are spoken. Normal speech is about 180 words per minute, for example, and this would give a setting of 180 for this parameter. E-Mail Server This is the name of your e-mail server that is provided to you by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). This is also referred to as the SMTP Server name, and it is typically something like: mailreader.isp.net E-Mail Address This field allows you to enter your e-mail address and this will be posted on all e-mails you send from pwWebSpeak. You need to ensure this is correct so that recipients of your e-mails can simply reply to them. You may enter just your e-mail address, for example: phillips98@somewhere.com Or you may enter both your full name and your e-mail address in order to better identify yourself. To do this, use the syntax shown below: Brian Phillips Notice that your name comes first and then your e-mail address is started with the less-than character and terminated with the greater-than character. Proxy Server A Proxy Server is a function that allows you to access Internet from behind a "firewall". If you are not on a LAN, or not operating behind a firewall, then there is no need to provide anything for this field and it should be left blank. A single Proxy Server may be specified for pwWebSpeak and all requests out to the Internet will be sent to this Proxy Server first for verification and response. A sample Proxy Server entry would be: http://url_address:port_number The Proxy Server address may be specified as either a normal alphanumeric URL, or as a purely numeric IP address. Examples of both are: http://some.proxy.com:8080 101.104.106:8080 NOTE: if you are not using a Proxy Server, you must leave the ProxyServer entry in the webspeak.ini file commented out. The first character of the line must be ";" (semi-colon). Current Style Sheet You may change the current style sheet that is being used by pwWebSpeak to provide the contextual announcements while browsing pages. Changing the Style Sheet will update the CfgFile setting in the webspeak.ini file, and will switch the current session of pwWebSpeak to the new style sheet directly a new Page is loaded or the current Page is re-loaded. 3.2 The pwWebSpeak INI File The pwWebSpeak initialization file, webspeak.ini, contains information about what speech synthesizer is to be used; the default rate at which the synthesizer should be set; whether or not an initial Page should be loaded on execution of pwWebSpeak; and information on other functions within pwWebSpeak. The standard webspeak.ini file is shown below followed by a detailed description of each section of the file. webspeak.ini file listing ; ; pwWebSpeak Release 2 Initialization and Settings File ; ; August 6, 1998 ; ; Lines prefixed with a semi-colon are comment lines. ; [Speech] ; ; The SoftVoice Synthesizer setting ; SpeechEngine="pwspeech.sv" ; ; ; The DECtalk Software Synthesizer Setting ;SpeechEngine="pwspeech.dec" ;voice="paul" ; ; The SAPI Compliant Speech Engine Setting ;SpeechEngine="pwspeech.sapi" ; ; The Voice setting for SAPI. Only required for other than default required ; ;Voice= ; ;Following Two Values Vary by synthesizer ; Rate= 220 Volume=90 [Settings] ; ; Configuration file to be used ; Cfgfile=webspeak_brief.tld ; ; Default starting page to be loaded ; HomePage=file://c:\program files\pwwebspeak32\pwstart.htm LoadPage=1 ; ; Different Search Engine Options for Searching the Web ; ; Alta Vista WebSearch=http://altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/ query?pg=q&what=web&fmt=c&q=%s&text=yes ; ; Yahoo ;WebSearch=http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=%s ; ; Lycos ;WebSearch=http://www.lycos.com/cgi-bin/pursuit?query=%s ; ; InfoSeek ;WebSearch=http://guide-p.infoseek.com/ Titles?qt=%s&col=WW&sv=IS&lk=fast ; LetterMode=-1 FormWarning=1 Textlen=20 trace=0 ; ;Color Codes ; ;Number Color Number Color ;0 Black 8 Gray ;1 Blue 9 Light Blue ;2 Green 10 Light Green ;3 Cyan 11 Light Cyan ;4 Red 12 Light Red ;5 Magenta 13 Light Magenta ;6 Yellow 14 Light Yellow ;7 White 15 Bright White ; ForeColor=14 BackColor=0 ; fontname=Arial FontSize=15 RAVolume=90 Verbose=-1 ; SCFL=1 ; ; ;Sample Proxy Below ;ProxyServer=127.0.0.1:8080 ; [Mail] EMailServer=mailreader.xxx.net EMailID=Your Name <"your_id@your_isp.net"> 3.2.1 Speech Synthesizers - The [Speech] section pwWebSpeak supports the SoftVoice speech synthesizer, the DECtalk Software synthesizer, and Microsoft Speech API (SAPI) compliant speech synthesizers. When you install pwWebSpeak you provide information on the synthesizer you are using, but you can change this at any time using the SpeechEngine parameter in the webspeak.ini file. The general syntax of this section is: [Speech] SpeechEngine="synthesizer_id" Voice="voicename 1" The SpeechEngine parameter specifies which of the speech synthesizers is being used. The Voice parameter allows you to set the name of the voice within the synthesizer that you wish to use. The permissable entries for each synthesizer are described below. 3.2.1.1 SoftVoice The SoftVoice synthesizer is specified as follows by default: [Speech] SpeechEngine="pwspeech.sv" Voice="Male" Valid voice names for SoftVoice are: * Male * Female * LargeMale * Child * GiantMale * MellowFem * MellowMale * CrispMale * TheFly * Robotoid * Martian * Collosus * FastFred * OldWoman * Munchkin * Troll * Nerd * MilkToast * Tipsy * Choirboy 3.2.2.2 DECtalk Software Synthesizer When DECtalk is specified at installation time, the following are the defaults set: [Speech] SpeechEngine="pwspeech.dec" Voice="Paul" Valid voice names for the DECtalk Software synthesizer are: * Paul * Betty * Harry * Frank * Dennis * Kit * Ursula * Rita * Wendy 3.2.2.3 SAPI Compliant Synthesizers The default specification when you select that you have a SAPI synthesizer does not include the Voice parameter, and is as shown below: [Speech] SpeechEngine="pwspeech.sapi" This indicates that your systems default SAPI compliant speech synthesizer should be used, and it should be used with the default voice. If you have multiple SAPI synthesizers on your machine and you wish to select other than the default synthesizer and voice, then you will need to explicitly set the voice to be used as this will identify both the synthesizer and the voice. For example: [Speech] SpeechEngine="pwspeech.sapi" Voice="Kerry Watson" This identifies both the Watson speech synthesizer and the voice that is to be used with that synthesizer. 3.2.2 The [Speech] section - Speech Rate, and Volume There are two other parameters in the Speech section of the initialization file and these are: Rate=180 Volume=90 The Rate setting determines the default speech rate to be used by the synthesizer and can be changed to reflect you own preference. Some synthesizers support dynamic rate changes as well, and for these synthesizers such changes may be made while using pwWebSpeak through the command menu or with the default Alt-F (faster) and Alt-L (slower) commands. Different synthesizers use different Rate and Volume scales. Check your synthesizer documentation to see the ranges of permissible rates and volume settings. Not all synthesizers support the setting of the volume through software, but for those that do, the volume may be dynamically changed from within pwWebSpeak using the command menu or the numeric keypad "+" and "-" (plus and minus) keys. 3.2.3 The [Settings] section - Style Sheet and Starting Web Page With these parameters you can define the style sheet that will be used by pwWebSpeak for the contextual announcements made when you are browsing and interacting with pages, as well as the the rate and relative volume of the speech synthesizer. These three parameters are all in the [Settings] section of the webspeak.ini file and are specified by default as: CfgFile=webspeak.tld HomePage="file://C:\Program Files\pwwebspeak32\pwstart.htm" LoadPage=1 Audio Style Sheet - CfgFile The CfgFile parameter points to the file which contains the Audio Style Sheet to be used for voicing the web pages. The default style sheet provided with pwWebSpeak is stored in the webspeak.tld file. This file is completely customizable and the way to customize the audio style sheet is described in the section Customizing the Audio Style Sheet. Several default style sheets are provided with the installation and these are described elswhere in this documentation. All style sheets provided with the installation have a file extension of TLD. Starting Page - HomePage and LoadPage This section of the INI file also allows you to set a default Page that will always be displayed upon entry to pwWebSpeak. The two parameters that control this are the HomePage and LoadPage parameters, shown below: HomePage="http://www.prodworks.com/" LoadPage=1 Enter the URL of the Page you wish to have displayed on entry to pwWebSpeak in the HomePage parameter, and then set the value of the LoadPage parameter to be 1. On execution pwWebSpeak then looks at these parameters and if LoadPage is set to 1 will retrieve the page specified in the HomePage parameter. If LoadPage is set to 0, then the specified Page will not be retrieved, but it will become the first Page in your History list. The HomePage may be specified as either a Page on the Web or a Page stored locally. An example of a local page setting is: HomePage="file://C:/program files/webspeak32/pwstart.htm" LoadPage=1 NOTE: If you set a different starting Page to the installation default, it is a good idea to add the default starting Page to your favorites list as this provides links to the local documentation Pages, and the simplified Web search Pages. 3.2.4 The [Settings] section - Default Search The Search the Web option, F7, within pwWebSpeak provides a simplified way to use one of the search engines to carry out searches on the Web. In the webspeak.ini file are setting for four different search engines - Alta Vista, Yahoo, Lycos, and InfoSeek. By default the Alta Vista search is the one activated, but you may select any of the search options by removing the semi-colon in front of the desired option and placing a semi-colon in front of the option not to be used anymore. NOTE: There is also a local search page available which will let you select dynamically which search engine you wish to use. This is called: pwsearch.htm 3.2.5 The [Settings] section - Proxy Servers A Proxy Server is a function that allows you to access Internet from behind a "firewall". If you are not on a LAN, or not operating behind a firewall, then there is no need to provide anything in this setting. A single Proxy Server may be specified for pwWebSpeak and all requests out to the Internet will be sent to this Proxy Server first for verification and response. Examples of Proxy Server settings are: ProxyServer=http://url_address:port_number The Proxy Server address may be specified as either a normal alphanumeric URL, or as a purely numeric IP address. Examples of both are: ProxyServer=http://some.proxy.com:8080 ProxyServer=101.104.106:8080 NOTE: if you are not using a Proxy Server, you must leave the ProxyServer entry in the webspeak.ini file commented out. The first character of the line must be ";" (semi-colon). 3.2.6 The [Settings] Section - Other Options 3.2.6.1 Setting Display Font and Font Size This is done using the two parameters as shown in the example below: Font=Ariel FontSize=20 The selection of Fonts depends on each individual machine. The FontSize setting is updated automatically if you change the font size from within pwWebSpeak using the appropriate command or the Command Menu. 3.2.6.2 Setting Display Colors This is done using the two parameters as shown in the example below: Foreground=14 Background=0 The allowable colors are: Number and Color 0 Black 1 Blue 2 Green 3 Cyan 4 Red 5 Magenta 6 Yellow 7 White 8 Gray 9 Bright Blue 10 Bright Green 11 Bright Cyan 12 Bright Red 14 Bright Yellow 15 Bright White You may cycle through the different color combinations dynamically when pwWebSpeak is running by using the Control-F12 key for Background colors and the Shift-F12 key for foreground colors. In this way you can simply select the best foreground and background color for your display. Once a color is set, it is stored automatically in the webspeak.ini file and will hold its value across executions of pwWebSpeak. 3.2.6.3 LetterMode and FormWarning The LetterMode parameter, when set to 1, indicates that pwWebSpeak will have the typing entry echo turned on automatically when pwWebSpeak is executed. Setting this parameter to 0 turns this option off. LetterMode may be turned on and off dynamically by the user pressing the F12 key. FormWarning is set so that when you send information over the Internet using a Form it will warn you that are not sending a secure transaction. This may be turned off by setting FormWarning to 1. 3.2.6.4 Text Length Parameter for the Nexttext and Prevtext Commands The Textlen parameter is set to the number of characters that must be located on the Page to satisfy the Nexttext and Prevtext search commands. These commands allow you to quickly skip a set of links and advertizing on a Page and move to textual information which is either a description for an image or straight text. The default value set for Textlen is 20 characters: 3.2.7 The [Mail] section When filled out, this section allows you to send e-mail directly from web pages that use the MailTo function on their page. Two parameters must be filled out in order to do this. An example is: [Mail] EMailServer=mailreader.xxx.net EMailID=Your Name <"your_id@your_isp.net"> The EMailServer parameter specifies the address of your e-mail, or SMTP, server. This is part of the information from your Internet Service Provider or may be found in one of the Settings parameters of your current e-mail program. The EMailID parameter specifies your e-mail ID and also you name if you wish. This will act as the return address given on the e-mail when it is sent. ---------- 4. Command Line Parameters When you execute pwWebSpeak there are certain command line parameters that may be specified. These parameters allow you to: * Specify the working directory for pwWebSpeak * Specify an initial file or Web page to be loaded * Specify that the program should run in Kiosk Mode Command line parameters may placed in the target field of a Shortcut or used in the Run command from the Start menu. The layout and method of usage is noted in detail in the sections below, but a general usage example is: "c:\program files\pwwebspeak32\webspk32.exe" "c:\mywebspk\myhomepage.htm" /wd="c:\mywebspk" /kiosk. This example shows where pwWebSpeak is executed from; the initial starting page to be displayed; the working directory which will be used for downloads, caching, and the working files used by pwWebSpeak; and the fact that pwWebSpeak is to be run in Kiosk mode. 4.1 Working Directory You may specify that pwWebSpeak will operate from a working directory that is other than the installation directory. This allows for LAN installation and usage of the product, and well as different application or personal uses on a specific machine. The specified working directory must always be writable by pwWebSpeak. The working directory is specified as part of a command line switch, the /wd switch. An example of a simple specification using this as it would be specified in the Target field of the Shortcut: "c:\program files\pwwebspeak32\webspk32.exe" /wd="c:\mydirectory" An example where pwWebSpeak is installed on a LAN machine and the working directory is on the local PC, would be: "\\thelanmachine\ws\webspk32.exe" /wd="c:\mydirectory" pwWebSpeak employs a number of working files and directories which need to be accessible and writable during the execution of pwWebSpeak. These are defined in the following section. 4.1.1 Files and Directories Used by pwWebSpeak pwWebSpeak uses a set of files that define the set of keyboard commands that are active, the Command Menu that is active, the help file text that is used, and the audio style sheet that is applied to provide contextual announcements as Pages are being browsed. Two sub-directories are also used during execution, one being used for temporary caching and the other for downloaded files. 4.1.1.1 Directories Used Two sub-directories are used by pwWebSpeak during execution and these will be created automatically as sub-directories of the specified working directory. Both sub-directories should be accessible for both reading and writing by pwWebSpeak. It is required that at least the cache sub-directory be writable, otherwise pwWebSpeak cannot be executed and you will received an error message to that effect. The two subdirectories are: cache - which is used for temporary storage space by pwWebSpeak while interpreting downloaded pages. download - which is used to hold the files that are downloaded by the user 4.1.1.2 Files Used as Read Only Some working files are used by pwWebSpeak in a read-only manner. If these files are not found in the specified working directory, then pwWebSpeak will access the default versions from the pwWebSpeak execution directory. If the files are present in the specified working directory, then they will be used by pwWebSpeak. The name of the file and a description of their function within pwWebSpeak is given below. webspeak.key This is the file that is used to re-define the default keyboard commands. It is a read-only file to pwWebSpeak, but may be modified by the user to provide individual or application specific interface styles. See the section on Re-Mapping the Keyboard for details of how this is done. In the case where a single copy of pwWebSpeak is installed on a LAN and different user styes are required, then the working directory specified should contain the webspeak.key file that is specific for the interface style required. webspeak.tld This is default file name of the Audio Style Sheet definition used by pwWebSpeak to announce contextual information as it reads and interacts with the pages being browsed. The actual Audio Style sheet file used by pwWebSpeak is defined in the webspeak.ini file that is in effect when pwWebSpeak is run. It is defined in the cfgfile parameter in the webspeak.ini file. If the file pointed to in the webspeak.ini file cfgfile parameter is not found in the specified working directory, then it will be searched for in the directory from which pwWebSpeak is being executed. The Audio Style Sheet definition is customizable by the user for personal preferences or to represent an application style. See the section on Customizing the Audio Style Sheet for details of how to do this. webspeak.pwh.tpl This is the template help file. It is used when pwWebSpeak is run to dynamically generate the actual help file that is referenced by the user. As pwWebSpeak supports customization of the keyboard commands, the help file must itself automatically adjust to the new definitions. This is done by matching the command entries in the keyboard definition file with those in the help file so that an accurate help file is always generated. The name of the generated help file is webspeak.pwh, and this will always be generated into the working directory if one is specified. The help template file may be customized so that additional or different help information may be provided. This is also useful for providing help in different languages. The process of customization is described in the section on Customizing the Help File. The Starting HTML Files There are a series of HTML files, Pages, which are installed automatically with pwWebSpeak. These files are not modified by pwWebSpeak, and are referenced from the default starting Page that is brought up when pwWebSpeak is run. These files provide simple access to pwWebSpeak documentation and Web Search engines. The files are: pwstart.htm pwsearch.htm pwsa.htm pwse.htm pwsi.htm pwsl.htm pwsy.htm There are also some documentation files which are present, and these are generally identified by the release number, for example for Release 2 of pwWebSpeak the files are: pwwr2.htm pwwr2a.htm pwwr2b.htm The default starting Page for an pwWebSpeak session is defined within the webspeak.ini file and the Setup Dialog within pwWebSpeak itself. See the section on The Setup Dialog and the pwWebSpeak INI file details of this. NOTE: These files do contain links to each other, so in general it is best to simply leave the files in the installation directory, or to move them all to the working directory you wish to use. 4.1.1.3 Files That are Updated During Execution There are two types of files in this category. The first being files that are generated by pwWebSpeak when it is run, but are not updated again during the session, and the second being files which are possibly updated by user actions within the session. All files that may be updated by pwWebSpeak are listed and described below. webspeak.pwh This is the help file for the user and it is generated dynamically when pwWebSpeak is run. It is created at the start of the session and not updated again during the session. The file is created dynamically so that any user changes to the keyboard commands are accurately reflected in the help file. This file will be generated into the specified working directory and referenced from there. See the sections on Customizing the Help File and Customizing the Keyboard Commands for details of how to carry out customizations on these files. wscurrent.key This file contains a full list of the keyboard commands that are active for this session. This file is generated automatically when pwWebSpeak is run and it is not updated again during the session. This is an informational file only, and is not actually referenced by pwWebSpeak but is created to aid you in customizing the keyboard interface if you desire to do so. See the section on Customizing the Keyboard Commands for details on how to customize the keyboard interface. In the situation where there is no customization of the keyboard interface through the use of the webspeak.key file and the webspeak.key file is not present in either the specified working directory or the directory from which pwWebSpeak is being run, then this file will not be created. webspeak.ini The webspeak.ini file may be present in the working directory or the directory from which pwWebSpeak is being run. The working directory is searched first. The webspeak.ini file contains information about the configuration of pwWebSpeak and some of the attributes may be changed dynamically by the user. These changes are written back to the webspeak.ini file when the user exits pwWebSpeak at the end of a session. In the situation where the webspeak.ini file only exists on a read-only directory, then when you exit pwWebSpeak after making changes to some of the setup parameters, you will be returned an error message indicating that the pwWebSpeak initialization file is read-only and that changes will not be saved for the next session. See the section on the pwWebSpeak INI File for details of this files contents. webspeak.his This file contains the history of the pages you have browsed. This file remains accessible across usage sessions so that you can go back to a Page you referenced yesterday, for example. pwWebSpeak must be able to write to this file in order to store the history across sessions. If the file is not writable, then the Pages referenced will not be added to the history list. This file always resides, or is created in, the specified working directory. The format of the history list file has six elements, the first three are the URL of the Page that was referenced, the title of the Page, and a blank entry. An example is: "http://www.prodworks.com/","The Productivity Works Home Page","",nnn,"","" The last three entries are the Tag number which was last being browsed on the Page, the request data if any was present for a data entry Form or URL, and whether of not the entry is visual and should be displayed. This allows you to return to the position in the page that you were browsing, not just to the top of the page that you were browsing. webspeak.fav The format of the webspeak.fav file is new and not compatible with the format of favorites files from prior releases. The new favorites file is stored with a new file name to avoid any confusion with prior releases files. A utility is provided to transfer favorites to the new format. The format of the Favorites File is the same as that used for the History List. This enables any entries from the History List to be added immediately to your favorites. There are six elements in the file as follows: * the URL of the Page that was referenced * the title of the Page * the user supplied description when the favorite was added * the Tag number * the Request field (used internally in the History List only) * the Entry Type (visual or non-visual, used internally only) The fourth and fifth entries are the Tag number which was last being browsed on the Page, and the request data if any was present for a data entry Form or URL. This allows you to return to the position in the page that you were browsing, not just to the top of the page that you were browsing. Examples of entries in the favorites file are: "http://www.prodworks.com/","The Productivity Works Home Page","The Home Page of pwWebSpeak",1,"","" "http://cnn.com/","CNN Interactive","CNN Interactive",1,"","" "file://d:/Ch01_01.htm","","file://d:/ Ch01_01.htm",1,"","" Please note that any type of link may be stored as a favorite. This includes FTP Pages and Real Audio or Real Video links as well as standard Pages. This provides you with the most flexibility possible in creating your favorites list. scrap.txt This file is created when you request copying an element of a Page being browser to the scrap file. The default keyboard command to do this is Ctrl-F9. The scrap file always needs to be in a writable directory if you wish to allow the user this capability. The scrap file is also always written to, or created in, the specified working directory. 4.2 Initial Page to be Loaded It is posible to specify that on execution pwWebSpeak should retrieve a specific Page. This Page may be either on the Web, local to the PC, or on an Intranet or LAN. Examples of using this command line option to load a local Page or load a Web Page, are shown below: Example Loading a local page: "c:\program files\pwwebspeak32\webspk32.exe" "c:\ws\download\my saved web page.htm" Example Loading an Internet page: "c:\program files\pwwebspeak32\webspk32.exe" "http://www.prodworks.com" 4.3 Kiosk Mode The Kiosk mode of operation simply makes the page display fill the available window. No location field is presented and no command buttons are presented. The kiosk mode is entered using a simple command switch as shown in the example below. The Kiosk switch may be used in conjunction with any other command line switches. "c:\program files\pwwebspeak32\webspk32.exe" /kiosk ---------- 5. The Command Menu You enter the Command Menu by pressing Shift-F1 (the Shift and F1 keys together). You move through the menu using the Cursor Down and Up keys, and the Space Bar or Enter will select an item on the menu. The Command Menu provides a simple menu for you to move through which lets you execute specific commands or examine the help text for those commands. You can customize the Command Menu so what is described here are the default entries as supplied with pwWebSpeak. The functioning of the Command Menu, however, is always the same so the general rules noted here are always applicable. The Command Menu is broken down into two levels. The first is a heading level and the second an action level. When you select a heading level you will be taken to the corresponding entries that are the action items for that heading. For instance, selecting the Help heading will give you a menu of options such as: Where Am I?, Review Keyboard Commands, and What Version Am I Using? The default Command Menu consists of 9 main entries and sub-entries for each of these. Moving through the Command Menu takes you through the main entries and it is not until you select a main entry that you will be taken to the detailed, or action, entries within that topic. The Command Menu may be customized, and the section on Customizing the Command Menu gives you the details on how to do this. ---------- 6. Command and Function Details This section provides a detailed description of each of the functions and commands that you can use within pwWebSpeak. A Default Command Summary is followed by a functional breakdown of the keyboard commands and their actions. The keyboard commands shown are those set by default when pwWebSpeak is installed. You may customize the keyboard interface to better reflect your own preferences, or for specific application or usage styles. Details on customizing the keyboard interface are noted in the section on Customizing the Keyboard Commands. In the following sections both the default keyboard command and the corresponding internal command name are given. 6.1 Command Summary The following is a list of all internal commands within pwWebSpeak, their default keyboard assignment, and a brief description of each command. The commands are noted in the form they are required to be used if you customize the keyboard commands or the Command Menu facility. See the sections on Customizing the Keyboard Commands and Customizing the Command Menu for details of how the commands are used in this manner. ADDFAVORITELINK, Control-A - Adds the currently pointed to Link on the Page to the Favorites list or adds the current entry in the Open Page dialog to the Favorites list ADDFAVORITES, Alt-A - Add the current Page to the favorites list BACKCOLOR, Control-F12 - Steps through the available background colors for the display BACKPAGE, Alt-B - Steps back to the immediately preceding Page that was being browsed. This will position in the preceding Page at the location that you left it. DECRFONTSIZE, Control-F11 - Decrease the size of the font on the pwWebSpeak display DECRRATE, Alt-L - Decrease the synthesizers reading rate DECRVOLUME, - (numeric minus sign) - Decrease of the synthesizer volume if supported by the synthesizer EXIT, Alt-X - Exit from pwWebSpeak with a prompt to verify that you really wish to exit FAVORITES, Shift-F2 - Opens the favorites list so that you can select and retrieve a favorite Page FINDELEMENT - This allows you to specify the characters of an HTML tag that you wish to position to on the Page. The search is always from current position towards the end of the Page. The syntax is: findelement:XXX where XXX represents the desired characters of the HTML tag to be matched, e.g. findelement:h2 to match an H2 tag or findelement:/form to find the end of a Data Entry form. FINDPREVELEMENT - This allows you to specify the characters of an HTML tag that you wish to position to on the Page. The search is always from current position towards the beginning of the Page. The syntax is: findprevelement:XXX where XXX represents the desired characters of the HTML tag to be matched, e.g. findprevelement:h2 to match an H2 tag or findprevelement:table to move to the beginning of a Table. FIRSTITEM, Home - Takes you to the first element on a Page or a list, or the beginning of a data entry field FORECOLOR, Shift-F12 - Step through the available colors for the displayed text HELP, F1 - This takes you to the help file and allows you to read the help file. When in the Command Menu, this reads the Help file entry for the specific command. IDENTIFY, F9 - This announces where you are on the Page and in pwWebSpeak and when issued again identifies the URL associated with the current Page element if one exists, and when issued a third time will spell the associated URL INCRFONTSIZE, Shift-F11 - Increase the size of the font on the pwWebSpeak display INCRRATE, Alt-F - increase the synthesizers reading rate INCRVOLUME, + (numeric plus sign) - Increase the synthesizer volume if supported by the synthesizer LANG0, Alt-1 - The first language installed for the synthesizer, this is the default LANG1, Alt-2 - The second language installed for the synthesizer LANG2, Alt-3 - The third language installed for the synthesizer LANG3, Alt-4 - The fourth language installed for the synthesizer LANG4, Alt-5 - The fifth language installed for the synthesizer LANG5, Alt-6 - The sixth language installed for the synthesizer LASTITEM, End - Takes you to the last element on a Page or List or the end of a data entry field LETTERMODE, F12 - This toggles on and off the echoing back of keystrokes in entry fields, for instance, in the Open New Page dialog LINKSONPAGE, F5 - Takes you to a list of just the links on the Page to let you quickly move through them LINKTO - This allows the specification of a specific Page to be linked to, either local or Web-based. The syntax is as follows: linkto:URL where URL represents the Page to be linked to when this option is selected. For a local page an example is: linkto:c:\pwwebspeak32\pwwr2.htm For a Web-based page an example is: linkto:http://www.prodworks.com LONGDESC, Alt-I - When a page element, like an Image, includes the Longdesc attribute, this command will follow the link specified in the attribute and load the associated Page or media file. MEDIADECRVOLUME, unassigned - reserved for future development MEDIAINCRVOLUME, unassigned - reserved for future development MEDIANEXT, unassigned - reserved for future development MEDIAPAUSE, Shift-F4 - Pauses a media player like the Real Audio player. Pressed again, it restarts the plaback MEDIAPLAY, unassigned - reserved for future development MEDIAPREV, unassigned - reserved for future development MENU, Shift-F1 - Brings up the Command Menu dialog if one is defined NEXTITEM, Down - Move to the next item on the Page or list NEXTTEXT, Alt-N - Moves to the next element on the Page where there are N characters of text that are not part of a link. The N is specified by default from the Textlen parameter in the webspeak.ini file. This command may also be specified with an explicit number of characters to look for that will override the default. In this case the syntax is: Nexttext:NN where NN is the number of characters to be searched for that are not part of a link. NOACTION - This is applicable only to the re-mapping of the keyboard and provides a method of explicitly turning off a keyboard command OPENLOCALPAGE - Takes you straight to the Open Local Page dialog. This can also be reached by entering the OpenPage command, F2, twice OPENPAGE, F2 - Takes you to the Open Page dialog to allow you to enter the URL or name of the file to be opened and browsed next PAGEELEMENTS, F6 - Takes you back to normal browsing of the Page so that the text content of the Page can be read PAGESEARCH, F8 - Provides a dialog to enter text and search for that text on the current Page PAGESEARCHAGAIN, Shift-F8 - Repeats the last entered PAGESEARCH request PAGESUMMARY, F10 - This announces a summary of the Page contents giving the number of headings, links, data entry forms, and a total number of Page elements, or tags, that are on the Page PAUSE, F4 - Toggles Pause and re-start for reading PREVITEM, Up - Moves to the previous item on the Page or in a list PREVTEXT, Alt-P - Moves to the previous element on the Page where there are N characters of text that are not part of a link. The N is specified by default from the Textlen parameter in the webspeak.ini file. This command may also be specified with an explicit number of characters to look for that will override the default. In this case the syntax is: Nexttext:NN where NN is the number of characters to be searched for that are not part of a link. READPAGE, F3 - Starts reading of the Page from the current position RELOAD, Control-R - This causes the current Page to be reloaded SAVEAS, Control-S - This allows the current Page to be saved in either HTML or text format in the Download sub-directory of the current working directory SAVESCRAP, Control-F9 - This adds the current Page element to the scrap file, scrap.txt, in the current working directory SAYCURRENTURL, Alt-F10 - This announces the URL of the current Page being browsed SELECTITEM, Enter or Space Bar - Selects the current item, for example selects a link to be followed SETUP, Alt-U - Takes you to the Setup Dialog where some of the initialization parameters may be dynamically changed and put into effect. STOP, Escape or Q - Stops reading, retrieving, downloading or leaves the current activity or dialog VERSION, Control-F1 - Announces the version of pwWebSpeak being used and associated copyright information WEBSEARCH, F7 - Provides a simplified dialog for searching the Web using the search engine specified in the webspeak.ini file WORDLIST, F11 - This allows you to review the current element of the Page a word at a time. When issued again, it will spell the current word in the list 6.2 Opening a Page Opening a Page can be accomplished via a Command Menu option or the default keystroke commands as noted below: F2 | openpage | Open a new Page Shift-F2 | favorites | Go to a Favorite Page previously saved F2, F2 | openlocalpage | Open a locally stored Page. This provides a dialog to select the local file to be opened F2, Down Arrow | | Takes you to the History list of Pages you have visited in this session Enter | selectitem | Pressed when on a link on the current Page or on a History or Favorites list entry A Page may be opened at any time by pressing F2 to take you into the Open Page dialog or by following a link on another Page. When you press F2, you are then requested to enter the address of the desired Page (please note that the HTTP:// prefix is not required but the WWW portion, when applicable, is required). Once the address is entered, the Page is retrieved when you press the Enter key. You will be given progress messages to let you know what is happening with the retrieval of the Page. If you are already on a Page and you are not simply reading the entire Page, pressing Enter when a link is announced causes the referenced Page to be retrieved and opened for you. If the link is to a media source, such as an audio source, then the media source will be accessed and played. The F12 key acts as a toggle which turns on and off character by character reading as you enter the Page address. The F9 key announces where you are and reads the current value. Pressing F9 again will spell the entry for you. If you wish to leave the Open Page dialog without fetching a Page, press Esc or Tab to the CANCEL button and press the Enter key. 6.2.1 Opening Local Pages To open a local Page you can either enter the name directly into the Open Page dialog, or you can select the Page to be opened from the Open Local Page dialog. You get to the Open Local Page dialog either via the Command Menu or by pressing F2 twice. An example of entering the address of a local file into the Open Page dialog is: file://c:/webspeak/pwstart.htm The Select a Local File dialog allows you to review files and directories and select the file you wish to load. Pressing Escape will exit you from this dialog back to the Page you were browsing. In this dialog, the Tab key moves you between the Drive, Directory and File selection lists. Pressing Enter will select a file and return you to the Open Page dialog with the selected file already entered. Pressing Enter again will load the Page from the selected file. Drive Selection List - On tabbing into this list, the list name is appropriately announced and you control movement through the list using the cursor keys. Press the Space Bar to select the drive. Directory Selection List - The cursor keys are used to move to a directory to be selected, and you use the Space Bar to actually select a directory. Once a directory is selected, its next level directories are made available in the Directory List, and any files in the directory are made available in the File List. You may move up directory levels simply by selecting a higher level directory from the list. Each time you move using the cursor keys, the fully qualified name of the current directory is announced. File Selection List - When a directory has been selected all files in that directory are made available in the File Selection List. You use the cursor keys to move through the files, with each file being announced as you move to it. Pressing Enter selects the file and moves you back to the Open Page dialog with the selected Page entered. Pressing Enter again will then retrieve the selected local Page. NOTE: The F9 key may be used in the Directory and File Selection Lists to re-read the directory or file name. Pressing F9 a second time will spell the directory or file name for you. 6.3 Saving a Page Once a Page has been opened and retrieved it may be saved locally using the Command Menu or directly using the Control-S keys. Pages may be saved as pure text, with no HTML tags, or as an HTML Page. Pages saved in HTML format may then be reviewed later by pwWebSpeak. The default directory for saved pages is the "download" sub-directory under the currently specified working directory. If no working directory is explicitly specified, then the download sub-directory where pwWebSpeak is installed is used. When you enter Control-S to save a Page, you are placed into a dialog which allows you to select its saved name. Enter only the file name with no extension. The extension is determined automatically by your selection of the type of file to be saved. Once you have entered the file name simply press Tab and move to each of the function buttons on the dialog to save in HTML or text format.. In order to change the directory into which the file will be saved, simply press Tab to move to the drive and directory lists. Pressing the Space Bar will select the current drive or directory. As you move through the dialog elements using the Tab key, each element is clearly announced and you are provided simple instructions for interaction with the dialog. NOTE: When you save a Page as Text, no automatic word wrap is done on the text, this is left for whatever editor you wish to use with the file. Pressing the Esc key will exit you from this dialog without saving anything and let you continue browsing the current Page. 6.4 Saving a Page Element to the Scrap Book File When viewing a Page by stepping through the Page Elements, the current element may be saved and added into the scrap book file using the Command Menu or by pressing Control-F9. Elements are appended to the scrap book file allowing multiple selections to be made from one or more Pages and all selected elements to be kept. Remember that is your responsibility to remove entries from the file or to delete the file. The scrap book file is stored in file scrap.txt which is located in the working directory, if one is specified, or the pwWebSpeak installation directory if no working directory is specified. 6.5 Maintaining and Using the Favorites List The Favorites list provides a way to store the address of a Page in a local list within the browser so that you may directly call up the Page at any time in the future. This facility allows adding Pages to the list, deleting Pages from the list and browsing and selecting from the list. You can enter the favorites list via the Command Menu or by using the Shift-F2 command. The full list of functions associated with the favorites list are shown in the table below. Shift-F2 | favorites | Opens the list of favorites Alt-A | addfavorites | Adds the current Page to the favorites list Control-A | addfavoritelink | Adds the currently pointed to link on the Page to the Favorites List, or adds the current value from the Open Page dialog or History List to the Favorites List Cursor Down | nextitem | Moves down through the list of favorites when they have been opened Cursor Up | previtem | Moves up through the list of favorites when they have been opened Delete | no command | Deletes the currently pointed to favorites entry. This is a Windows function so there is no specific command associated with this keystroke. Enter | selectitem | Opens the currently pointed to favorites Page To add a Page to the favorites list, first open the Page and then either select the appropriate option from the Command Menu or use the default keystroke command, Alt-A. This will bring up the favorites dialog and will allow you to enter a textual description of the Page. When you review the favorites list, this description is what will be read to you. If you do not enter a description, then the title of the Page will be used if present, otherwise the URL of the Page will be used. To reference your favorites list, use the Command Menu or press Shift-F2 at any time. You can then scroll through the Pages you have stored using the Cursor Up and Down keys. If you wish to delete an entry, simply cursor to that entry and press the Delete key. To select a Page, just press Enter. If you wish to review the actual URL of a Page in the favorites list, move to that entry in the list and press F9 twice. The first press of F9 will tell you where you are and which entry you are on in the list, and the second press will read the entry to you. Pressing Esc will exit you from this dialog back to the current Web Page being browsed. NOTE: There is no way to directly update the descriptive text of a favorites list entry. The simplest approach to do this is to open the favorite Page and then use Alt-A to add a new favorite with the desired text. You can then go back into the favorites list and delete the old entry. 6.5.1 The Favorites File - webspeak.fav The webspeak.fav file contains the favorites list that is accessible to the user. This is normally created by the user, but may have been pre-created as part of an application for a Kiosk or Publicly accessible PC. In order for you to be able to add or delete from the favorites list, the favorites file must be in a writable directory. This file always resides, or is created in, the specified working directory. NOTE: The format of the webspeak.fav file is new and not compatible with the format of favorites files from prior releases. The new favorites file is stored with a new file name to avoid any confusion with prior releases files. The format of the Favorites File is the same as that used for the History List. This enables any entries from the History List to be added immediately to your favorites. There are six elements in the file as follows: * the URL of the Page that was referenced * the title of the Page * the user supplied description when the favorite was added * the Tag number * the Request field (used internally in the History List only) * the Entry Type (visual or non-visual, used internally only) The fourth and fifth entries are the Tag number which was last being browsed on the Page, and the request data if any was present for a data entry Form or URL. This allows you to return to the position in the page that you were browsing, not just to the top of the page that you were browsing. The sixth entry is an internal use only and indicates whether the page is a visual page or not. When you request to add a Page to the Favorites List, you will be asked to provide a description. The default description is always the Page title, but if no title exists then the URL is used if you do not provide an explicit description. Examples of entries in the favorites file are: "http://www.prodworks.com/","The Productivity Works Home Page","The Home Page of pwWebSpeak",1,"","" "http://cnn.com/","CNN Interactive","CNN Interactive",1,"","" "file://d:/Ch01_01.htm","","file://d:/ Ch01_01.htm",1,"","" Please note that any type of link may be stored as a favorite. This includes FTP Pages and Real Audio or Real Video links as well as standard Pages. This provides you with the most flexibility possible in creating your favorites list. 6.6 The History List - Going Back to Prior Pages As you browse Pages, each and every Page you access and each link you follow within a single session are stored as part of the history of your session. This includes FTP links, Real Audio or Real Video links, and links directly to other types of media files. This History List may be browsed and any Page or Link from the list may be accessed again. The History List is created very simply. Each page or link you reference is added to the list. When you reference a prior entry from the History List, it is simply added as a new reference. This gives you an accurate and complete trace of all references you have made and the exact order in which you made them. No entries are deleted from the History List. To review the History List, simply press F2 to bring up the Open Page dialog and then use the cursor keys to scroll through the History List. The address of the Page will be read to you as you move to it. You can go directly to any Page by simply pressing Enter. You may step backwards through the display pages of the History List using the Alt-B command. Access to the previous Page and the full History List are both also available through the Command Menu. NOTE: In the situation where you wish to erase or remove your History List, simply delete the webspeak.his file from your working directory. 6.6.1 The History List File - webspeak.his This file contains the history of the pages you have browsed. This file remains accessible across usage sessions so that you can go back to a Page you referenced yesterday, for example. pwWebSpeak must be able to write to this file in order to store the history across sessions. If the file is not writable, then the pages referenced will not be added to the History List. This file always resides, or is created in, the specified working directory. The format of the History List File is the same as that used for the Favorites List. This enables any entries from the History List to be added immediately to your favorites. There are six elements in the file as follows: * the URL of the Page that was referenced * the title of the Page * the user supplied description when the favorite was added (used by the Favorites List only) * the Tag number of last browsed element * The Request field * Entry Type (visual or non-visual) An example of a History File entry is: "http://www.prodworks.com/","The Productivity Works Home Page","",1,"","" The Tag number which was last being browsed on the Page, and the request data if any was present for a data entry Form or URL, allow you to return to the position in the page that you were browsing, not just to the top of the page that you were browsing. The Entry Type is used for processing the Back Command, Alt-B, and determines which entries on the History List are display pages versus download or media links. In this way the display pages only are referenced through the Back, Alt-B, command. All visited sites and files are referencable through the History List itself. 6.7 Ways to View a Page When a Page has been retrieved there are multiple ways to browse the information on the Page. The commands shown below are the commands you use to traverse through the pages and have them read to you under your control. Many of these commands are also directly accessible through the Command Menu. F10 | pagesummary | Reads a summary of the Page giving the numbers of headings, links, data entry forms, and a total number of tags, or elements, on the Page. This provides you an initial view of the Page and an idea about the pages size and contents. F5 | linksonpage | Takes you to the list of links on the Page. You can then use the Cursor Down and Up keys to move through the links and the Enter or Space Bar to follow a link. F6 | pageelements | Returns you to the Page browsing mode so that you step through the Page element by element using the cursor keys, or you can read the entire Page F3 | readpage | Reads the entire Page from your current position F4 | pause | Pauses or re-starts reading Q | stop | Stops reading at the current Page element F8 | pagesearch | Displays the search dialog so that you can enter a text string to be search for on the Page Shift-F8 | pagesearchagain | Repeats the previous search you carried out A | no command | Looks for the next link on the Page. You need to use the list of links, F5, to move up and down through the links themselves. This will just take you to the next sequential link on the Page. No pwWebSpeak command must be assigned to this keystroke H | no command | Looks for the next Heading or section separator on the Page. No pwWebSpeak command must be assigned to this keystroke. P | no command | Looks for the next Paragraph on the Page. No pwWebSpeak command must be assigned to this keystroke. Enter | selectitem | Follows the currently pointed to link on the Page or in the list of links, or opens the currently pointed to Image Map Menu (see Client-Side Image Maps for details) Space Bar | selectitem | Follows the currently pointed to link on the Page or in the list of links, or opens the currently pointed to Image Map Menu (see Client-Side Image Maps for details) Alt-F | incrrate | Increase the reading rate of the speech synthesizer. This temporarily changes the reading rate and the changes will be lost at the end of the session. Use the Setup Dialog, Alt-U, to change the rate permanently. Alt-L | decrrate | Decrease the reading rate of the speech synthesizer. This temporarily changes the reading rate and the changes will be lost at the end of the session. Use the Setup Dialog, Alt-U, to change the rate permanently. 6.7.1 Recognizing and Reviewing Images pwWebSpeak does not download or display images, but it does announce the presence of an image and provide you with information about the image. If the image on the Page is specified with a descriptive text, an ALT attribute, then the descriptive text is read after the presence of the image is announced. In the situation where no descriptive text is associated with the image, then the filename of the image file being referenced is read. Some Images include links to a long description of the image. This is specified with the LONGDESC attribute. If an image on the page contains such a link, it will be announced and you can go to the Page containing the long description by pressing Alt-I. When you have reviewed the long description, simply return to the page you were browsing by using the Command Menu to go back or the Alt-B command. NOTE: The presence of the LONGDESC attribute in the Image tag is by default explicitly voiced through the Audio Style sheet. 6.7.2 Client-Side Image Maps Client-side Image Maps, or Image Map Menus, provide a way for the visual user to navigate a set of Pages by using the mouse to click on areas of the Image. These areas are referred to as hot zones and they are associated with links to other Pages. pwWebSpeak supports Image Map Menus by voicing them to you and allowing you to open the Image Map Menu and select from the links defined within the menu. You open the Image Map Menu simply by pressing the Enter key or the Space Bar. You may then step through the menu items using the up and down cursor keys. When you wish to follow a link, press the Enter key or the Space Bar as you would do normally to follow a link. When an Image Map Menu is defined with Alt tags, these tags are announced to you to help understand the links. If no descriptive Alt tags exist, then the actual address, the URL, of the link is announced. You leave an Image Map Menu and return to browsing a Page, simply by pressing the Escape key or the Page Elements key, F6. 6.7.3 Reading Tables within a Page When the special Page construct called a Table is recognized, it is read to you from left to right and from top to bottom. Tables are used by Page authors for both formatting and the presentation of tabular information. There are different audio style sheets available with pwWebSpeak which will either not announce information about the Table and its structure, or it will announce such information. The verbose style sheets will announce the beginning of a Table, beginning of a row, beginning of a column or cell. In all cases any titles specified for any area of the Table will also be announced in context. There are some special navigation capabilities specifically for Tables, and these are defined below. Control-S | findelement:td | Goes to the next cell, or column, of the table. Control-A | findprevelement:td | Goes back to the start of the current cell, or column, on the current row of the table. Using this command twice, takes you to the start of the previous cell. Control-W | findelement:tr | This goes to the next row in the table. Control-Z | findprevelement:tr | This goes back to the start of the current row of the table. Using this command twice takes you to the start of the previous row in the Table. Control-Q | findelement:table | Go to the next Table on the Page. Control-E | findprevelement:table | Go back to the start of the Table. Using this command twice takes you to the start of the previous Table on the page. Cursor Down | nextitem | Moves from Page Element to Page Element within a Table Cell, and then moves to the next cell. Cursor Up | previtem | Moves to previous Page Element within the Cell or within the previous Cell. 6.7.4 Recognizing and Using Pages with Display Frames Pages that employ Frames are easily recognized as they are normally very small in size and the Page Summary command, F10, will announce the number of Frames on the Page. A Page which contains Frames is simply a Page of links. Each Frame definition is simply a link to the actual information that is associated with that Frame. A Frame is identified both visually and aurally as a "Link to a Frame" and acts as a link to that Frame. Pressing the Enter key will then follow the link to the Frame and allow you to review the contents of the Frame. Going Back (Alt-b) to the parent Frame allows simple switching between Frames. When in a Frame, this level of support treats the Frame as a separate Web Page and a potential path through a set of Web pages. You can move between Frames only by following the specific Frame Link to that Frame, by going back using Alt-b or by following the link from the History List. 6.7.5 Media Support - Audio, Music and Video Basic support is provided for both Audio and Video file types with the ability to play most standard types directly from pwWebSpeak. File types not recognized may be downloaded to a local file for separate processing. The types of audio and video files supported are: * Real Audio and Real Video (audio portion only). File types of RA, RM, and RAM are supported * WAV files and AU files * MIDI files, which are normally music files * Audio portion of AVI Video files Media files may be be accessed by directly entering their address, or URL, whether it is a local or Web address, or by following a link to the media file from a Page. The commands which are used to control the audio and media streams are noted below. Alt-F | incrrate | Increase the reading speed of the synthesizer. This setting is lost when you exit pwWebSpeak unless changed and stored using the Modify Setup dialog (Alt-U). Alt-L | decrrate | Decrease the reading speed of the synthesizer. This setting is lost when you exit pwWebSpeak unless changed and stored using the Modify Setup dialog (Alt-u). + | add | (plus on the numeric keypad) - Increase volume on the synthesizer or the currently active media stream. NOTE: Not all synthesizers support volume control. - | subtract | (minus on the numeric keypad) - decrease volume of the synthesizer or the currently active media stream. NOTE: Not all synthesizers support volume control. Shift-F4 | pause | Pause and Re-start playing of a media stream, e.g. Real Audio Page Down | medianext | Skip forward in the media being played. The type of skip forward is dependent on the player being used. When a Real Audio or Real Video stream is being played, the skip is in terms of time. When a Daisy Audio stream is being played through a supported player, then the skip will be a phrase. Page Up | mediaprev | Skip back in the media being played. The type of skip back is dependent on the player being used. When a Real Audio or Real Video stream is being played, the skip is in terms of time. When a Daisy Audio stream is being played through a supported player, then the skip will be a phrase. Control-A | addfavoritelink | Add the currently pointed to link in the Page to your favorites list. This allows you to store in your favorites direct links to audio or other media sources. 6.7.6 Downloading Files and FTP Support FTP is supported within pwWebSpeak and you may use FTP to download a specific file, an FTP directory, or by following an FTP link on a Page. When you wish to download a specific file or directory, simply enter the FTP address in the Open Page dialog. You do this by selecting the Open New Page entry from the Command Menu or by pressing F2. An example of an FTP address to download a file is: ftp://ftp.jvnc.net/pub/client/prodworks/eval/setupev.exe When you use FTP the file will be placed in the Download sub-directory of the current working directory used by pwWebSpeak. You will be prompted to enter a name for the file to be downloaded, but the name will already be set by default to the name of the file in the request. pwWebSpeak can also be used to download files which are of types that it cannot display or play through a media player. An example is an executable file such as setupev.exe which could be stored as a standard link or at a standard address that is not an FTP address. The following describes the file types that are displayed or played by pwWebSpeak, and all other files will be downloaded to the download sub-directory. HTM, HTML, ASP, TXT, PL and files with a Content Type specified of HTML or TEXT | Pages to be displayed and browsed RA, RM, RAM | Real Media files, audio and video, that are played WAV, AU, MID | Audio files that are first downloaded to a temporary directory and then played AVI | Video file that is first downloaded to a temporary directory and then the audio portion is played 6.7.7 Sending E-Mail to Links on the Page There are two basic types of links that may be defined by Page authors. The first is a link to another Page, and the second is a link to an e-mail address. When the link is to an e-mail address, pwWebSpeak lets you enter e-mail text and send it to the specified address. A link to an e-mail address can be recognized by pressing the F9 key twice, to identify where you are and to read the current URL. The URL is always prefixed with the word MAILTO followed by an e-mail address. For example: mailto:info@prodworks.com When you access such a link you will be placed in the e-mail dialog to enter a subject for the e-mail and then the actual message you wish to send. When you have entered your message, press the Tab key to the Send E-Mail control, which will be announced to you, and then press the Space Bar or press Enter. To exit the e-mail dialog either Tab to the Cancel control and press Enter or the Space Bar, or just press Escape. When you are entering either the subject or the message text, you can read back what you have entered by pressing F9. You can review word by word by pressing F11, and you can review character by character using the cursor left and right keys. NOTE: In order for you to successfully send e-mail, you need to have the e-mail parameters set correctly in pwWebSpeak's setup dialog. See the section on Setting Up Your E-Mail Response Capability for details of how to do this. 6.8 Filling in Forms The presence of a data entry Form on a Page may be confirmed by using the Page Summary function, F10, which provides you a summary of the Page and includes the number of data entry forms present. A Data Entry Form will also be announced as you are browsing through the Page. You can move directly to a Data Entry Form on a Page using the Command Menu option of Searching for the Form, or you can simply press the Tab key until the Data Entry Form is announced. The Tab key will move between different views of the Page, the Data Entry Forms being the third of the views. Usually you will simply come across the Data Entry form as the Page is being read to you. When you are at the Data Entry Form you can fill in the form as described below. 6.8.1 Completing A Form Using the Tab key to move between data entry fields: When you reach a Data Entry Form, pressing Enter will take you into the fields of the Form. The Tab key will then move you forward and backwards from one field to another in the form. The text associated with the field will be announced as part of the fields description and depending upon the type of field, you either type in your entry or use the arrow keys to select from a set of choices such as a list of items or radio buttons. At any point you may examine the text on the form before the field or after the field by using the Alt-P, previous text, and Alt-N, Next text commands. When the field contains your desired entry or selection, use the tab key to go to the next field and follow the same procedure until you hear the announcement of the Form's submit button. Form buttons are activated by pressing Enter or the Space Bar. Prior to submitting the form you may cycle through your entries by using the tab or shift-tab keys. As you enter each field, the current value or setting of the field will be announced. Using Page Elements and the arrow keys: When pwWebSpeak encounters a data form by using the arrow keys, it will announce the presence of the Data Entry Form. Reviewing the Form as a set of Page Elements allows you to examine all aspects of the Form and the text specified with the fields. When you hear a field announced, pressing Enter or the Space Bar takes you into that field. When you are anywhere within the Form, pressing Enter or the Space Bar takes you to the nearest Form field. To exit a field and return to browsing the Form as Page Elements, press the Escape key. The Page Elements approach is used most frequently when you are using a Data Entry Form for the first time. It allows a very detailed analysis of the Form, the text included within the Form and the fields it contains. Getting a Summary of the Form and the Field Values on the Form When you are positioned within any of the fields of a Form, pressing the Summarize command, F10, will give you an analysis of the number and type of fields present on the Form itself. When you have entered data or selections for fields, pressing Summariz, F10, a second time, will give you a review of the fields and their values. These are presented as a list which you can move through using the Curror Down and Up keys. This is a review only facility, and it does not allow you to make any modifications to the field values. To return to the Date Entry Form, press Escape. 6.8.2 Types of Form Fields Supported There are a few basic constructs used when building Forms, and the ones supported are discussed below. Depending on the design of the form, it may be more efficient to use the Page Element technique discussed above, or to simply use the Tab key to move through the form. It is assumed here that you are already in the field, ready to fill it in. Single Line Text Entry Fields: Type in the desired data followed by Tab or Escape. Multi-Line Text Entry Fields: These are usually used for address or general feedback type of information. To enter a new line of input, you must use the Control-Enter rather than just the Enter key. If you use the Enter key, you will simply submit the Form for processing. Radio Buttons: You must make a single selection from among several choices. They are announced as "Select from Radio Button List" followed by the associated text. You may move among the available options with the cursor keys and press Tab or Enter at your desired selection. Checkbox: Checkboxes are announced as "Checkbox" and the associated text is read. Pressing the Space Bar selects or deselects the checkbox item. Pressing Tab takes you to the next field, or pressing Escape takes you back to Page Elements. Each Checkbox on the Form is dealt with as a separate field. List Box: List Boxes are announced as "Select Value from List" and its default choice is also announced. Cursor keys move through the list. Pressing a letter key moves to the first item in the list beginning with that letter. Pressing the Tab key selects your choice and moves to the next field, or pressing Enter selects the choice and takes you back to Page Elements. Form Action Buttons: Form Buttons are announced as the text displayed on the button itself followed by the buttons function, e.g. Submit Form. Pressing the Space Bar submits the form. 6.9 Searching the Web Any search engines may be used to search the Web using the forms processing functions within pwWebSpeak simply by going to their Web pages and entering the search information via their forms. Pressing F7, however, provides a simple version of a standard front-end to a specified search engine. You are taken directly to a form to fill in which is then submitted to the search engine. The results from the search are the standard response pages produced by search engines and are browsed in the same way as any other Web pages. The default search engine supported by this function is Alta Vista, but you may change the webspeak.ini file as noted in section on the pwWebSpeak INI File. Simplified search pages are also provided locally that allow you to select which search engine you wish to use. This search Page is in the pwWebSpeak installation directory and is pwsearch.htm 6.10 Control of Visual Presentation The physical view of the large character display incorporates the ability to change character size as well as foreground and background colors. Control of font, font size, foreground and background colors, are all provided through the webspeak.ini file as described in The [Settings] Section - Other Options. Several of these settings may also be changed dynamically when you are using pwWebSpeak with the commands noted below. Shift-F11 | incrfontsize | Incrementally increases the font size of the display Control-F11 | decrfontsize | Incrementally decreases the font size of the display Shift-F12 | forecolor | Cycles through pre-set foreground colors. Please note that these may be set as INI parameters. See the section on the pwWebSpeak Initialization File for details Control-F12 | backcolor | Cycles through pre-set background colors. Please note that these may be set as INI parameters. See the section on the pwWebSpeak Initialization File for details 6.11 Terminating a pwWebSpeak Session Pressing the Alt-F4 or Alt-X keys provides a dialog through which you may terminate a pwWebSpeak session and be returned to Windows. Alt-F4 will always exit from pwWebSpeak while Alt-X provides you an option to cancel the exit process and stay in pwWebSpeak. ---------- 7. Customizing the Keyboard Commands Navigation and control of pwWebSpeak is done using a series of commands for the various functions that are available within the system, and the mapping of these commands to specific keystrokes is modifiable. The file which modifies the command mapping must be stored in the active directory as specified to pwWebSpeak at execution time. If no file is found which explicitly modifies the keyboard mapping, then the default mapping is used. Each keyboard accessible command within the system is identified by a specific command name. In order to map the commands to specific key strokes you define the keystroke and the command in a table called: webspeak.key The re-mappings you provide will then override the normal system defaults for that specific key stroke. All other defaults will remain in effect. The currently active key stroke and command combinations are generated for review purposes each time the system is executed. This enables you to review exactly the settings for the last execution of the system. The current settings are generated into a file called: wscurrent.key and this file is placed in the currently active directory as specified to pwWebSpeak at execution time. The commands which may be mapped to the keyboard are each identified by a specific command name. Each of the commands are specified in the Command Summary section along their default keyboard mapping and description. 7.1 Syntax of the webspeak.key File This is the file in which you specify keyboard mappings which are to override the defaults. The general syntax is: [key modifier] key = command key = command [key modifier] key = command key = command [key modifier] There are four valid key modifiers, as follows: [SHIFT] This specifies that the Shift key must be held down when the keystroke is made [CONTROL] This specifies that the Control key must be held down when the keystroke is made [ALT] This specifies that the Alt key must be held down when the keystroke is made [NORMAL] This indicates that the keystroke on its own with no other key modifier will cause the specified commands to be executed key This specifies the key that must be pressed for the command to be executed. This must be pressed in conjunction with the appropriate key modifier. command This specifies the command that is to be associated with the key and the key modifier. A special command, called NOACTION is also provided so that specific key combinations may be explicitly turned off. The set of commands are specified in the section Command Summary. There are certain commands which may be specified with an additional element which qualifies the command. These commands are as follows: findelement:tag - where tag is the HTML tag you wish to find. An example would be findelement:table to find the next Table tag on the Page or findelement:/form to skip to the end of a data entry form on the Page. findprevelement:tag - the same as above except a reverse search on the Page, for example to skip back to the start of a Table you would specify findprevelement:table linkto:URL - where URL is the fully qualified URL, or address, of the Page you wish to open. An example would be for opening the CNN home page where this is specified as linkto:http://cnn.com. The URL specified may be either a local file, a LAN-based file, or a Web-based file. 7.2 Example webspeak.key File The example shown below assigns a few commands to new key strokes and turns off access to some commands. ; ; Example webspeak.key file ; [SHIFT] F11=NOACTION [CONTROL] F11=NOACTION [ALT] I=incrfontsize D=decrfontsize Please note that multiple keystrokes may be assigned to the same command, and that keystrokes and commands assigned in the user mapping file, webspeak.key, will override the default assignments if the same keystroke is assigned. When pwWebSpeak is executed, the current keyboard mapping is generated into a file for review purposes. This generation is done at each execution of pwWebSpeak with wscurrent.key being the file that is generated. The format of wscurrent.key is the same as that for webspeak.key which is defined above. ---------- 8. Customizing the Help File The Help file used by pwWebSpeak is actually generated dynamically from a Help File Template and any Keyboard Customization that you may have done. In this way the Help file accurately reflects the keyboard commands that you have specified. The Help File Template is a standard file that is created at installation time and is called: webspeak.pwh.tpl This file provides the means through which you can customize, or translate, the help text that is presented to the user. The file is broken into two sections, a section of headings and the section that provides help for each of the pwWebSpeak commands. The Help text is specified for the command so that it is independent of the keystroke that you assign to the command, and also independent of how the command is used in the Command Menu. The headings section is the first section of the template file and consists of any number of individually numbered lines. Each of the heading entries becomes a separate entry in the help file with the user moving between them by pressing the down or up cursor key. A special entry is required to terminate the heading entries as shown in the example below: 1$To listen to help text, press the cursor key to move through help topics. To end help, press Enter. Last updated, July 5, 1998. 2$To use p w WebSpeak, you use a combination of function keys, cursor keys, and the Enter key. 3$When p w WebSpeak loads a Page, it creates a series of lists that you can use to listen to the Page. 4$The basic lists are: Jumps and Links, Page Elements, and Word List. Function keys, Lists, and other controls are defined below. 5$Function Keys are numbered F1 through F12 and are located at the top of your keyboard. 6$endintro In the heading entries, and in the entries for each command, the end of the entry is determined by a carriage return and line feed. This is simply specified by pressing Enter when you have completed an entry using any standard text editor. The generic layout for each command help text is as follows: command name$, Help text for the command An example of providing the help text template for specific commands is: help$, Help openpage$, Open a Web Page. You will be prompted to enter a Web Page address. You do not have to type h t t p. Use cursor down and up keys to move through the history list and the Enter key to select a Web Page from the History list. favorites$, Open the favorites list. Use the cursor down and up arrow keys to move through the list and the Enter key to select a favorite. addfavorites$, Add the currently open Page to your favorites list. pagesummary$, Provides a brief summary of what the current Web Page consists of. readpage$, Read the current Page from current position to finish. pause$, Pause and Resume reading a Page (if supported by synthesizer) NOTE: A full list of pwWebSpeak commands is given in the section Command Summary. When pwWebSpeak is executed, the actual help file to be used is generated dynamically from a combination of the Help Template file and the Keyboard customizations specified in the webspeak.key file (see the section on Customizing the Keyboard Commands for details of how keyboard commands may be customized). NOTE: The actual help file is then generated into the file webspeak.pwh and will be generated in the order of the template file and with the contents of only those commands specified in the template file. In the case of the Command Menu, when help is requested on a command that does not have help text specified in the template file, then a simple message indicating that No Help Text Is Available is announced. A partial extract from the actual help file, the webspeak.pwh file, is: To listen to the help text press the cursor key to move down and up. To end help, press Enter. Last updated, June 30, 1998. Escape, stops speaking or audio playback as well as a web page retrieval or download transfer in progress. this will also exit a special dialog like the open web page dialog. F1, displays this help text. F2, open a web page. you will be prompted to enter a web page address. you do not have to type h t t p. use cursor down and up keys to move through the history list and the enter key to select a web page from the history list. F3, reads the current page from current position to finish. F4, pause and resume reading a page (if supported by synthesizer). F5, select the jumps and links list, which contains just all links on the web page. use the cursor keys to move through the list, and the enter key to select a link. Q, stops speaking or audio playback as well as a web page retrieval or download transfer in progress. this will also exit a special dialog like the open web page dialog. Up, moves to the previous item on the page or on a list. Down, moves to the next element on the page or on a list. Home, move to the top of the page or list. End, moves to the last item on the page or on a list. shift+F2, open the favorites list. use the cursor down and up arrow keys to move through the list and the enter key to select a favorite. ---------- 9. Customizing the Audio Style Sheet The Audio Style Sheet is the way in which pwWebSpeak determines which items on a Page will be identified as individual Page Elements for browsing purposes, and how different items should be announced to provide information about the context of the Page. Items on a Page are defined by the HTML tags which are used to define the presentation of the Page itself. Instead of a visual presentation, the Page is additionally processed through the Audio Style Sheet to provide an auditory presentation for the Page. The manner in which the auditory presentation is created may be customized to suite a user's style or the requirements of a particular application or type of usage. In order to customize the Audio Style Sheet at least a basic knowledge of HTML is required. There are six style sheets that are provided when pwWebSpeak is installed. These represent different usage styles for the degree and type of contextual announcements that are made. These different audio style sheets provide excellent examples of different customizations that can be achieved with this very flexible function. The available style sheets are: webspeak_brief.tld - This is the standard brief audio style sheet and provides short, concise, announcements of the contextual elements of the page. webspeak_sounds.tld - This is an equivalent to the standard brief style sheet but with musical sounds used to identify links on the page. Links are identified with a guitar chord being played. These sounds are played as MIDI files and will be heard in the background as the text is being read from the Page. webspeak_table.tld - This is equivalent to the standard brief style sheet with additional contextual announcements specifically for browsing tabular information. This style sheet announces the start of tables, start of rows, as well as each column element, or cell, within the table. It may be useful to switch to this style sheet specifically for reviewing tabular information. webspeak_table_sounds.tld - This combines the tabular announcements with the musical sounds to identify the link within the page. webspeak_verbose.tld - This is an audio style sheet which provides a more verbose set of announcements regarding the contextual information on a Page. This includes the tabular announcements as well as announcements of lists and the type of of lists being reviewed. This style sheet is useful to review more details of a Page and more of the context in which information is presented. webspeak_verbose_sounds.tld - This audio style sheet combines the verbose with the musical sound previously described. The general layout of the audio style sheet files is as follows: tag.parameter > pwtab=n fold=n pwspch="contextual announcement" vistag="text to be displayed" sound="sound file to be played" tag.parameter > This identifies the HTML tag or attribute you wish to recognize, ignore, or have announced in some way. Some examples are: a.href > for the anchor tag that specifies a link to another place img > for an image tag img.longdesc > for an image tag which contains a LONGDESC attribute and an associated description file h1 > for a heading level 1 form > for the form tag which indicates the start of a data entry form input.text > a text input field on a data entry form input.checkbox > a checkbox input field on a data entry form Tags and Attributes of Tags In order to process some types of Tags meaningfully into Page Elements for browsing, it is necessary to identify not just a Tag but also a parameter of the Tag. This is the case with the Anchor Tag, the Input Tag for data entry fields on a Form, and an image's Long Description parameter. Examples of these are shown below: A.HREF > pwtab=1 pwspch="" vistag=" -Link- " sound="link_hi.mid" IMG.LONGDESC > pwtab=1 pwspch="Image with Associated Description File." vistag=" - Image with description File - " INPUT.PASSWORD > pwtab=3 pwspch="Password" vistag=" -Password Field- \n" INPUT.TEXT > pwtab=3 pwspch="entry field" vistag=" -Text Field- \n" INPUT.HIDDEN > pwtab=3 pwspch="hidden" vistag=" -Hidden Field- \n" INPUT.CHECKBOX > pwtab=3 pwspch="checkbox" vistag=" -CheckBox- \n" INPUT.RADIO > pwtab=3 pwspch="radio button" vistag=" -Radio button- \n" INPUT.SUBMIT >pwtab=3 pwspch="submit button" vistag=" -Submit- \n" INPUT.RESET >pwtab=3 pwspch="reset button" vistag=" -Reset button- \n" NOTE: Specification Tags within the Style Sheet, and recognition of Tags within a Page, is not case sensitive. pwtab=n The pwtab parameter is a critical one in defining the style sheet. This determines whether the Tag being defined will become a separate Page Element for browsing purposes, and how it will be treated in relation to the preceding and following items on the Page being presented. Values of 0, 1, 2, or 3 are permitted, with each value having the meaning described below: pwtab=0 - Do not create this as a separate Page Element, simply fold this into the previous Page Element if it permits folding. Any contextual announcement, as defined in the pwspch parameter, and any text to read from the Page that follows this Tag, will be read as part of the previous Page Element. The exception is if there is not a previous Page Element or if the previous Page Element does not permit the folding in of following Tags, as defined by the fold parameter described below. In these cases a new Page Element is always created. pwtab=1 - Create a new Page Element if the previous Page Element had text on the Page to be read. If the previous Page Element resulted in only a contextual announcement from the pwspch parameter, then that announcement is folded into this Page Element. The exception is if the previous Page Element does not permit folding. pwtab=2 - Always create a new Page Element. The Page Element will consist of the contextual announcement specified in the pwspch parameter, the text from the Page that is associated with the Tag, and then the following Tag if folding is permitted. An example is: FRAME > pwtab=2 fold=0 pwspch="Frame Link" vistag="\n - Frame -\n" This would have the effect of creating a new element. You would see the visual text, defined by the vistag parameter, highlighted and any text following the FRAME Tag. You would then hear the contextual announcement from the pwspch parameter, and any text following. The next Tag on the Page would cause a new element to be created because fold was set to 0, which means do not fold this Tag into any following Tag. pwtab=3 - Create a new Page Element using ONLY the contextual announcement defined in the pwspch parameter. Any text associated with this Tag will become a separate Page Element. This should be used for all Form fields as this has the effect of providing the best browsing control when moving through Forms on a Page. This way the actual field is identified as a separate Page Element for browsing and interaction purposes. This will highlight the visual display Tag, vistag, and read the contextual announcement, but will not include the actual Form field. It is recommended to always specify a vistag with this option so that the incremental Page Element highlighting will retain its actual position on the page. Examples are: SELECT > pwtab=3 pwspch="Selection List Box." vistag=" -List Box- \n" TEXTAREA > pwtab=3 pwspch="A Memo Field." vistag=" -memo field- \n " fold=n The fold parameter is used to determine if following Tags may be folded into this one for contextual announcement and reading purposes. The parameter is either set to 0, indicating that folding is not permitted, or to 1, indicating that folding is permitted. The default if no fold parameter is specified is to allow folding. fold=0 - folding of this Tag into the previous Page Element is not permitted. This means that this Tag will result in a new Page Element being created. This would typically be used for ending Tags such as or . An example is: /BLOCKQUOTE > fold=0 pwtab=0 pwspch=" End Quote. " fold=1 - This is default if no fold parameter is specified, and indicates that this Tag, both the contextual announcement and the text from the Page, may be folded into the previous Page Element. pwspch="contextual announcement" This defines an announcement that will be read when the Tag is recognized. Usually the announcement helps define the context of the Tag, for example: TABLE > pwtab=2 pwspch=" Start of Tabular Information. " vistag=" - Start of Table - \n" /TABLE > pwtab=2 fold=0 pwspch=" End of Table." vistag=" - End of Table - /n" vistag="text to be displayed" This defines the visual text that will be displayed by pwWebSpeak to identify the presence of this Tag. There is an additional element which may be included in the vistag parameter which explicitly instructs pwWebSpeak to create a new line. This is done by specifying \n within the text where the new line should occur. An example is: TABLE > pwtab=2 pwspch=" Start of Tabular Information. " vistag=" - Start of Table - \n" NOTE: If you have a Tag which is defined as being, or possibly being, a Page Element on its own, and which will have no text associated with it , then you should specify a vistag as a place holder for the highlighting process. If you do not, there will be no explicit location for the Page Element to be highlighted and so the position will be established at the top of the Page until the next Page Element with associated text or a vistag. sound="sound file to be played" It is possible for any Tag to play a sound instead of, or as well as, reading a contextual announcement. If a speech synthesizer is being used which is a software-only speech synthesizer, like SoftVoice or the DECtalk Software synthesizer, then you should only use sounds that are MIDI files so that they do not conflict with the speech synthesizer itself. This will ensure that the specified sound will be played while the associated text is actually being read. In the example below, a Heading level 2 Tag, H2, is defined with a pwspch parameter indicating that this is a sub-heading, as well as a sound parameter. The pwspch announcement will be read, and the specified sound file will be played, at the same time. H2 > pwtab=1 pwspch="A Sub-Heading." vistag="\n" sound="h2.mid" In general, either the pwspch parameter or the sound parameter are used to indicate contextual information, although both can be used together if desired. ---------- 10. Customizing the Command Menu The Command Menu is loaded dynamically from the webspeak.mnu file each time pwWebSpeak is executed. The webspeak.mnu file contains the definition for the Command Menu and if this does not exist, then no Command Menu will be available to the user. The Command Menu is an extremely useful and simple facility to customize. It can be customized simply for user preference, or for specific application or user interface styles. In order to customize the menu, simply edit the webspeak.mnu file. This is specified in a simple format with headings specified in square brackets and detailed menu items being assigned to the desired pwWebSpeak command. A simple example with three headings - Open Page, On the Current Page, and Search Functions - and a few menu items for each heading, is shown below: [Open Page] Open New Web Page (keyboard equivalent is F2)=openpage Back to Prior Page (keyboard equivalent is Alt-B)=backpage Reload Current Page (keyboard equivalent is Control-R)=reload [On the Current Page] Page Summary or Form Summary (keyboard equivalent is F10)=pagesummary Read the Page (keyboard equivalent is F3)=readpage [Search Functions] Search the Web (keyboard equivalent is F7)=websearch Look for specified text on Current Page (keyboard equivalent is F8)=pagesearch Go to End of Table=findelement:/table Skip to the end of the Data Entry Form=findelement:/form The general layout for the Command Menu definition is as follows: [main menu heading text] menu item text=command Any number of menu headings may be specified and any number of menu items may be specified for each heading. When the menu is used, the user is first presented with the menu headings. The scroll through these using the cursor down and up keys. You move to the detailed menu items by pressing the Space Bar or the Enter key when positioned on the desired heading. The detailed menu items are then presented. The user then selects an action and presses Enter or the Space Bar to cause the action to occur. A full list of available commands is given in the Command Summary section. ---------- End of Document