WebbIE Manual Introducing Webbie – the Free Text Browser INTRODUCING WEBBIE – THE FREE TEXT BROWSER People with little or no sight can enjoy the benefits of browsing the web and contrary to common belief, it is not necessary to spend over £500 on specialist software to make the computer speak or magnify everything on the screen. You will need a modern computer running Windows XP or Vista; it must be internet-ready and have one of the screenreader software packages installed, such as JAWS, ZoomText, or the free Thunder from www.screenreader.net. WebbIE is the text browser that makes it easy for you to be there in the mainstream of society. It removes the clutter and pictures of a visual web page, leaving just words which your screenreader will speak. WebbIE works well with all screenreaders. It is a free download from www.webbie.org.uk and also comes as part of the Thunder download. WebbIE has its own help files. When you are on a web page, press the ALT key and press RIGHT CURSOR until you hear "Help". Press ENTER. CURSOR DOWN to listen to the various Help topics and press ENTER to hear the one you want. This help system is also useful to a seeing helper. We also have a telephone helpline: 0844 500 4441. For those with a little useful sight, WebbIE has a visual option which allows you to magnify web pages with all their pictures, colour and more normal layout. With WebbIE on screen, press CONTROL + I to toggle between the words only text version and the normal layout. Click on the magnifying glass at the top of the screen when you need to enlarge. A list of WebbIE’s hotkeys (function keys) is at the end of this manual. FINDING WEBSITES With Windows XP, To get to WebbIE, when you have switched on your computer and are at the Desktop, press the WINDOWS key. CURSOR DOWN until you hear "WebbIE". Press Enter. With Windows Vista, to get to WebbIE, when you have switched on your computer and are at the Desktop, Type w then e, then ENTER. Press TAB and Type the address of the website you want, such as www.direct.gov.uk. WebbIE will automatically start to read the web page, or you can read with the UP and DOWN CURSOR keys. If you don’t know where to find what you are looking for, you will need to do a Google search. SEARCHING THE WEB WITH GOOGLE You can look up information on the internet on any topic very quickly and easily. With WebbIE on screen, hold down CONTROL and press W (Web search). Type what you are looking for e.g. "Bus passes in London"" or "postal voting UK". Don’t type the quotes. Then press ENTER. You will learn to be quite specific as general requests bring up too many choices. For instance, you may need to type "freedom pass London" to get to the most beneficial travel option. You will be presented with a list of websites where your search words appear. If you want to try another website, press CONTROL + W again and you will be back in the list of possible websites. You can repeat this CONTROL + W routine as many times as you like. If your search words don’t bring up anything useful, change the search words. Press CONTROL W, press ALT S or TAB three times, type your new words and press ENTER. CURSOR DOWN the new list and press ENTER on your next choice. You don’t even have to come out of the website you are on. There is no limit to the key words you can use and you will be quickly into the facts and information you need. Try the following: "Fiix my street" without the quotes. Pedestrian safety on our streets is of vital concern to all people with little or no sight and you will be lead to the most up to date and efficient way of reporting problems you face. To get something done with the help of others, try Pledge Bank. This will take you to a website where you can begin to make your dream a reality. WHAT TO EXPECT ON A WEB PAGE Your Screenreader will automatically read everything on a WebbIE web page unless you press the CONTROL Key to stop the speech. There are ways of picking and choosing what you want to hear as follows: To read a line at a time, use the DOWN or UP CURSOR KEYS. Some lines will start with the word "link". A link can take you to more information about the word or topic you are reading. Press ENTER on the line containing the word "link" To get to it. Each link is numbered within WebbIE. You may hear "Link 14: contact us". If you want the contact details of the website you are on, press ENTER and you will be taken to the contact information page. This could give you the address, phone number and email. When you get to the new page, you will usually hear the same links again unless you press CONTROL + CURSOR DOWN to Skip those Links and get directly to what you want. To listen to a long document, article or book on the internet without being distracted by links and other clutter, you can knock out the links by pressing CONTROL + K. This is a bit like skipping links but it takes out other clutter as well. It is a toggle keystroke so if you press it again, you will restore all the links and clutter. Your screenreader will have a Document Read keystroke so that you can just listen without having to continually press keys. Thunder users press CAPSLOCK + SPACEBAR. Press the CONTROL key to stop listening at any time. So, to sit back and listen to the whole document without links or clutter, press CONTROL + K followed by your DOCUMENT READ keystroke. If you want to hear just the list of links on the page, press CONTROL + L and cursor down the list. Press ENTER on the one you want. Press the ESCAPE key when you want to lose the list of links and restore the full web page. To find a phone number, Name or particular words on a web page, when you are on that page, Hold down the CONTROL key and press F (Find). Type what you want and press ENTER. What you are looking for is highlighted. If you use Thunder, you can press CAPSLOCK + H to hear what is highlighted or press CAPSLOCK L to hear the full line of words. You can also CURSOR UP and DOWN to hear the context. The words you are looking for may appear more than once on a web page. If you don’t want the first occurrence, press F3, (Function Key 3) and the next occurrence of the word will be highlighted. Get back to the top of the web page with CONTROL + HOME. To close WebbIE, press ALT + F4 (Function Key 4) or press the ALT Key and CURSOR UP until you hear "Exit". Press ENTER and you are back at the DESKTOP. FILLING IN FORMS When you make internet purchases or give information about yourself, you will need to fill in a form. Forms vary, but You won’t need to move the mouse around as WebbIE always puts you in the right spot for writing. When you hear WebbIE say "Text input box" or "Text input area", press ENTER and you are in the right place for giving your details. Press ENTER again to come out of the input box. To get to the top of a form, press F6. WebbIE will present a form something like this: Your name: Text Input Box 1: Title: Select item 1: Mr Your email address: Text Input Box 2: Problem, query or comment: Text Input Area 1: (Empty) Submit button 1: (Send your message) To fill in this type of form, Cursor Down to hear "Name". Cursor DOWN to hear "Text Input Box 1", press ENTER and type your name. Press ENTER. Cursor Down to hear "title". CURSOR DOWN to hear "Select item 1" Mr. If you are Mr, then just CURSOR DOWN to the next item. If you are not Mr, press ENTER and Cursor Down to the title you want, Ms or Mrs, and press ENTER. Cursor Down to hear "Email address". CURSOR DOWN to hear "Text Input Box 2". Press ENTER. Type your email address. Press ENTER. CURSOR DOWN to hear "Text Input Area 1", Press ENTER. Type your problem or inquiry and press TAB till you hear OK then press ENTER. You need to Tab first as you may want to press Enter to put information on a new line in your comment. You can change details on the form: CURSOR UP and hear your entries again, just to be sure you got everything right, pressing ENTER to get into Text Input Boxes and to leave them. When you are happy with your entry CURSOR DOWN to hear "Submit" and press ENTER to send the completed form. If you are not sure whether you are in a box, press the UP or DOWN CURSOR to hear if there is any more information. If you only hear what you have typed, you are still in the box. There is a Help Menu item within WebbIE itself, which goes into more detail. In a democracy, we all have the right to write to our local or central government representative. If you have suggestions or comments, you can make them to a named individual at www.writetothem.com/ where you will find a straightforward example of a form. When you are on their website, the first form to complete is your postcode. F6 takes you to "Text input box 1" for giving your postcode. Follow the instructions on the website, pressing ENTER to get into the text boxes and ENTER again to get out. In a "text input area" you will need to press TAB to get to OK before pressing ENTER. SAVING INFORMATION FROM THE INTERNET You may want to keep information you find on the internet. Highlight the words or phone number etc you want. Press CONTROL + C to make a copy. Go into Microsoft Word and press CONTROL + V to paste it into a Word document. Save the document with an appropriate name. REFRESHING A WEB PAGE A web page sometimes seems stuck and you can’t do anything with it. Press CONTROL + R or F5 (Function Key 5) to refresh the web page, i.e. to download it again. WebbIE copes well with most web pages but there are times when some more complicated technology prevents access to a web page. If WebbIE isn’t working on even well-designed sites such as the BBC, download the latest version from www.webbie.org.uk as Google may have made changes that require WebbIE to be updated. YOUR FAVOURITE WEBSITES As you explore the internet, you may find interesting websites that you want to return to. You can do this quickly and easily by choosing them as Favourites. When you are on a website that you want to keep as a favourite, hold down the ALT key, Cursor Down and Up to "add favourite" and press ENTER. If you don’t want the suggested name that is spoken, BACKSPACE OUT the name and type your own name, TAB to "OK" and press ENTER. From then on, that website will be in your list of favourites. To find a favourite website from the "Favourites" list, with WebbIE on the screen, press ALT + A. CURSOR DOWN until you hear the favourite you want then press ENTER. The list is arranged alphabetically. Using favourites could save you effort typing long website addresses. INTRODUCING WEBBIE’S ACCESSIBLES The internet offers huge listening possibilities for keeping up to date and involved using BBC iPlayer for radio and TV, the latest News and Parliamentary reports, news feeds and podcasts, and you can choose the time when you listen to them. When you install WebbIE, you also get "Accessible", easy to use programs taking you straight to what you want to listen to. With Windows XP, you will find these Accessibles amongst All Programs, under the menu heading "Accessible". With Windows Vista, type the first three letters of the Accessible program you want and press ENTER. Just CURSOR DOWN and UP to check you have got the right one and press ENTER to launch it. They include BBC iPlayer and RSS News Reader If you want any of these options to appear in your Start Menu for easy access, either seek the help of a computer buddy or see the Appendix at the end of this document. The Accessible Listening programs all work in a similar manner. So keep these guidelines in mind when you explore. Each program appears on the screen with a Menu of choices at the top. To get amongst them, press the left hand ALT key and then explore with the RIGHT or LEFT cursor keys and the DOWN or UP Cursor keys for the sub-menu choices. Press ENTER when you hear what you want to listen to. The TAB key is used to get to options such as Play, Stop or Volume. Press ENTER on your choice. You can stop the sound with the PAUSE option and close the program by pressing ALT F4. BBC IPLAYER This allows you to listen to programmes that the BBC has broadcast over the past week any time you like. the BBC iPlayer comes as part of the WebbIE download, but You will also need to download and install a program called Real Alternative from http://finalbuilds.edskes.net/#realalt. You will need Internet Explorer 6 or a later version. For the latest information and downloads, go to www.webbie.org.uk. To launch the BBC iPlayer, with Windows XP, bring up the Start Menu by pressing the Windows Key. CURSOR DOWN to All Programs, RIGHT CURSOR and DOWN CURSOR until you hear "Accessible". RIGHT CURSOR again until you hear BBC iPlayer and then press ENTER. With Vista, bring up the Start Menu and type BBC. Use the Down and UP CURSOR keys to find BBC Iplayer TV, BBC Iplayer radio and Live BBC Radio. To get to radio station choices, press ENTER on BBC Iplayer Radio, TAB until you hear "play" and CURSOR DOWN the list of stations. press ENTER on your choice. CURSOR DOWN the list of programmes which are arranged alphabetically, pressing ENTER on what you want. It may take a few seconds to be fetched, and there may be a minute or so of the previous programme or trailer at the start. To get to a TV programme, come out of BBC Iplayer Radio with ALT F4, press the Start key, type BBC and CURSOR UP or DOWN to BBC Iplayer TV and press ENTER. Press TAB and CURSOR DOWN the list of stations, pressing ENTER on your choice. Then TAB to "play/pause" and press ENTER. To Pause the programme, press ENTER. There are two TV channels worth a special mention at the bottom of the list: BBC News includes a good deal of political information and BBC Parliament is your way to keep up with what is going on in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast on your behalf. RSS News Reader RSS is a new way to get information from websites that change their content often, such as news sites and weblogs. A website can provide a short listing, called an RSS feed, that contains its latest headlines, the story, and a link to the website story in full. The great thing about RSS News Reader is that you can listen to just the news items you want when you want. When you install WebbIE, you will automatically get the RSS news feeds from a number of major news sources: The BBC, Guardian, Independent, Mail Online, Washington Post and more. To get to them: With Windows XP, from the Start Menu, go to All Programs, press letter A until you hear Accessible and then press the RIGHT CURSOR key. CURSOR DOWN until you hear "RSS Feed" and press ENTER. With Windows Vista, At the Start Menu, type RSS, CURSOR DOWN to RSS News Reader and press ENTER. CURSOR DOWN the list of news sources, and press ENTER on your choice. CURSOR DOWN the stories and press ENTER on your choice. When you get on to a story, you will find it helpful to press CONTROL + K to skip a lot of stuff you don’t want and get right into the words of the story and read with the "Document read" keystroke in your screenreader. To get back to the list of stories, press ALT F4, and to change your news source, press TAB. MORE RSS FEED You may like to keep up to date with news stories from other websites such as mysociety. Websites often have links to RSS feeds on their front pages. WebbIE offers a quick and easy way to find out: With the website on screen, press CONTROL + E. A list of RSS news feeds will appear, CURSOR DOWN the list and press ENTER to get to the one you want or press ALT F4 to get out of the list. You will be told if there are none, press ALT F4 to get back to the website. Saving RSS feeds You can save your list of feeds. Press ALT, CURSOR DOWN to "Export", press ENTER and type a filename and a name for the list (e.g. "Sam’s RSS feeds and press ENTER"). This will save the list as an OPML file, a standard file for RSS feed lists. Sorting RSS feeds Many people like to have lists in alphabetical order. Press ALT and Right Cursor to "website feeds" and Cursor Down to "order sort website feeds". Press ENTER to sort them alphabetically. You will be asked to confirm that you want to do this. CURSOR UP or DOWN to "yes" or "no" and Press ENTER on your choice. To restore the original feeds, press ALT, CURSOR RIGHT to "Options" and CURSOR DOWN to "Restore original website list" and press ENTER. Making Accessible RSS refresh automatically You can make Accessible RSS refresh the current contents view at regular intervals in addition to when you select "Refresh" from the Website menu or change which website you are viewing. Press ALT, CURSOR RIGHT to "Options", CURSOR DOWN to "Automatically Refresh Contents" menu. Ensure it is "checked". If it does not say "checked", press ENTER to "check". By default, Accessible RSS refreshes its view after five minutes: if you want to change this, CURSOR DOWN the "options" menu to "delay before refreshing" and enter the number of minutes you want Accessible RSS to wait. If you enter more than sixty or less than one minute the delay time will not be changed. WEBBIE FOR PEOPLE WITH SOME SIGHT If you have some useful sight you can switch between WebbIE Text-only version of a web page and the normal-looking web page with pictures and colour etc. You can magnify both the text and the more normal appearance of any web page. To switch from WebbIE to the normal web page appearance, press CONTROL + I so that you can enjoy pictures etc. There is no meaningful speech, however. You may need to use this for a seeing friend to help or describe photos, charts or a bus timetable Press CONTROL + I again to revert to the text-only web page which will speak to you. Big print is not always the answer but this is how to change the size and style of print on the screen. With a text only web page on the screen, press the ALT key and right Cursor until you reach "Options". Cursor down until you reach "Font" and press ENTER. Press the TAB Key once and CURSOR DOWN or UP until the font or print size is best for you. You will see that there are also options for altering the style of the font. When you have made your choices, press TAB until you reach "OK" then press ENTER. Press CONTROL + I to switch from the text-only appearance to the normal appearance. MOUSE CLICK on the magnifier tool at the top right of the screen, keep clicking until you get the size you can see best. To go back to normal size, MOUSE CLICK anywhere else on the page. To go back to no pictures or colours, press CONTROL + I. Good luck and enjoy. APPENDIX 1 Amending Your Start Menu You may be supporting someone who would prefer a simple, meaningful Start Menu until they get used to the Microsoft Windows XP or Vista Operating System. They might only want the few programs they use with non-techie names in Start Menu, so here’s how to achieve this: With Windows XP, suppose you want to put BBC iPlayer in your Start Menu. Go to Start Menu, All Programs and press A until you hear Accessible. Press RIGHT CURSOR DOWN and UP again to make sure you are highlighting BBC iPlayer. Now press the Application Key, usually two to the right of the SPACEBAR and CURSOR Down until you reach "Pin to Start Menu". Press ENTER. When you next visit the Start Menu, you will find BBC iPlayer waiting for you. With Windows Vista, From the Start Menu, type "BBC". CURSOR DOWN or UP to make sure this is highlighted and follow the same procedure as above. If you want to get rid of programs you never use on the Start Menu, highlight the one you wish to lose, press the Application Key and CURSOR DOWN until you reach "Unpin" From Start Menu". Press ENTER and when you next visit the Start Menu the program you didn’t want is gone from the list. You have not deleted the program - just removed access to it from the Start Menu. You would be able to find and use it again later amongst All Programs. Appendix 2 There are help files on our website www.screenreader.net and additional help at www.webbie.org.uk. If you have suggestions or queries about the program, email ask@screenreader.net. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION WebbIE and the Accessible programs are Copyright 2005-6 Alasdair King. You may use them for personal or business purposes without restriction and forever. Permission is given to distribute them freely within your entity (e.g. family, organisation, company, society) but you may not distribute them publicly (e.g. on a website or CD) without permission. BBC Listen Again uses the RealPlayer control and accesses British Broadcast Corporation content: this does not affect the copyrights of either of these entities. Specifically, BBC material belongs to the BBC alone. Appendix 3 WEBBIE HOTKEYS LIST Normal text editing keys, HOME, End, CONTROL and the CURSORS, work as usual. Google Search: CTRL W, type key words and ENTER. CURSOR DOWN and UP and ENTER on your choice. Return to the list of possible websites: CONTROL W New search: CTRL W, ALT S, type your new search words, ENTER. CURSOR DOWN and Up to your choice and ENTER. Check for RSS news feeds on a website: CTRL E Close WebbIE: ALT F4 Copy text from web page: Highlight what you want, CTRL C, go to MS Word document, and CTRL V to paste it into a document. Favourites: ALT A Find on a Web page: CTRL F Find next on a Web page: F3 Go back to last web page: BACKSPACE or ALT LEFT CURSOR Go Forward to previously opened web page: ALT RIGHT CURSOR Go to address bar: ALT D Go to a form: F6 Go to a new website: TAB or ALT D, type URL, ENTER Go to page headline: F7 Go to text on web page from address bar: ALT T Help: ALT H Knock out links: CTRL K toggle key Links list: CTRL L Next link: CTRL TAB Previous link: CTRL SHIFT TAB Print: CTRL P ENTER Refresh: F5 or CTRL R Save image: CTRL SHIFT I Select all: CTRL A Set home page: CTRL ALT HOME with Web page on screen Skip links down: CTRL DOWN CURSOR Skip links up: CTRL UP CURSOR Stop downloading: ESCAPE Switch between address bar and web page content: TAB (toggle key) Switch between WebbIE and Internet Explorer appearance of web page: CTRL I (image) (toggle key) NB This Help-4me document is created as part of the Ministry Of Justice Building Democracy Project, 2009. |