ACCESSING THE INTERNET FROM THE KEYBOARD
BY
JOHN WILSON
Volume 2
COPYRIGHT 2006
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
(To find a particular section or heading, use your word-
processor's or editor's search facility, e.g. type ">section 6"
to find that section. Ensure that you precede the word section
with the greater than sign (>), which is the capitalised full
stop, to be certain to find the relevant section first time and
not any earlier reference to it. Type the string "What are
Cookies?" or the specific paragraph number of 3.4.1. to find that
sub-heading. Additionally, all main sections are separated by a
centred row of eight asterisks.)
Foreword and Restrictions
Available Manual Formats
Target Group
Conventions
Suggested Approaches for Effective Learning with this Tutorial
Section 1: Introduction
1.1. What this Tutorial does and does not Cover
1.2. JAWS, HAL, Supernova and Window-Eyes Special Web Page
Navigation Hot Keys
1.2.1. JAWS 4.0, 4.5, 5 and 6
1.2.2. HAL 5, 6 and 6.5
1.2.3. Window-Eyes 4.2, 4.5 and 5
1.2.4. Windows Operating System Shortcuts
Section 2: HELPFUL TIPS AND CUSTOMISATION
2.1. Twenty Customisation and Other Tips
Section 3: Internet Shopping
3.1. General Overview
3.2. Security Issues
3.2.1. Secure HTTP Websites
3.2.2. Ensuring that Your Online Transaction Details are Not
Automatically Saved to Disk
3.3. UK Consumer Home Shopping Rights
3.4. Cookies and Spyware
3.4.1. What are Cookies?
3.4.2. Accepting or Rejecting Legitimate Cookies and Controlling
them via Internet Explorer
3.4.3. Exporting and Importing Your Desirable Cookies for Use on
another Computer
3.4.3.1. Saving/Exporting Cookies
3.4.3.2. Importing or Restoring Cookies to a Browser
3.5. Description of Typical Online Shopping Store Purchase Forms
3.6. Shopping Online--Three Step by Step Practical Examples of
Making a Purchase with General Screenreaders to Work Through
3.6.1. The UK Cobolt Systems Products for the Blind Site
3.6.2. The Special Tesco Access Grocery Shopping Site
3.6.2.1. Introduction and General Information
3.6.2.2. Registering Yourself for Tesco Online Shopping
3.6.2.3. Shopping on the Tesco Site and Paying for Your Goods
3.6.3. The Amazon Website
3.7. Step by Step PWWebspeak Dedicated Web Browser Example of
Making a Purchase on the Amazon Site
3.8. E-Wallets
3.9. Uk and US Shopping Price Comparison Sites
3.10. Some Good Places to Find Online Shops
3.10.1. The Amazon Shop
3.10.2. The Cdnow Shop
3.10.3. The Emusic Shop
3.10.4. The Expedia Shop
3.10.5. The Train Enquiry Shop
3.10.6. The Index and Argos Shops
3.10.7. The Cdwow Shop
Section 4: Online Auctions
4.1. Auction Terminology
4.2. Different types of Online Auctions
4.2.1. The QXL Auction Site
4.2.2. The Morgan Auction Site
4.2.3. The Free Serve Auction Site
4.2.4. The American Blind Treasures Auction Site
4.2.5. The Ebay Auction Site
4.2.6. The Nochex Auction site
4.3. Step by Step Example of Using an Online Auction--The UK
Morgan Site
4.4. Step by Step Example of Using an Online Auction--The US
Blind Treasures Site
Section 5: Realaudio Radio, News and Video
5.1. Basic RealPlayer 8 Hardware and software Requirements
5.2. How Does Web Radio or Webcasting Work
5.3. General Multiple Radio Sites to Listen To
5.4. Individual and Single Topic Radio Sites to Listen To
5.5. VI-Specific Multiple Radio Site to Listen to
5.6. Example of Streaming and Listening to Realaudio Using the
Windows Media Player
5.7. Example of Listening to RealAudio Using Winamp
5.8. Installing and Using Realplayer 8 Basic
5.8.1. Pen-picture of the RealPlayer Basic Screen
5.8.2. Using RealPlayer 8 Basic
5.8.3. Loading a Clip for Playing in RealPlayer
5.8.4. Searching for things to Listen to or Watch
5.8.5. The Play List
5.8.6. The RealPlayer Basic Favourites Folder
5.8.7. Using the RealPlayer Help System
5.8.8. RealPlayer 8 Shortcut Keystrokes
5.9. RealPlayer 10 Basic
5.9.1. Basic RealPlayer 10 Hardware and software Requirements
5.9.2. Downloading and Installing RealPlayer 10
5.9.3. Tips on the Use of RealPlayer 10 on the Net
5.9.3.1. How to Listen to Audio Streaming from the Net
5.9.3.2. Essential Shortcut Keystrokes when Playing Streaming
Audio and Audio from your Hard disk
5.9.3.3. Making Tonal Changes in the RealPlayer Equaliser
5.9.4. Using the RealPlayer 10 Help System
5.9.5. RealPlayer 10 Shortcut Keystrokes
5.10. How to Create Your Own Radio Station
5.10.1. On Live 365
5.10.2. On Yahoo Launchcast
5.11. Promote Your Own Station on the Streammadness Mailing List
5.12. Sharing Streaming Audio Content Over the Net by Peercasting
5.13. Recording/Ripping Streaming radio Audio to Disk
5.14. Shortcuts for use with the BBCs own Accessible Streaming
Audio Player
Section 6: Download Managers, Advertisement Banner removers,
Cookie Crunchers and Spyware Removers
6.1. Where to Obtain Freeware and Shareware Download Managers
6.1.1. Download Accelerator
6.1.2. Download Wonder
6.1.3. RealDownload
6.1.4. GetRight
6.1.5. DLEXPERT
6.1.6. regit
6.1.7. Download Assistant
6.1.8. Download Butler
6.1.9. Tweakdun
6.1.10. Go!zilla
6.1.11. Winget
6.2. Where to Obtain Advertising Banner, Spyware and Cookie
Removers
6.2.1. Ad-Aware
6.2.2. Popupkiller
6.2.3. Cookie Cruncher
6.2.4. Cookie Muncher
6.2.5. Karen's Cookie Viewer
6.2.6. Spyware Doctor
6.2.7. Spybot Search&Destroy
6.2.8. Online Cooky, banner and other Spyware Removers
6.3. Step by Step Example of Using a Download Manager--Download
Accelerator 7.4
6.3.1. Download and Installation
6.3.2. Using Download Accelerator
6.3.3. Resuming a Lost or Paused Download
6.3.4. Changing Configurations with the DAP 7.4 Configuration
Wizard
6.4. Step by Step Example of Using a Spyware and cooky Remover--
Ad-Aware
6.4.1. Download and Installation
6.4.2. Using Ad-Aware from its On-Screen Interface
6.4.3. Removing Detected Spyware
6.4.4. Emptying the Ad-Aware Quarantine Folder
6.4.5. Using Special JAWS Scripts to Automate the use of Ad-Aware
6.4.6. Updating Ad-Aware's Scanning Files
Section 7: Internet Banking
7.1. Online Banking Introduction and security
7.2. A Selection of Internet Banking Sites
7.2.1. Smile Online Bank
7.2.2. Cahoot Online Bank
7.2.3. Halifax Bank
7.2.4. First Direct Bank
7.2.5. Barclays Bank
7.2.6. Natwest Bank
7.3. Step by Step Example of Opening and Using Online
Banking--The ING Direct Bank Site
7.3.1. Opening an ING Direct Account Online
7.3.2. Transferring Funds from Your ING Direct Account to your
Linked Current Account
7.3.3. Other Facilities Available on the ING Direct Site
7.4. Step by Step Example of Opening and Using Online
Banking--The Nationwide Building Society Site
7.4.1. Making Arrangements with Your Local Branch and Providing
Identification
7.4.2. What Happens Next
7.4.3. Activating a Branch Opened Account Online
7.4.4. How to Move Cash from One Account to Another Online
7.4.5. Other Facilities Available on the Nationwide Site
Section 8: INTERNET CHAT
8.1. Microsoft Chat with Windows 95 and 98
8.1.1. What is Internet Chat?
8.1.2. Microsoft Chat Overview
8.1.3. What can Chat Rooms be Used For?
8.1.4. Pen-Picture of the Microsoft Chat Screen in Text Mode
8.1.5. Online Chat Rooms with Microsoft Chat
8.1.6. Using Microsoft chat Version 2.5 with windows 95 and 98
8.1.6.1. Group Chatting
8.1.6.2. Chatting in Private Chat Rooms
8.1.6.3. Microsoft Chat Modes
8.1.6.4. Microsoft Chat Commands
8.1.6.5. Practical Example of Joining a Chat Session with
Microsoft Chat
8.1.6.6. Microsoft Chat Shortcut Keystrokes
8.2. Chatting with MSN Messenger 6.2
8.2.1. What Can You Use MSN Messenger For?
8.2.2. Signing on to the .Net Passport Service
8.2.3. Downloading MSN Messenger
8.2.4. Installing Messenger
8.2.5. Launching Messenger
8.2.6. Configuring Messenger for Optimal Use with a Screenreader
8.2.6.1. Stopping Messenger from Automatically Launching and
Obtaining a Simple View of the Screen
8.2.6.2. Making Changes in Messenger Tools Options and Enabling
your Virus Scanner
8.2.7. Pen-Picture of the Messenger Screen/Windows
8.2.8. How to Chat to One or More People with Messenger
8.2.8.1. Initiating a Chat without Using the Contacts List
8.2.8.2. Adding People to Your Contacts List
8.2.8.3. Initiating a Chat from Your Contacts List
8.2.9. Being notified that One of Your Contacts has come online
and/or sent you a message
8.2.10. E-Mailing with MSN Messenger
8.2.10.1. Sending Someone an E-Mail
8.2.10.2. Downloading Your E-Mail
8.2.11. MSN Messenger General Shortcut Keystrokes and Specialist
Screenreader Hot Keys
8.2.11.1. Windows Shortcuts
8.2.11.2. JAWS 4.5 to 6.0 Screenreader Hot Keys for Messenger
8.2.11.3. Window-Eyes 4.21 to 5.0 Screenreader Hot Keys for
Messenger
8.2.11.4. HAL 4.5 to 6.5 Screenreader Hot Keys for Messenger
8.3. Other Chat Providers
8.3.1. General Providers
8.3.2. Specialist Blind-Friendly Chat Providers
8.3.2.1. A-Chat
8.3.2.2. The Million Web Chat
8.3.2.3. Accessible Chat
Section 9: Using the Internet to Phone People
9.1. The Skype Internet Telephony Program--An overview
9.2. System Requirements
9.3. Downloading Skype and JAWS Scripts for Skype
9.4. Installing Skype and the JAWS Scripts
9.4.1. JAWS Scripts Installation
9.4.2. Skype Software Installation
9.5. Launching Skype
9.6. Pen-Picture of the Skype Screen
9.7. Skype's System Tray Context Menu and Skype Me Mode
9.8. Making and Receiving Audio Calls with Skype
9.8.1. Making a Call without using the Contacts List
9.8.2. Logging On and Finding Contacts
9.8.3. Calling Someone from your Contacts List
9.8.4. Answering a Call Someone is Making to You
9.9. Configuring Skype in its Options Dialogue
9.9.1. Viewing/Changing Options whilst Offline
9.9.2. Viewing/Changing Skype's Options whilst Online
9.10. Shortcut Keystrokes for Use with Skype
9.10.1. General Skype Shortcuts and Notification Sounds
9.10.2. JAWS Specialist Hot Keys for Skype
Appendix 1: Where to Find More Internet Information
10.1. From the Internet Itself
10.2. In Braille
10.3. On Cassette
10.4. By E-Mail
Appendix 2: List of E-Mail Lists Dealing with Particular Topics
of Visual Impairment
11.1. List of VI-Related Lists and Examples of How to Subscribe
to Them
11.2. Downloadable Comprehensive List of e-Mail Lists of Interest
to Visually Impaired People
Appendix 3: List of Hundreds of General Websites of Interest
12.1. Recommended Sites to Visit
Appendix 4: Keyboard Shortcuts in Internet Explorer and Outlook
Express
13.1. Internet Explorer 5 and 6
13.2. Outlook Express 5 and 6
Appendix 5: Glossary of Computer and Internet Terms
14.1. Glossary
Appendix 6: Other Manuals Available from this Author
15.1. List of Tutorials with Brief Description of Each
Complimentary Close
********
Foreword and Restrictions
I have written this manual and tutorial for the use of blind and
otherwise visually impaired computer users and/or their trainers.
It is free of charge and only available from its author's Website
and from no other distributer.
No individual or organisation is permitted to sell copies of this
tutorial either as a stand-alone tutorial or as an integral part
of any other literary, software or training package.
********
AVAILABLE MANUAL FORMATS
The manual is only available in ASCII text format, as a free
download from the author's Website at:
http://web.onetel.com/~fromthekeyboard
This tutorial and guide has been created with a minimum of
formatting, in plain text, so that any word-processor or text
editor can read it. In this format it should also be suitable for
any one to run it through an embosser but, with some embossing
software, you may still wish to make some line spacing and
heading format changes to suit yourself and your software. A
simple construction such as this should also make reading by
arrowing up and down in your word-processor less labour intensive
than would be the case with columns, shorter lines, and the like.
Colloquialisms, such as don't, haven't, doesn't, etc, have been
avoided in this guide in order to make it easier to follow and
understand via a speech package. Hopefully, any loss of
conversationality and warmth will be compensated for by increased
clarity.
********
TARGET GROUP
Blind and other categories of visually impaired computer users
are the target group for this manual. Keyboard access methods and
descriptions, using screenreaders and no mouse or monitor, are
the basis of this work. This second Internet tutorial is more
likely to be useful to the intermediate standard Internet user
who already knows the basics of Net surfing and something about
Windows 95/98/ME/XP keystroke methods and is already connected
to the Internet, rather than the complete novice. Volume 1 of
this tutorial deals with the theory and more basic competencies
required for accessing the Internet. This second volume of the
Internet tutorial is intended to take visually impaired surfers
from an already sound basis of interacting with the Internet to
a more advanced level of usage. Moreover, it does not attempt to
teach basic Windows 95/98/ME/XP operating system competencies.
********
CONVENTIONS
In the writing of this tutorial, terms and keystroke combinations
have the following meanings:
ALT F, A Means hold down the left ALT key and whilst still
holding it down press the letter f, then release both and press
the letter A.
CONTROL S Means hold down the control key and whilst keeping
it held down press the letter S and then release both.
SHIFT END Means hold down the SHIFT key and whilst keeping
it held down press the END key.
ALT E, C, and press ENTER Means hold down the left ALT key
and whilst keeping it held down press the letter E key, then
release both and then press the letter C key followed by the
enter key.
When a key combination such as ALT T (for Tools), O (for Options)
is suggested to go into the "Tools" menu and run the "Options"
menu item, the user may follow this method of operation or may
prefer to ARROW up and down a menu and press ENTER. In this
latter case, the keystrokes would be: press the ALT key, right
ARROW to the "Tools" menu heading, then ARROW down (or up) until
the "Options" item is spoken, then press ENTER.
All individual and conbinations of keys you actually have to
press during a procedure which have been referred to have been
put in capital letters so that they stand out to anyone reading
this tutorial visually, e.g. to bring up the Open dialogue box
press CONTROL O.
If, in a menu, your screenreader announces an arrow or says
something like submenu, this means that pressing ENTER or right
ARROWING on this menu item will take you into a sub-menu to ARROW
up and down in and make a choice. If your screenreader announces
a row of three dots or says something like dialogue, you will
open up a dialogue box to work in if you press ENTER on it.
Note that with some screenreaders you may encounter a conflict
between the generic Windows shortcuts and the screenreader's own
hot keys. If this happens, you may, for example, have to press
such as ALT and then release it followed by T (for Tools) to get
into the Tools menu instead of pressing ALT and T together. In
other instances you may find it necessary to use your
screenreader's bypass or skip next keystroke hot key to get your
screenreader to ignore your next key combination and therefore
allow that key combination to pass through to the program instead
of intercepting it as a screenreader hot key, e.g. use the bypass
hot key of INSERT B in Window-Eyes, INSERT 3 in JAWS and CONTROL
NumPad 7 in HAL.
********
Suggested Approaches for Effective Learning with this Tutorial
It is, of course, entirely up to the individual as to how they
glean information and work through this tutorial, but a few
suggestions might assist the learner who is relatively new to
computers. I would propose that you read through the whole of a
section before attempting to practise it to obtain an overview
of what is being done.
There are a number of approaches which might be taken to make
reading the tutorial as a text file and simultaneously carrying
out the instructions more fluid and easier to follow. Try one of
the below methods.
Ideally, if you have two computers, you can load the tutorial
into your text editor or word-processor on one PC and have the
software program running on the other. You can then listen to the
directions on one computer whilst practising them on the other.
Alternatively, as is likely to be the case, if you only have the
one computer, you could launch your word-processor and load the
tutorial into it for reading. You could then launch the program
you wish to learn how to use in order to practise the lessons.
You would have to keep cycling between each running program by
pressing ALT TAB in this case.
Yet another approach might be to take a tape recorder or
dictaphone and get your screenreader to read the contents of a
given section or sub-section onto the tape. You could then play
the tape back and follow the instructions through on your PC
without having to keep moving from one running program window to
another.
Other options would be for you to print out a copy of the
tutorial in large print if you can use this and work from this
hard copy, or you could get your local library or resource centre
to produce a Braille version for you to work from if you have one
in your area and you are a Braillist.
********
>SECTION 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. What this Tutorial does and does not Cover
This tutorial (Volume 2 of the Internet tutorial) is the
follow-on or sequel to Volume 1 of Accessing the Internet from
the Keyboard. It does not teach the basics of Internet
surfing, file downloading, use of Outlook Express or go into a
description of what the Internet is or the theory of how it
works, nor does it explain the various protocols which are
involved in using Internet services, etc. These are all covered
in Volume 1 of the tutorial. However, do have reference to
various of the appendices where I have listed helpful
information, in particular Appendix 4 "Keyboard Shortcuts in
Internet Explorer and Outlook Express" and Appendix 5 "Glossary
of Computer and Internet Terms". I have also provided a sub-
section just below with several of the most important JAWS, HAL
and Window-Eyes hot keys for use on Web pages in it as a place
for you to easily find and refresh your memory in respect of
these. Additionally, I have supplied a section covering helpful
tips and hints on using the Internet and related software and
hardware.
This volume of the Internet tutorial is intended to take users
from an intermediate level of competence into the more advanced
and likely more challenging areas of the Internet from a
screenreader point of view. It takes over from where Volume 1 of
the Internet tutorial leaves off.
Alternatively, if you have not already downloaded Volume 1 of
Accessing the Internet from the Keyboard, you should have
gained a reasonable level of skill on the Internet in general and
with your screenreader of choice in particular via other
means, whether from other manuals or tutorials or by trial and
error, so that you have reached a reasonable stage of surfing
attainment before you take on these more advanced skills.
Volume 2 of the Internet tutorial does not instruct the user in
how to use any particular specific screenreader (although some
screenreader special shortcuts are occasionally exemplified or
reminders of their existence given) but instead concentrates on
the general keystrokes provided within Microsoft Windows programs
to get things done. In this way the visually impaired computer
user should be able to reasonably function on the Net
irrespective of the screenreader which is on the computer they
are currently using--something which would not be possible if you
only learned the special keystrokes which come with a given
screenreader package to achieve your goals.
One thing you must keep in mind is that the Internet is
continually in flux, growing and changing. Some Internet sites
and pages you accessed and viewed last week will no longer exist
this week, others will have come into existence within the last
few hours and yet others will still be there but will have been
altered in their construction and general appearance since you
last visited them. Therefore, whilst at the time of writing the
keystrokes given herein were the ones to use to achieve a given
end result, This tutorial aims not so much to get you to follow
precise keystrokes on particular sites only but rather to give
you a general grasp of what the changing Internet is like and the
confidence to use it even if some sites and web pages have
changed since both I and you last frequented them.
To be able to derive the maximum range of experience in
completing Internet forms, I would recommend that you go onto all
of the Websites covered as practical examples in the body of this
tutorial, even if you do not want to download a given program or
join a particular bank. This is because all of the forms you will
encounter in these examples are different and you will therefore
get a broader idea of how they can vary and how to deal with a
larger variety of them. You can always, at the point of download
or submission of a form, duck out and abort the download or
subscription, having gain the practical experience to get you to
the final stage of forms completion.
1.2. JAWS, HAL, Supernova and Window-Eyes Special Web Page
Navigation Hot Keys
Here I list, as a memory jogger, the main JAWS, HAL, Supernova
and Window-Eyes Web page hot keys when using Internet Explorer
5 and later as of March 2005.
1.2.1. JAWS 4.0, 4.5, 5 and 6
Most of the below JAWS hot keys work with versions of JAWS from
4.0 onwards but a few will only work if you have upgraded to
later versions which have included extra hot keys. If you press
one of these single hot keys and nothing happens, it is likely
that this hot key does not exist in your copy of JAWS, otherwise
you would get some kind of feedback as JAWS would at least report
"no more divisions found" if you press Z and your version of JAWS
does not feature this particular recent addition to its range of
single hot keys.
Please note that the large INSERT key at the bottom left-hand
side of the number pad is also frequently referred to as the JAWS
key. I will only call it the INSERT key throughout this tutorial,
as this is its most common name when the number pad is turned
off. It is often used in conjunction with other number pad and
main keyboard keys to invoke special combined hot key actions and
so is used in a similar way to the SHIFT key when capitalising
letters.
Press A: To jump to the next anchor on a page.
Press B: To move to the next button on a page.
Press C: To get the current column read out in a table on a Web
page. From JAWS 6 this key's function changes and moves you
between comboboxes.
Press D: to skip to the next different element on a page, e.g.
from a link to an editfield and then, perhaps, to another link
or combobox.
Press E: to skip past the next element on a Web page. This
changes to skipping to the next editfield on a page from JAWS 6.
Press F: to skip to the next form (editfield) control on a Web
page.
Press G: To jump to the next graphic on a page.
Press H: to jump to the next heading on a Web page.
Press I: To skip to the next list item in a list on a Web page.
Press J: To jump to any line in the JAWS virtual buffer after
entering the line's number. You use SHIFT J to return to the
starting point before the jump.
Press K: To jump to the next place marker on a Web page if you
have previously inserted markers on that page.
Press L: to go directly to the next list on a Web page.
Press M: to move to the next frame on a Web page.
Press N: To skip past links on a Web page.
Press O: To go to the next object tag on a page.
Press P: To move to the next paragraph on a page.
Press Q: To move to the next block quote on a page.
Press R: To get the current row read out in a table on a Web
page. From JAWS 6 this key's function changes and moves you
between radio buttons.
Press S: to jump to the next same element on a Web page, e.g.
from edit field to editfield.
Press T: To jump to the next Table on a page.
Press U: To go to the next unvisited link on a Web page.
Press V: To go to the next already visited link on a Web page.
Press X: To go to the next checkbox on a page.
Press Z: To jump to the next division on a page.
Press >: To step past the next element on a Web page.
Press <: To step to the element before the prior element on a
page.
Note 1: Hold down the SHIFT key with any of the above single
letter hot keys to obtain the reverse action, i.e. jump backwards
through lists, tables, editfields, etc.
Note 2: From JAWS 6 you can hold down the CONTROL key and the
INSERT key together and then press any of the above single letter
keys to obtain a list of that particular element, e.g. CONTROL
INSERT Z will bring up a list of the divisions on the current Web
page.
Press ENTER: to turn MSAA mode off when on a form editing field
to be able to type text in. Pressing Numpad + (the PC cursor)
turns MSAA mode back on.
INSERT F1: Obtains screen sensitive help.
INSERT F1 twice: Obtains JAWS help for a specific application.
INSERT A: Reads the contents of the Address Bar.
INSERT W: Provides tips on general Windows shortcut keystrokes.
CONTROL UP or DOWN ARROW: Moves you from one text paragraph to
another on a Web page.
INSERT F6: Places the headings on a Web page into a structured
hierarchical order to quickly ARROW through and press ENTER on
any one to jump there (but only if the page has been written
using HTML structured heading tags, e.g. H1, H2, etc). Before
JAWS 4.01 this command simply took you to the Desktop minimised.
CONTROL INSERT HOME: Takes you to the first form field on a page,
if JAWS has not automatically placed you there already. You will
have to press ENTER to turn MSAA mode off and forms mode on
before you can complete editfields on a Web page or in a form.
CONTROL INSERT TAB: Moves you to the next form field.
CONTROL INSERT SHIFT TAB: Moves you to the previous form field.
CONTROL INSERT END: Takes you to the last form field on a page.
INSERT ENTER: Jumps you to the next instance of text with no
associated link to read that text.
INSERT F7: Invokes a links list so that you can ARROW up or down
the links on a page or jump straight to a link by pressing the
first letter of its name. You can also select between A-Z or Z-A
order, have them in the original page TAB order, have only
unvisited links displayed, only visited links displayed, etc.
Pressing ENTER on one of these links will activate it.
INSERT F9: Provides you with a frames list of the same type as
the above links list.
INSERT F5: From Version 5 onwards, displays a listbox with all
of the controls and forms on the current Web page similar to the
above two list features.
INSERT Z: Toggles the virtual PC cursor on and off.
CONTROL INSERT F: goes into the JAWS Find dialogue to type text
in to jump to this.
CONTROL INSERT TAB: Moves you from the current form field to the
next form field.
CONTROL INSERT SHIFT TAB: Same as the above but backwards through
form fields.
Press INSERT DELETE: To route the virtual cursor to the location
of the PC cursor.
Press SPACEBAR: To toggle checkboxes, select radio buttons and
activate buttons without entering forms mode from Version 4.51
onwards.
Press ALT DELETE: To obtain information about how much of an
online document you have already read as a percentage of the
whole text.
ALT CONTROL NumPad 5: Reads the cell in a table which has focus.
ALT CONTROL left or right ARROW: Moves you left or right through
table columns and cells on a Web page.
ALT CONTROL up or down ARROW: Moves you up or down a cell in a
table.
ALT CONTROL HOME OR END: Moves you to the first or last cell in
a table respectively.
WINDOWS KEY down ARROW: Moves to the next row in a table.
WINDOWS KEY up ARROW: Moves to the previous row in a table.
WINDOWS KEY .: Reads the current collum in a table.
WINDOWS KEY ,: Reads the current row in a table.
CONTROL J: Is the jump to cell in a table hot key.
Pressing the main keyboard numbers 1 to 6: Jumps you from one
heading to another heading on a Web page, e.g. pressing 1
repeatedly keeps moving you through heading 1 level headings,
pressing 2 repeatedly keeps moving you through level 2 headings,
etc. In this way you can quickly move between headings at the
same level and between different levels of headings.
A new concept introduced from JAWS 5.0 is the place marker
insertion, jump to and list dialogue box. You can insert up to
10 place markers on any Web page and give them individual names.
You can cycle through these place markers by pressing the K key
and you can open up the place marker dialogue and view the list
of your markers, add new markers, name them, move them in the
list, remove them and jump to any one you like. You can do this
whilst on a Web page online on the Net or on a Web page held on
your hard disk without being online. There are only three
essential hot key commands involved, as listed below.
Press CONTROL SHIFT K: To open the place marker dialogue box when
on a Web page to insert a permanent marker or make a temporary
marker permanent.
Press K: to jump forward through markers.
Press SHIFT K: to jump backwards through markers.
In practice, what you do with place markers is:
1. Whilst on a Web page with your cursor at the desired place you
want a marker to be inserted, press CONTROL SHIFT K to open the
place markers dialogue box to permanently add, name, move,
remove, change the name of or jump to any place marker.
2. Now TAB to "Add" and press ENTER.
3. Next type a meaning full name into the editfield you are in
such as "phone number for Webmaster" and press ENTER, and you
have now finished inserting and naming your marker.
4. You can now jump to these markers with the above-mentioned K
and SHIFT K commands or you can again press CONTROL SHIFT K to
open the place markers' dialogue and then ARROW to any marker by
its meaningful name and press ENTER on it to jump to it.
The place marker feature has a few other non-essential hot keys
which you may also wish to try, as follows:
Press CONTROL k: to insert a single temporary marker at the
cursor position on a page.
Press CONTROL SHIFT 1 through 0: To get the name of any of the
10 markers on a page spoken to you (this hot key failed to work
for me but perhaps it will work for you).
Press CONTROL SHIFT 1 to 0 quickly twice: To move straight to the
marker associated with that marker number, e.g. CONTROL SHIFT 5
twice to jump to marker number 5.
1.2.2. HAL 5, 6 and 6.5
Please note that, with HAL 6 onwards, the CAPSLOCK key at the
left-hand side of the keyboard is also frequently referred to as
the Dolphin key. I will only call it the CAPSLOCK key throughout
this tutorial, as this is its most common name. It is often used
in conjunction with other keys to invoke special combined hot key
actions and so is used in a similar way to the SHIFT key when
capitalising letters.
Please also note that, when either the CONTROL or SHIFT keys are
mentioned in the below list of hot keys, it is the left key which
should be pressed. Pressing the right CONTROL or SHIFT key may
not work.
The following hot keys are available in HAL:
F1: Provides context-sensitive help for the control or other
element which focus is currently on.
F3: Activates HALs find feature to jump to a given word or words
on a Web page. You type the word(s) in and press ENTER to get the
first occurrence of the word found.
F4: This is the find next occurrence of a word hot key, after
firstly invoking the find with F3 as above.
F2: Is the find previous occurrence of a word key, after firstly
invoking the find with F3 as above.
SPACEBAR: Activates (left clicks on) a link, rather than pressing
ENTER as with earlier versions of HAL.
ENTER (return or carriage return key): Puts you into forms mode
whilst on an editfield on a Web page. You can then type
information into an editfield. You may have to press ENTER each
time you encounter such an editfield to type text in. From HAL
Version 6.03 you enter forms mode by pressing CAPSLOCK ENTER and
HAL should then automatically change from forms editing mode to
reading mode and back again without you having to do anything
more.
NumPad +: Starts and stops continuous document read.
INSERT: Is the left click simulation key. To left click and
change to live focus press the A key and to left double click
press the U key.
DELETE: Is the right click simulation key. To right click and
change to live focus press the D key and to right double click
press the E key.
Left CONTROL PAGE UP or DOWN: Moves you upwards or downwards
through any elements of a page which are not links, e.g. buttons,
checkboxes, editfields, etc.
Left CONTROL SHIFT PAGE DOWN or PAGE UP: Moves you from frame to
frame on a page.
Left CONTROL SHIFT HOME: Jumps you to the first form editfield
on a page.
Left CONTROL shift right ARROW: Moves you to the next occurrence
of text which is not associated with a link.
Left CONTROL SHIFT right ARROW: Opposite of above.
Left CONTROL SHIFT DOWN ARROW: Skips you downwards through links
on a page.
Left CONTROL SHIFT UP ARROW: Opposite of above.
Left SHIFT Numpad 0: Gives you the URL of a link which is not
entitled or which has a meaningless title, such as "Click Here".
ALT T (for Tools) then ARROW down to "Dolphin Links Navigator"
and press ENTER: Loads the Links Navigator to format the links
on a page in a row to ARROW through in A-Z, Z-A or Tab order or
jump straight to a link by pressing the first letter of its name.
Pressing ENTER will activate the link. With the introduction of
HAL 5.20 and later, the Links Navigator is replaced by what is
known as the Dolphin List Utility, to do the same links listing
and selecting job but more efficiently and it also lists frames
and HTML headings. You can use it for complex Web pages and for
finding your way around HTML help files. With HAL 6, you also
have hot keys of CAPSLOCK 1 to list links on a Web page, CAPSLOCK
2 to list headings, CAPSLOCK 3 to list frames and capslock 4 to
list what is in the System Tray.
CAPSLOCK ENTER: From HAL 6.03 only, invokes HALs new forms mode
to make such as online shopping sites easier to work on. After
pressing CAPSLOCK ENTER, As you move through a Web page, HAL
intuitively automatically switches out of auto-virtual focus mode
into live mode every time it comes across an editfield or other
similar control to which live mode is appropriate. It will also
automatically return to auto-virtual focus mode when required to
do so in order to allow you to continue reading the Web page to
be able to do things such as activate links.
CAPSLOCK Numpad 7: In HAL 6.03 onwards, speaks the name of a form
label to the left of an editfield if this is not automatically
spoken by HAL in its forms mode because it is out of HAL's normal
zone of detection.
CAPSLOCK Numpad 8: In HAL 6.03 only, speaks the name of a form
label above an editfield if this is not automatically spoken by
HAL in its forms mode because it is out of HAL's normal zone of
detection.
Note: With HAL 5X the general Windows commands of ALT left and
right ARROWS to take you to your last visited Web page backwards
or forwards respectively do not work.
1.2.3. Window-Eyes 4.2, 4.5 and 5
Most of the below hot keys apply to all versions of Window-Eyes
from Version 4.0 on Web pages but the hot keys for using Window-
Eyes in MSAA mode to navigate Web pages immediately below apply
before version 4.5. for those which apply from Version 4.5, see
the new list beneath this first one.
CONTROL SHIFT F1: Brings up WE help but this is not context
sensitive.
CONTROL SHIFT F: Enables the WE find feature. Pressing INSERT F
will continue the search in the same direction.
ALT U: Reads the URL for the current page.
CONTROL INSERT S: Reads the status line, which may have useful
Web page download details.
CONTROL SHIFT A: Toggles MSAA mode on and off whilst MSAA mode
is in automatic loading mode. If you find that some links on a
Website are not working properly with Window-Eyes and so not
being activated when you press ENTER on them, you may find that
you can cure this by turning MSAA mode off and then on again by
pressing CONTROL SHIFT A twice. This is a known issue with some
versions of WE, e.g. Version 5.0.
INSERT A: Toggles automatic loading of MSAA mode on or off.
CONTROL SHIFT R: Will read a Web page from the cursor to its end.
CONTROL SHIFT S: Provides information about how many lines are
in the current page and what line the cursor is presently on,
plus advice about whether the page has frames.
ALT SHIFT DOWN ARROW: Moves you through links only on a page,
missing out any other elements or controls, such as editfields,
buttons, checkboxes, etc.
ALT SHIFT UP ARROW: Opposite of the above.
ALT DOWN ARROW: Moves you to the next element on a page, e.g. a
link, an editfield, a button, etc, but it takes you to another
type of control which is not the same as the one you left, e.g.
if you were in a textbox you would not go to another textbox but
to something else such as a button, a link, etc.
ALT UP ARROW: Opposite of above.
INSERT ALT DOWN ARROW: Moves you to the next text-only block
skipping all other controls.
ALT CONTROL SHIFT DOWN ARROW: Takes you to a previously visited
link on a page skipping all other elements and unvisited links.
ALT CONTROL DOWN ARROW: Moves you straight to the first control
on a page which is not a link or text line, typically a form
field such as a search box, but you must do this from the top
of the page. Another press takes you to the next control on the
page. You will have to press ENTER to turn MSAA mode off before
you can complete editfields on a Web page or in a form.
ALT CONTROL UP ARROW: Jumps you to the last control on a page
from the bottom of the page.
ALT CONTROL HOME: Takes you to your last position on a page or
to the place you were before you moved to a subsequent page if
moving back to the first page does not land you there
automatically.
INSERT TAB: Invokes the Window-Eyes vertical controls list from
where you can choose to view and ARROW through lists of frames,
tables or links in A-Z, Z-A or to view links in their original
Web page TAB order, etc. Pressing ENTER on a link will activate
it.
F6: Takes you to the attachments list in an e-mail.
ALT CONTROL TAB: Takes you to the first table on a page, when you
then use CONTROL + to enter table mode. CONTROL - leaves table
mode. Pressing ALT CONTROL TAB again will take you to the next
instance of a table on the Web page if there is one.
ALT CONTROL SHIFT TAB: Moves you backwards through tables on a
page.
CONTROL SHIFT H: Lets you cycle through several ways WE will give
you table information, e.g. announce top headings as well as cell
co-ordinates and contents, side headings as well as cell co-
ordinates, etc.
INSERT right, left, up and down ARROWS: Move you one cell at a
time through a table on a Web page right, left, up and down
respectively.
CONTROL INSERT right or left ARROW: Moves you to the end or start
of a row in a table.
CONTROL INSERT up or down ARROW: Moves you to the top or bottom
of a column in a table.
With the advent of Window-Eyes 4.5 and later versions, the hot
keys for working with Web pages in MSAA mode have changed to
those shown below but, of course, many of the above hot keys of
general use on Web pages still work:
Press A: to skip to the next anchor on a Web page.
Press C: To jump to the next control on a Web page.
Press E: to jump to the next fieldset.
Press F: To skip to the next form on a page.
Press H: to move to the next heading on a page.
Press I: to jump to the next list item in a list on a Web page.
Press L: To jump to the next link on a Web page.
Press P: To jump to the next paragraph on a page.
Press Q: To move to the next block quote on a page.
Press S: to skip to the next list on a Web page.
Press T: To jump to the next table on a page.
Press V: To jump to the next already visited link.
Press X: to jump to the next instance of a text field on a Web
page.
Press left BRACKET F: To go to the beginning of the current form.
Press right BRACKET F: To go to the end of the current form.
Note 1: Hold down the SHIFT key with most of the above single
letter hot keys to obtain the reverse action, i.e. jump backwards
through lists, tables, editfields, etc.
Note 2: Your screenreader may have fewer, more or even none of
the above single key shortcuts, depending on its version.
However, slightly earlier versions than those mentioned here
should have most of them and slightly later versions should have
them plus a few more. You should consult the hot keys section of
the online help which comes with your screenreader version.
Press INSERT V: To bring up the MSAA verbosity settings list,
where you can control how much information WE provides you with
on Web pages in respect of listboxes, forms, tables, lists and
other Web page elements.
Press CONTROL Numpad +: To enter table mode.
Press CONTROL Numpad -: to leave table mode.
1.2.4. Windows Operating System Shortcuts
The description of Web pages and the Windows shortcuts you can
use on them is given here in paragraph and dialogue form instead
of in straight lists of key presses and resultant actions.
A Website is a collection of interlinked Web pages on a
particular computer on the Nett. The first page is the home or
index page. Web pages can contain text, pictures, animations and
audio and video clips. Pressing ENTER or SPACEBAR on a "link" on
a Web page may take you to another link on that same page, to
another page on the same Website or to a page on another computer
altogether anywhere else in the world.
When you have loaded a Web page of text and pictures and the text
on that screen has all been automatically read to you (24 lines
per screen), you press the PAGE DOWN key to hear the next screen
of information. Pressing PAGE UP takes you back a screen of
information and reads it. Pressing CONTROL PAGE down moves you
to the next page and CONTROL PAGE up takes you back a page. Up
and down ARROW keys should permit you to read the page a line at
a time, otherwise do this in your screenreader's navigation or
mouse mode.
Pressing the TAB key moves you forward to the next element on the
current page, e.g. link, button, editfield, etc, whereas pressing
SHIFT TAB takes you back an element.
If you want to go back to the link you were last at (previous
page, previous site, etc), you press ALT LEFT ARROW key. If you
want to go forward a link, you press ALT RIGHT ARROW key.
(Remember, these two latter commands do not work if you are using
HAL 5X.) To
return directly to where you first started out, i.e. your opening
page when first launching your browser, press ALT HOME.
Internet Explorer also has a Go to visited page history feature,
so that you can view and go back to any page you have already
been to in the current surfing session. You get to this history
by pressing ALT V (for View( and then O (for Goto) and ARROWING
up and down the already visited page names and pressing ENTER on
any of them.
You are likely to find that every time you open a new page within
a site, you are presented at the top of the page with the same
list of pictures, advertisements, logos, navigational bars with
image buttons on them, list of links to go to, etc. The relevant
section of the new page you have loaded may only appear halfway
down the new page. You will have to ARROW or TAB quickly past all
of this time and again to find what you want, which is tedious
but necessary, unless your screenreader has a special jump past
header links shortcut or links only
links list facility which allows you to go easily to a specific
link, put links in alphabetical order, display only unvisited
links, etc, such as is available from JFW 3.7 with the INSERT F7
and INSERT F9 commands, The Window-Eyes 4.0 onwards INSERT TAB
and CONTROL TAB commands or by downloading MS Powertoys and using
its SHIFT F10 and "Links List" option. Another way to quickly get
past these repeated header links is to press PAGE down once or
twice until you jump past them or, if the page has frames, press
CONTROL TAB once or twice to jump past the header frames.
As you move around a Web page, in addition to encountering
readable text, you will come across icons and images (pictures)
which are meaningful to a sighted person but may be meaningless
to a screenreader. Your screen reader may only be able to
announce such as "image" or "bitmap" (or just say nothing) when
it falls on these pictures. However, if the Webmaster (the person
who wrote the Web page) has done his job thoroughly, he should
have placed text titles at the side of these icons which your
screenreader can read out to you to clarify what the picture is
or what will happen if you press ENTER on an iconised link. These
text titles are known as "ALT tags".
Some Websites employ what are known as "frames". A good
screenreader should be able to allow you to negotiate frames but
some older ones cannot cope with them very well. A frame is an
area on a Web page where similar types of information is stored
but there are likely to be several frames on screen at once and,
depending upon what you do in one frame, the layout and content
of another frame may change. this usually makes browsing such
sites more difficult, although not impossible. The more up-to-
date and better quality screenreaders can now deal quite well
with frames and have special keystrokes to do this. The standard
Windows keystroke to move from one frame on a page to another is
to press CONTROL TAB until you get to the frame you wish to look
at and then you can ARROW down the information in the frame you
are currently on. CONTROL SHIFT TAB moves you backwards through
frames.
********
>SECTION 2
HELPFUL TIPS AND CUSTOMISATION
I have repeated this "Tips and Customisation" section, which also
appears in Volume 1 of the Internet tutorial, as even more
knowledgeable Web users may find something new that is worthwhile
trying amongst the below suggestions. You may wish to make some
of these refinements to your programs immediately or wait until
later. Whichever way you approach this, it is nonetheless a good
idea to glance through this section before you move on.
2.1. Twenty Customisation and Other Tips
1. You may, if your phone line provider is BT, wish to opt for
the BT Friends and Relatives service in order to register your
Internet Service Provider's phone number as your best friend
number to obtain a 20 per cent discount; otherwise, register it
for a 10 per cent discount. This is something which BT may
disallow at any time in future.
2. World Wide Web addresses have the suffix "http://" but you do
not need to type this in when going to a Web page, as Web
browsers fill this part of the address in for you automatically.
Thus, this suffix has not been given when any website addresses
have been indicated in this manual which may not need it.
3. To print a Web page, with the page on screen, press CONTROL
P.
4. A "link" on a Web page is a place where you can press the
ENTER key to jump from one part of the page to another to obtain
more information, or from one page to another on the same site
or from one computer site on the Web to another computer anywhere
else in the world. Web page links should be announced by your
screenreader saying something like "link" but if this does not
happen with your screenreader you should turn attributes (such
as colour change and/or style change) on in your screenreader so
that these changes will be announced to alert you to their
whereabouts. Links are normally underlined and in blue text. Some
of these links may be embedded in the middle of other text and
form an integral part of the textual information. You have to
navigate to links with the TAB key, the ARROW keys or your
screenreader's special links list facility or hot key and press
the ENTER or SPACEBAR key to activate the link.
5. You can copy links from a Web page (with CONTROL C) to the
Clipboard and then paste them into the Address Bar (with CONTROL
V) in Internet Explorer rather than having to retype them.
6. If a Web page comes down from the Internet scrambled, you can
press CONTROL R to reload it or F5 to refresh the screen.
7. To obtain more screen space and not cause your screenreader
to be distracted, in many Windows programs it is worth turning
off the Toolbar by pressing ALT V, T, and unchecking any of the
Toolbars which are checked, but this is not essential, e.g. in
Internet Explorer and Word. So, in Internet Explorer, you may
wish to uncheck (by pressing ENTER on them) the "Standard
Buttons" and "Radio" options but ensure that "Links" is checked
on. However, if you are likely to want to use a toolbar to effect
a command, do not do this, or turn Toolbars on and off as
required. Ensure that "Status Bar" is also
checked on in the View Menu.
8. In Internet Explorer, to speed up page downloading (if you do
not use a monitor), press ALT T (for Tools), O (for Options) and
then CONTROL TAB to the "Advanced" property sheet and TAB once
to the "Accessibility" button. ARROW down this long list of
options and uncheck (turn off by pressing the SPACEBAR) "Play
Animations", "Play Videos", "Show Pictures" and "Smart Image
Dithering". Ensure that the following are checked on: "Always
Expand ALT Text for Images", "Notify When Downloads Complete" and
"Play Sounds". It might also assist some screenreaders if you
then CONTROL SHIFT TAB back to the "General" sheet, TAB to
"Accessibility" and press ENTER, then ensure that "Ignore Colours
Specified on Web Pages", "Ignore Font Sizes Specified on Web
Pages" and "Ignore Font Sizes Specified on Web Pages" are all
checked on; but "Format Documents Using My style Sheet" should
be checked off.
9. In order to facilitate faster initial page loading and avoid
the introductory advertisements which present themselves when you
first load Internet Explorer, you can have it load with a blank
page. To do this, with Internet Explorer running, press ALT T for
Tools, O for Options, and in the "general" property sheet TAB
forward to "Use Blank" and press ENTER. Then TAB on to OK and
press ENTER. In future, when you start Internet Explorer, it will
open with a blank page and your screenreader may announce the
word "About". You just continue as normal (see Section 4 for how
to launch Internet Explorer).
10. Some screenreaders may read what is on the screen better if
you surf in "full screen" mode. All you have to do to obtain full
screen mode is press the F11 key or press ALT V and arrow up to
"Full Screen"and press ENTER. Pressing F11 again returns you to
normal mode. Experiment to discover which view is best for you
but be aware that full screen mode makes a program completely
fill the screen, so title bars, menu bars, status lines, etc,
will disappear.
11. To speed up connection to your ISP and make site connections
and downloads quicker, go To "My Computer" on your Desktop and
press ENTER. Then ARROW down to "Dialup Networking" and press
ENTER. With the ARROW keys, place the focus on your Internet
provider, e.g. Onetel,
Freeserve, etc, and then open up its context menu by pressing
SHIFT F10. Now ARROW up to "Properties", press ENTER followed by
pressing CONTROL TAB to the "Server Types" property sheet. Now
TAB to "Advanced Options" and in here ensure that all of the
following are unchecked: "Log Onto Network", "Enable Software
Compression", "Require Encrypted Password", "Require Data
Encryption" and "Record a Log File for this Connection". Then TAB
to "OK" and press ENTER to finish.
12. With Outlook Express 5.1 and later, upload and download time
(especially with a slow PC/MODEM/ISP server) can be saved by
turning off "Request a Read Receipt for all Sent Messages" and
ensuring that "Never Send a Read Receipt" is selected in Tools,
Options, Receipts.
13. It is not advisable to use standard quality reel-type
multi-strand phone extension wire to extend a MODEM cable to a
far-off phone socket. It may work OK but is likely to cause your
line to the Internet to be dropped more than would otherwise be
the case. The wiring inside this type of extension, whilst fine
for robust voice telephone communications, may not be of good
enough quality to transfer the delicate signals of many MODEMS.
You should extend any cabling with single strand, copper cabling,
which can be purchased from BT shops.
14. What is known as the "gain" on a phone line is basically the
speed at which or sensitivity with which a phone line carries
messages. The standard gain on a BT phone line is set to zero.
This is fine for robust voice communications but often not good
enough for sensitive MODEM signal transfer, particularly if the
line to your nearest phone exchange is at a considerable
distance. If you are experiencing frequent failed connections to
your ISP or regular line cut-offs, you may be able to remedy or
at least improve this problem by ringing BT and asking them to
increase the gain on the line. I am advised by BT that the
highest level that they can increase the gain to is 4, as a gain
above level 4 is likely to cause echo on the line and thus result
in the line getting worse rather than better.
15. If your MODEM is inexplicably disconnected from the Internet
frequently it could be that your MODEM is too sensitive to signal
lapses. To increase the time that your MODEM stays connected
during lapses you may find that the following helps:
A. Press Windows key and then S (for Settings), followed by C
(for Control Panel).
B. Press M until MODEMS has focus and then press ENTER.
C. TAB to "Properties" and press ENTER.
D. CONTROL TAB to "Connections" and then TAB to "Advanced" and
press ENTER.
E. TAB to "Extra Settings" and type the following string in:
s10=50
This is all you type if there is nothing else in this editfield.
If some other information is already in there, you just leave a
space at the end of the other details and type the s10=50 at the
end of it.
This will now mean that your signal can lapse for up to five
seconds without your MODEM cutting off.
16. Whilst some screenreaders automatically make use of
Microsoft's Active Accessibility facility (MSAA), others can only
use it if it is specifically enabled. JFW and Window-Eyes
automatically use MSAA but some earlier versions of HAL require
that you manually install MSAA. To enable MSAA for Windows 95 and
98, so that ALT tags and other special screenreader friendly
features can be used with HAL before version 5:
A. Press the Windows key followed by F to open the Find
facility, then press ENTER and type in the editfield which you
will fall in:
msaardk.exe
B. TAB to "Look In" and ensure that C: has focus--you may have
to ARROW up and down to achieve this--then press ENTER.
C. The msaa.exe file will be found, so just press CONTROL A to
highlight this file followed by pressing ENTRE.
D. You will then be told that MSAA will be installed, so press
ENTER on the "Yes" button. After about 30 seconds you will be
informed that installation is finished, so press ENTER on the
"OK" button.
E. When asked to restart the PC, TAB to "NO" and press ENTER. u
return to the Find dialogue box, so press ALT F4 to close this
down.
F. You now have to enable MSAA in Hal's control panel by pressing
CONTROL SPACEBAR, followed by CONTROL TAB to the "General
Settings" property sheet. Then press ENTER.
G. Now Press TAB until you reach "MSAA Detection" and select it
by pressing the SPACEBAR.
H. You finish by pressing ESCAPE twice, when MSAA will be loaded
and usable by older versions of Hal. All you now have to do is
reboot the computer before going onto the Internet.
17. If, when using Outlook Express, you experience the system
intermittently trying to take you back on line when you do not
want this to happen, it may be that you are set up to check for
the existence of new messages periodically. If you wish to stop
this:
A. Press ALT T (for Tools), then O (for Options.
B. You drop into the "General" property sheet, so TAB down to
"Check for New Messages Every" and press SPACEBAR to deselect
this. Otherwise, if you still want periodically taking on line
to check for new messages but less frequently, just TAB once more
to the next line and alter the figure in their to a larger one,
e.g. type in 60 if you only want the system to check for new
messages every 60 minutes.
C. TAB to "OK" and press ENTER to finish.
18. When running Outlook Express, the program may from time to
time, without you requesting this, attempt to take you online.
If this is an annoyance to you, you can stop it by:
A. With Outlook Express running, press ALT T (for Tools), then
O (for options.
B. CONTROL TAB to "Connections" and then TAB down to "Change" and
press ENTER.
C. Next TAB six times to "Always Dial My Default Connection" and
ARROW down once to "Never Dial a Connection" and then TAB to "OK"
and press ENTER.
D. Now just TAB once more to another "OK" button and press ENTER
to finish.
19. If you can make use of a monitor with Internet Explorer
provided that the text on it is large enough, you can change the
"Medium" size text on screen, which is the default (standard) way
it is set up, by:
A. Press ALT V (for View).
B. Then press X (for Text).
C. ARROW to "Large" or "Largest" and press ENTER.
Conversely, if you do not use a monitor and this will not
adversely affect anyone else using the same PC, you could select
"Small " or "Smallest" to ensure that you get as much text onto
the screen as possible.
20. If you are using JAWS 5.0 or later and you are having
problems with Websites which employ Macromedia Flash, you can
tell JAWS to ignore this and therefore view pages without such
as unwanted frequent page refreshing, screenreader stammer, etc.
You have to do this in the JAWS Configuration Manager by:
A. Press INSERT F2 and then ENTER on "Configuration Manager".
B. Press ALT S (for Set Options".
C. ARROW down to "HTML Options" and press ENTER.
D. Now hold down the CONTROL key and press the TAB key until you
reach "Misc".
E. On the "Misc" property sheet TAB down to "Ignore Flash on Web
Pages" and press the SPACEBAR to check this off.
F. Now TAB to "OK" and press ENTRE.
G. Lastly, leave the Configuration Manager and save your new
settings by pressing CONTROL S and then ALT F4 if necessary.
********
>SECTION 3
INTERNET SHOPPING
Internet shopping can open up a whole new world of merchandise
to visually impaired people or at least allow them to obtain
everyday goods without having to risk life and limb going to high
street shops to get them. However, If you decide to embark on
Internet purchasing, you should take great care to ensure that
you put the correct details in the right places on forms. If in
doubt initially, recruit a sighted friend with knowledge of these
things to advise you as to what is happening for the first time
or two that you use an online shop, until you become confident
about what you are doing. The author cannot be held responsible
for any mistakes you may make whilst Internet shopping. You
engage in this at your own risk. Remember, shop sites and
completion forms may change from time to time and the whereabouts
of there credit card editfields, address boxes, etc, may change.
It is also recommended that you have an up-to-date, good quality
virus scanner to avoid potentially devastating viruses whilst
surfing the Web, e.g. McAfee or Norton Utilities. Or you can
download a good free virus-checker called AVG from:
www.grisoft.com
Use of a good firewall would also be a sensible idea, e.g. Zone
Alarm or Sygate Personal Firewall.
You can download a free copy of Sygate from:
www.sygate.com
Additionally, ensure that you run a good spyware scanner on your
system from time to time, e.g. Ad-Aware. You can get this free
from:
www.lavasoftusa.com
3.1. General Overview
There are specific online only shops, such as Dabs, and there are
online shops as well which are also listed in Directory Enquiries
to place phone orders as well as online orders, such as amazon
and jungle, and there are standard high street shops which have
also created a mail order type Web shop, such as argos and Tesco.
When you are at an online shop, you can usually search for
goods you want in order to check if they stock them, what the
price is, a description of the goods, etc.
After launching Internet Explorer from your Desktop, you can go
to an online store with it by pressing the usual CONTROL O and
then type in the URL. Alternatively, you can go to a Net
"shopping mall" which contains several shops that you can look
through and you can search through the mall to find which shops
stock what you want. Microsoft hosts such an online shopping
mall. You can, of course, also find Internet stores by use of a
standard or meta Web search engine, such as Altavista or Google,
but the first two methods of locating online shops are the more
secure.
3.2. Security Issues
Be aware of the following security risks and safety measures.
3.2.1. Secure HTTP Websites
Quality Internet shopping sites generally encrypt (scramble)
purchase details via a secure information page, so that only the
intended recipient can decode and read them. These pages are
often referred to as secure "padlocked" pages. There is 40-bit
encryption in the UK and 128-bit
in the US. This makes online shopping more secure than shopping
by phone or Fax. It is probably safer for UK residents to stick
to UK online shops so that UK law and guarantees apply and can
be enforced. You should try to limit your purchases to quality
online shopping sites you know give a good service or those
friends inform you are reliable. The site should clearly show
their postal address, e-mail address and phone number and they
should inform you of their return and refund policies. The site
should have a confidentiality or privacy link which you should
browse through. If there is no information of this type, ask them
to post it to you. It is important to keep records of your
internet purchases, e.g. if a company sends a confirmation e-mail
save a copy to disk or print it out. Set up your own file to make
notes of purchase dates, amounts, items ordered, reference
numbers etc. Check your bank and credit card statements carefully
and if you find any discrepancies, contact your credit card
company or bank immediately.
Do not provide your credit card details to any Internet site
which is not padlocked. When you enter a secure padlocked page,
a message should pop up to advise you of this and you will also
be warned when you are leaving a secure, encrypted page and
returning to standard unpadlocked mode. If you do not get the
security advice message automatically on a site, it is possible
to verify whether a site is padlocked visually by looking for the
picture of a padlock at the bottom of the browser screen or you
can go to your browser's address bar and check the address.
Secure padlocked sites will change the "HTTP://" part of the
address to "Https://" (the "S" indicating "secure").
If you would like the peace of mind of only using accredited
Websites that have been approved by the "Which" Web Trader
Scheme, you can guarantee security and consumer protection by
only using UK sites which are listed at:
www.which.net/webtrader
which will provide more information and a list of approved,
compliant shopping sites.
(Note that last time I tried the above site it was not available
due to reconstruction. Hopefully,it will soon become available
again.)
3.2.2. Ensuring that Your Online Transaction details are Not
Automatically Saved to Disk
If you share a computer with someone else or if you are online
for long periods and do not have a firewall to prevent hackers,
others may be able to get access to your online transaction
details, such as your bank account or credit card information.
You can stop details of such transactions from being save to your
hard disk by Internet Explorer in the temporary internet files
folder (which would normally automatically happen) by:
1. Press ALT T (for Tools) and then O (for Internet Options).
2. Then CONTROL TAB to the "Advanced" property sheet.
3. Now ARROW down the long list of checkable options you will be
in to "Do Not Save Encrypted Pages to Disk" and press SPACEBAR
to check this on.
4. Lastly, TAB to "OK" and press ENTER to finish.
Henceforth any secure (HTTPS) Website you have visited and
possibly provided personal and/or financial details on will not
be saved to your hard disk.
BE aware, though, that you will also not now be able to view
these pages offline as you would have been able to do otherwise.
3.3. UK Consumer Home Shopping Rights
The under-mentioned UK internet shopping consumer laws applied
as of January 2002 but may be subject to future amendment by
Government so, if any aspect is very important to you, double-
check it with Government sources, e.g. the Department of Trade
and Industry.
UK laws for shopping on the Internet apply to most goods and
services but some areas are not covered, such as sale of land
contracts, online auctions and financial services. Perishable
goods, for instance, flowers, food and beverages may also not be
covered. There may also only be partial cover of items such as
transport and accommodation provided on specific dates. A seller
should provide descriptions of goods/services, prices including
all taxes and delivery charges, arrangements for payment and
delivery, your rights to cancel and who will be responsible for
the cost of returning goods. If you agree to purchase something,
you should receive a letter, Fax or e-mail in confirmation and
detailing your consumer rights. All after sales services and
guarantees should be included.
You have, by law, a seven working days cooling-off period during
which you can freely change your mind and cancel your order. This
is seven working days from agreeing to buy a service or from
receiving a good. To cancel an order, a phone call is not
sufficient; you will need to do this in writing, by Fax or by e-
mail. However, if your purchase was for a service to start before
the end of the cooling-off period, then the cooling-off period
is cancelled. No cooling-off period will attach to computer
software, video or audio goods in which the sealed packaging has
been opened.
If you have already paid, the supplier must return your money
within 30 days. If anyone fraudulently misuses your credit card
details on the Net, you should inform the credit card issuer
immediately. The card issuer must make good your loss by
refunding the sum lost to your account.
For more advice (and more up-to-date advice) on your UK home
shopping consumer rights go to the Citizen's Advice Bureaux site
at:
www.adviceguide.org.uk
There is also a UK DTI consumer rights guide on these issues at:
www.consumer.gov.uk
If a seller fails to resolve any complaint you may have, you can
contact your local Trading Standards via:
www.tradngstandards.gov.uk
or look them up in the phone book and ring them.
When a courier delivers your goods, ensure that you check them
before signing for them. Otherwise, make a note at the side of
where you sign such as "Goods not examined" or ensure that the
delivery man does this for you.
3.4. Cookies and Spyware
Cookies can be either useful or wholly undesirable. No, they are
not free biscuits, they are small files.
3.4.1. What are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files which some Websites copy to your
hard disk whilst you are on their Web site. Some cookies are
desirable, such as those which record your account details when
you are on a site to save you from having to enter them each time
you log on or make a future purchase on that site, whilst others
are called third-party or tracker cookies and are more like
spyware programs and should be avoided if possible. The former
type of cookie can normally be accepted or rejected by you, but
you may find that the latter sometimes copy themselves to your
hard disk without your permission or even letting you know this
will occur. This latter kind of spyware cookie can then perform
a number of different undesirable tasks and relay information
back to the place where you inadvertently picked it up, such as
monitoring your Web surfing sessions, tracking the types of
purchases you make, etc. It is therefore a good idea to have a
cookie removing program or a fully-blown spyware remover on your
PC to get rid of the unwanted cookies (see section 6 for where
to get Ad-Aware from for this purpose).
3.4.2. Accepting or Rejecting Legitimate Cookies
and Controlling them via Internet Explorer
When you first go onto a shopping site you may be asked if you
want to receive a "cookie". If you are happy that this is a
quality site which you are likely to want to use in future, TAB
to the YES button and press ENTER to accept it. Otherwise, press
N for no. Some sites will not allow you to use them if you do not
accept a cookie, which should give you even more reason to doubt
the legitimacy of that site and avoid it in future, unless you
are absolutely sure that it is bona fide. AS already stated, a
ligitimate cookie is a file stored on your hard disk which holds
your personal details such as name, address, account number, etc,
so that if you revisit this site you will not have to provide
this information again. However, be aware that cookies can also
be used by online providers to track your Net surfing trends,
which may result in you receiving unsolicited e-mail or
snail-mail advertising. Some sites copy clandestine third-party
or tracker cookies to your hard disk without asking your
permission or telling you about this.
To use Internet Explorer's in-built cookie control filter instead
of or as well as any of the later-mentioned spyware programs you
can:
1. Launch Internet Explorer 6.
2. Press ALT T (for Tools) and then O (for Internet Options).
3. CONTROL TAB to the "Privacy" sheet and then TAB to "Advanced"
and press SPACEBAR.
4. Press SPACEBAR to check on "Overwrite Automatic Cookie
Handling". Then:
A. TAB once to a list of three options for first-party cookie
handling. These are: accept, block and prompt. The first of these
lets all first-party cookies onto your hard disk (only allows
cookies directly from the current site and not any from third-
party sites you are not currently on), the second stops all
cookies and the third (recommended for proper control of cookies
without stopping them all) will ask you to say yes or no to
allowing a cookie from the current site.
B. TAB once again to another list of the same three options but
this time for third-party cookies, i.e. cookies not directly from
the current site but permitted onto your hard disk from any other
site associated with this site--possibly market trends/goods
purchasing and advertising tracking cookies. ARROW to your
preference, e.g. to block all such usually unwanted cookies or
to again ensure that you are at least prompted and can choose yes
or no to each of these.
C. Then TAB once more to "Always Allow Session Cookies" and check
this on with the SPACEBAR if you are willing to allow cookies
onto your PC for the current session you are in on that Website
but which will then be removed after that session or leave it
unchecked if you still want to be prompted, for instance, before
these cookies are let onto your hard disk, depending on your
choices in the last two steps.
5. Then TAB to "OK" twice and press ENTER on each.
Note: You may find that asking for a prompt before a cookie is
allowed on your hard disk causes you to have to choose yes or no
too often and is more trouble than it is worth. This can happen
very frequently on some Websites. You may, in this case, wish to
accept all cookies and run a cookie/spyware remover regularly to
get rid of the undesirable ones instead of asking for a prompt
(see Section 6 below). Additionally, some sites will not let you
proceed on them unless you firstly accept their cookies--make
your own decision on this based on your knowledge about the
site/company and its quality and bona fides.
3.4.3. Exporting and Importing Your Desirable Cookies for Use on
another Computer
With Internet Explorer, you can save and/or export both Internet
Favourites and cookies for use on another computer, on another
browser on your current computer or simply to have a back-up copy
of them if you wish. You can even copy them to a disk and take
them with you elsewhere.
3.4.3.1. Saving/Exporting Cookies
For example, to export and save a copy of your list of cookies
contents into one single text file:
1. Launch Internet Explorer from your Desktop and then press ALT
F (for File) and then I (for Import and Export), and then TAB to
and press ENTER on "Next".
2. You will now be in a list containing four choices, namely to
import or export favourites or to import and export cookies.
ARROW to "Export Cookies" and press ENTER.
3. You are likely to be on the "Export to a File" option and you
can TAB through several options and information fields, e.g. the
default place your cookies' details will normally save to will
be in your My Documents folder with the filename "cookies.txt",
but you can type another path and filename in here to save to if
you like. Then TAB to "Next" and press ENTER. Note that if you
have more than one Internet browser available on your computer,
you may also have a second exporting option available at this
stage, which will be to export to another application.
4. Lastly, TAB to and press ENTER on "finish" and then on "OK".
Note 1: At step 2 above, if you had of chosen "Export
Favourites", you would have been able to save copies of your
saved favourites folder Websites for reinstallation if you ever
lost them or for copying onto another PC elsewhere, such as your
laptop.
Note 2: for some strange reason, if you try to view the contents
of your "cookies.txt" file in such as Notepad, your screenreader
is unlikely to be able to "see" anything in it but the text
contained within each separate cookie will, nonetheless, be in
their. The text will typically be on single, double or triple
lines, each cookie's entry being separated from the others by a
blank line. If you are familiar with DOS, you will be able to
view this with the DOS type command. Otherwise, you should be
able to view it in a word-processor like MS Word but when you
close the word-processor down, do not resave the file, because
if you do this the formatting of the text file will change and
it will become useless as a back-up and restorable cookies file.
3.4.3.2. Importing or Restoring Cookies to a Browser
You can now import (restore) the above cookies file to your
Internet Explorer cookies folder list or to another browser on
another computer by:
1. On your current or another computer, go through the same
procedure as outlined in the last sub-section but at step 3
select "Import Cookies" to overwrite the cookies list on that
other machine with your saved cookies list.
2. If you have saved your cookies other than in the default My
documents folder, use the "Browse" button to go to where it is.
If you are importing the cookies into Internet Explorer on a
different computer, you should have copied the cookies.txt file
to a floppy disk or CD first and then browse to the file on that
disk.
3. Lastly, TAB to and press ENTER on "Finish".
3.5. Description of Typical Online Shopping Store Purchase Forms
Shopping sites can vary greatly but when you first transact
business with an online shop you are likely to be asked for your
name and to provide a password of your own creation. When doing
this, if you do not remember passwords very well, use lower case
letters so that you do not forget which
letters you capitalised and which you left small. However, if you
can remember these facts, it is certainly more secure to make
some letters small and others capitalised in a password. You will
probably have to enter this password twice before it is accepted.
You will then have other form-type details to provide such as
your postal address, e-mail address, telephone number, etc. These
forms may have combinations of editfields, pick lists, check
boxes (use the SPACEBAR to check a box on or off), etc. You use
the standard keystrokes of TAB key to move forward through form
elements and SHIFT TAB to go back. When the
form is complete, TAB to the "Submit" or "Go" button and either
press SPACEBAR or ENTER. If you are presented with another
dialogue box to do with security matters, accept this by pressing
ENTER on "OK", or you may have had to do this before reaching the
form completion stage.
If, on a form, you encounter a list of choices or a combobox
which combines an editfield and a list of choices, it is usually
good practice to press ALT down ARROW before you start to down
ARROW through the list to ensure that the list opens up for you
first and you do not mistakenly select the wrong option. Any
personal details editfields which you may be presented with may
simply require you to type such as your date of birth in as
"12/08/1966 or they may expect you to type your day of birth in
the first field, automatically move you to the second field for
your month of birth and then move you to the year of your birth
field for you to type this in as 1966. Alternatively, you may
have to TAB from one date of birth field to another manually. Yet
another frequent possibility is that your date of birth (or
similar information requirements fields) may supply a list of the
days of the week, months of the year, etc, for you to ARROW down
and leave focus on before TABBING on to the next field.
At this juncture, (after registering with the site) you should
be able to browse around the online store but be aware that the
layout and format of stores can vary greatly. You can choose
items you wish to buy, which will mean that they will be added
to your "Shopping Basket" or "Shopping Cart", following which you
should TAB to the "Check Out". At this stage you will be asked
for your credit card details and you can provide these each time
you make a purchase or you may be able to check a box for the
site to permanently record these in a cookie. You will
more than likely then encounter a credit card list to ARROW up
and down to put focus on your own type of card,such as VISA, then
TAB on to a credit card number editfield to type in your card
number. Next will come listboxes asking you for the expiry date
of your card, from which you can pick the month and year of
expiry. You may then be asked for your credit card issue number.
You then TAB on to the "Submit" button and press ENTER. The site
is likely to be able to record the above details in a cookie it
puts on your hard disk so that you will not have to enter most
of these next time you make a purchase.
Note: With most screenreaders, when you encounter one of the
above form completion editfields, you may have to press ENTER to
go into forms mode before you can successfully type details in.
HAL 6.03 and later requires you to press CAPSLOCK ENTER and
should thereafter change from MSAA mode to forms mode
automatically and back again as required.
3.6. Shopping Online--Three Step by Step Practical Examples of
Making a Purchase with General Screenreaders to Work Through
Provided that you have a reasonably up-to-date and good quality
screenreader such as JAWS, HAL or Window-Eyes, you should be able
to use it to achieve the two below example Website online
purchase routines.
3.6.1. The UK Cobolt Systems Products for the Blind Site
The Cobolt Systems site is designed to be accessible to
screenreader users and so is a relatively straightforward
shopping site to use and is not too large for shopping site
beginners to tackle. To make a purchase online you would:
1. Launch your Web browser, e.g. Internet Explorer.
2. Press CONTROL O to bring up the Open dialogue and then type
the Cobolt site address in of:
www.cobolt.co.uk
and press ENTER.
3. After a short wait the Cobolt Welcome home page will load in
and you can then either ARROW or TAB down to view the links and
general text on it. Have a look at some of the associated pages,
such as "About Us", "News Page" and "Terms and Conditions", etc,
by pressing ENTER or SPACEBAR on the links to them. Keep
returning to the home page by pressing ALT left ARROW when you
have finished viewing these sub-pages or press ENTER on the
"Return to Cobolt Systems Home Page" link. Note that you have to
have cookies switched on to use this site and you can select to
have the site displayed with white text on a black background or
vice versa. Remember, your screenreader will feature special hot
keys to permit you to move quickly from one kind of element on
a Web page to another, such as between links, editfields, lists,
etc (see the appropriate sub-section above under the main heading
of "JAWS, HAL, Supernova and Window-Eyes Special Web Page
Navigation Hot Keys" to learn these hot keys for your own
screenreader and for the general Windows shortcuts).
4. To make a purchase, for example, of their talking colour
detector, ARROW or TAB to "Online Shop" and press ENTER or
SPACEBAR.
5. On the Online Shop page, which now opens up, you can ARROW or
TAB down links which will take you to further pages with
information about given categories of products, such as
"Batteries/Accessories", "Clocks and Watches", etc. When the
"Personal Items" link has focus, press ENTER. You may be able to
get here more quickly by using your screenreader's find hot key,
e.g. CONTROL SHIFT F with Window-Eyes, CONTROL INSERT F with JAWS
and F3 with HAL, and typing in "personal".
6. Now, on the new page which loads in, ARROW down the textual
information on that page. You should then note that each
individual item for purchase is listed in columnar form with
three columns as follows: a link with the name of the product
associated with it, followed by another link to see a picture of
the product and lastly the price of purchasing one item is given.
On the next line you will find a brief description of the product
and what it is designed to do. Either press your TAB key several
times until you reach "Talking Colour Detector" or use your
screenreader's or browser's find feature to jump straight to the
word "colour". Press ENTER or SPACEBAR on the "Talking Colour
Detector" link.
7. The next page will come up and you should ARROW down the more
detailed description of the colour detector and how it works.
Note that there are links to click or press ENTER on to hear (in
several languages) the type of speech you will get when using the
detector. As you move down the talking colour detector page you
will eventually come upon the price it will cost and below this
a "Quantity" heading with, just below it, an editfield displaying
the quantity of items you want to purchase. It will already have
the quantity of 1 inserted, as this is the number most people
want to buy, but you can press ENTER on this editfield and then
press the DELETE key to remove this figure and then type in
however many of them you would like if you want more than one.
Now TAB to "Add to Basket" and press ENTER to add the item or
items to your shopping basket.
9. Another page will now load in showing how many items are
currently in your shopping basket in columns. The number of items
will be shown and how much they will cost. If you decide you wish
to change the number of items you want to buy, you can go to the
number of items field, press ENTER or SPACEBAR to open it up (or
whatever method your particular screenreader uses) and then
delete the current figure and replace it with the new quantity.
You then TAB to the "Update Basket" link and press ENTER or
SPACEBAR. There are also buttons in here to remove particular
items and to completely empty the shopping basket if you decide
you no longer want any of your original choices. After making
your item and quantity selections, you TAB to the "Purchase"
button and press ENTER, SPACEBAR or left click on it.
10. A secure connection page will now load in to keep your
personal details and credit card information hidden from the view
of others and you have to press ENTER on an "OK" button. On this
new page you have to make one of a number of personal
circumstances declarations, e.g. whether you are a UK registered
disabled person, a UK organisation working with disabled people,
a person from abroad, etc. The default selection is number 1,
i.e. that you are a UK-based person who is registered disabled
and therefore exempt from payment of VAT. You can ARROW down the
other choices and select one of these if option 1 is not
appropriate to you. TABBING on from here permits you to provide
your personal details in separate editfields, e.g your name,
company, address, etc. You may have to press ENTER on the first
of these editfields before you can start to type text into any
of them to get into the correct mode with your screenreader. The
country details you give is part of a listbox which you can ARROW
up and down in until you get to your own country or press the
first letter of its name to jump to it. There is also a "Special"
or "Special Delivery Instructions" editfield if you want to ask
Cobolt to take non-standard action for you, e.g. "Do not despatch
the item before 31/3/05 as I will be on holiday up to that date".
Now TAB to the "Continue" button and press ENTER.
11. The "Final Purchase Approval" page now loads in and confirms
what you have ordered, how many of each item and the total amount
which will be deducted from your credit card. There is an
"Existing Account Holders" editfield for you to enter your name
in if you already have an account with Cobolt, so that all your
personal and credit card details are remembered and you do not
have to provide these when you use the site in future. This will
save much time with subsequent purchases. Under this you will TAB
to a list of the five types of credit cards which Cobolt are able
to accept, which are Master Card, Visa cards, Switch, etc. You
will have to open this list to be able to ARROW up and down it
and leave focus on the type of card you use, which can normally
be done by simply pressing ENTER or SPACEBAR on it. As you ARROW
or TAB down the various editfields you will note that your
details are automatically entered for you from information you
have already given. The next press of TAB should take you to one
of four small editfields where you start to type in your 16 digit
credit card number, so type the first four numbers in the first
field, press TAB, type the next four digits in the second field,
press TAB to the next field and continue until the last field is
completed. TABBING again once or twice takes you to two date
listboxes for your card issued date details but you need only
complete these if you are using a Switch card. TAB again to the
"Expire" listbox and then ARROW down to the month your card is
set to expire on, e.g. 04 for April, then TAB again and in the
next list ARROW down to the year of expiry, e.g. 2008. Keep on
TABBING through the completed details editfields until you reach
"Purchase Order" and then press ENTER or SPACEBAR.
12. The last page which now loads in is the "Purchase
Confirmation" page. This will provide an order reference number
which you should note and write down somewhere. It will be
something like: GEB-5A-XKV". You have now completed your purchase
and should receive your goods in a few days. This page also has
a "Continue Shopping" link on it in case you now decide you want
to go back and do some more shopping if you forgot something. You
do not receive an e-mail confirmation from this company.
13. If you fail to complete any relevant information whilst
making your order, you will be presented with another page
advising you of this and inviting you to return to an earlier
page to complete the fields you missed out or the selections you
failed to make. You TAB to the "Go Back" button to do this.
3.6.2. The Special Tesco Access Grocery Shopping Site
The UK Tesco supermarket online shopping site provides a text
only series of pages which are easier to use for screenreader
users.
However, as of the beginning of April 2005, I have heard that the
accessible Tesco site may soon be discontinued, as they are
making their main Tesco shopping site more accessible. Currently
the two sites do not work exactly the same. Another issue to note
at this point in time (which, presumably, will not persist for
long) is that if you place items in your shopping basket on the
access site but do not purchase them immediately and then return
to it later, your selected goods will no longer be in your
basket. Strangely, they will have been moved to and saved in your
main Tesco access shopping basket instead, from where you can
still effect your purchase if you like. Conversely, if you place
items in your main Tesco site basket and do not purchase them
immediately and then return their, these goods will have
disappeared and have been saved in the access site shopping
basket! This may all mean, therefore, that before long most of
the below special Tesco access shopping site information will
become obsolete. One way you may find that you can fix this
missing items in basket conundrum is to ensure, when you go onto
the Tesco site, that you switch pictures on, as it seems to be
this which can cause problems if turned off. You turn the
downloading of pictures on in Internet Explorer in Tools,
Internet Options, Advanced property sheet and in the list in here
ARROW down to "Show Pictures" and press SPACEBAR to turn it on.
You may wish to leave things this way if you are on broadband or
turn pictures off again after using the Tesco site if you have
a dial-up connection.
3.6.2.1. Introduction and General Information
In mid-summer 2001 Tesco provided a special series of Web pages
as part of their Website to enable people with special needs or
slower connections, e.g. visually impaired people, people using
mobile phone connections, etc, to be able to more easily use
their online grocery shopping and home delivery service. As yet,
you can only shop for groceries and not some goods, such as wine
and the full range of electrical equipment. However, this may
change over time. You cannot pay for these groceries in any other
way than by credit card online. You have to live in an area close
enough to be covered by a Tesco branch to make delivery feasible
and there is a fixed charge for delivery of œ5.
Whilst Tesco Access makes shopping quicker and easier for
visually impaired people, you do sometimes miss out on several
facts and opportunities which are available on the main Tesco
site, e.g. no information about product ingredients, no access
to the main electrical or wine departments, etc.
Your shopping can be delivered the next or any subsequent day
between the hours of 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. from Monday to Saturday
and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. You can specify a delivery
time within any two hour slot, e.g. 5 August from 1200 to 1400
hours.
3.6.2.2. Registering Yourself for Tesco Online Shopping
You would provide your details for Tesco registration as follows:
1. With your Internet browser, Go to the Tesco text only shopping
home page of:
www.tesco.co.uk/access
2. This page has only a few links. It is the Tesco Superstore
Login Page and you can TAB to "If you are a new Customer Click
Here to Register link". However, before doing this, have a look
at some of the other links, such as observing that you also use
this page to log on (provide your user password and registration
number) if you are already registered with Tesco prior to
starting to shop. Press ENTER or SPACEBAR on such information
links as "Click here to Find out More About this Service" and
"Click Here for Help on the Site", etc. After viewing the details
on these pages, go back to the Login page as normal by pressing
ALT left ARROW or ALT HOME.
3. Press ENTER on "If you are a New Customer Click Here to
Register" and complete your registration details, after pressing
ENTER on the "OK" button which the security screen provides. TAB
to "Terms and Conditions" and press ENTER on it to be sure that
you understand and accept these. After going through these, move
back to the registration page with ALT left ARROW and TAB down
the page and complete your details, remembering that you may have
to press ENTER on the first editfield with JAWS and Window-Eyes
to enter forms mode before you can type your details in. HAL
6.03s new forms mode is invoked by pressing CAPSLOCK ENTER. The
"Title" field is a listbox, so you just ARROW up or down this
until you have focus on your title, e.g. Mrs, Miss, etc, then TAB
on to complete the rest of your personal details, such as name
and post code. If you have no Club Card number, TAB to a Checkbox
under where it would be entered and press ENTER to check this on
and create a virtual/temporary number. Then TAB to "Send Details"
and press ENTER to complete the first page of your registration
information. You will be asked if you want the site to
automatically complete your personal details when you go online
in future to save you from having to do this and be on the "Yes"
option, so just press ENTER to accept this and save yourself time
in future.
4. A second personal details page now loads in where you will be
told where your nearest Tesco branch is. TAB from the top of the
page to an address field which might already have your address
in it. If it does not, type your house number and street name in
here, Then TAB to "Day Time Phone Number" and complete this plus
all of the other editfields. After the e-mail field you will have
to make up a password that you wish to use when login on in
future of between six and 12 digits, so type this in and then TAB
to the next editfield and retype the same password in here to
confirm. When typing this password in, you will only hear *stars
being spoken, so that no one else can see what you are choosing
for your password. After completing all fields, TAB to "Submit"
and press ENTER.
5. You will receive a welcome page congratulating you on your
successful registration. You will also receive an e-mail
confirmation of your registration within a few hours showing your
ID number and password but these two registration and login
numbers will also be on the screen for you to make a note of at
this stage if you wish. Underneath this there is a link to press
ENTER on to start shopping immediately but I would suggest that
you first go to the "Help" link and activate this for more
information on how to use the site first. It may take you 30 to
40 minutes to register, complete all details and observe most of
the conditions and usage information.
Note: If you have problems registering online in the above way--
but I know that you will not do this because it will nullify the
object of this exercise!--you can register by phone by ringing
Tesco Customer Services on 0845 7225533. This is not specifically
set up to register people by phone but if you explain that you
are visually impaired and having difficulty registering online,
they can do this for you. They are open 9 a.m to 8 p.m. Monday
to Saturday.
3.6.2.3. Shopping on the Tesco Site and Paying for Your Goods
Basically, you use the Tesco site by login on with your browser,
Searching for what you want, specifying what and how many of each
item you want, placing the items in the "Basket" and then going
to the "Checkout" to purchase them and give your credit card
details. So, for example, you would do this by:
1. With your Web browser go to:
www.tesco.co.uk/access
2. On this login page you will have to go into your
screenreader's edit or forms mode by TABBING to and pressing
ENTER on the first of the provided editfields and complete the
fields with your ID number or e-mail address and your password.
Some of these fields may already be completed if you asked the
site to save this information for you, so you may only have to
enter your password. Then TAB to "Click Here to Login" and press
ENTER. You may get a "Yes" or "OK" button to press ENTER on to
accept the login safety terms.
3. You will soon TAB to the "Search for Products" link and press
ENTER but first TAB to and have a look at some of the links you
can press ENTER on to view your past order history (previous
purchases), a link to view your favourite items, plus a "View
Your Shopping Basket and Proceed to Checkout" link. There is
usually a help link at the top of each page and it is a good idea
to activate this the first time you use the site for more
detailed guidance.
4. After pressing ENTER on the "Search for Products" link above,
you get a welcome page with links to such as "Department" and
"Search for a Product". If you press ENTER on the "Department"
option, you will enter a page which you can TAB or ARROW through
links to given departmental areas of goods, such as bread, beer,
baby items, etc.
5. On the "Department" page you are able to go directly to a
particular department, followed by a particular aisle, a
particular shelf of goods and, eventually, to the precise product
you want. Alternatively, you can activate a "Search" editfield
by pressing ENTER on it to have a given item found immediately
for you which you then have to add to your basket of goods to
eventually take to the checkout and pay for by credit card. Using
the department/aisle/shelf way of finding things can be slow but
will let you know the full range of goods available. The search
method is preferable for quick shopping when you know exactly
what you want. Remember, if you have pressed ENTER on any given
link to view what is on the next page, you can always press ALT
left ARROW to take you back to the previous page.
6. If you ARROW to the "Search for a Product" heading and go to
the editfield just below this and press ENTER to open it up, you
can then type such as "apples", "sausages", etc, to have the full
range of one of those items displayed below on a results page.
Do not use words like "the" or "and" in the search string, e.g.
do not search for such as "apples and sausages". Then TAB to and
press ENTER on the "search" button after typing your search
item's name in the editfield above this.
7. When you are at the level where the individual goods, such as
different types of loaves of bread or apples, are listed, you
will be given information on each good as follows: Description,
price and quantity. In the "Quantity" editfield you type in the
number of individual items or packets/boxes of that item you
want. Each time you type the amount of an item you want in this
editfield you should press ENTER, when it will be automatically
added to your shopping basket and this will be confirmed. You can
now TAB to and press ENTER on "Go Back to Previous List" and add
more items in the same way if you like.
8. If you want to be sure that you have got everything you want,
the correct amount and nothing you did not want, TAB to "View
Your Shopping Basket and Proceed to Checkout" and press ENTER.
Here the quantity, product, price and total of what you have put
into your basket for purchase are listed. Each individual item
price is shown and the full total which will later have the œ5
delivery (or whatever they may change this to) charge added.
9. If you decide that you want to change the number of items of
a particular product you want or get rid of a product altogether,
you can just press ENTER on the "Quantity" field to go into forms
mode and then delete the number currently shown and type the new
amount in followed by TABBING to "Update Basket" and pressing
ENTER. To remove an item from the basket, just delete the figure
and type in a 0. Then press ENTER to have the basket updated.
10. Near the bottom of the page, you can TAB to "Checkout Your
Order" and press ENTER or SPACEBAR on this to finish your
purchase by providing your credit card details for payment. You
are told that the cash transaction is done in a secure
environment and have to press ENTER on OK. The cost will again
be shown and you now provide the following details:
A. TAB to "Please Select a Delivery Slot" and ARROW down through
the choices. They have a day and two hour delivery time slot. Go
into forms mode by pressing ENTER and put the focus on the
day/time you want and then TAB to the next field.
B. In the next field you type in the persons full name who owns
the credit card. Then TAB to and complete the other fields one
by one. Note that the "Expiry Date" field is a dropdown list
which you ARROW up and down in until your credit card month of
expiry is revealed, e.g. 04 for April; then TAB once to do the
same for the year expiry date, e.g. 05 for 2005.
C. Lastly, TAB to "Send Your Order" and press ENTER or SPACEBAR
to finalise the purchase.
11. Notice, at the end of many pages, there is a "Logout" link
which you should press ENTER on before leaving the site.
12. Now,if you have finished surfing, exit your browser as normal
and close it down, e.g. with ALT F4 or ALT F and then C. All you
need now do is prey that the Tesco delivery man does not turn up
the following day with 480 tins of baked beans!
Note 1: The Tesco site has many more features not covered here,
so experiment by activating the links. The above should, however,
provide enough to get you going and stop you from starving!
Note 2: If you regularly buy certain commodities on the Tesco
site, you can build up "Favourites" and speed up shopping by
block selecting these followed by any extra purchases you need.
Note 3: The standard Tesco home page for general public use is
at:
www.tesco.co.uk
and if you want to see what is on the Tesco page which offers
goods other than groceries, e.g. wine, books, DVDs, Cds,
electrical items, etc, go to:
www.tesco.co.uk/extra
but be aware that these are not text only access pages and will
be full of graphical pictures for people to look at.
3.6.3. The Amazon Website
The following walks you through the standard famous Amazon
online-only Internet store to buy a print book:
NB: The Amazon site is a massive and therefore difficult site to
navigate and make sense of with a screenreader. It has hundreds
of links on its home page and features both new and second-hand
goods, including books, music Cds, garden equipment, mobile
phones, and the like. To have any chance on this site you need
a good dedicated Web browser like PWWebspeak, Webbie or Home Page
Reader or an up-to-date general screenreader because your
whereabouts can be much clearer and the search forms, editfields
and "Submit" buttons are found much easier than with older
screenreaders. You will need such as JAWS 4X, Window-Eyes 4.2
or HAL 6 or later. Additionally, depending on which screenreader
you possess and which version of it, after pressing ENTER on a
given link or button, you may find yourself partway down the next
page on the next link or editfield you require or you may find
yourself back at the top of the next page and have to ARROW or
TAB down the header links to where you next want to be.
To make a purchase on the Amazon site:
1. Run Internet Explorer and press CONTROL O, then type in:
www.amazon.co.uk
(for the UK)
or
www.amazon.com
(for the US)
and press enter.
2. The page will open and you can press CONTROL END to the bottom
of the home page and then press SHIFT TAB about 15 times until
you reach a "Text Only" link and press ENTER to go straight to
the text only page to avoid graphics. Alternatively, on this
large page you will find it worthwhile employing your
screenreader's list links feature to jump quickly to the above-
mentioned "Text Only" link, for example, with JAWS press INSERT
F7 and in the list of links you are now in simply start typing
the word "text" and you will be taken straight to the link in
question to press ENTER on it and load the text only page. The
Window-Eyes links list is opened with INSERT TAB. The HAL links
list for HAL before version 5.02 is open with ALT T and press
ENTER on "Dolphin Links Navigator" and for later versions of HAL
you are provided with the Dolphin Links Utility to list links on
a Web page by pressing CAPSLOCK 1 but you will then have to
repeatedly press the T key until you get to the "Text Only" link
as typing "text" in will not jump you straight there.
There are many header links on most pages on this site before you
get down to the new information which opens up when you get to
a new page, so use your PAGE down key once or twice to skip past
much of this repeated information. If you like, to get an idea
of the size of this home page and where things are, ARROW down
from the top of the text only home page and listen to its
contents and vast size until you reach the bottom.
Note: with some screenreaders you may have to go into
navigation/mouse mode to be able to ARROW down a page and may
have to press PAGE down to obtain the next screenful of
information.
3. Now go to the top of the home page with CONTROL HOME and ARROW
down several times to the category of item you want to buy, e.g.
the "books" link, and press ENTER.
4. After the next page loads in, you should already be on a
search link called "Book Search" to press ENTRE on. If not, it
comes about 16 TAB presses down from the top of the page. You
will now be in the next page and on an "author" editfield and you
should press ENTER to go into forms and editing mode. If you are
not automatically on this editfield, TAB down to it or use your
screenreader's jump to first editfield hot key, e.g. CONTROL
INSERT HOME in JAWS and ALT Control down ARROW or just the X key
in Window-Eyes from the top of the page. you now type in to this
field the details of what you wish to have searched for, e.g. an
author's name, such as Charles Dickens. Now immediately press
ENTER or press the TAB key again until you reach the "Search Now"
button and press ENTER or SPACEBAR to find these books, both
should do the job.
5. You will be at the top of the page with all of the annoying
header links below again, so you should skip past these again by
pressing PAGE down once or twice and by ARROWING down a few
times, when you will then find All Dickens' books supplied by
Amazon will be displayed in all formats and you can ARROW down
them and press ENTER on any book title link to bring up a details
page called "At a Glance".
6. The At a Glance page will allow you to view such as editors'
reviews on the book you chose, customers' comments about it, what
Amazon's price for it is, and so forth. You can even give a book
on their site a rating from one to five yourself if you have read
it and want to do this.
7. Now press ALT left ARROW to return to the last page you were
on and then ARROW down a few times to a "Add to Basket" link if
you want to buy this book and add it to your shopping basket to
be paid for shortly. Do this with each book you want to buy. Then
ARROW down a lot more to the "Proceed to check Out" button and
press ENTER or jump to it with your screenreader's find feature,
e.g. CONTROL INSERT F with JAWS, CONTROL SHIFT F with Window-Eyes
and F3 with HAL . Note that the Amazon site and checkout button
changed in the last quarter of 2004 and with some screenreaders
you may not be able to activate the Checkout button without first
going to it and then going into Jaws or navigation mode and
routing your cursers together before pressing your screenreader's
simulate left mouse click button.
8. If you already have an account set up with Amazon, you will
be thanked for your order and your name and the fact that the
book will be sent to you will be confirmed.
9. If this is your first Amazon purchase, you will have a form
to complete with your personal details , so TAB to the first
editfield, which is the e-mail address field, and press ENTER to
go into forms mode before typing it in. Then TAB to and complete
the other fields in this way with the requested personal details
and ARROW to the "I am a New Customer" option if you are not
already on it. Then TAB to the "Sign In" button and press ENTER
and also press ENTER on the security "OK" button when this comes
up. After the above stage, you have to provide such as credit
card details and you can create a password for future use here.
10. After completing the above form, you should then TAB to the
"Submit" button and press ENTER to confirm. If you find this
providing of personal details stage in these forms to be
difficult, you might like to get sighted help at this stage.
Thereafter, as someone who is signed on with all pertinent
details recorded with Amazon and a password, it will be much
easier to pay for your goods in future.
11. You will be advised that your order has been accepted and
that you need do no more. The process is now at an end and you
should receive your book in a few days.
Note 1: If you want, in future, to skip the Amazon graphics home
page and go directly to the text only home page, at step 1 above,
you can simply type the below into the Internet Explorer Address
Bar:
www.amazon.co.uk/text
or
www.amazon.com/text
Note 2: Because the Amazon Web site is so large, you would be
advised to use your screenreader's place marker feature, if it
has one, to mark where certain links, editfields and buttons are
to be able to get to them quickly in future, e.g. CONTROL SHIFT
K with JAWS.
Note 3: Do not forget that if you get stuck or a little
frustrated with this or any other Web site and if you do not have
a broadband Internet connection and want to be able to take more
time over finding your way around it without being online running
up a phoned bill, you can always open as many pages on a site as
interest you and then come offline. You can then re-launch
Internet Explorer and type www.amazon.co.uk/text into the Address
Bar and then press left ALT key and O when your Dial-Up
Networking dialogue comes up to abort going onto the Net and
instead load in the pages you have already displayed on the site
and run them and move between them. They are all held on your
hard disk in your Internet Explorer history folder, although any
HTTPS:// pages will not be their if you turned off the saving of
these types of pages for security reasons.
3.7. Step by Step PWWebspeak Dedicated Web Browser Example of
Making a Purchase on the Amazon Site
PWWebspeak is a dedicated and independent Web browser for
visually impaired users. It comes complete with its own speech
capability, so you do not require any other screenreader working
along with it. It used to be a purchasable program but is now
given away freely, although it is not kept updated by its makers.
It works well on basic Websites.
To download a free copy of PWWebspeak, go to:
www.soundlinks.com/pwgen.htm
You should then install PWWebspeak as normal, read its Readme.txt
files and provided manual, etc, and when familiar with the basics
of how it works, use it as follows.
1. Start up PWWebspeak and press F2 to open up the address
editfield. Type in:
www.amazon.co.uk
or
www.amazon.co.uk/text
and press ENTER.
2. The Amazon home page will load in and you can either TAB
forward or ARROW down the information and links until PWWebspeak
speaks a "Books" link. Press ENTER on this and the books page
will load in.
3. Now TAB to a "Book Search" link and press SPACEBAR.
4. TAB until PWWebspeak says "Start of a Data Entry Form and "TAB
again until "A Single Line Text Entry Field" is spoken and press
ENTER. Then enter the key words for the search, such as the
author's name, book title, etc, e.g. Charles Dickens, then TAB
to the "Go" button and press the SPACEBAR to submit the search
string.
5. The full list of Dickens' books will be displayed and you can
ARROW down through these and also see what formats they are
in, such as paperback. If you press ENTER on the title David
Copperfield, the "At a Glance" page will open where you can view
reviews, customer comments, etc, about this book.
6. You will have to ARROW OR TAB down to get to the
"Add to Shopping Basket" link and press SPACEBAR to add this book
for purchase.
7. You should now ARROW down to the "Proceed to Check Out" button
and press the SPACEBAR.
8. The check out page will load with guarantees and instructional
information on it. You should ARROW down to a form where you will
have to enter your personal details, select the "New Customer"
button by ARROWING to it and press ENTER on the "Sign In" button
to create a password, etc. You will then have your credit card
details,
card expiry date, etc, to provide, before submitting this
information with the submit button.
9. You will be advised that your order has been accepted and
that you need do no more. The process is now at an end and you
should receive your book in a few days.
3.8. E-Wallets
Internet forms can be difficult and time-consuming to complete,
so some online stores permit you to set up an account with your
personal details to speed up online shopping for frequent
shoppers (as indicated in the above paragraphs in respect of
cookies and online forms). However, a more
convenient and flexible alternative to this is to use an "e-
wallet", where all of your personal details are stored on your
PC for transfer to a vendor's server quickly and easily. For
example, Microsoft's offering in this field is called "Wallet"
and is built into Internet Explorer 4 and above, but for it to
work a vendor must agreed to participate in the scheme. Thus, e-
wallets are not globally accepted by online shops and so have
limited use, and may not be available in your version of Internet
Explorer. I only mention them here for informational purposes.
3.9. UK and US Shopping Price Comparison Sites
A UK-based prices comparison site for shopping is:
www.Shopsmart.com
This site ensures that you find the best price for an item by
automatically comparing prices it has on books, music, DVDs,
computer software, food and drink, etc, across various Websites.
It then lists the prices it finds for you, so that you can get
the best deal available. Shopsmart also has links to over 2,000
secure UK online shops for you to jump to.
Other UK comparison Websites of interest on an energy saving
theme are:
www.energywatch.org.uk
www.ukpower.co.uk
Some equivalent US prices Comparison sites can be found at:
www.pricewatch.com
www.computershopper.com
www.shopping.com
www.lowermybills.com
and Yahoo has a prices comparison search feature on its e-
commerce page found at:
www.yahoo.com
3.10. Some good Places to Find Online Shops
Try surfing to and browsing through some of the below offerings.
3.10.1. The Amazon Shop
www.amazon.co.uk
(In the UK)
or
www.amazon.com
(in the US)
This has a vast choice of print books, music Cds and other goods
and quick delivery. When on this site you can search for a book
by its title, author, publisher or date, or peruse through the
various categories of books. Sometimes only best-sellers are
listed but other titles can also be purchased. You can complete
the transaction and obtain delivery with a single click after
registering, providing your home address and credit card number.
If you change your mind, you can cancel the order online within
90 minutes. You can also store titles in your "shopping basket"
for up to 90 days before finally deciding if you want them. Each
book has a short write-up and there may be e-mail or Amazon
editors reviews and customers comments. The site's search
facility finds and mixes together audio books, hard backs and
paper backs. Books can be gift- wrapped. Purchase of single items
is likely to work out dearer than standard retail shopping but
buying several books at once may work out cheaper. You can also
purchase other items such as Cds and hear music online. Delivery
is likely to be within two or three days and your order
confirmation should be e-mail to you within ten to twenty hours.
Early in 2004 Amazon created an ability on their site for people
to view the whole content of a book before purchase.
To be taken step by step through the Amazon site to purchase an
item with both general screenreaders and the PWWebspeak dedicated
Internet browser, see the examples earlier in this section.
3.10.2. The Cdnow Shop
www.cdnow.com
This US-based online shop sells CDs, DVDs and
videos. You can sample selected tracks using
streaming audio and download MP3s. The Web page has a list of
options on the left and on the right special offers and many
links. Cds cost about 30 per cent less than UK prices but may
take up to five weeks to be delivered to the UK.
3.10.3. The Emusic Shop
www.emusic.com
This is a site where you can hear and buy music online.
3.10.4. The Expedia Shop
www.Expedia.co.uk
This UK Microsoft site permits you to book a flight, holiday,
rent a car and obtain travel related information. You can use the
flight wizard to search for available seats on given flights. You
can compare available flight prices for a particular journey. The
Places Section is an information magazine. The Resources Section
provides information on insurance and health requirements. You
can reserve a flight until midnight the following day. After
placing an order you should receive an e-mail confirmation in ten
to twenty hours and the tickets should arrive within a few days.
3.10.5. The Train Enquiry Shop
www.thetrainline.com
You can check UK train times, reserve seats, buy tickets and
obtain rail-related information from this site.
3.10.6. The Index and Argos Shops
www.indexshop.com
and
www.argos.co.uk
These are the sites of the Argos and Index retailers which are
found throughout the UK and also have many high street outlets
supplying a full range of household, clothing and other goods.
3.10.7. The Cdwow Shop
www.cdwow.co.uk
Provides a UK site to purchase cheap music CDs, videos and DVDs
without incurring a delivery charge.
********
>SECTION 4
ONLINE AUCTIONS
Another aspect of online shopping--but with a different and more
participative feel about them--are the online auction sites. You
can get genuine bargains at some of these but others do no more
than sell high street suppliers' goods at a reserve price equal
to the shop price and if you bid more you end up paying more than
the shop prices. If you bid for an item and win it, you have
entered into a legally binding contract as normal. Some such
auctions are as follows but first make yourself aware of some of
the basic Website auction terminology.
4.1. Auction terminology
Bid: When you offer an amount of money for an item, you are said
to have made a "bid" for it.
Hammer Fall: When the exact time for the auction to end on a
given lot is reached the sale of that item is complete and the
highest bidder wins the item (provided that any reserve price has
been reached) and the "hammer" is said to fall at that time in
favour of the highest bidder.
Maximum Autobid: This is whereby you tell the auction site the
maximum amount you are prepared to go up to for an item and when
your last bid is beaten the system will automatically bid up for
you by just enough to secure the item, until your maximum bid is
reached, when it will then duck out for you.
Lot: A lot is the name given to an item being bid for.
Reserve: Some items in an auction have no reserve price and so
can sell at the highest bid irrespective of how low that might
be. However, some items will have a "reserve" put on them so that
they will not sell if the highest bid is below that reserve.
Win: If you make the highest bid for an item in an auction and
it becomes your property, you are said to "win" that item.
4.2. Different Types of Online Auctions
There are a large number of online auction sites these days and
you can buy anything in the world from many of them. Have a
general browse around some of the below examples.
4.2.1. The QXL Auction Site
www.qxl.com
QXL is a UK site where you can bid for anything from antiques and
holidays to computer equipment. This is not really a bona fide
auction, as they sell many things direct from new suppliers, so
be sure you are getting good value before bidding over a certain
price. You will have to register and give your credit card
details to take part in substantial auction bidding but you can
bid for second-hand goods without submitting your credit card
details first.
QXL auctions normally go on for a period of five to seven days
but if you want something you should pay particular attention to
the bids in the last hour or two of bidding. You can also use the
maximum auto-bid facility, whereby you enter the maximum amount
you are prepared to go up to and when your last bid is beaten
the system will automatically bid up for you by just enough to
secure the item, until your maximum bid is reached, when it will
then duck out for you. If you need more information about a lot
before deciding whether or not to bid, such as a better
description, warranty details, etc, e-mail the company for this
first.
If you win a lot in the auction, you will receive an e-mail
confirmation of your bid price and the cost of post and packaging
on top. Your credit card will be debited automatically
straightaway. The good should arrive in a few days by carrier.
If the goods are not in good order when delivered, you should
contact the company within 24 hours to complain. ask for a
replacement and if none is available insist on a cash refund
rather than accepting a credit note. If you have to ask for your
money back, be sure to include any cost of posting the goods back
to the company as well. If you have problems with auction
companies, you have the same recourse to Trading Standards as
usual, e.g. if the goods do not match the auction description.
Most auction sites work very similarly to QXL, although many deal
almost exclusively in second-hand goods and so these will be
proper auctions where you can obtain many bargains--but also many
bad deals, so be careful.
Some other auction sites you may wish to look at are detailed
below.
4.2.2. The Morgan Auction Site
www.morgan-auctions.co.uk
This is where new end-of-the-line and second-hand PCs and
computer accessories and goods like mobile phones and dictaphones
are sold off. Morgan do not have reserve prices, so you can get
genuine bargains here. Morgan have a few high street shops where
you can pick up your goods from or take them back to if they are
faulty. Morgan give their own warranties on goods they sell. I
walk you through using this auction site in an example at the end
of this section.
4.2.3. The Free Serve Auction Site
www.freeserveauctions.co.uk
Here is Freeserve's auction site, with a wide range of goods such
as new and second-hand computer hardware, holidays, etc, and you
can even bid for personal lots from other members of the public
registered with the site. Since Wanadoo took over Freeserve,
their auction site has changed and much of it now links to the
Ebay auction site.
4.2.4. The American Blind Treasures Auction Site
www.blindtreasures.com/auction
Here is an auction site set-up in September 2002 specifically for
blind people to auction anything they like, not just IT
equipment. There are no charges and the site simply provides an
interface to bring competitive buyers and sellers together. It
is US-based, so not everything may be suitable for UK
participants to bid for, e.g. mains Electrical goods may have a
different power rating and the cost of shipping goods may make
it uneconomical to purchase them.
4.2.5. The Ebay Auction Site
www.ebay.co.uk
(in the UK)
or
www.ebay.com
(in the US)
Ebay, in the last couple of years, has become the world's biggest
online auction site. You can buy and sell just about anything on
Ebay's auction sites and you can pay for your goods using Ebay's
own secure payment system called Paypal. Ebay has all of the
procedures and notification systems that you would expect from
a top auction site.
4.2.6. The Nochex Auction site
www.nochex.co/uk
Nochex is not itself an auction site. It is a service for paying
money over electronically, instead of using a paper cheque or
credit card, just like Paypal is. However, on the Nochex site,
you will find a list of UK-based auction sites to surf to and
examine for more information about auction sites and to try your
hand in bidding, etc, if you like.
4.3. Step by Step Example of Using an Online Auction--The Morgan
Site
To use the Morgan computer auction site you must sign up with
them and provide your credit card details and choose your own
username and password. However, it is possible for anyone to have
a look around this site before signing up and placing a bid. What
you do is:
1. Launch Internet Explorer (or your browser of choice) and press
CONTROL O then type in the Morgan site URL, which is:
www.morgan-auctions.co.uk
2. TAB and ARROW through the elements and text on this site and
press ENTER or SPACEBAR on some links to have a good look at the
help and information pages which Morgan provide, e.g. "Customer
Information", "FAQs", "Terms and Conditions", "Auction History",
etc. Keep returning to the home page after reading these sub-
pages by pressing ALT left ARROW.
3. Tab (or ARRow down) to "Register to Bid" and press ENTER to
register (or do this later if you do not wish to at this stage).
The registration form which loads in is basically as follows:
A. The registration form comes up and tells you that you are on
a Red Kanetics secure page which no one else can view. Press
ENTER on OK and then ARROW or TAB down to the "Preferred
Username" editfield and press ENTER to go into forms mode to be
able to type this in, e.g. JohnW or whatever you like.
B. Then TAB to "E-Mail" and ENTER your e-mail address, as they
need this to e- mail your registration confirmation back to you
and confirmation of any lots you have bid for and won.
C. TAB to "First Name" and type your Christian name in as normal,
followed by TABBING and completing the rest of the form in the
usual way.
D. In completing the rest of the information fields you will have
to enter your password twice in both fields, sometimes you will
have to ARROW up and down multiple selection lists and when you
get to the "Expiry Date" field, you first type in the month
expiry date of your credit card, e.g. 02 (for February), then TAB
to the next field and type in the year expiry date, e.g. 2008.
In the "Fax" editfield, if you have no FAX, type your standard
voice phone number in, as the site will not accept you leaving
this blank or just typing none in.
E. You will eventually TAB to the "Submit" button, so press ENTER
or SPACEBAR on this to send the completed form to Morgan. Your
confirmation e-mail will be returned in a few hours or perhaps
the following