Using PlaceMarkers and the Custom Page Summary

PlaceMarkers

PlaceMarkers allow you to quickly and easily navigate to commonly used areas of your favorite Web pages or HTML documents when using JAWS or a combination of JAWS and MAGic. You can use PlaceMarkers to jump between certain areas of a page, mark important sections of an HTML document, or indicate key form elements. For example, you could use PlaceMarkers to move to required fields in a complicated form or specific paragraphs in a long HTML document. Press the navigation quick key K to move to the next PlaceMarker, or press SHIFT+K to move to the prior PlaceMarker.

A random selection of fictitious stock quotes for today are listed on the E-Stocks sample page.

EXERCISE: Open the E-Stocks sample page, and follow along with the directions below to navigate to the table containing stock listings.

  1. Press CTRL+HOME to go to the top of the page.
  2. Press T to move to the table which contains stock listings.
  3. Press DOWN ARROW until you hear JAWS say "Change," which is the third column. The first column has the stock symbol, and the second column has the stock price.
  4. Next, press CTRL+ALT+DOWN ARROW to move down to the second row and JAWS should say +0.39 (2.11%), which is the percentage of change for ATVI. ATVI is the stock symbol in column one. The percentage change for ATVI is +0.39 (2.11%), and this is in column three where the virtual cursor presently is.

Inserting PlaceMarkers

EXERCISE: Follow the steps below to put several PlaceMarkers in this table.

  1. Press CTRL+SHIFT+K to display the PlaceMarker list.
  2. Press ENTER to choose the Add button. An edit box appears with the following text taken from the Web page: "+0.39 (2.11%)." This text is highlighted, so type over it and give this PlaceMarker the name of "ATVI."
  3. Press CTRL+ALT+DOWN ARROW two more times to move to the row containing +0.64 (0.99%), in row 4. This is the percentage change for the stock symbol LEA in column one.
  4. Press CTRL+SHIFT+K to display the PlaceMarker list.
  5. Press ENTER to create a new PlaceMarker. The text "+0.64 (0.99%)" should appear in the edit box that displays. Again, JAWS has taken text from the position of the virtual cursor on the page. Type in the stock symbol "LEA."
  6. Press ENTER to close this dialog box.
  7. Press CTRL+ALT+DOWN ARROW two more times to move to the row containing +1.31 (19.91%), the percentage change for the stock symbol NT in column one.
  8. Press CTRL+SHIFT+K to display the PlaceMarker list.
  9. Press ENTER to create a new PlaceMarker. Type "NT" to replace the suggested text taken from the Web page.
  10. Press ENTER to close this dialog box.

Navigating with PlaceMarkers

EXERCISE: Now, practice moving from one PlaceMarker to the next by pressing the navigation quick key K to move forward and SHIFT+K to move backwards.

Notice that you will hear JAWS announce "wrapping to top" or "wrapping to bottom," depending on the direction you are going when JAWS reaches either the bottom or the top of the page.

EXERCISE: Next, take a few minutes to explore part of the PlaceMarker dialog box.

  1. Press CTRL+SHIFT+K to display the PlaceMarker list.
  2. Press INSERT+E to hear the default button in this dialog box. You should hear JAWS announce that the Add button is the default button.
  3. Press the SPACEBAR to select the first PlaceMarker in the list.
  4. Now press INSERT+E to read the default button. Notice that the default button is now Move To. This is a smart dialog box. Initially, when you first enter it, JAWS assumes that you want to add a new PlaceMarker. However, after you select an existing PlaceMarker in the list, JAWS assumes that you want to move to one of them.
  5. Press DOWN ARROW to select the third PlaceMarker, "NT."
  6. Press ENTER to move to this PlaceMarker. Notice that JAWS begins reading the text of the cell that the PlaceMarker is located in. JAWS remembers, down to the character, where you set your PlaceMarkers.

Sharing PlaceMarkers

PlaceMarkers remain in place even when you shut down JAWS and come back again. You can also share PlaceMarkers with other JAWS users. The PlaceMarkers are stored in the Settings\Enu\PlaceMarkers folder for JAWS 5 and later. The file name will be the URL of the Web page followed by the file extension PMI.

JAWS Tip: If you are using JAWS 5.1 or later, you can use Settings Packager to share your PlaceMarkers. For more information on this program, see the module on using Settings Packager later in Surf's Up.

Other PlaceMarker Options

EXERCISE: Take a look at some of the other parts of the PlaceMarker dialog box.

  1. Press CTRL+SHIFT+K to display the PlaceMarker list.
  2. Press the SPACEBAR to select the first item in the list, which is the stock name ATVI in the second row.
  3. Press the TAB key to move to the Add button.
  4. Continue pressing the TAB key to explore the other buttons. You can change the name of a PlaceMarker, remove a PlaceMarker, or remove all PlaceMarkers.
  5. For now, press ESC to close the PlaceMarker list.

Custom Page Summary

EXERCISE: Use the Custom Page Summary to automatically read the stocks you want to monitor whenever you visit this page.

To begin, do the following:

  1. Go to the E-Stocks sample page and press INSERT+V to display the Adjust JAWS Options dialog box. Changes you make here are only temporary for as long as you remain within Internet Explorer. If you move to another program, these settings revert to the defaults.
  2. Press C to select Custom Page Summary - Off.
  3. Use the SPACEBAR to choose either Speak Only or Virtualize Information. If you choose Speak Only, JAWS reads the custom page summary from the PlaceMarker locations with speech only. If you choose Virtualize Information, JAWS reads the custom page summary with speech AND displays the information in the Virtual Viewer.
  4. After you have enabled the custom page summary, press F5 to refresh the E-Stocks sample page.

When the page refreshes, JAWS reads a summary of the PlaceMarkers on this page. You hear each stock that you marked, and the change in that stock's value. If you do not hear this, press ALT+TAB to move back to this page, press ALT+TAB again to move back to the E-Stocks page, and then press F5 again. This is an example of how you can use the PlaceMarkers and the custom page summary to track changes and updates to Web pages that you visit frequently.

NOTE: To choose a custom page summary that applies to all HTML pages for an entire domain, such as FreedomScientific.com or Google.com, use the Personalized Settings feature of JAWS, INSERT+SHIFT+V. Personalized settings remain in effect the next time you go to any page on that domain. Personalized settings are discussed in a later module.

To choose a custom page summary setting that applies to all HTML pages, refer to Custom Page Summary Step-by-Step Instructions.

Temporary PlaceMarkers

You can create one temporary PlaceMarker per Web page by pressing CTRL+K in the spot where you want to place it. The temporary PlaceMarker is also saved in the PMI file. You can only have one temporary PlaceMarker per page, but you can move it to a different location by pressing CTRL+K again in a new spot on the page.