JAWS

Beyond the Screen Reader: Can Gemini’s AI Agent “Accessify” the Web?

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AI as an Accessibility Bridge: Testing Gemini’s Auto Browse

For blind and low-vision users, the modern web is a minefield of good intentions gone wrong. Developers build visually polished interfaces — date pickers, multi-step dialogs, dynamic dropdowns — but the underlying code often fails to communicate with assistive technology. Screen readers like JAWS and NVDA rely on semantic structure and proper focus management to guide users through a page. When that structure breaks down, so does access.

That gap is exactly what I set out to probe in a recent demonstration of Auto Browse, an agentic AI feature built into the Gemini for Chrome side panel. My test case was deliberately unglamorous: a Salesforce “Add Work” form on the Trailblazer platform, featuring a date picker that routinely defeats standard keyboard navigation. The question wasn’t whether the interface looked functional. It was whether an AI agent could step in and make it work.

The Problem with Date Pickers (and Why It Matters)

Custom date pickers represent one of the most persistent accessibility failures on the web. Unlike native HTML <input type="date"> elements, which browsers render with built-in keyboard support, custom-built widgets frequently rely on mouse interaction, non-semantic markup, or JavaScript behavior that strips focus away from the user mid-task.

In my demo, the Salesforce dialog presents a “start date” selector with separate Month and Year dropdowns. For a sighted mouse user, this is trivial. For a screen reader user navigating by keyboard, it becomes a trap — the list receives focus but refuses to respond to arrow keys or selection commands, leaving the user stuck with no clear path forward.

This is not a niche problem. Date pickers appear in job applications, medical intake forms, financial dashboards, and e-commerce checkouts. When they break, they don’t just create friction — they create exclusion.

Letting the AI Take the Wheel

My approach was straightforward: rather than fighting the inaccessible interface, I delegated the task entirely. With the Gemini side panel open (activated via Alt+G), I issued a plain-language command: “Please set the start date to December 2004.”

What followed was notable not just for what the AI did, but for how it communicated while doing it. Auto Browse autonomously interacted with the form elements — opening the Year dropdown, scrolling to 2004, selecting it — while simultaneously providing real-time status updates in the side panel. Critically, those updates (“Updating the start year to 2004”) were announced by the screen reader, keeping me informed throughout the process without requiring me to shift focus manually.

A “Take Over Task” button remained visible at the top of the browser at all times, ensuring that AI autonomy didn’t come at the cost of user control — a design principle that will resonate with anyone familiar with WCAG’s emphasis on predictability and user agency.

Where It Still Falls Short

I want to be candid about the rough edges, because that honesty is part of what makes this worth examining closely.

During the interaction, the dialog closed unexpectedly at one point, requiring a page reload before I could restart the task. For sighted users, this is a minor inconvenience. For screen reader users, an unexpected context shift — a dialog closing, focus jumping to an unrelated part of the DOM, a dynamic content update that goes unannounced — can be deeply disorienting. Recovery depends on knowing where you are, and that knowledge is precisely what gets lost.

This points to a fundamental challenge for agentic AI in accessibility contexts: it isn’t enough to complete the task correctly; the AI must also maintain a coherent focus environment throughout. If a script refreshes a page region mid-task, the virtual cursor needs to land somewhere intentional. If a dialog closes, the user needs to know what replaced it. These aren’t edge cases — they’re the everyday texture of dynamic web applications, and they’ll need to be handled reliably before tools like Auto Browse can be genuinely depended upon.

A Glimpse of What’s Possible

Despite those caveats, I came away from this demonstration genuinely encouraged. Gemini successfully populated both fields with the correct date, confirmed by the screen reader’s final readout. More importantly, it did so through natural language — no custom scripts, no manual DOM inspection, no workarounds requiring technical knowledge that most users don’t have and shouldn’t need.

The implications extend well beyond date pickers. Agentic AI that can interpret intent and act on a user’s behalf has the potential to make complex web interfaces navigable for people who have been effectively locked out of them. Not by fixing the underlying code — though that remains the gold standard — but by providing a capable, responsive intermediary that can bridge the gap in real time.

The web has always required remediation to be accessible. What’s new is who, or what, might be doing the remediating.

Visual Descriptions (Alt-Text for Video Keyframes)

To ensure this post is as accessible as the technology it discusses, here are descriptions of the critical visual moments in the video:

Frame 1: The Accessibility Barrier
A screenshot of the Salesforce “Add Work” dialog box. The “Month” and “Year” drop-down menus are highlighted, showing the visual interface that I am unable to navigate using standard screen reader commands.
Frame 2: The Gemini Interface
The Chrome browser split-screen view. On the left is the Trailblazer site; on the right is the Gemini side panel where I have typed my request. The AI is showing a progress spinner labeled “Task started.”
Frame 3: Agentic Interaction
The video shows the “Year” drop-down menu on the webpage opening and scrolling automatically as the Gemini agent selects “2004” without any manual mouse movement or keyboard input from the user.
Frame 4: Success Confirmation
The final state of the form showing “December” and “2004” successfully populated in the fields. The Gemini side panel displays a “Task done” message with a summary of the actions performed.

I am a CPWA-certified digital accessibility specialist. When I’m not testing the latest in AI or keeping up with my family, you can find me on the amateur radio bands under the call sign NU7I.

One Week with NVDA: A JAWS User’s Immersion Journey

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What started as a seven-day experiment ended with a new primary screen reader.

I’ll be honest: I didn’t expect this to go the way it did. On February 14th, 2026, I set myself a challenge — use NVDA exclusively on my personal computer for one full week, switching back to JAWS only if my work required it. I’ve been a longtime JAWS user, and NVDA has always been on my radar as the powerful, free, open-source alternative. But radar is different from reality. So I dove in.

One week later — and several days beyond that — I’m still running NVDA. It has become my primary Windows screen reader. I won’t be abandoning JAWS entirely; both tools have their place. But if you’ve been on the fence about giving NVDA a serious try, read on. Here’s everything that happened.

Day 1 (February 14): First Impressions and the Punctuation Problem

The very first thing that tripped me up was punctuation. NVDA defaults to “some” punctuation, while I was accustomed to “most” in JAWS. The practical effect: symbols like the underscore were being silently skipped. I switched to “most” punctuation right away, and that helped — but it opened its own can of worms.

In “most” mode, NVDA announces the underscore as “line.” I found that maddening. The colon inside timestamps (insert+F12 for the time) was also being spoken aloud, which felt odd. These were small things, but they added up quickly.

I also explored the NVDA Addon Store. It’s a great concept, but I found the execution a bit rough — many addons lack solid documentation, and reading user reviews means navigating away to an external website. There’s room to grow here.

One more early grievance: common commands like Control+C and Control+S are completely silent in NVDA. You press copy or save and hear… nothing. The option to speak command keys does exist, but it makes everything chatty — tab, arrows, all of it. That’s not what I wanted either.

Day 2 (February 15): Muscle Memory Wars and Customization Overload

Day two was the most turbulent. My JAWS muscle memory fought me at every turn, and I spent a significant portion of the day not doing productive work but rather reconfiguring NVDA to survive.

Browse Mode and Focus Mode were a constant source of confusion. In JAWS, Semi Auto Forms Mode handles a lot of this context-switching behind the scenes. With NVDA, I found myself stuck in the wrong mode repeatedly. A simple example: after submitting a prompt to Gemini and hearing its reply, I pressed H to navigate to the heading where the response started. NVDA just said “h” and sat there. I was still in Focus Mode. Insert+Space toggled Browse Mode on and then everything worked — but I had to consciously remember to do that. This will likely get easier with time, but on day two, it was genuinely frustrating.

I remapped a fistful of commands to save my sanity. The NVDA find command in Browse Mode is Control+NVDA+F — not Control+F — which felt deeply wrong. I added Control+F, F3, and Shift+F3 under Preferences > Input Gestures. I also kept repeatedly bumping into Insert+Q being the command to exit NVDA rather than announcing the active application, which nearly gave me a heart attack the first time it happened. I enabled exit confirmation in Preferences > General, then later reassigned Insert+Q to announce the focused app and moved the exit command to Insert+F4.

The underscore-as-“line” issue got its resolution today. The fix wasn’t in NVDA’s speech dictionaries as I first expected — it was in Preferences > Punctuation/Pronunciation. Problem solved. I also tackled the exclamation mark, which sits in the “all” punctuation tier rather than “most.” I mapped it to announce as “bang” when it appears mid-sentence.

There was also a frustrating addon conflict: the NVDA+Shift+V keystroke, officially assigned to announce an app’s version number, was instead being intercepted by the Vision Assistant Pro addon to open its command layer. Addon keystrokes can silently override core NVDA functionality — something worth knowing. I ended up assigning Control+NVDA+V to get version info.

One gap I noticed that NVDA doesn’t yet fill: quickly reading the current page’s URL without shifting focus to the address bar. JAWS handles this with Insert+A. NVDA doesn’t have an equivalent. Alt+D works, but it moves focus, which isn’t always what I want.

Day 3 (February 16): The Good, The Annoying, and a Genuine Win

By day three — President’s Day — I was settling into something like a rhythm, though NVDA was still throwing surprises at me.

One thing I couldn’t crack was typing echo. In JAWS, I run character-level echo at a much higher speech rate than everything else. This gives me fast, confident confirmation of each keystroke without slowing down general speech. NVDA doesn’t appear to support different speech rates per context, so typed characters come through at the same rate as everything else. I know I can’t be the only person who relies on this, so I kept digging — but no solution yet.

I also noticed a recurring issue: NVDA going silent after focus changes. Closing Excel or Word and returning to File Explorer? Silence. Switching browser tabs with Control+Tab? Sometimes silence. This felt like potential bug territory.

PDFs were another pain point. I work with many poorly tagged PDFs, and NVDA with Adobe Reader exposes every formatting flaw without mercy. JAWS has historically done more smoothing and pre-processing before those errors reach the user. I’m withholding final judgment here — there are third-party PDF tools that work well with NVDA, and I planned to test them.

I experimented briefly with turning off automatic say-all on page load to reduce repetitive speech on websites. Bad idea. After toggling an action, nothing was announced — I had to manually navigate just to figure out where I had ended up. I turned it back on immediately.

The genuine win of the day: the Vision Assistant Pro addon. While working on a freelance project that required a visual description of a web page’s layout, I pressed NVDA+Alt+V then O for an on-screen description. Within seconds I had exactly what I needed. A follow-up question was answered just as quickly. Cross-checking with other tools confirmed the accuracy. This was an impressive moment and a real argument for NVDA’s addon ecosystem.

Day 4 (February 17): The 32-Bit Revelation and Eloquence Arrives

I learned something on day four that genuinely surprised me: NVDA 2025.3.3, the current stable release, is 32-bit. I had assumed for years that I was running a 64-bit screen reader. This discovery came about through an unexpected path.

I came across a link to a 64-bit version of the Eloquence speech synthesizer built for NVDA. Excited, I installed it and restarted — only to find NVDA using Windows OneCore voices with no trace of Eloquence. After posting about it on Mastodon, the community quickly pointed out the 32-bit issue. The 64-bit Eloquence addon requires a 64-bit NVDA, which only exists in the 2026 beta builds. I grabbed the beta, installed everything, and was finally running Eloquence on NVDA. The 64-bit upgrade is coming in the official 2026.1 release — well worth watching for.

I also continued searching for an NVDA equivalent to JAWS’s Shift+Insert+F1, which gives a detailed browser-level view of an element’s tags, attributes, roles, and IDs. This is invaluable for accessibility work. I hadn’t found a satisfying answer by end of day.

Day 5 (February 18): Discovering NVDA in Microsoft Word

I don’t often think of Browse Mode as a Word feature, so I was pleasantly surprised to learn — after reading some documentation — that NVDA supports a version of it in Word, allowing quick navigation by headings using the H key. This made my document work much more manageable.

I also received another update to 64-bit Eloquence, which fixed bugs I hadn’t even noticed. As for the work computer, I decided against installing the NVDA beta there — my employer deserves results from the stable release. That upgrade will wait for the official 2026.1 launch.

Day 6 (February 19): The Quiet Day

Day six was uneventful in the best possible way. I used my computer heavily and NVDA just worked. No major incidents, no emergency remappings. I noticed I was reaching for JAWS less and less in my thoughts. That felt significant.

Day 7 (February 20): Amateur Radio and a Happy Ending

The final day of the official challenge coincided with the start of the ARRL International DX CW (Morse Code) contest — one of the bigger amateur radio events of the year. I was curious how N3FJP’s contest logging software would hold up with NVDA, since this is specialized, legacy-adjacent software that doesn’t rely on standard accessibility APIs.

The answer: it worked great — and actually felt snappier than with JAWS. The one wrinkle was reviewing the call log. The standard screen review commands on the numpad didn’t yield useful information at first. The solution was object navigation. By pressing NVDA+Numpad 8 to climb to the parent object (“call window”), I found that each column in the log is its own object. Navigating with NVDA+Numpad 4, 5, and 6 moved between objects at the same level, announcing “Rec Window,” “PWR Window,” “Country Window,” “Call Window,” and so on. From there, Numpad 9 and 7 moved through the log in reverse chronological order. Once I understood the structure, it worked beautifully.

My two radio control apps — JJRadio and Kenwood’s ARCP software — also worked flawlessly. Just when I was expecting NVDA to hit its limits, it didn’t.

What NVDA Does Really Well

After a week of intensive use, here’s what impressed me most:

  • Speed and responsiveness. NVDA frequently felt faster than JAWS, especially in applications like the N3FJP logging software.
  • Deep customizability. The Input Gestures system makes it relatively easy to remap commands. Preferences > Punctuation/Pronunciation gives granular control.
  • The addon ecosystem. Despite rough edges, the Vision Assistant Pro addon alone demonstrated real power. The 64-bit Eloquence support is also a significant upgrade.
  • Object navigation. Once I understood NVDA’s object model, navigating legacy and non-standard interfaces became genuinely manageable.
  • Cost. NVDA is free, actively developed, and open source. The value proposition is extraordinary.

Where NVDA Still Has Room to Grow

  • Silent focus changes. NVDA going quiet after closing apps or switching tabs is disorienting and may be a bug worth filing.
  • PDF handling. Poorly tagged PDFs hit differently with NVDA than with JAWS, which smooths many errors before they reach the user.
  • Typing echo speech rate. The inability to set a faster speech rate specifically for typed characters is a real productivity gap for fast typists.
  • Element inspection. JAWS’s Shift+Insert+F1 for examining element attributes has no obvious NVDA equivalent, which matters for accessibility work when I just need to start with a quick-and-dirty answer before digging deeper into the code.
  • URL reporting without focus change. A read-only way to hear the current page address — without moving focus to the address bar — is missing.
  • Addon documentation and conflict resolution. Keystroke conflicts between addons and core NVDA aren’t surfaced clearly enough.

The Verdict: One Week Became the New Normal

I went in expecting to survive a week and then gratefully return to JAWS. Instead, I’m writing this article as an NVDA user. The first two days were genuinely hard — partly NVDA’s rough edges, partly years of JAWS muscle memory fighting back. But by day six, NVDA was simply humming along, and I wasn’t thinking about JAWS at all.

For experienced JAWS users considering a serious NVDA trial, my main advice is this: budget real time for reconfiguration in the first two days. The defaults won’t feel right. But the tools to make NVDA feel right are mostly there — they just require some digging. Preferences > Punctuation/Pronunciation and Input Gestures will be your best friends.

JAWS isn’t going anywhere in my toolkit. For professional accessibility auditing, PDF work, and certain specialized contexts, it remains the gold standard. But for day-to-day use on my personal computer? NVDA has earned the top spot.

The 2026.1 release — bringing official 64-bit support — is going to be a milestone worth watching. If you’ve been waiting for a good moment to give NVDA a real chance, that moment is here, now.

Sources

This article is primarily a firsthand account based on my direct experience. The following resources document or corroborate the specific factual claims made in the article.

  • NV Access: NVDA 2025.3.3 Released — Official release announcement for the stable version of NVDA tested throughout this article, confirming it is a 32-bit build.
  • NV Access: In-Process, 10th February 2026 — NV Access’s own blog post confirming that NVDA 2026.1 is the first 64-bit release, and discussing the scope of that transition.
  • NV Access: NVDA 2026.1 Beta 3 Available for Testing — The beta release announcement for the 64-bit version of NVDA referenced in the Day 4 entry.
  • NVDA 2025.3.3 User Guide — The official NVDA documentation covering Browse Mode, Focus Mode, Input Gestures, object navigation, Punctuation/Pronunciation settings, and the Add-on Store — all features discussed throughout the article.
  • Switching from JAWS to NVDA — A community-maintained transition guide for experienced JAWS users switching to the free, open-source NVDA screen reader, covering key differences in keyboard commands, terminology, cursors, navigation, synthesizers, settings, add-ons, and common troubleshooting scenarios.
  • N3FJP’s ARRL International DX Contest Log — The official page for the N3FJP contest logging software tested with NVDA on Day 7.
  • ARRL International DX Contest — The American Radio Relay League’s official page for the ARRL International DX CW contest referenced in the Day 7 entry.

Slack Update Breaks Accessibility in Simplified Layout Mode

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In this video, Darrell Hilliker (CPWA) demonstrates a critical accessibility regression in Slack version 4.47.69. While the new “Activity” view aims to consolidate messages and mentions for improved efficiency, it appears to be completely incompatible with Slack’s Simplified Layout Mode when using a screen reader.

Darrell walks through several standard navigation techniques—including keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+Shift+3), the F6 key to move between regions, and Tab/Arrow key navigation—showing that none of these methods allow a JAWS user to access the actual message content within the Activity tab. Instead of displaying notifications, the screen reader merely reports “loading” or “blank,” effectively locking out users who rely on these specific settings to perform their professional duties.

Bug Report: Accessibility Regression in Slack Activity View

  • Priority: P1 (Critical / Blocker)
  • Status: Open
  • Affected Version: Slack 4.47.69 (Windows 11)
  • Assistive Tech: JAWS 2026
  • Configuration: Simplified Display Mode: ON

Title

New Activity View is Keyboard/Screen Reader Inaccessible in Simplified Display Mode.

Description

The newly introduced “Activity” tab fails to render or focus message content when “Simplified Display Mode” is enabled. This prevents screen reader users from reading mentions, DMs, or threads within the Activity view, creating a total task blocker for collaboration.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Open Slack (v4.47.69) on Windows 11 with JAWS running.
  2. Ensure Simplified Display Mode is enabled in Slack settings.
  3. Use Ctrl+Shift+3 to navigate to the Activity tab.
  4. Attempt to navigate into the message list using Tab, Arrow Keys, or F6 to switch regions.
  5. Observe the screen reader output and focus behavior.

Actual Behavior

The Activity tab reports as “Loading” or “Blank.” Focus remains trapped on the “Breadcrumbs toolbar” (Activity and Workspace buttons) or “Notification Preferences.” There is no keyboard path to reach or read the actual list of notifications or messages.

Expected Behavior

When the Activity tab is focused, the message list should be populated and reachable via standard keyboard navigation (Tab or Arrow keys). Screen readers should announce the content of mentions, DMs, and threads as they do in the standard view.

Impact Statement

This is a task-blocking accessibility issue. Slack is a critical infrastructure tool for thousands of companies, educational institutions, and government agencies. By breaking compatibility with Simplified Display Mode, this update prevents blind and visually impaired professionals from participating in essential workplace communications, disrupting their ability to perform their jobs.

Delphi Programmer Says Freedom Scientific Does Not Play Nice with the Mainstream Developer Community

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We already know that Freedom Scientific’s JAWS end user license agreement is not friendly to mainstream developers and testers as they work to implement accessibility into their products, services and web sites. As a follow on to this concern, we now hear from Craig Stuntz who reports that no developer program exists for those who have purchased JAWS for this critical purpose. In his most recent blog article, he writes:

One would think that the makers of JAWS would want software producers to test their products with JAWS. But according to a salesperson for Freedom Scientific, there is no developer program for the tool. JAWS is moderately expensive — about $900 — but this is not a barrier for us. What we would really like is to have access to a defect reporting system for JAWS and early access to future versions of the software.

We in the connected online blind community very much do want to see developers striving to improve the accessibility of their applications! The accessibility or inaccessibility of technology makes the difference between our inclusion or exclusion from participation in critical life activities such as those involving education and employment. We urge mainstream developers to continue their efforts using screen readers from companies and open source projects that actively invite and request participation from the mainstream developer community:

We ask all mainstream developers to increase the accessibility of their software and to do so in the most favorable economic manner. Spending a thousand dollars on a screen reader for testing purposes is unnecessary. Download free evaluation copies from companies with more friendly license agreements toward developers or take advantage of free open source alternatives. Accessibility need not break the bank. We’re not asking you to go out of business. Instead, we are just asking for the reasonable accomodations that can afford us the opportunity to learn, work and participate in leisure activities.

Blind computer users struck by a very unusual Trojan attack

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We have just received a disturbing report from Vanja Svajcer on the SophosLabs security blog indicating that a recently distributed “unofficial” build of Freedom Scientific’s JAWS 9.0 screen reader making the rounds on various blindness related mailing lists contains dangerous code that disables the use of JAWS and most other screen readers. In his article, Blind computer users struck by a very unusual Trojan attack, Vanja describes a scenario in which a blind user’s computer may essentially be reduced to something about as useful as a very large paperweight, at least until a sighted person can come along to help clean up the mess with appropriate anti-virus software. We should all keep two critical lessons in mind when considering whether or not to download and install software onto our computers:

  • Is the software being offered legal? “Cracked” or otherwise illegal copies of software may contain Trojan Horse code or other malware that may cause damage to your computer’s operating system, applications or data. Not only is the download and use of illegal software unethical, it may actually be detrimental to your digital life.
  • Is the software being delivered by a credible source? In addition to the advertising of a “cracked” copy of JAWS 9.0, it is also believed that the malware mentioned in Vanja’s article may have been distributed under the guys of an “unofficial” JAWS build provided to a customer by Freedom Scientific’s technical support team in order to solve specific issues. Those issues were never clearly specified. The software was being provided by a third party, not directly by Freedom Scientific. The lesson here is that we should check with the company developing the software before downloading and installing any updates. In the case of shareware, free software or open source software, we should take care to download from a reputable source, such as Download.com, FileForum or SourceForge.

Our computers and, even more so our data, are too important to place at unnecessary risk. Let us all take care to protect our valuable digital resources.

Watch Your Keys; JAWS Activation Issues Could be a Job Killer!

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Imagine this nightmare situation! You work nights and/or weekends. One Saturday morning, you start the JAWS-equipped computer on your desk only to find that, for some mysterious reason, JAWS has decided it is no longer authorized. Even worse, since you have JAWS authorized on three computers, you have no additional activations available. It is time to contact Freedom Scientific, right? Wrong! Freedom Scientific is not open during late evenings or on weekends and holidays! You’ll just have to wait till Monday for Freedom Scientific staff to fix the problem! In the meantime, JAWS will run only in 40 minute demonstration mode. It will be necessary to completely reboot your computer 12 times during your eight hour shift. Will your employer find that an acceptable loss of productivity? What if you are an emergency dispatcher, where your ability to correctly and efficiently process each incoming call may be literally a matter of life and death?

It is long past time for Freedom Scientific to come up with a licensing scheme that protects their precious software while ensuring the highest possible availability to its legitimate, paying customers! An excellent example of a reasonably workable scheme would seem to be the new user-centered licensing system recently implemented by Code Factory. Please, Freedom Scientific, if not Code Factory’s model, then come up with a similarly reasonable scheme to protect everyone’s interests. Most users are not going to be highly technical. They’re just not going to be constantly watching FSActivate.com to see if they have an extra key available, just in case the worst happens. Instead, blind employees need reasonable assurances that, barring some sort of catastrophe, their screen reader isn’t going to be the tool that lets them down when they start their work day. Doesn’t JAWS still stand for Job Access with Speech?

JAWS 9.0 Public Beta 1 – First Impressions

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Although we aim to keep our readers informed, we are also not strictly a news blog. Since the news concerning the impending JAWS 9.0 public beta, and its release yesterday, were broadcast all over the online connected blind community, we elected to hold off for the chance to report some real world first impressions of this new version.

Freedom Scientific released JAWS 9.0 Public Beta 1 yesterday, October 1. The enhancements and new features of this version were demonstrated last week in episode 10 of the company’s FSCast podcast. The release notes were posted last Friday and the JAWS for Windows 9.0 Public Beta was made available on Monday.

As an advanced blind computer user who depends on reliable screen access in order to perform my day job, among other tasks, I believe it essential to take every opportunity to test new public beta versions and releases of all the assistive technology in my toolbox. This includes, of course, this JAWS 9.0 public beta. In this regard, the ability to install and run new versions of JAWS while retaining previous versions remains a significant advantage. In the event of a crash, instability or a new feature with which I simply can’t live at the moment, I am able to quickly return to a previous version and get on with the business at hand.

Though I’ve spent less than a day with the JAWS 9 public beta, my first impressions are quite positive. The most significant improvement I have experienced thus far is increased overall responsiveness across the board. Though I have not yet taken the opportunity to experience the new features of this public beta, the following seem to be the most significant:

  • Improved support of Microsoft Office 2007 and Windows Vista.
  • The ability to copy and paste content from the virtual buffer (such as virtual PC cursor mode in Internet Explorer) into a Microsoft Word document or HTML e-mail while retaining live links and visual formatting. Though I do not necessarily consider this a “break through” feature, it is, nevertheless, a potentially useful tool for working more effectively with sighted colleagues.
  • Initial support for the standard Gmail web user interface, possibly without the need to use the basic HTML view. I haven’t yet had a chance to test this functionality, but would certainly consider this significant, especially if it really makes that view accessible now. Are we finally starting to see JAWS seriously tackling an AJAX enabled web site?

Other JAWS users, including Rick Harmon are reporting Windows Vista enhancements not currently listed in the release notes, along with some new issues. I also note that the improvements made to the blank virtual buffer issue and FSBraille crashes in the limited release build 2178 were not listed in the JAWS 9.0 What’s New write up. All the same, I have yet to experience either issue so far. It is absolutely critical that we use the Beta Report Form to provide thorough feedback regarding any issues encountered while using this public beta. The programmers at Freedom Scientific can fix problems only when they are made aware of their existence.

Though JAWS 9.0 will add some new functionality to our overall computing experience, I do not feel it warrants a 9.0 version designation that results in a reduction of our SMA count or an additional financial cost for those who are not part of Freedom Scientific’s SMA program. Instead, it seems a version number such as 8.5 may have been more in line with the feature set being offered. As always, comments are quite welcome.

Update: Accessible Version of CallBurner

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It appears the CallBurner team has not yet made their accessible version available to the public. Since many of you have asked how you can get started right away, please feel free to download a copy of the accessible version. Since this version of CallBurner is not currently provided on the company’s web site, this software should be considered to be a beta release, with all the “play at your own risk” caveats that status entails. Stay tuned for another update as soon as the CallBurner Team has informed us of the public availability of the accessible release.

CallBurner: Finally, Fully Accessible Skype Call Recording is Here at Last!

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The people at Netralia, developers of the Skylook Skype call management and recording application for Microsoft Outlook, have recently released a new Skype call recording product that does not depend on Outlook. The new CallBurner application enables annotation and recording of all Skype calls while providing a clean, simple user interface.

After learning of the existence of this new product, I downloaded a trial copy of the software. While finding it reasonably usable for basic call recording, I found the call detail window largely inaccessible with any screen reader, including JAWS, System Access and Window-Eyes. I promptly wrote a short note to the company’s support e-mail address requesting accessibility enhancements to permit full use of CallBurner with screen reading software. On Thursday, July 5, I was absolutely flabbergasted to receive a response from the company’s senior developer offering a beta copy of an accessible version of the software for my testing! This response came in less than three weeks of my initial request!

After downloading the test copy of CallBurner, I immediately began to put it through its paces. After enabling “Screen Reader Compatibility” in the Accessibility sub-menu of the program’s System Tray icon, I was instantly delighted to discover extensive keyboard navigation, a tabbed Call Details dialogue box and full accessibility without need of screen reader configuration or scripts. Follow these steps to enable “Screen Reader Compatibility” after downloading and installing CallBurner:

  1. Minimize all running programs and focus on the Desktop by pressing Left Windows+M.

  2. Press JAWS Key+F11, Modifier+F11 (System Access) or Insert+S (Window-Eyes) to open the System Tray menu.

  3. Down arrow to CallBurner and press enter to right click its System Tray icon.

  4. Press enter on the Accessibility sub-menu.

  5. Press enter on “Screen Reader Compatibility”. This is the only option currently found in the Accessibility sub-menu.

  6. The following dialogue box is shown: “Screen Reader Compatibility is now turned ON. NOTE: You need to restart CallBurner for this change to become effective.”

  7. Press enter on the OK button to accept the change.

  8. Press JAWS Key+F11, Modifier+F11 (System Access) or Insert+S (Window-Eyes) to return to the System Tray menu.

  9. Down arrow to CallBurner and press enter to right click its System Tray icon.

  10. Up arrow to the Quit option and press enter.

  11. Press the Left Windows key or CTRL+Escape to open the Start menu.

  12. Press p to open the All Programs menu.

  13. Down arrow to CallBurner and press enter to open its sub-menu.

  14. Press enter on CallBurner to start the program. The Call Details window opens, presenting a tabbed dialogue box that delivers a fully accessible user interface to all CallBurner functions.

  15. Press the End key to move to the Help tab.

  16. Press the Tab key once to select Browse On-Line Help and press enter to open CallBurner’s documentation in a typical web browser window. This help will serve to get you started with CallBurner in short order.

The latest version of CallBurner, incorporating the “Screen Reader Compatibility” enhancement, has been made available as of Saturday, July 7, 2007. I highly recommend CallBurner to anyone, blind or sighted, who needs to record Skype calls. The ability and willingness of the developers to make their software accessible in less than three weeks of such a request demonstrates the commitment of this company to high quality, reliable customer service and technical support. We should all send a quick note of thanks to the CallBurner Team expressing our appreciation for their prompt attention to our accessibility needs and encouraging their developers to continue the excellent work in this area for all their software. Stay tuned to Blind Access Journal and other blind community online resources for demonstrations, reviews, tips and other information covering the use of this excellent application.