Accessibility

PebblePad has been developed to include a range of support tools for individuals with differing accessibility requirements.  Depending on the nature of an individual's accessibility needs, there are various settings in PebblePad that can be altered. All settings for the look and feel of the system can be changed in my settings, accessed by the tools menu button. 

The visual and audio elements of PebblePad can be changed to suit a range of user requirements.

Prior to login, users who need to can select the Launch Accessibility checkbox on the login page to quickly activate the inbuilt screen reader avatar and/or the two-tone colour settings.

If not altered on login, users can change the overall desktop theme to simplify the visual appearance of PebblePad by selecting the basic buttons theme by going to tools and my settings. Users can also change the colour combination on screen by modifying the pad colour and background colour via the appearance tab in my settings. The screen size, font size, font type and font colour can also be modified in the same area.

If not activated on login, users can turn on the inbuilt screen reader avatar by changing the preference setting for the avatar in my settings within the tools menu.  The avatar reads out the text in all of the Flash components of PebblePad, including text inputted by the user. Non-Flash components e.g. web forms and written help are read out by the user's own screen reading software which you are prompted to restart by the inbuilt screen reader avatar at appropriate points. 

The inbuilt screen reader is programmed with a number of voices to suit individual preferences. Voices can normally be altered in type, pitch and speed once the screen reader avatar has been activated.  The screen reader avatar also has a beginner and advanced mode and a range of shortcut keys to navigate and use the menus in PebblePad. Activating the screen reader avatar will prompt the list of accessibility shortcut keys to be read out. However they are also included below.

Visually impaired users

The inbuilt screen reader avatar works in conjunction with Jaws version 8.2 and Windows Eyes version 6.1.

The Internet browser required to ensure complete compatibility between the inbuilt screen reader avatar and Jaws or Windows Eyes is Internet Explorer 7

You will need to set up quick key functions to restart and quit your own screen reader so that you can easily restart it when prompted by the avatar.

• F3 - Gives you a pop up box which details all the shortcuts
• Control + M Toggles between beginner and advanced mode
• Control - Interrupts speech
• Control + home - Gives you an overview of the screen areas available
• Control + full stop - This is a toggle function and moves between the different menu screen areas
• Control + comma - Reads out the currently focused item information
• Control + / - Reads out any available hint help associated with the currently focused item. Not all fields have hint help
• Control F8 - Reads out all or a selection of user inputted text
• Escape - Closes the popup dialogue box if it is currently visible on screen
• Control + left arrow - Reads a word to left of cursor
• Control + right arrow - Reads a word to right of cursor
• Right arrow - Moves character right
• Left arrow - Moves character left
• Up arrow - Reads next line
• Down arrow - Reads previous line
• F5 - Refreshes the page if it freezes