Hi Mo, Many thanks to you and all the others who contributed to advising me on this matter. Your explanation was very clear and thorough. I have been obsessed with this question for days.
I'm happy and relieved to inform you all that my student was able to open the TXT files I sent her! I've got one other burning question. What's the main difference between Jaws and the software that I use; SuperNova, which is like ZoomText; a screen magnifier and screen reader? Is it simply that Jaws is not a screen magnifier or is there more to it than that? You'll hear from me again if I come up against any further challenges concerning Jaws. Thanks again. Annie -----Original Message----- From: jaws-users-list-boun...@jaws-users.com [mailto:jaws-users-list-boun...@jaws-users.com] On Behalf Of Mobeen Iqbal Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 2:31 PM To: jaws-users-list@jaws-users.com Subject: Re: [JAWS-Users] Jaws & Scanned Documents Hi Annie. Jaws is just simply a screen reading application. This means that the content that is in a text file will be read to your student, and unless she has a braille printer called an embosser and transcription software to work with that printer, she will not be able to print the document out in to braille. Jaws does however have support for something called a braille display. These devices vary in size, and they are simply a USB device in most cases. It looks like a small pad with 2 lines of braille dots. The student reads from left to right and they have buttons to scrole the text displayed on screen. As the text scroles, the dots on the braille display (the pad) change in realtime providing realtime braille output. Then there is jaws. Jaws as well as providing support for braille displays as a secondary function for screen content, also provides speech support. This is its primary function. Using omniPage or text bridge pro, Send your student the document in text format. Jaws will then read that document to the student in microsoft word or the default text editor. In other words, if you can see the content on screen and you're reasonably happy with it, and it opens by default in wordpad, notepad or microsoft word as a simple text or RTF file, then it will definitely be ok for your student and no matter if they use a braille display or jaws speech, they will be able to read it. Jaws only works well with certain kinds of PDF documents, results vary, its been an on-going issue though accessibility is slowly improving. You need to scan your documents either to .text, .rtf, .doc, or HTML files for results to be reasonable and for jaws to read them. To answer your question about what jaws does, going back to what i said earlier, jaws simply acts as a go between for the user and what is displayed on the user's screen. What ever you see, jaws reads that through the user's speakers. The braille display is a device to read the content on the screen in realtime using braille instead of listening to it via the PC speakers, and if the student wishes to have their documents in a physical format on a peace of paper, they will require a braille printer with special software that will be able to take the printed text in your file, and copy that in to a format to be printed by the braille printer. I hope this helps, please let us know if this works for you! All the best, Mo. Annie Hesse wrote: > Hello, > > > > Although I'm visually impaired, I don't use Jaws and am therefore not > familiar with its applications. > > Does Jaws need/use a special application to read/transcribe scanned > documents into Braille? > > I teach English in Paris and I want to send scanned documents to my student. > I don't know if the problem is on my end or hers. > > I've tried scanning the document into a PDF file. She said that Jaws didn't > recognize it. I've also tried scanning the document into a TXT file. She > hasn't told me yet if Jaws could read it. > > I have an OCR (OmniPage Pro) which I really don't know how to use, but I > scanned the document and sent it even though the result wasn't perfectly > correct. The file extension was OPD. She hasn't responded yet. > > What file format do I need to scan my documents in, in order for Jaws to > read/transcribe it into Braille? > > What program/application does Jaws need to read/transcribe it into Braille? > > I don't know which version of Jaws she has. > > For PDF files, I use Adobe Reader 9. > > > > Any guidance or insight you can provide will be extremely helpful. > > > > Thanks, > > Annie > > > > 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/ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.819 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2865 - Release Date: 05/10/10 20:26:00 For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: http://www.jaws-users.com/help/
