More buttons for Firefox and Dragon

I’ve mentioned the Custom Toolbar Buttons for using Firefox and Thunderbird with Dragon before, but am plugging it again because there are some navigation buttons I didn’t notice. These buttons would be especially useful for those who don’t use add-on command programs, but they may also simply reduce the syllables of an existing command if that’s important to you.

1. Find Again and Find Previous. This might be helpful for those using typeaheadfind.linksonly rather than Mouseless Browsing. If Firefox focuses on a word with multiple instances, saying “find again/previous” is more fluid than “press Control G” or “press Control Shift G.” However, it will be somewhat slower than the keypress command or a Vocola “find again” command since it uses cursor movement instead of keystrokes.

2. Close Other Tabs. Does exactly what it says, leaving only your current tab.

3. Snap Back. Goes to the first site you visited in the current tab. Useful depending on your browsing habits.

Click Firefox links with the apostrophe ‘ and Dragon

The auto scrolling bookmarklet prompted me to write this post, but the fix I’m going to describe applies to Firefox globally as well. I said earlier that the bookmarklet’s number key speed shortcuts conflicted with Mouseless Browsing, but even if you’re not using Mouseless Browsing, it also conflicts with the accessibility.typeaheadfind settings in Firefox’s about:config. So, if you say or type a number to finely adjust the speed (you can also, it turns out, just press the + or – as long as you’re not using Mouse Keys), your speed will adjust, but Firefox will focus on where that number appears. Therefore, chances are good you’ll lose your place in whatever you’re reading.

However, there is a way to access links reliably without either typeaheadfind or Mouseless Browsing turned on. Just press or say apostrophe. This will temporarily turn on the accessibility.typeaheadfind.linksonly setting, and you can say or type your link word, then press Enter. However, you may still wish to go into about:config and turn off the timeout setting if you’re a keyboard user and type slowly.

Compared to having the setting enabled automatically, this is a slightly clumsier process, especially if you have a keyboard on which the ‘ is a shifted key. It would be somewhat more bearable for Dragon users, though, especially if you could create an add-on command. Here is my Vocola command, taken from my list of Firefox commands:

[Click] Link <_anything> = “‘” $1 {Enter};

That was a basic clicking link, but if you want to account for opening a link in a new tab, here is the command:

[Open] Link <_anything> new tab = “‘” $1 {Ctrl+Enter};

Now you should be able to keep your place while you scroll. Also, you might want to use this command anyway, because even though Dragon will occasionally click a Firefox link for you, Dragon itself does not have a way to open a new tab when it clicks something.

Typeaheadfind: Click Firefox links with Dragon, without Mouseless Browsing

As I’ve said, Dragon 10 and Firefox have gotten to the point that you can say a word in a link to click it, but this only works maybe 60% of the time. (That just seemed like the appropriately lukewarm number to describe the programs’ half-assed interaction.) I’m not sure why. Luckily for us, there’s a workaround. Well, 2, if you count Mouseless Browsing. But this workaround is for those who may dislike Mouseless Browsing for whatever reason — this one is built into the browser.

Go to the address bar and enter about:config. Go there. First, highlight accessibility.typeaheadfind. Its value will probably be false. Press Enter to set this value to true. Then, highlight accessibility.typeaheadfind.linksonly. Press Enter to set this to true.

This allows you to dictate any part of a link as long as it’s a pronounceable word. So if you say something and Dragon doesn’t click it, no worries — Firefox will highlight in green what you’ve said, and transfer the keyboard focus to it so that all you have to say is either “go there” or “press Enter.” It’s different from Mouseless Browsing in that depending on the words you use, there might be duplicates, and Firefox will focus on the 1st instance so that you have to say “press Control G” until you get the instance you want (or create a Vocola or KnowBrainer “find again” command if you wish). To open a link in a new tab this way, say “press Control Enter,” and to open it in a new window, say “press Shift Enter.” Between this workaround and Dragon 10’s own spotty ability, I barely notice the seams anymore. (Though if Mozilla ever decided to do some research and actually make Firefox SAPI compliant if that’s possible, I certainly wouldn’t complain!)

Tabfocus: Access Firefox text fields etc. with Dragon

While Firefox is not seamless, the Mozilla developers have indeed at least been meeting us halfway, though perhaps unintentionally as many programmers are still woefully ignorant of speech recognition requirements. I just didn’t know it, because they don’t describe their accessibility options well at all. Bah.

While Dragon and Firefox have approached a level of semi-civility when it comes to clicking links (provided the website is compliant), one of Firefox’s main obstacles to navigation remains the inability to use commands like “click checkbox/radio button/text field.” I don’t know if that will change anytime soon, because Firefox’s user interface is written in JavaScript, which is a difficult language for some assistive technologies to play with. This is why so many people have been using the Mouseless Browsing add-on — it provides a way for us to vocally access the link, checkbox, field, or button by telling Dragon to press the corresponding numeral. However, a lot of people dislike using Mouseless Browsing because for them, the numbers clutter up the page. If you’re one of these people, Firefox has a few options built in that should make it a lot easier on you.

Unfortunately, these are not obvious unless you’re comfortable with about:config, which is Firefox’s skeleton key in terms of customizing its default behavior. Go to the address bar and enter about:config, and go there. If you get a message about voiding your warranty, ignore it.

You’ll see a bunch of entries that begin with “accessibility.” The one that pertains to accessing fields and boxes is called accessibility.tabfocus. Contrary to what I first thought, this has nothing to do with the number of tabs you can have open at once. You’ll see that it contains an integer value, probably 7. Highlight it and tell Dragon to press Shift-F10, which will give you the context menu for that option. Choose Modify, because you need to decrease the number.

Anywhere from 1 to 3 is a good number — nothing above that. These numbers restrict where your cursor focus goes when you press the tab key — it limits the tab key to finding lists, text fields, and buttons/checkboxes, in the order in which they appear. If you set it to 1, saying “tab” will put you into text fields only, and you say the tab key until you get to the text field that you want. Usually this is only a couple of times. If you set it to 3, you can access any field, list, box or (compliant) button, repeating until you get to the one you want. Again, the repetition isn’t usually excessive.

I know this method isn’t perfect compared to just zeroing in on whatever you want, but I think it’s a pretty decent workaround. Next up is a way to access links without mouseless browsing enabled.

Firefox 3.5 RC1, Dragon 10 and TSF

Okay, so the main reason I was looking forward to Firefox 3.5 was the promise of Text Services Framework support. TSF’s relevant function is to support dictation into text fields, while keeping the ability to select and correct by voice. You can still dictate into text fields that don’t have TSF enabled, but your words  or punctuation may run together,  or your correction may not take. So, TSF is a step in the right direction, and I cheerfully downloaded the release candidate of Firefox 3.5.

I figured I would try dictating directly into this post field to test TSF. Surprise! The Select-and-Say indicator on the Dragon bar remains dark. While I can dictate and make limited corrections, some words still run together and the insertion point will stop just before punctuation marks if I try to return to the end of the line after the correction. Occasionally, I can’t select or correct words at all. Continuous dictation, however, seems to be okay, so I can still do it in a pinch — just don’t expect full capability. In short, nothing is really broken — it’s just that nothing has been fixed, either. It’s the same old Firefox. Stick with the Dictation Box or Word or something as a buffer.

I can continue to use Firefox as I normally would, because everything else is still vocally accessible. And 3.5 has some cool features, such as private browsing. In addition, their options menu has gotten slightly voice-friendlier, as well as plain user friendly. You no longer have to go through the about: config menu in order to turn off suggestions in the address bar;  simply look under Tools — Options — Privacy.  Press Alt-U,  say “nothing,” and press Enter. (Then tab to OK and press Enter again, because the OK and Cancel buttons still can’t be spoken.)

I do like some of the new settings, and I’m glad that nothing major got broken. Firefox will continue to be my default browser, and when the stable version of 3.5 ships, I’ll download it and continue to use it. But I really hope that the omission of TSF support is a temporary setback, and that they will fully implement it in the stable version of 3.5.I might do a more mainstream review of 3.5 after I mess around a bit, but wanted to give a heads up about the elusive TSF.

A reminder on Mouse Keys and Mouseless Browsing

Perhaps I should have mentioned this earlier based on my stats; I’m so used to it that it never occurred to me. Mouseless Browsing in Firefox DOES NOT conflict with the Windows Mouse Keys accessibility option if you have correctly configured the Mouse Keys settings. You must check the box for using Mouse Keys when NumLock is OFF. Then, to switch from Mouse Keys to Mouseless Browsing, just press NumLock. And vice versa.

Vocal and keyboard autoscrolling in Firefox: Woohoo!

I’m still a little peeved at Nuance for breaking their middle click command, and likewise a little bit puzzled at the Mozilla developers for making such a useful function as auto scroll exclusive to the mouse. A lot of people who can’t use the mouse — be they Dragon users or keyboard-only users or both — don’t feel like writing their own voice commands or AutoHotKey assignments or what have you. Not for what is supposed to be a basic native Firefox function, at least. What about that standard that says all functions should be accessible from the keyboard, huh? While computer users with disabilities do have to take more responsibility for finding things out themselves, it baffles me that programmers can’t even meet us halfway sometimes. The more function you have built into a program, the safer you feel, because — well, what if your add-ons stop being developed or something? You get the idea.

However, after much frustrated googling, I am just elated. Whether you are a Dragon user or keyboard user, you can now auto scroll any page without using a mouse command. Tim Harper, a.k.a. Tim the Enchanter, has written a bookmarklet that does just that — loads a JavaScript for auto scrolling into any page you’re on. All you have to do is go to his page, and save the humongous Autoscroll link into your Bookmarks Toolbar using the mouse commands (for Dragon), but that’s the only time, I promise. (The toolbar method is mainly for Dragon users because Mozilla hasn’t made the toolbar itself keyboard accessible.)

If you are a keyboard user, you need to use Mouse Keys (sorry, tabbing to the link doesn’t seem to work, or least I can’t see it being highlighted) to right-click over the link, and choose “Bookmarks Menu” for the location. That’s more efficient because it makes your keyboard shortcut more fluid: Alt-B-A. Done. (Of course, you might have to press A more than once if you have bookmarks that start with the same letter. For efficiency in selecting, it might be a good idea to de-clutter your menu, either by deleting old bookmarks or putting them into a folder.)

Tim lists the shortcuts for increasing the speed on his page, but please note — since we’re probably all using Mouseless Browsing, the number key shortcuts will conflict. (However, we can by all means still access links and fields via Mouseless Browsing with no problem.) Stick with the Control-Shift-+ or Control-Shift– shortcuts, and you’ll be fine. If the default speed is too slow for you, you can edit the script to adjust it. To do this:

1. Go to Organize Bookmarks under the Bookmarks menu (Ctrl-Shift-B).

2. Choose either Bookmarks Menu or Bookmarks Toolbar, depending on where you put the bookmarklet. Then, highlight Autoscroll from the results side.

3. Look at the Location field. Instead of seeing a web address, you will see the script itself. With either voice or keyboard, go to the Location field and press Control-C.

4. Open Notepad. Press Control-V. You will see the script in full.

5. On the 2nd line, look for ss_speed=1. Once you find it, change 1 to about 3; that’s middling at least. Then, select and copy the document via Control-A Control C, and go back to your Bookmark Organizer.

6. Go into the Location field again if you’re not still there. Press Control-V. This will paste the adjusted script.

7. Now, whenever you say “Autoscroll” or execute the keyboard shortcut, the page will scroll at the speed you want.

Tim’s script can be found here. Enjoy!

Mouseless Browsing and Dragon: how to open links in new tabs

Opening links in a new tab with Dragon is a useful function, and can be done through Mouseless Browsing. You can do this with or without Vocola, but the Vocola command is a lot quicker.

With Vocola: Go into the mouseless browsing configuration and make sure the postfix key for opening links in a new tab is the plus sign (found under the Keys menu) and the modifier key is Ctrl (found under ID types). Then edit your Firefox voice commands by adding the following script, where 1..1000 corresponds to the link number you want to say:

Open 1..1000 new tab = $1{+}{Ctrl+Enter};

Without Vocola: Go into the mouseless browsing configuration and make sure the postfix key is the plus sign, and the modifier is Ctrl, as above. Then, say “press [number] plus-sign.” Then, say “press Control Enter.”

Bypassing text fields in mouseless browsing

My list of Vocola commands for Firefox is getting pretty long, so I figure I should start breaking it up. Since a lot of Firefox use with Dragon involves mouseless browsing, I thought it would be a good idea to post specific Vocola commands that allow you to take advantage of more mouseless browsing capabilities than you’d be able to if you were just using Dragon alone.

You may have noticed that if your cursor is in a text box, and you want to say a link, saying “numeral [whatever]” puts those numbers in the text box instead of clicking the link you want. Not terribly helpful. The 1st thing you want to do is go into Tools — Add-ons — Mouseless Browsing (or, if you have your mouseless browsing options in your Tools menu separately, just Tools — Mouseless Browsing — Open Configuration). Then, choose “ID types.” Check the option “use numpad exclusively for mouseless browsing.” As per the description, this allows you to bypass text fields and go directly to the link. For Dragon, however, you need Vocola or another scripting program in order to make use of this feature.

The reason is that Dragon cannot natively press more than one keypad key in succession. You need to make a command that will force Dragon to press only the keypad keys, and in such a way that you can enter multiple digit link numbers. Like so:

0..9..0..9..0..9..09 = {NumKey$1}{NumKey$2}{NumKey$3}{NumKey$4};
0..9 0..9 0..9 = {NumKey$1}{NumKey$2}{NumKey$3};
0..9 0..9 = {NumKey$1}{NumKey$2};
0..9 = {NumKey$1};

So, for example, if I say “2  7  3″ while my blinking cursor is in the text box, Dragon will press those three keys on the keypad as if you had pressed them manually. The focus will now transfer to the link and press it. Perfect. (NOTE: under the mouseless browsing options, make sure the option “execute automatically without pressing enter” is checked.)

Let me rephrase that: mouseless browsing and Dragon

I was muttering to myself (and my computer) all morning about what I thought was a bug in mouseless browsing in Firefox 3, or Dragon 10, or all of these (considering Dragon’s rickety built-in support for things like this). See, my habitual phrase for accessing anything numbered is “numeral [whatever]“. This worked, until I started trying to select multiple checkboxes in Gmail. The 1st box checked fine. But when I spoke the number for the next box, my previous checkmark was removed. It was driving me nuts.

Finally, I just started running through every possible phrase. Evidently, I wasn’t saying the magic words — if you want to consistently select checkboxes, you have to say “press [number].” If you do it that way, you can check more than one box at a time. I have no idea what the rephrase had to do with it, because as far as I can see they’re just synonyms for the same function. Maybe it is a mild Dragon bug; who knows. Oh well.

Of course Nuance and Mozilla could solve the whole thing by collaborating for better compatibility, but I’ll take this in the meantime. Especially because I downloaded the beta of the latest mouseless browsing version, 0.5.2. It’s really cool — it supports more elements now, like tabs and frames. Dragon can click tabs for you if you say a word in the tab title, but just in case that’s a little dodgy — and it is sometimes, especially if those number flags pop up for duplicate words and Dragon clicks the opposite of your choice — the latest mouseless browsing version provides an alternate way.