Yes, I agree, printing spreadsheets that are visually pleasing and usable is a real challenge for a blind user. If you are printing the same reports time after time, then it is worth the time to sit down with someone sighted and format the document. If the reports change all of the time, then here are some things to keep in mind that will need to be checked and possibly modified before printing a spreadsheet.
Is your data too wide or too long to fit on 1 sheet of paper? Do the margins need to be adjusted? Is landscape or portrait better for displaying the information in the spreadsheet? Is the width of the column too long or too short for the data that is displayed in it? Is using Wrap Text in a cell an option for reducing the width of a cell or column? Consider whether the data in a column should be Left justified, Centered or Right justified? Examples: money should be Right justified so that the decimal points are aligned in a vertical line. Column headings are often centered, but depending on the data it is representing you might need to left or right justify it to improve readability. If a header is significantly longer than the data it represents, is there another way to display the header? Examples: Wrap text, abbreviate the words in the header, display the text vertically or at an angle. Font size might need to be adjusted to be able to fit more info on the page or to improve readability. Larger font is helpful when there is a lot of numbers to read. Although grid lines are visible on the screen, do you need to turn them on for your print out to improve readability? Some people like to use alternating colored rows to improve readability. This can play havoc with JAWS. Grey shading works better with JAWS, but you have to be aware of how dark it is so that it does not decrease readability of the text. If you have to frequently add rows between printings, this can throw off the alternating color pattern. I'm not sure if there is a setting in Excel that automatically manages the alternating pattern. Is your header row mark as such so that it can be told to repeat at the top of every page? When the row of data spreads out across 2 pages, is there a need for repeating a particular column of information so that the reader knows which row of data they are reading? Although it is doable for a visually impaired person to format a spreadsheet to be visually pleasing ad well as readable, it is extremely time consuming. There are a number of JAWS command that can provide you with information so that you can figure out if you need to make adjustments, but it usually takes many hardcopy reviews by a sighted person. Also keep in mind that when a sighted person makes final formatting adjustments to a spreadsheet, they can usually accomplish it with just a drag of a mouse at the point of the problem. So here are my final thoughts on this topic: 1. Ask for more training with how to use Excel with JAWS. 2. See if you can format a document once and not have to adjust it every time you need to print a report. 3. Can you provide your spreadsheets electronically so that the recipient can make the necessary visual adjustments? 4. Is it possible for you to receive reader services from a human? Sometimes it is cheaper to hire a reader then to have the employee accomplish this task independently. If they are paying you $20 per hour and it takes you 3 hours to get the document ready for final printing, they are paying out $60 and losing 2.5 hours or more of productive time out of you. With the assistance of a reader, you most likely can get a spreadsheet formatted with sighted help in less than 30 minutes. So a reader hired at $10 per hour will put the cost of accomplishing this task at $15 for 30 minutes of work. Now most reader services have a hourly minimum, so if it is 2 hours the cost of this 30 minute job is $30. Still less than the $60 of you doing it yourself. I'm sure you can find other tasks that the reader can help you with during the remaining 90 minutes. Ok, I will stop rambling on as I've drifted off-topic. HTH, Annette -----Original Message----- From: Blind-Computing [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Mujtaba Merchant Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2013 12:54 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] excel printing Hello, This is kind of difficult to answer for any blind computer user. You might want to look at the page layout of your excel sheet. If it's portrait it means it's vertical in layout. If it's landscape, it's horizontal in layout. Printing a worksheet also depends on how many columns you have filled in the sheet, there is a difference on how many cells are actually visible and are actually there. The key combination Insert + F1 will give you the summary of the worksheet in focus. Also under the view menu, you can choose how the worksheet can be seen, printlayout etc. While printing you are given a dialog box that allows one to print the current page or selected page like 1 to 3 etc. Users are also given the option to print the selected area, for example if you have selected cells a1:f112 all the matter in those selected cells will be printed. Note: Each worksheet has gridlines visible to the user, it represents cells on the worksheet. But while printing these gridlines are not printed unless you have provided the cells with a thin grid line border. Giving your printout a table like look. The safest suggestion I can offer here is take a sighted friend with you and practice the art of printing again and again. I sincerely apologize for not being of any ground breaking help but this is the best I can do at this point in time. -----Original Message----- From: Blind-Computing [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of romance's prince Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2013 4:45 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Blind-Computing] excel printing hello friends am totally blind, use excel in my work, and need to print reports and applications from excel, the problem am facing that sighted people always send me complains that sheet not formatted good and not fine in printing. please, need the steps which help me to format excellent sheet which will be printed on A4 paper. am using jaws, excel 2003. many thanks beero For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: http://www.jaws-users.com/help/ For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: http://www.jaws-users.com/help/ For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: http://www.jaws-users.com/help/
