Grant.Downey@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Grant Downey) (06/28/91)
Index Number: 16505
[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]
This is message 2 of 3 on the subject of my thoughts on the
advantages of Jaws 2 and Vocal-Eyes.
When I started with Jaws 2 one of the biggest improvements made
were the additions to the manu system, Extra which has settings
particular to the particular sinthicizer you might be using, less
verbose menus, a separate Jaws cursor voice, the ability to save
configurations frames, environments, voice, and macros, each in a
separate configuration file and finally the smoothness with which
this version of Jaws seems to run is impressive. Jaws work well
with the Soundingboard also except for the Talking Clock function.
Here are some of Jaws drawbacks as far as I'm concerned. I find
that for a totally blind person setting up frames isn't
particularly easy and with jaws is more difficult than most. I
can't get Jaws to handle programs that use bar tracking very well.
Jaws does not have End of Word delay or Trigger delay which are
helpful in communicating with a remote computer.
. The macro for WordPerfect is so complex that to change the color
for Jaws to look for with the spell checker is a major project.
Right now I'vehad to change the colors in the program to match Jaws
until such time as I can change the macro and that indeed is a pain
as we use the same system for our low vision users and the colors
that jaws looks fordoesn't work well for them. Changing attributes
to look for should be easly done. It should not be so complex that
one has th rewrite the entire macro as it looks as though I'm going
to have to do. I find this a major! drawback.
See my final comments in the third message on this subject. Grant
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Internet: Grant.Downey@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.orgGrant.Downey@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Grant Downey) (06/28/91)
Index Number: 16506
[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]
This is message 3 of 3 on the subject of my thoughts on the
advantages and disadvantages of Jaws2 and Vocal-Eyes.
Vocal-Eyes control panel seems somehow cumbersome when compared to
Jaws 2 but on the other hand it controls a lot more functions and
offers more choices than Jaws I thin it's a draw. I've found that
setting up windows is easier with Vocal-Eyes, setting the bar
tracker, and checking attributes seems to be to be easier with
Vocal-Eyes. Jaws 2 now has a similar response when saving and
loading files as Vocal-Eyes making knowing what is happening
easier. I may be mistaken but I believe Vocal-Eyes in its review
mode only reads from line 1 through line 24 which is quite a
disadvantage where as the Jaws Cursor covers all twenty five lines
down and eighty columns across. Of course Vocal-Eyes relies on
Hot keys and Jaws macros each of which have their place and that
to is a draw one system is no better to me than the other. I like
the way that Vocal-Eyes handles Wordperfect, the way it's
hyperactive monitoring works, the ability of vocal-eyes definable
hot keys, the way the character dictionary works, and when used
with the Soundingboard's exception dictionary it is really
effective
Jaws 2 is an extremely fast running program with extremely quick
loading of configuration files. A weakness of Vocal-eyes is its
slowness relative to the time it takes to get the configuration
files loaded and the application program working. With Jaws 2, I'd
say that Wordperfect loads in 3 to four seconds where as with
Vocal-Eyes it takes almost ten on a 8386 system with 20 megahurt
clock.
So, where are we? It's pretty even, Mary. What we are comparing
are two excellent screen readers each doing things a little
differently but both performing splendidly. We are talking about
the very top of the line in screen readers, the Mercedes of screen
readers. The people who have created these programs also provide
excellent documentation on disk, on tape, and in print and they
both provide excellent technical support to the users. I believe
that many of the other companies producing the same type of
equipment could learn a tremendous amount from the example set by
the people who have created Jaws and Vocal-Eyes. So there it is
for what it's worth, my very honest feelings about Jaws and Vocal-
Eyes. Grant.
This is the end of the final message on this subject
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