Hi Laura,
I've put many notes below that helped me, & I thinkthey will help you as
well. First, you can turn off the Virtual Ribbons by opening your context
menu with the application key or with Shift + F10, while in the application
/ program, arrow down to, Virtual Ribbons, make sure it's, unchecked, tab
to, Okay, press enter to save your changes & close if you made any changes.
Note #2:
To navigate ribbons more efficiently the ribbons need to be maximized.
The
keystroke is, control + F1. This keystroke is a toggle so, this keystroke
will maximize & minimize. To check if the ribbons are minimized / maximized
do the following:
1. Press the, Alt key, to open the ribbons.
2. Open the context menu with either the application key or, shift + F10.
3. Arrow up or down to the, Minimize, option. If, Minimize, is checked, the
ribbons are minimized Pressing, enter, on this checkbox, will uncheck it &
close the context menu & your menues will now be maximized.
Note #3:
From: Tom Lange
Hi Mike,
Here's the deal on the ribbon interface.
Anything that had to do with authoring a document went into the ribbons; all
other functions relating to opening, closing, saving, printing or publishing
to the web went into the Office drop-down menu or File drop-down menu.
When Microsoft designed the ribbon interface, they called it the Office
Fluent User Interface, or O F U I. Pronounce that as a word and you get Oh
Phooey, which is exactly people's reaction upon first seeing the ribbon, so
I definitely know where you're coming from.
Here's the basic idea of how the ribbons work. The ribbons are composed of
an upper portion and a lower portion. The upper portion of the ribbon
consists of tabs, which are accessed by pressing the alt key, then you can
move among the various tabs in the top portion using your left and right
arrows. Or, press alt plus some letter to access a ribbon tab directly.
When exploring the upper portion of the ribbon, you'll see stuff like Home,
Insert, Page Setup, View, et cetera. As you move among these tabs to select
them, the corresponding lower portion of the ribbon changes completely.
This freaks people out considerably and it takes some getting used to.
To get to the lower portion of the ribbon, first select a tab on top, such
as Home, then press the tab key to get down to the lower portion of the
ribbon.
The lower portion of the ribbon consists of function groups, which some
called Galleries. For example, in Word, the lower portion of the Home tab
consists of a clipboard group, a font group, a paragraph formatting group, a
Styles group and an Edit group. If you first select the Home tab, then
press tab to get down to the lower portion of the ribbon, and continue
tabbing, you will work your way through all of its functions one by one,
passing through the various function groups/galleries as you do.
To speed up navigation a bit, you can get to the lower portion, then press
ctrl+right arrow to move from group to group, or ctrl+left arrow to move
backward through the groups.
Nearly every function in a group or gallery has what's called a key tip,
which is similar to a shortcut key. There are tons of those, and I've found
that getting familiar with ones that I commonly use and then memorizing them
is a good idea and quite a time saver. For example, To set margins in a
document, Press alt+p to access the Page Setup tab, then m followed by a to
get straight to the Margins dialog. Or, to get to the old familiar Paragraph
dialog, press alt+h, followed by pg.
After you've spent some time exploring the ribbons a bit, you'll begin to
see the logic of them and the pain and frustration will go away. You might
actually get to like them. That was definitely true for me.
Hope this little thumbnail overview helps some.
Tom
Note #4:
I'll provide a brief tutorial based on what I wrote years ago of how to work
with ribbons.
I've added a little to it here.
I don't know how the organization of Windows has changed in Windows 10 but
this description should allow you to look through the Windows ribbons, or
any other ribbons, and see how things are organized.
First, I'll discuss a structure found in later versions of Windows that you
need to know about-- the split button.
One thing you will see as you look around ribbons and in other places in
Windows are split buttons. A split button often allows you to see more
options than just the default action. Let's take an example.
Let's say you come across a split button that says shut down Windows. If
you press enter on that button, Windows will shut down. That is the default
action. Split buttons often show more options if you either right arrow
while on the button or down arrow. As an example, if you are on the shut
down split button, you can right arrow and a list of options will open. the
items in the list include sleep, hibernate, restart, and others. You up or
down arrow through the list or use the short cut commands you hear announced
as you move through the list. the letter shortcuts often take actions
without pressing enter so be careful when using them, just as you are in
menus.
So, let's review. You find a split button that says shut down. If you
press enter, the computer will shut down. If you right arrow, other options
may be displayed. Or if you down arrow, other options may be displayed. A
split button won't work with both methods. One method, either right
arrowing or down arrowing will do so if it can be done with the button. Try
both methods if you don't know which one might work. If you are on a tool
bar which extends across the screen from left to right, down arrowing will
open additional options. If you think about this, it makes sense. If you
are in a menu, down arrowing will move you to the next item in the menu. So
you right arrow on the split button to cause it to display more options. In
a tool bar that extends across the screen from left to right, right arrowing
will move you to the next item in the tool bar. So you down arrow when on
the split button to cause it to display more options. But some tool bars
run up and down the screen, as menus do. And at times, you may not be sure
which way a structure extends on screen. So, as I said, if you are not sure
or don't know, try both methods of causing the split button to display more
options. Often, one of them will work. If you open the options a split
button offers and don't want to work with them, arrow in the opposite
direction to move out of them. For example, if you right arrowed to open
more options, left arrow.
Some split buttons don't do anything when you right arrow or down arrow. In
that case, open them with alt down arrow. Then tab through the additional
options. I've almost never worked in this way with split buttons but if you
want to close a split button, try alt up arrow if you've used alt down arrow
to open it.
Now, to ribbons themselves.
Regarding ribbons, much of the complaining about them is not warranted if
you understand how they work and how to use short cut commands effectively
and efficiently. and I would strongly recommend against using the JAWS
virtual menus, no matter what the JAWS training material says about ribbons
being difficult to use. the training material is just plain wrong and using
virtual menus, you will be unnecessarily dependent on one screen-reader.
There are other disadvantages to using them which I won't go into here.
Try looking at ribbons and doing what is described below in wordpad.
Everyone with Windows 7 has Wordpad on their machine. Wordpad provides a
good environment to look at and practice working with ribbons.
The essence of working with ribbons is this:
Press alt to move to the upper ribbon.
You will probably be on an item that says home tab. Items on the upper
ribbon are announced as tabs such as home tab, view tab, etc.
To see what ribbons are available, right or left arrow repeatedly to move
through the ribbons. Move in one
direction to move through all of them, just as you would to move through all
the menus.
For this demonstration, just so we are all doing the same thing, move with
the right arrow. When you get back to where you started, you can keep right
arrowing to move through the items again, if you wish. You can move through
all the items as many times as you want. Or you can move with the left arrow
whenever you want to move in the opposite direction.
Stop on view. Then start tabbing. You will move through all items in what
is called the lower ribbon that are in the view ribbon.
In other words you tab to see the items in a ribbon once you move to it.
Tab moves you forward through the items, shift tab moves you backword.
So tab and shift tab are used instead of up and down arrow.
Many items in the lower ribbon are buttons. Use either the space bar or
enter to activate the button. You may find a button that opens a menu and if
you press enter or the space bar, you will then be in a menu.
Each time you move to an item, you will hear the short cut command to work
with that item.
But JAWS has a bug and you often won't. To hear the short cut, use the
command JAWS key tab. If you are using the default JAWS key, it is either
insert.
Try tabbing to an item in a Wordpad ribbon and using the command insert tab.
You will hear some extraneous information. The last thing you will hear is
the short cut sequence. You can repeat the information by repeating the
command as often as you want.
Let's look at an item which is usually called the application menu. Return
to the main program window in wordpad by closing the ribbons. You can
either press escape repeatedly, if necessary, or you can press alt once.
Now, open the ribbons again with alt.
Start right arrowing until you get to the application menu.
You will hear application menu and then something like button drop down
grid. Never mind drop down grid. It's a description you don't have to
worry about. The important things are that you are on a button and at the
application menu. Press enter or the space bar to activate the button.
Activating the button opens the menu. Start down arrowing. you will hear
all the short cut commands necessary to open an item or take an action.
When you got to the menu item, you heard alt f. When you open the menu and
move through it, you will hear all the letters announced. for example, if
you down arrow to save as, you will hear alt f a. that means that, when you
are in the main program window, you open the menu as you always did, alt f,
then type a. Alt f opens the menau and a then opens save as. Ribbon
programs have one menu and you should look through it. Many important and
common commands and interfaces such as options may be there. By options, I
mean the kind of options interface you used to find in the tools menu.
Now the we have seen the menu, let's look at the ribbons structure some
more.
To review, and add more information, as you have seen, you can move to the
ribbon interface with alt. Then right and left arrow, just as you would
move from menu to menu.
You can also move to a ribbon using alt and a letter. So, alt h takes you
to the home ribbon. Alt v takes you to the view ribbon, etc. Once you are
on the ribbon you want to work with, tab to move forward through the items
in a ribbon. Shift tab to move back through the items. So tab and shift
tab are used instead of up and down arrow.
Ribbons are divided into categories which you will hear announced as you
tab. for example, in an e-mail program, a ribbon may have a category named
respond. You may hear this announced as respond tool bar. As you tab, you
will hear commands such as reply and forward in the respond category. When
you hear a category announced, don't tab until you hear everything spoken.
You will miss the first command in the category if you do. I'm talking
about working with an unfamiliar ribbon.
there are often many more commands and items in a ribbon than in a menu. So
memorize command sequences for items you know you will use regularly.
As I said, there are different categories in ribbons to help organize items.
You can quickly jump from category to category in a ribbon to help you see
if there is a category you want to look through.
Move to a ribbon in Wordpad. For example, alt h for hhome or alt v for
view.
Then repeatedly issue the command control right arrow to move forward from
category to category and control left arrow to move back. When you get to a
category you want to hear the items in, start tabbing. Of course, you can
shift tab to move back.
Open a ribbon in Wordpad and tab through it to see how it is organized by
moving through it.
Then use control right arrow to move by category and tab to see what is in a
category.
Commands such as control o, control n, control s, control r, etc. are mostly
retained in programs
that use ribbons, though you won't hear them announced. If you don't already
know them, you'll have to find them in ways such as by looking at a list of
keyboard commands for the program. Such lists are often available in the
help for the program. If you already know the commands from having used an
older version of the program, most or perhaps even all of the commands you
know will work.
Take care. Mike. Go Dodgers!
Sent from my iBarstool.
Arguing with a woman is like reading a software license agreement. In the
end you have to ignore everything, & click I agree.
----- Original Message -----
From: Adrian Spratt
To: jaws-users-list@jaws-users.com
Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2017 10:02 AM
Subject: Re: [JAWS-Users] Learning MS ribbons - virtual or not ......
Guess where I got it from? One of your messages some years ago. But if you
posted it, it was right at the time, and probably what you say here explains
it. Regardless, Gerald and you posted excellent instructions on how to rid
yourself of the virtual ribbon once and for all.
Laura is seeing just how strong opinions can be on this list with Jim's new
posts. I think he's wrong to say the virtual ribbon makes life easier
because shortcuts and first-letter navigation don't work with it. Besides,
whenever possible, I would much rather use the options available to everyone
and be part of the whole wide world.
-----Original Message-----
From: JAWS-Users-List [mailto:jaws-users-list-boun...@jaws-users.com] On
Behalf Of Dave ...
Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2017 11:57 AM
To: jaws-users-list@jaws-users.com
Subject: Re: [JAWS-Users] Learning MS ribbons - virtual or not ......
Adrian,
I was curious about that. However I launched Word and then tried the
keystroke. It said "collapsed" and then when pressed again, said "expanded".
In either case, the virtual ribbon did not appear. Since I have mine
disabled in the settings center, this might have an effect. Perhaps this
Ctrl+F1 keystroke is meaningful if the virtual ribbon is enabled?
Dave
Oregonian, woodworker, Engineer, Musician, and Pioneer
----- Original Message -----
From: "Adrian Spratt" <adr...@adrianspratt.com>
To: <jaws-users-list@jaws-users.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2017 07:32
Subject: Re: [JAWS-Users] Learning MS ribbons - virtual or not ......
Control+F1 turns the virtual ribbon on and off. That's what my notes say.
I've never done it.
-----Original Message-----
From: JAWS-Users-List [mailto:jaws-users-list-boun...@jaws-users.com] On
Behalf Of Laura Richardson
Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2017 10:28 AM
To: jaws-users-list@jaws-users.com
Subject: Re: [JAWS-Users] Learning MS ribbons - virtual or not ......
Would you or somebody please tell me how to turn off the virtual ribbon?
Laura
-----Original Message-----
From: JAWS-Users-List [mailto:jaws-users-list-boun...@jaws-users.com] On
Behalf Of Dave ...
Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2017 9:17 AM
To: jaws-users-list@jaws-users.com
Subject: Re: [JAWS-Users] Learning MS ribbons - virtual or not ......
I would turn off the virtual ribbon. It is handy, but you become dependent
on them and they don't work as well as the original menus, since they don't
use first-letter navigation. I tried them briefly years ago and decided to
buckle down and just learn to use the ribbons.
Dave
Oregonian, woodworker, Engineer, Musician, and Pioneer
----- Original Message -----
From: "Laura Richardson" <laurak...@gmail.com>
To: <jaws-users-list@jaws-users.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2017 06:58
Subject: [JAWS-Users] Learning MS ribbons - virtual or not ......
Hello,
When it comes to navigating MS Word ribbons I'm pretty much a beginner.
I've memorized certain shortcut keys to do very specific things but need to
learn how to navigate these ribbons.
Right now virtual ribbons are turned on .. Would it be easier and more
efficient to learn the ribbons if I turned this off? I want and need to
learn as much as I can so any feedback and suggestions are greatly
appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Laura
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/
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/
For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit:
http://www.jaws-users.com/help/
