We have designed Privacy Bird® to work with screen readers. However, the beta version may not work with all screen readers on all platforms. It has been tested with JAWS 4.0 and JAWS 3.7 screen readers on Windows NT and Windows 2000 platforms. It has been tested with JAWS 4.0 and Windows Eyes 4.11 screen readers on Windows 98 and Windows ME platforms.
The main menu (normally accessed by clicking on the bird icon) can be accessed by pressing the F12 key together with the Ctrl and Alt keys twice (Ctrl-Alt-F12 Ctrl-Alt-F12). It can be closed using the ESC key. All menu items can be accessed in two ways: using the standard up/down/right/left arrow keys, or using the short-cut keys announced when you have arrow positioned on an item). Once the desired menu item is selected, pressing the ENTER key will activate that item.
If the shortcut key sequence conflicts with other software on your system, or if you would prefer to use a short-cut key sequence other than Ctrl-Alt-F12, you can change the shortcut key. Click on the bird icon and select My Preferences. Then select Other. This will open the Other Settings dialogue. Use the pull-down menues in the shortcut key area to select alternative shortcut keys. Your new shortcut key settings will not take effect until you restart your browser.
When a dialog box is displayed, the default button (usually 'OK') can be accessed by pressing the ENTER key. The dialog can be closed without saving by pressing the ESC key (equivalent to 'CLOSE' button). Pressing 'H' key will display the help about that dialog box wherever available. Users can navigate through the controls in the dialog box (check-boxes, radio buttons, list items, buttons, etc) by using the standard approach -- i.e., using TAB key and/or the arrow keys. Some of the controls also have short-cut keys (which are announced upon navigating through the items). Selection and data-entry in these controls uses the standard approach as well. For example, checking/unchecking of check-boxes is done by pressing the spacebar.
You can navigate through the help files just as you would with any other standard Windows Help. When the Help opens, the focus is by default on the left (Topics) frame. You can switch between the left frame and the right (Topic Help page) frame using the F6 key. In the left frame, you can navigate through the item using the up/down arrow keys, expand a book by pressing right arrow key or ENTER key, collapse a book by pressing left arrow key or ENTER key. To read a topic's help, select the desired topic on the left frame and press ENTER. This will open up the topic's content in the right frame. You can then press the F6 key to place the focus on the right frame, and the screen reader will read the entire contents of the page. You can navigate back to the left frame any time by pressing the F6 key again.