Navigating Help

(With emphasis on JAWS - See JAWS Scripts)

The help window is a split window that contains the contents of the various topics on the right side. The left side of the window contains the Table of Contents, Index, Favorites, Search, or Glossary. Press Ctrl + Tab to switch among the features displayed on the left.

Information is provided in the following sections to assist you in using this help system.

Using The Table of Contents

Using the Index

Using Search

Using the Glossary

Using Favorites

Reading the Topic Pane

Conventions

Using The Table of Contents (Alt + c)

When you first open the DBT help system, the Table of Contents is displayed on the left side of a split window. The Table of Contents lists a number of books and pages. Books are categories containing a number of pages. The pages are topics containing information. Up Arrow and Down Arrow are used to move through the Table of Contents. Right Arrow is used to open a book. Left Arrow is used to close a book. Press Enter on a selected page to access the text of that topic, and then press F6 to move to the topic window. Press F6 to return to the Table of Contents,or press Alt + c to return to the Table of Contents from any section of the help system.

Using the Index (Alt + n)

Press Alt + n to move to the Index. Type in keywords to locate related topics. Keywords are help related terms or concepts. After typing in a keyword, press Up Arrow or Down Arrow to move through a list of matching index entries. Press Enter to select a keyword. If there is only one matching topic, it is displayed in the topic window. Press F6 to move to the topic window. If there are multiple matching topics, they are displayed in a list. Select a topic from the list, press Enter, then press F6 to move to the topic window.

Using Search (Alt + s)

Press Alt + s to move to the Search page. Type in the word or phrase you are looking for, and then press Tab to move to the List Topics Button. Press Enter, and then press Tab to move to the list of topics.

Use the arrow keys to locate topics and press Enter to open them. Press F6 to move to the topic window.

Note: Search follows much the same rules as searching in Internet Explorer.  If you type in a single word, it will normally find all topics containing that word.  For example if you typed in the word font, it would find many, many Topics containing that word.  However, if you typed in braille font, do not be surprised to find many more additional topics, since this would final all occurrences in topics of the word braille OR the word font.  To narrow the search down, type the expression inside double quotes, i.e. "braille font".  This will then only find Topics where the words, "braille font" appear as you have typed them.

Using the Glossary (Alt + g)

Press Alt + g to move to the Glossary. Focus is initially in a list of Terms. Type the first few characters of the term for which you are looking and/or Arrow through the list of terms. Once you have located the desired term, press Tab to move to the definition for that term. Press Insert + Down Arrow to read the definition. Other JAWS reading commands can also be used. Press Tab again to return to the list of terms.

Using Favorites (Alt + i)

Press Alt + i to move to Favorites. Focus is initially on the list of Favorite Topics, however, when you first use Favorites, there will be none listed. Normally, you can arrow up and down the list to one of your choice. Press Alt + d to display contents of the topic, then press F6 to move focus to the right hand window where the explanation is displayed.

If you press Alt + u you will arrive at a Text Box called "Current Topic". This normally displays the Topic you are currently focused on. If you would like to add this to your list of Favorites, type Alt + a.

If you decide you no longer wish an item to appear in your list, move to the item as described above, and press Alt + r.

Reading the Topic Pane

To select a topic from the table of contents and move to the topic pane to read more, press Enter and then F6.

When reading the topic pane, you can use the keyboard commands that apply in your browser. Some examples are: the JAWS Continuous read command Insert + Down Arrow; Alt + Left Arrow to move back to a previous topic where applicable; Tab or Shift + Tab to move to a link.

JawsKey + F6 for the list of headings in the topic; JawsKey + F7 for the list of links in the topic.  You can also use the JAWS Find commands to find specific text in the topic.  These commands are JawsKey + Shift + F, and F3 and Shift + F3 to find further occurrences.

Use F6 to switch back to the left pane.  If, while reading a topic, you decide that you want to add it to your favorite topics list, simply press Alt + i, Alt + a, and F6.  This quick sequence brings up the favorites list, adds the current topic, and returns you to the reading pane.  Navigating back to the topic will be much quicker in the future.

Conventions

A shortcut key can be a single key on the keyboard or several keys that are pressed in combination. In this help system, the plus sign (+) indicates when keys are to be pressed in combination. For example, Insert + Right Arrow can be used to read the next word in a document.

Shortcut keys can also consist of sequences of pressed keys, where some keys are pressed and released, and then other keys are pressed. A comma (,) indicates when keys are to be pressed one after the other. For example: Alt + f, x can be used to close many applications. In this example, press Alt and f together, release the keys, and then press x.

When referring to shortcut keys that require the use of the number pad, the term "Num Pad" always precedes that shortcut key. For example: Insert + Num Pad 5. If the shortcut key does not say "Num Pad", use the number from the number row.