Set Message Priority and Request Read Receipt in Outlook Express

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Karen has asked me several times to teach her how to set the priority and request a read receipt for outgoing messages in Outlook Express. Setting the priority tells the recipient that you deem the contents of your message as being of low, normal or high importance. Requesting a “read receipt” is an attempt to determine whether or not the intended recipient has actually opened and read your message. The recipient may choose whether or not to acknowledge receipt of your message. The ability to do this can sometimes be helpful when dealing with advocacy situations where e-mail communications are involved. It seemed like these features might be sufficiently significant to warrant a tech tip here on the journal, so I hope some of you find these instructions helpful. This procedure is not screen reader specific.

Follow these steps to compose a new message, set its priority to “high” and request that the recipient acknowledge receipt:

  1. Run Outlook Express as usual.

  2. Press CTRL+N to compose a new message.

  3. Complete the “To”, “CC”, “BCC” and “Subject” fields as you normally would when sending e-mail.

  4. Write the text of your message.

  5. Press Alt+M to pull down the Message menu.

  6. Press p to open the Set Priority submenu.

  7. Press h to check the “High” option. You may, instead, press l to choose “Low” or n to choose “Normal” priority. Normal is the default.

  8. Press Alt+T to pull down the Tools menu.

  9. Press t to check “Request Read Receipt”.

  10. Press Alt+S or CTRL+Enter to send the message with high urgency and a request that the recipient acknowledge receipt of your communication.

FileDir 2.5 and TextPal 3.7 released

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FileDir 2.5
May 11, 2007
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/dirsetup.exe

Fixed the Zip List command, Control+Shift+Z. In the Web Download command,
Alt+Shift+W, a different, more reliable technique is implemented for getting
the web address of a page open in Internet Explorer.

With the optional JAWS scripts, made Control+Equals a synonym of Control+E
for the Evaluate command (to be consistent with the Homer interface). Added
the Manual Options command, Alt+Shift+M, for adjusting FileDir settings
directly in a text editor.

Doubled the number of special folders available via the Open Special Folder
command, Control+Shift+O. You can now have greater control over
your computer by conveniently examining and managing the following 35
folders as needed:

Administrative Tools
Application Data
Common Administrative Tools
Common Application Data
Common Desktop
Common Documents
Common Favorites
Common Files
Common Programs
Common Start Menu
Common Startup
Common Templates
Cookies
Desktop
Favorites
Fonts
Internet Cache
Internet History
Local Application Data
My Documents
My Pictures
MyMusic
Network Neighborhood
Printer Neighborhood
Program Files
Programs
Recent
SendTo
Start Menu
Startup
system32
Temp
Templates
UserName
WINNT

———-

TextPal 3.7
May 11, 2007
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/palsetup.exe

Fixed some of the optional JAWS scripts, as well as command descriptions in
the Alternate Menu (Alt+F10), to reflect recent changes in key
assignments. Fixed TextPal copying selected text to the clipboard in a
small font rather than as unformatted plain text.

In the Grab URLs command, Alt+Shift+G, a different, more reliable
technique is implemented for getting the web address of a page open in
Internet Explorer. Reassigned the Insert Time command to
Alt+Shift+Semicolon. Alt+Semicolon still says the time and date.

Modified the Order Lines and Keep Unique Lines commands, Alt+Shift+O and
Alt+Shift+K, to ignore case. Enhanced the Yield command, Alt+Y, to
operate on either all or selected text.

Added two commands that are part of the developing "Homer editor interface."
Press Alt+Backslash to open the folder of the current file in
Windows Explorer, or Control+Backslash to open a command prompt there. Also
for Homer consistency, the evaluate command, Control+E, has a
synonym, Control+Equals. In addition, this command is enhanced to operate
on either the current line or selected text. Thus, one could write several
lines of code in the Ruby language, select the text, and then evaluate the
result. For example, the following algebra calculates the cumulative total
of an initial $100 deposit compounded for 12 months at 5% interest:

interest = 1.05
deposit = 100
months = 12
total = (interest ** months) * deposit
179.585632602213

The result, about $180, was placed on the line below the previously selected
text, and the cursor was placed at the start of that line.

A list of accessible software I have developed for Windows, with download
links, is available at
http://GrabBag.AlacornComputer.com

For upgrading to the latest FileDir and TextPal, remember that you may
elevate on May 11 with F11!

Jamal

Consequences?

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Please allow me to present all of you with a thought provoking question. Feel free to comment.

If something bad happens and all of the causes are totally outside of your control, should you be punished in the same manner as though it was under your control and you were involved in the situation out of carelessness or purpose?

I really can’t say anymore about the situation right now, but, of course, you can bet that it is most certainly blindness related. If you have questions or would like further clarification, please post a comment. Let’s get a little dialogue going in the comments to this post.

GW Micro Announces New Window-Eyes Payment Plan for $39/Month

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GW Micro is showing that they are serious about doing all they can to run a profitable business while making their screen reading software available to as many blind and visually impaired people as possible.  We applaud GW Micro for making this option available, and are thus happy to redistribute the following announcement:

 

One of the largest barriers to technology for blind and visually impaired people has always been the high cost, but that is about to change.  GW Micro, maker of Window-Eyes, is breaking down those barriers, and now offering a low-cost payment plan for the most advanced screen reader available.

Do you need a screen reader that already has official support for Office 2007, Windows Vista, and makes the Outlook Calendar fully accessible?  This is your chance to take advantage of the latest screen reading technology at an affordable price.
 
The new Window-Eyes Payment Plan replaces the Window-Eyes Lease-to-own program.  Here is how it works:  Instead of the blind consumer immediately paying the full price to buy Window-Eyes, they can opt between two plans.  Both plans include Window-Eyes and a Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA) which provides three major upgrades of Window-Eyes.
 
The first choice is the Short Term Payment Plan, which costs $50 the first month (plus shipping), and $100 per month for the next 12 months.  The second choice is the Long Term Payment Plan which costs $41 the first month (plus shipping) and $39 per month for the next 31 months.  There are no penalties for paying off the balance early, and there is no interest on top of your monthly payment.

If you have been waiting to upgrade your copy of Window-Eyes, now is the time!  If your upgrade costs $400 or more, you can use the Window-Eyes Payment Plan to upgrade.  Contact our orders department for more information.
 
The new Window-Eyes Payment Plan is shipping now, and you can place your order now by calling our orders department at (260) 489-3671, or by sending an email to orders@gwmicro.com.  For more information, check out www.gwmicro.com/paymentplan. 

Accessibility Issues On U.S. Senate Web Site Impact Constituents Who Are Blind

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Mika Pyyhkala wrote the following letter to the Senate webmaster not only reiterating the accessibility issue already reported but also identifying some additional concerns with links missing appropriate descriptive alt text tags.  He also provides some resources for webmasters to begin to learn about and address accessibility issues.
Dear U.S. Senate Webmaster,

I am a blind resident of Massachusetts  writing to bring to your attention at least two  accessibility concerns on the senate.gov web site. Firstly, Essentially, it is not currently possible for a blind person relying on a screen reader to find their Senators. After selecting the state and pressing the Go button, the contact information for the appropriate two Senators is not provided as expected.  Your web site may be rendering the expected information in a picture, or with some sort of nonstandard mark up conventions.  This form can be found at the url:
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/general/one_item_and_teasers/contacting.htm

In a brief review of the Senate web site, I also encountered a number of unlabeled links to key areas.  A screen reader speaks these links as “teaser/teaser_btmgo”. You can find these unlabeled links at the url:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=MA
You can use a text browser rendering tool to get an idea of how such a page appears in a screen reader.  Here is an example for the above mentioned page:
http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.senate.gov%2Fgeneral%2Fcontact_information%2Fsenators_cfm.cfm%3FState%3DMA
This tool gives  you an idea about how the page controls  might be read by a screen reader to a person who is blind.

I would like to request that you engage people with disabilities in your business requirement design, , development, beta testing, quality assurance, and other internal processes used to maintain the web site and other in use technologies.  For example, if people who are blind who use assistive technology were part of your testing process, it is very unlikely that these two particular issues would have materialized on the in production web pages.  From a web development perspective, it is easier and less resource intensive if you build accessibility in to processes from the ground up, instead of so-called “bolted on” accessibility after a web site or other technology solution has gone in to production.

As a taxpaying citizen who has paid in part for the creation of this web site, I am asking that you work to correct these issues so that blind and visually impaired citizens may fully utilize the capabilities and resources offered by the web site.  Again, also, accessibility testing and validation exercises should be conducted before new content or features are placed in production to assure that such implementations and changes are accessible.  Accessibility and usability by people who are blind should not be simply a one-off process, or something only evaluated when usability feedback like this is received.  Instead, as I have noted, accessibility should become a key part of your business process and corporate DNA.  Under Section 508, the U.S. government has pledged to be a model citizen in this regard, and making accessibility an ongoing front burner initiative is part of this commitment.  Furthermore, these actions will aid the private sector in modeling similar standards and behaviors.

I would be pleased to help you in these endeavors.  I will also provide some web addresses where you can obtain more information about accessibility and assistive technology used by people with disabilities:

Making Your Web Site Accessible to the Blind
http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Web_accessibility.asp?SnID=2798332
by Curtis Chong
Director of Technology
National Federation of the Blind

Watchfire WebXACT, a tool that can be used to create an initial and preliminary check on a web sites accessibility and Section 508 compliance:
http://webxact.watchfire.com/
These automated testing tools are useful, but are not a substitute for involving people with disabilities in your business and technical processes as outlined above.

 
 Nonvisual Accessibility Web Application Certification
http://www.nfb.org/nfb/certification_intro.asp?SnID=887575
This is a program of the National Federation of the Blind which enables organizations to seek consulting services and certification once a web site is made accessible.  The program combines automated testing as well as real world end user acceptance testing using assistive technologies.

Jaws For Windows Screen Reader (including free demo version):
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/JAWS_HQ.asp
This is the software used by people who are blind which reads computer information  in synthetic speech or provides it using  refreshable braile displays.

Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) – home page
http://www.w3.org/WAI/
This is a standards organization that provides guidelines on web development including accessibility considerations.

Section 508: The Road to Accessibility
http://www.section508.gov/
The federal government has pledged by law to be a leader in this area, and holds itself accountable to ensuring that web sites and other technologies are accessible to people who are blind as well as those with other disabilities.  The above links to a federal government Section 508 portal.

Thank you in advance for your effrorts in these areas.  I trust that the information and links are helpful to you, and again I look forward to working with you in the near future.

Best regards,

Mika Pyyhkala

cc: Jennifer Fay, Help Committee, Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts
    Help Committee General Office, U.S. Senate

New Skype 3.2 Release Takes a Temporary Step Back on Accessibility

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Skype 3.2 is out of beta now and many of you will be chomping at the bit to download this shiny new version. If you are a screen reader user who is not comfortable using the mouse navigation features of your assistive technology, then I must advise you to wait just a few weeks longer due to a couple of keyboard navigation concerns.

There are currently two known keyboard accessibility issues with the Options dialogue box in Skype 3.2. First, though it is possible to up and down arrow through the categories of options upon initial entry into the Options dialogue, this list becomes unavailable after pressing tab or shift+tab. It is necessary to exit and re-enter the Options dialogue in order to regain access to the list of categories. Second, the Save and Cancel buttons are no longer reachable by pressing the tab and shift+tab keys. They also do not have equivalent hotkeys, so, for instance, pressing alt+s will not click the Save button as one would expect. These two issues may be reproduced by following these steps:

  1. Run Skype from the Desktop or Start Menu, or open it from the System Tray by right clicking its icon and choosing Show Friends.

  2. Press alt+t to open the Tools menu.

  3. Press p to open the Options dialogue box.

  4. Press the up and down arrow keys to move between the available categories of options you may adjust. Observe that your screen reader describes each category as it is selected.

  5. Press tab followed by shift+tab. The list of categories is no longer available. It is possible to tab around the entire dialogue box without locating this list.

  6. While navigating the dialogue box by pressing tab or shift+tab numerous times, observe that the Save and Cancel buttons are no longer available. It is necessary to find and left click them utilizing your screen reader’s mouse navigation functions. This is a dawnting task for many blind and visually impaired users relying on screen reading software.

  7. Press alt+f4 to exit the Options dialogue box without making any changes.

A reliable source reports that these issues will be resolved in a hot fix scheduled to be released in the next several weeks. This source also tells me that the Skype developers are interested in insuring the accessibility of not only the software but also the Skype web site. In order to insure these two accessibility issues and any others get resolved, it is best that we essentially vote for their prompt resolution by reporting them through Skype’s official channels. I would also like to hear about these issues directly. Please report all accessibility issues, with as much detail as possible, by submitting a support request directly to Skype and sending e-mail to editor@blindaccessjournal.com so I may track and potentially facilitate the prompt resolution of your concerns.

Blind College Students in Maryland Will Have Textbooks on Time

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PR Newswire
Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Blind College Students in Maryland Will Have Textbooks on Time

By National Federation of the Blind

Governor O'Malley Signs Landmark Legislation Providing for Electronic Access

ANNAPOLIS, Md., May 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Maryland Governor
Martin O'Malley signed legislation today that will ensure that blind
college and graduate students in the state will have timely access to
textbooks and course materials in a format they can use. The legislation,
passed at the urging of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland,
provides for textbooks to be converted into an electronic format specified
by the Maryland Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. The
electronic format will allow blind students to download their textbooks to
computers or Braille devices.

"In the past, blind students in Maryland have had to wait for their
books to be produced in Braille or in recorded form by volunteers or by the
state," said Dr. Michael Gosse, president of the National Federation of the
Blind of Maryland. "Technology now makes it possible for students to have
access to their books and course materials at the same time as their sighted
peers, as long as the books are in a standard electronic format.
This legislation requires that publishers provide electronic copies of their
books so that blind students can access them directly with a computer
or Braille device. It is a historic piece of legislation, because never
before have blind students had access to textbooks at the same time as the
sighted." Amy Herstein, a blind sophomore at the University of Maryland of
Baltimore County, said: "Today is truly a great day for students like me. I
will no longer have to worry about hiring someone to read to me or spending
hours scanning my textbooks into a computer. Having timely access to my
books means that I will never get behind in my course work simply because a
book isn't available in an accessible format. College is hard work, but my
life as a blind college student has just been made a whole lot easier."

About the National Federation of the Blind
With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind is
the largest and most influential membership organization of blind people in
the United States. The NFB improves blind people's lives through advocacy,
education, research, technology, and programs encouraging independence and
self-confidence. It is the leading force in the blindness field today and
the voice of the nation's blind. In January 2004 the NFB opened the
National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and
training center in the United States for the blind led by the blind.

SOURCE National Federation of the Blind
http://www.nfb.org/