JAWS (screen reader)
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JAWS (an acronym for Job Access With Speech) is a screen reader, a software program for visually impaired users produced by the Blind and Low Vision Group at Freedom Scientific of St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. Its purpose is to make personal computers using Microsoft Windows accessible to blind and visually impaired users. It accomplishes this by providing the user with access to the information displayed on the screen via text-to-speech or by means of a braille display, and allows for more comprehensive keyboard interaction with the computer.
It also allows users to create custom scripts which can alter the amount and type of information which is presented by different applications, and ultimately make programs that were not designed for accessibility (such as programs that do not use standard Windows controls) usable through JAWS.
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[edit] History
JAWS was originally released in 1989 by Ted Henter, a former motorcycle racer who lost his sight in a 1978 automobile accident. In 1985, Henter, along with a $180,000USD investment from Bill Joyce, founded the Henter-Joyce Corporation in St. Petersburg, Florida. Joyce sold his interest in the company back to Ted Henter sometime in 1990. In April 2000, Henter-Joyce, Blazie Engineering, and Arkenstone, Inc. merged to form Freedom Scientific.
JAWS was originally created for the MS-DOS operating system. It was one of several screen readers giving blind users access to text-mode DOS applications. A feature unique to JAWS at the time was it's use of cascading menus, in the style of the popular Lotus 1-2-3 application. What set JAWS apart from other screen readers of the era was its use of macros that allowed users to customize the user interface and work better with various applications.
Ted Henter and Rex Skipper wrote the original JAWS code in the mid-1980's, releasing version 2.0 in mid-1990. Skipper left the company, who hired Charles Oppermann to maintain and improve the product. Oppermann and Henter continually added minor and major features and frequently released new versions. Freedom Scientific now offer JAWS for DOS as a freeware download from their web site.
In 1994, Henter-Joyce released a highly-modified version of JAWS for people with learning disabilities. The new product was called WordScholar and is no longer available.
In 1992, as Microsoft Windows became more popular, Oppermann started to design a new version of JAWS. A principle design goal was to not interfere with the natural user interface of Windows and to continue to provide a strong macro facility. Test and beta versions of JAWS for Windows (JFW) were shown at conferences throughout 1993 and 1994. During this time, developer Glen Gordon started working on the code, ultimately taking over it's development when Oppermann was hired by Microsoft in November, 1994. Shortly afterwards, in January 1995, JAWS for Windows 1.0 was released.
Currently a new revision of JAWS for Windows is released about once a year, with minor updates in between.
[edit] Release history
| Version | Release date | Significant changes |
|---|---|---|
| JFW 1.0 | January 1995 | First version for Windows, supported Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 |
| JFW 2.0 | About 1996 |
Added support for Windows 95 |
| JFW 4.0 | 14 September 2001 |
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| JFW 4.5 | August 30, 2002 |
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| JFW 5.0 | October 9, 2003 [1] | |
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| JFW 6.0 | 3 March 2005 [2] |
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| JFW 7.0 | 14 October 2005 [3] |
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| JFW 7.1 | 21 June 2006 |
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| JFW 8.0 | 17 November 2006 |
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[edit] References
- ^ What's New in JAWS 4.0 accessed 24 November 2006
- ^ What's New in JAWS 4.5 accessed 24 November 2006
- ^ What's New in JAWS 5.0 accessed 24 November 2006
- ^ What's new in JAWS 6.0 accessed 24 November 2006
- ^ What's New in JAWS 7.0, accessed 24 November 2006
- ^ What's New in JAWS 7.10, accessed 24 November 2006
- ^ What's New in JAWS 8.0, accessed 24 November 2006
