Guess What? Window-Eyes 8.0 Beta 1 Supports Windows 8!
Oct-16-2012
Disclaimer
The following message includes information regarding Window-Eyes 8.0 Beta 1. Please note that Window-Eyes 8.0 Beta 1 HAS NOT been released at this time. We are, however, providing you with some small glimpses into the features that Window-Eyes 8.0 Beta 1 will contain. We are currently not answering any questions regarding the functionality of the beta. The only things we're going to talk about will be what we have included in our Guess What series, which will continue up to the beta release date. We will answer all questions at that time. Please be patient; you will be rewarded.
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Enjoy!
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Welcome to GW Micro's "Guess What?" series, an introductory look at the highly anticipated release of Window-Eyes 8.0 Beta 1.
We’ll be covering a new feature in Window-Eyes 8.0 Beta 1 until its release, so stop by our web site daily (www.gwmicro.com/beta) to make sure you don't miss any of the exciting new features.
Today, we look at the brand new support for Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 8.
Windows 8 will start shipping on Friday, October 26. This means if you are using the public beta of Window-Eyes 8, you will be able to use Windows 8.
Windows 8 is Microsoft's first attempt to bring a mobile interface to a desktop platform. It has a new concept called the Modern Desktop Start screen, which we will refer to as the Start screen for short. This new Start screen replaces the Start menu that Windows users know from previous versions. The Start screen is where you will be once you login to Windows 8. It is composed of tiles, which are similar to icons. Tiles represent modern apps (also just called apps) and programs that you can open by pressing Enter on them. Tiles are placed into groups making it easy to navigate to the group of tiles that you want to interact with.
You can use the Arrow keys to move through these tiles. However, using the standard keys that Microsoft has provided will skip some tiles because some tiles are large and some are small. Window-Eyes solves this problem and provides intuitive navigation with the following keystrokes:
Insert-Down Arrow: Moves to next Tile in Group
Insert-Up Arrow: Moves to previous Tile in Group
Insert-Right Arrow: Moves to next Group
Insert-Left Arrow: Moves to previous Group
Insert-Home: Moves to first Tile in Group
Insert-End: Moves to last Tile in Group
When you move through tiles, some of them will update from information they are retrieving from the Internet. These are called "live tiles." A good example of this is the Bing tile. As you focus the Bing tile, Window-Eyes will read you the latest information from the tile.
While you can use the keystrokes mentioned previously to navigate the Start screen, Window-Eyes provides a special feature that puts all groups and their respective tiles into a tree view within its own dialog that you can open by pressing Insert-Tab. This allows for quick first letter navigation not offered by the Start screen in Windows 8. This dialog presents a tree view of the groups with items as aforementioned, an Activate button, Focus button, Select button, and a Close button. Using the buttons in this dialog will allow you to easily interact with any of the items on the Start screen.
Toast Notifications
Windows 8 presents new terminology, such as Toast Notifications; sometimes called Toast or Toasts for short. What is a Toast? Essentially, a Toast is text that appears in the upper right-hand corner of the screen that notifies the user that something important is happening. Sighted users can click or tap on the Toast to open it. Toasts are only available for a short period of time before they disappear similar to balloon tooltips that appear in the Notification Area. As soon as a Toast appears, Window-Eyes moves the mouse pointer over top of the Toast so that you can click on it to interact with it. For example, if you insert a USB flash drive, a Toast will appear. You can then click on the Toast by pressing Numpad-Slash to interact with the various options. After you have clicked, you can press the Up or Down Arrow keys to navigate the options.
Window-Eyes also makes it easy to review previous Toasts by putting them in a list that you may review at any time. To review these Toasts, perform the following steps:
1. Press Control-Backslash to open Window-Eyes
2. Press Alt-A to open the Apps menu
3. Press W to access the Windows Enhanced pull-down menu
4. Press Enter to open the menu
5. Press Enter on Toast
6. Press the Down Arrow to get to Toast History
7. Press Enter
You can now press the Up or Down Arrow to move through the list of Toast notifications. To clear the list, Tab to the Clear History button and press Enter.
Store
Windows 8 includes a new concept called the Store. This is where you can buy and download apps. These apps will be available on your Start screen once they are installed.
Here is how you can use the power of Window-Eyes to download an app:
1. First, open the store by activating the Store tile. Press Insert-Tab to list the tiles
2. Press S until you hear "store"
3. Press Enter
4. To start searching for an app on the store, begin typing the first few letters of the app. In this case, we will type, "pop"
5. Next, press the Down Arrow to get to a list of app suggestions. We will Down Arrow until we are on Popular Science and then press Enter.
6. A list of potential apps appear in the Store. Press Tab until you are in the list of suggestions in the Store.
As you heard, each app can tell you if it is accessible or not. This means that the developer of the app either believes it is or is not accessible. The Popular Science app says it is not accessible, so we will press Down Arrow to get to the next app. This app is free and is called "HE Science Quotes." We can look at the details of the app by pressing Enter on it.
You can read the ratings of the app among other items, but we know that we want to install this app, so we will find the Install button and press Enter. The app begins installing in the background and once it has installed, a Toast notification will appear letting us know that it has installed. As previously noted, the mouse pointer automatically routed to the Toast and we could click on the Toast to immediately open the app.
Finding an App
Now that we have installed the app, let's look at how to find it and open it. We will press the Windows Key until we are back at the Start screen. You will remember that we used a very special Window-Eyes feature to navigate the Start screen with first letter navigation. This is because the Start screen does not inherently support first letter navigation. Instead, as you begin typing, Windows begins searching for apps related to your search. We know our app was called "HE Science Quotes," so we will type the first few letters of the word "quotes." You hear that the app has been found. Press Enter and the app will open. This app simply displays a quote from a scientist. To re-read the information in this app, you can press Control-Shift-W. To close the app, press Alt-F4.
Charms
Windows 8 includes Charms, which are found in the Charm bar. You can open the Charm bar by pressing Windows Key-C. By pressing Windows Key-C, a vertical menu opens on the right-hand portion of the screen. You can then begin to press Tab or use the Up or Down Arrow keys to move through the Charms, which include Search, Share, Start, Devices, and Settings. While most of these Charms are self-explanatory, the Share charm is contextual to each app. If we activated the Share charm on the HE Science Quotes app we installed, it would allow us to share the app with others via the Mail or People app.
The Desktop
While the user interface is very different in Windows 8, there are still some familiar items, such as the Desktop, Taskbar, and Notification Area (formerly called the System Tray). You can still access these items with the same hotkeys as in previous versions of Windows. For example, Windows Key-D or Windows Key-M will both take you to the Desktop. Additionally, you can still use first letter navigation on the Desktop. Windows Key-B will still take you to the Notification Area, and Insert-S will still list the items in the System Tray. Other hotkeys that you likely already know will consistently work on the Desktop. So, while there is a brand new user interface, some of your old favorites still remain constant.
Windows Explorer
You can still use Windows Explorer to navigate files and folders just as in previous versions of Windows. In fact, Windows Key-E still opens Windows Explorer.
After you open Windows Explorer, the list of drives will sound familiar if you have been using Windows 7. One major difference between this version of Windows Explorer and previous versions is that the new version replaces the menu system with the Ribbon. The Ribbon also works a bit differently than the current Ribbon in Office 2010.
To access the Ribbon, you can press Alt. You are placed on the Application (also called File) grid drop-down button. Pressing the Right Arrow will take you to the first pull-down tab control. In other versions of the Ribbon, you would need to press Tab to access items in the tab control. In this version, you can press Enter on the pull-down tab control, and you are placed on the first item within the tab control. Once you are within the tab control, you can begin pressing Tab to access the items just like you do in other versions of the Ribbon.
Regardless of what part of Windows 8 you are using, Window-Eyes is right there working every step of the way.
We hope today's "Guess What?" has given you a glimpse into the power of Window-Eyes 8.0 Beta 1, and its innovative new support for Windows 8.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's "Guess What?" to learn more about Window-Eyes 8.0 Beta 1!
Title: Guess What? Window-Eyes 8.0 Beta 1 Supports Windows 8!
