---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 14:07:03 -0500
From: Synthavoice Help <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: A comparison of page loading times with IE5, Bridge, JFW,
and WE
Hi Jamal,
Thanks for posting the response from Doug wherein he makes several
assumptions or conclusions about SWB. I will quote these passages below
with the actual facts about SWB in these situations. Could you
distribute these facts to the original distribution List please?
Regards,
David W. Kostyshyn
President
SYNTHA-VOICE COMPUTERS INC.
> On Fri, 29 Jan 1999, Doug Geoffray
> wrote:
snip...
> > I don't know Window Bridge so I can only guess but I'm sure they are not
> > loading the entire page.
This is false. SWB is indeed loading the entire page.
So can you hit a hotkey to pop up all the links
> > like you can with Window-Eyes?
With SWB, you most certainly can. The Command is:
Numeric INSERT-ENTER
THis instantly generates an alphabetized List of Links. You simply
navigate down the List and press a key once to go to the Link where upon
you can navigate with Mouse Pad, or press it twice to go into the desired
Link. Since it is an alphabetized List, simply use the WINDOWS standard
methodology of typing a Letter to jump immediately to the first entry in
the List beginning with that Letter. This makes searching for a specific
Link incredibly easy.
You can also instruct SWB to only read out the Links as the
entire page is being displayed. In other words, our automatic reading
will filter out the text, allowing you to more easily focus your attention
on the available Links. As you hear a Link being spoken, you can press
a single key, and SWB will click on that Link for you. This works best
with Synthesizers that Index correctly, as we move the Mouse Pointer
through the body of the Web Page as it appears.
>> Can you quickly go to the
bottom of the page?
Once again, this is a fundamental Command in SWB. The Command is:
Numeric INSERT + Numeric END. Now, this Command does not simply find the
lowest part of the current Web Page as is the case with some other
Products. For example, if your Page is in Newspaper Columns, where there
are 3 Columns, and the last Column is shorter than the first 2, SWB will
move to the end of the text in the 3rd Column, whereas some other Products
have a tendency to move to the bottom of Column 2 instead because it is
drawn lower down the screen.
> > Can you do a find for something on the page at the
bottom. My guess
> > would be no to all these questions.
Of course SWB can find and move to the desired Link anywhere on the
screen. As for finding actual text anywhere on the Web Page that may not
be a link, I hate to burst everyone's bubble, but this is an inherant I.E
Command. For those not familiar with this Command in I.E, it is
CONTROL+F. You will be prompted to enter what you are looking for.
Finally, with respect to when SWB begins to read a Web Page, here is the
sequence of events:
1. Load the entire Web Page.
2. Begin reading the Web Page in natural order. Note that there is no
time requirement or step to organize the page into a natural order behind
the scenes.
Every PC will differ in the length of time that it takes to load the page,
as this is dependent on variables such as your Processor Speed, Modem
Speed, Internet Connection, and so on.
By the way, while it is true that configuring I.E not to load Graphics
will speed up the loading of the page, SWB works fine with or without this
set. It is a little faster if Graphics are disabled, but this is not
manditory.
As already mentioned, SWB does in fact load the entire Web Page, so there
are no short-cuts being introduced here. In fact, SWB can be set to read
the entire Web Page, scrolling the Page as it reads, with the Mouse
Pointer synchronized with what is spoken so that you can stop on a dime at
any location. Alternatively, even though the Web Page is loaded in its
entirity, SWB can read just the first screen, or entire Page, keeping
visual focus on the first screen.
SWB does not change the visual screen presentation of the Web Page in
*any* manner.
Using the Web Page in Jamal's original test using I.E Beta 5, the time
delay from when the Page had finished loading, to the time when SWB
commenced reading was under 2 seconds! This compares to 26 seconds as
quoted in the original note on another Screen Reader by its Developer.
Our PC is a 333 mh Pentium with 64 mb. of RAM. We used a Modem connection
using a 56K Modem.
Just to wrap up, SWB supports many other navigation tools in I.E such as
moving forward or backward a Frame at a time, moving to the top of the
current frame, moving forward and backward in increments of 1 or 20 lines
in natural reading order on the Web Page such as, but not limited to
split screens, Newspaper Columns, Frames, and so on.
I trust that this addresses the points and false assumptions conveyed in
the original quotes above.
Regards,
David W. Kostyshyn
President
SYNTHA-VOICE COMPUTERS INC.
>
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Visit the jfw ml web page: http://yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au/~nallan/jfw
