Here are the most frustrating issues I regularly encounter with WE 9 beta3: We sometimes stops speaking apparently at the end of a screen/page. This sporadic behavior occurs in Word, IE 11, and Outlook 2007. When I am working in a document, writing or reading e-mail, or navigating down a web page using the arrow keys, intermittently WE will stop speaking as I arrow down. Speech returns only after Alt-tabbing away from and back to the page I was on when the speech stopped. This can also happen when I am writing a document or e-mail. Speech abruptly stops as I am typing. Speech returns with the Alt-tab away and back routine. Read-to-end results are unreliable. Most of the time Ctrl-Shift-r causes WE to read a file or message from the point where I activate read-to-end to the end as expected. Other times, only about 2 or 3 lines will be read. In other cases, only what seems to be the current screen or document page will be spoken. When this happens I sometimes can arrow down one line and restart read-to-end again) Ctrl-Shift-r) and continue having the entire document read. But other times if I restart read-to-end, only 2 or 3 lines will be read and then speaking stops. The 2 or 3 line pattern will continue to the end of the document. I have not detected any differences between files or pages that read-to-end correctly and those that have reading interrupted. Speech often quits when an inscrutable "OK" button is spoken by WE. I have been unable to locate any such "OK" button. Sighted helpers cannot find an "OK" button when this occurs while they are in the room. Again, Alt-tabbing away from and back to the screen I was on causes speech to resume. This oddity is very frustrating when I am in the middle of writing a sentence and "OK button" is spoken by WE. Speech stops on that page, I have to Alt-tab away and back, and try to regain my thoughts. My typing was interrupted by "OK button" two sentences ago after I typed "in the middle." This happens with vexatious, unpredictable frequency. When I am writing a document or message speech sometimes will stop on a page for no obvious reason. I cannot go back to review what I have typed by using Ctrl-left arrow. Up arrow will not cause prior lines to be read. Going to the top of the page with Ctrl-Home and back to where I was typing with Ctrl-End usually restores speech as I type. Other times I must Ctrl-tab away from and back to my work to be able to proceed. We occasionally loses focus when I try to move from one page to another link on the same website. I click a link, the intended page launches and loads, but all WE will say as I try to arrow up or down the page is "blank, blank, blank." If I turn browse mode off and back on )Ctrl-Shift-a) and go to the top of the page, all is spoken as intended. Again, I have been unable to discern any causative factors for this behavior. I did find an odd pair of combo boxes on my credit union online banking funds transfer page that work unlike any combo boxes I have encountered before. They are unreadable by pressing "Enter" when the cursor is on the combo box, nor by turning browse mode off with Ctrl-Shift-a while on the combo box. Routing the mouse pointer to the combo box with numbpad Insert-+ when the cursor is on the box sporadically will open the combo box and allow access to the list items using numbpad mouse controls. Other combo boxes on the credit union's online banking website operate normally with WE. I have brought this strange combo box operation to the attention of the IT department of my credit union. The online banking software has been updated in the past few days, and it appears not to follow accessibility guidelines on these two critical combo boxes. WE just said "OK button." I Alt-tabbed away and back to conclude with the following paragraph. Those are the issues presenting me persistent aggravations with WE 9 Beta 3. I look forward to Beta 4 and the production release of WE 9. I have all faith that these issues will be resolved and that the final WE 9 will provide overall solid, dependable, enhanced access to my computer applications. I am enjoying quicker response, access to web page elements not spoken by WE 8.4 and earlier, and other very positive developments working handily at this point of the Beta cycle of WE 9. Many thanks for the excellent work, GWMicro/AI Squared! Ed Culpepper WE 9 Beta 3, Win 7 Home, 32-bit Lenova Thinkbox, 4 Gb RAM, IE 11, Word and Outlook 2007 J. Edward Culpepper, Ph.D. Huntsville, Alabama Visit my weekly devotional blog, "Blind Faith," at: <http://blindfaith.fbchsv2.org/> http://blindfaith.fbchsv2.org/
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