tallin uses IE on his PC because it's the only one that works with most of his screen reading technology (although recently they've gotten Firefox/Mozilla to mostly work with one of the programs he uses, but that doesn't hold true for the other two programs he uses). God knows why the screen reading companies don't bother making other browsers as accessible most of the time - in my opinion (jaded as it probably is) most of the blindies are more interested in getting fifty different versions of bible reading software to work before they'd even dare use another browser (I wish I was joking, but I'm not.)
I don't know what sort of software he needs to use, exactly, but you might check out Opera just for fun... it's got built in screen-reading. And it's pretty decent; I was using it a week or so ago when I wanted to research some things but my eyes were tired. :)
It's not perfect and might v. well not be good enough for things he needs to do, but it's neat!
Heh. Don't get me started on what I think about the fact that Bible reading software and software for musicians come higher up on most adaptive technology companies' priority lists than devtools. It's right up there with the inaccessibility of Braille production software in the things that make no sense department.
Anyway, as for Opera, the last I'd checked it, I couldn't get version 6.04 to work with JAWS® at all. What is it that you're seeing where it's got "built-in screen reading"?
Not being allowed to use outside programs is usually a "security" issue, so I'm not sure I've got your faith in corporate IT departments. Yours may be great, i dunno. ;) Still, IMO the security risks of IE definitely outweigh the brief download and few clicks required to eliminate them.
Cust. service is a point, but teaching the users? The others are, by default, just about identical to IE except for being a lot more standards-compliant, which the users don't have to do a thing different about.
Average users =should= know about the other browsers -- they're better! and Netscape wasn't exactly unknown or unused or bizarre to people despite not being bundled in the OS -- but unforunately it's true most don't.
Being steeped in it to help customers when it inevitably all goes pear-shaped is fair, though. I remember trying to help Win 3.1 users when I hadn't seen a 3.1 box in years... not fun or efficient. ;)
Weird. I've got FF and IE on my system for page-testing purposes, and both of them seem to have the same layout to me (I haven't bothered customizing FF as I already have Opera perfect).
::grins:: I'm like that too, frankly. That's why I'm all over Opera... I've made it EXACTLY how I want, dammit. ;)
You can turn tabbed browsing off in both O & FF, though I've ended up loving it. All my windows in one happy place, switchable at the click of a button! <3 I like O's tabs better than FF's, but.
I hate other people messing with how I have my programs laid out. But I love programs that'll let me arrange things and keep 'em that way.
(You know what was hell? Shift-sharing a computer with a woman who liked loud patterns and pictures all over her desktop and kept her 21" monitor at 400 by 600. Ohhhhhhh I hated that. I ended up writing a program that let me double click it to switch to MY settings when I arrived and switch back when I left. But she would ALWAYS rearrange the photoshop and freehand palettes...)
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I don't know what sort of software he needs to use, exactly, but you might check out Opera just for fun... it's got built in screen-reading. And it's pretty decent; I was using it a week or so ago when I wanted to research some things but my eyes were tired. :)
It's not perfect and might v. well not be good enough for things he needs to do, but it's neat!
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Anyway, as for Opera, the last I'd checked it, I couldn't get version 6.04 to work with JAWS® at all. What is it that you're seeing where it's got "built-in screen reading"?
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http://help.opera.com/Windows/8.0/en/voice.html
and
http://www.opera.com/support/tutorials/voice/
...are probably good places for starting.
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At home, I am all Firefox, baybee.
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Cust. service is a point, but teaching the users? The others are, by default, just about identical to IE except for being a lot more standards-compliant, which the users don't have to do a thing different about.
Average users =should= know about the other browsers -- they're better! and Netscape wasn't exactly unknown or unused or bizarre to people despite not being bundled in the OS -- but unforunately it's true most don't.
Being steeped in it to help customers when it inevitably all goes pear-shaped is fair, though. I remember trying to help Win 3.1 users when I hadn't seen a 3.1 box in years... not fun or efficient. ;)
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If you ever try it again, this page (http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_:_FAQs_:_Customize_Toolbar) seems to give basic info on customizing your layout exactly how you want it.
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You can turn tabbed browsing off in both O & FF, though I've ended up loving it. All my windows in one happy place, switchable at the click of a button! <3 I like O's tabs better than FF's, but.
I hate other people messing with how I have my programs laid out. But I love programs that'll let me arrange things and keep 'em that way.
(You know what was hell? Shift-sharing a computer with a woman who liked loud patterns and pictures all over her desktop and kept her 21" monitor at 400 by 600. Ohhhhhhh I hated that. I ended up writing a program that let me double click it to switch to MY settings when I arrived and switch back when I left. But she would ALWAYS rearrange the photoshop and freehand palettes...)
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