In the first part, I covered how to navigate around the peapod website and what it looks like to a JAWS user. Now I'll cover how to actually buy something. Recall from part one, that your work area is frame2 where, after narrowing down your list a list of actual items to purchase appears. Each text item is accompanied by a group of invisible graphics. I say invisible because even with graphics turned on, JAWS will report those areas as blank. They aren't blank though and we should all complain to HJ that JFW should never say blank when something is actually there. You should first become adept at navigating this little list in frame frame2, which admitedly is easier to do with a braille display. Use only your JAWS cursor to review this are, other methods won't work, and don't try any IE-specific JFW hotkeys. You can use PGUP and PGDN, CTRL-PGuUP and CTRL-PGDN and the arrow keys when the JAWS cursor is on. Once you can navigate to an item, you are ready to attempt to work with it. If you click on the actual text of the item, your entire list disappears and frame2 is redrawn with new information. But sometimes you are no longer focused in frame2, which is real annoying. So if you aren't there, use ctrl-tab to navigate back to frame2 and let it get read to you. The frame now contains the nutritional information which in my opinion is the most valuable part of the peapod service. You can read the package size, its price, its number of serving size and nutritional information for a serving. This helps me track fat and calories in the food I buy without requiring sighted help, which I very much appreciate. If you don't get nutritional information, don't fret. For some items, none exists. Peapod gets it from a huge USDA database which is supposed to be public domain but which I have yet to locate on the internet. After you're done with this frame don't press alt-left arrow or click the back button to go back, because it will get JAWS all confused and you won't even ben in frame2 anymore. Instead, tab once to a button labled return to the previous screen, and you'll be exactly where you left off, browsing through the list of grocery items. When you navigate to an item then and click on it, you will view any information associated with that item that Peapod has on file, but you won't be able to do anything else. This is also why I thought the service was not accessible. After all, on amazon I can add items to my shopping cart. Here, I could hear, but not navigate a cart view and I could see a list of items but not put any in my cart! The trick is to navigate to the left of the item you wish to buy. First position your JAWS cursor on the text of the item. Then move your JAWS cursor about three spaces to the left over a blank area. JAWS will sah Blank and if you are using braille, the item will be centered neatly on your braille display with space on each side. Position your JAWS cursor about three spaces to the lft of the item and click. If you actually bought something, nothing will happen at first. Then JAWS will say "javascript B-54934" or some other string of irrelevant numbers. Then, keep waiting, because next JAWS will read to you the updated cart view in frame3. Keep waiting because if you type while it is reading, JAWS will attempt to take you to frame3 where you can't navigate anyway. But if you just wait until all is quiet, you'll be back in frame2 exactly three spaces to the left of your item. What's happened is that you've clicked on an invisible graphical Buy button. Unfortunately that button isn't always positioned three spaces to the left of an item. Sometimes it is five spaces, or four or two. Other buttons are there, all invisible, and if you click on the wrong one, a wrong thing will happen. I need to ask my sighred help next time exactly how many wrong things are available. One of the buttons takes you to a newly updated frame2 which shows you chocies for substitutions. You can select whether the shopper can freely substitute or not, for example, substitute one brand of cheese for another. If it does the wrong thing, you can almost always press tab once and land on a button labeled "return to the previous screen." So do that and try to add it to your cart once again. Once items are in your cart, you can navigate to frame3 just to hear the list. You also can visually adjust their quantities by clicking on an edit box with a number, the default is 1, and backspacing and retyping the new quantity. But this is real hard with JAWS which keeps getting lost in frame3 so you can't tell which item you are editing the quantity for. There is however, a better way to change quantities. Navigate to frame4 which previously only had invisible content, but now has a "review order" link and click that. You can also tab to this link which is nice after you're in frame4. Once you select to review your order, it will appear in the fairly acccessible frame2. Navigate with the JAWS cursor, and to the left of each item about six spaces away is a number, usually 1. Click once on that number, press your delete key (you don't want forty-one cans of beets do you!!!) and type in a new quantity. Type zero to have that item erased from your cart when you exit. When you review orders, you'll find JFW gets real stubborn about scrolling the frame. Sometimes you'll pres ctrl-PGDN and it simply rereads the stuff you've already heard. To trick JFW, click on the last item on the screen's quantity. Don't click on the item itself or you'll get the nutritional ifno. Click on the quantity and you'll be in the edit box, but don't edit. Instead press tab a few times, ignore the meaningless junk JFW reads, then press CTRL-PG-DN. JFW scrolls the frame nicely so you can read more of your order and continue changing quantities. At any time during buying or reviewing orders you can walk away from your computer. Peapod will wait for a while and then log you out and save everytything. I've never lost any work, just lost a lot of time cursing at JFW!!! Well, I gotta finish something, so I will need to continue in part three a few days from now. - Visit the jfw ml web page: http://jfw.cjb.net
