[Athen] JAWS and access to course content

[Deborah Armstrong]

I emailed FS tech support just in case I was missing something - unfortunately, the problem is the courseware and not me. Here's their response; I've removed my serial numbers from this post.

From: support at vispero.com <support at vispero.com>
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2020 8:52 AM
To: Deborah Armstrong <armstrongdeborah at fhda.edu>
Cc: training at vispero.com; support at freedomscientific.com
Subject: Vispero Case# 00508248, JAWS web access questions [ ref:_00Df21A3ry._5005w1digoK:ref ]

Hello Deborah:

Thank you for contacting Vispero(tm) Technical Support.
Drag and drop doesn't work if the location of either the dragging or the dropping cannot be seen at the same time. Having users use drag and drop only goes against Web Content Accessibility Guidelines for web site and application development.
There are not any specific JAWS settings to improve Firefox(r). I find that Chrome and the new Edge provide the best accessibility experience on the web.
If you need to use Firefox, version 80 is the latest build.

Please know all email communications in this thread will be automatically added to your case until resolved.  If you need to contact us by telephone, use the number of 727)803-8600, and please reference this case number so we can better assist you.

Regards,,

Sarai,

Vispero


--------------- Original Message ---------------
From: Deborah Armstrong [armstrongdeborah at fhda.edu]
Sent: 9/19/2020 8:56 PM
To: support at freedomscientific.com<mailto:support at freedomscientific.com>
Cc: training at vispero.com<mailto:training at vispero.com>
Subject: JAWS web access questions


Work serial: 415XXXXXX
Home serial 198XXXXXX
JAWS version: 2020.2008.24 ILM
Windows version: 2004 (OS Build 19041.508)

Dear JAWS support,

I am an experienced JAWS user and an experienced online learner.

But I'm having more and more trouble with two issues using JAWS with online courseware.

I have Windows 10 with all updates applied (I run enterprise at work and the Windows 10 Home at Home. I have Edge, Chrome, Firefox and the deprecated IE. All are kept updated.

Problem #1: Drag and drop. I know JAWS has a drag and drop feature I've used occasionally, but does it still work now that the JAWS cursor is a scan cursor and it can't always see everything? And more important, will it work on the web? More and more instructional sites want students to drag and drop items to reorder them, and I have not been able to find a keyboard accessible way to do this, nor has the JAWS drag and drop worked. Am I correct that it is not possible to execute a drag and drop operation with JAWS within a browser?

Problem #2:  clickable elements. Some clickable elements seem to just "work" even though JAWS doesn't announce them as clickable. When I press Enter on them, they activate exactly like a true link. Others don't even though I've positioned the virtual cursor on something that I've been told is a clickable element.

Also I find that JAWS says "clickable" more often with Firefox, but is able to activate fewer elements than it is with Chrome. Is there some JAWS setting that will improve the ability of JAWS to activate clickable elements?

One problem I have here is some courseware requires the use of Firefox, yet Chrome performs better on its clickable elements. However when I get to items in the courseware that are not compatible with Chrome, they of course don't work, and I have to use Firefox. But I often need Chrome to even reach these items. Since all of this is behind a paywall on a password protected site, it's nearly impossible to switch browsers, especially since the page addresses are dynamically generated.

Thanks for your assistance; all tips are appreciated.

--Debee
(Deborah Armstrong)

[https://vfogroup.my.salesforce.com/servlet/servlet.ImageServer?oid=00Df2000001A3ry&esid=0185w00000yfv19]

ref:_00Df21A3ry._5005w1digoK:ref
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