JAWS (screen reader)
Encyclopedia
JAWS is a computer screen reader
program in Microsoft Windows
that allows blind
and visually impaired users to read the screen either with a text-to-speech output or by a Refreshable Braille display
.
JAWS is produced by the Blind and Low Vision Group of Freedom Scientific
, St. Petersburg, Florida
, USA
.
JAWS supports all versions of Windows released since Windows XP
. There are two versions of the program: standard, which works on home Windows operating systems, and retails for US$895, and professional, which works on all Windows operating systems, and retails for US$1,095. A DOS
version is free.
The JAWS Scripting Language
allows the user to use programs without standard Windows controls, and programs that were not designed for accessibility.
, a former motorcycle racer who lost his sight in a 1978 automobile accident. In 1985, Henter, along with a $180,000 USD investment from Bill Joyce, founded the Henter-Joyce Corporation in St. Petersburg, Florida
. Joyce sold his interest in the company back to 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 MS-DOS applications. A feature unique to JAWS at the time was its 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-1980s, releasing version 2.0 in mid-1990. Skipper left the company after the release of version 2.0, and following his departure, Charles Oppermann was hired to maintain and improve the product. Oppermann and Henter regularly added minor and major features and frequently released new versions. Freedom Scientific now offers JAWS for MS-DOS as a freeware
download from their web site.
In 1993, Henter-Joyce released a highly-modified version of JAWS for people with learning disabilities. This product, called WordScholar, is no longer available.
became more popular, Oppermann began work on a new version of JAWS. A principal design goal was not to 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 its 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. The latest version is 13.0, released in October 2011.
Screen reader
A screen reader is a software application that attempts to identify and interpret what is being displayed on the screen . This interpretation is then re-presented to the user with text-to-speech, sound icons, or a Braille output device...
program in Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
that allows blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
and visually impaired users to read the screen either with a text-to-speech output or by a Refreshable Braille display
Refreshable Braille display
A refreshable Braille display or Braille terminal is an electro-mechanical device for displaying Braille characters, usually by means of raising dots through holes in a flat surface. Blind computer users, who cannot use a normal computer monitor, use it to read text output...
.
JAWS is produced by the Blind and Low Vision Group of Freedom Scientific
Freedom Scientific
Freedom Scientific is a corporation which researches, creates, and sells technology intended for people who are blind or have low vision and those with learning disabilities. The company's Blind and Low Vision Group's products include software and hardware to help people with low vision work with...
, St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
JAWS supports all versions of Windows released since Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
. There are two versions of the program: standard, which works on home Windows operating systems, and retails for US$895, and professional, which works on all Windows operating systems, and retails for US$1,095. A DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
version is free.
The JAWS Scripting Language
JAWS Scripting Language
JAWS Scripting Language is a proprietary programming language that facilitates the interoperability of the JAWS for Windows screen reading program with practically any application–both proprietary and off-the-shelf. The JAWS Scripting Language, or JSL is a compiled language, allowing for source...
allows the user to use programs without standard Windows controls, and programs that were not designed for accessibility.
History
JAWS was originally released in 1989 by Ted HenterTed Henter
Ted Henter is an American computer programmer and businessman. He studied engineering, but learned computer programming and started his own business after becoming blind in a car accident in 1978, which put an end to a promising career as an international motorcycle racer.In 1987, he teamed up with...
, a former motorcycle racer who lost his sight in a 1978 automobile accident. In 1985, Henter, along with a $180,000 USD investment from Bill Joyce, founded the Henter-Joyce Corporation in St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
. Joyce sold his interest in the company back to 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
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
. It was one of several screen readers giving blind users access to text-mode MS-DOS applications. A feature unique to JAWS at the time was its 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-1980s, releasing version 2.0 in mid-1990. Skipper left the company after the release of version 2.0, and following his departure, Charles Oppermann was hired to maintain and improve the product. Oppermann and Henter regularly added minor and major features and frequently released new versions. Freedom Scientific now offers JAWS for MS-DOS as a freeware
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
download from their web site.
In 1993, Henter-Joyce released a highly-modified version of JAWS for people with learning disabilities. This product, called WordScholar, is no longer available.
JAWS for Windows
In 1992, as Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
became more popular, Oppermann began work on a new version of JAWS. A principal design goal was not to 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 its 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. The latest version is 13.0, released in October 2011.
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 Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products... |
| JFW 4.0 | September 14, 2001 |
|
| JFW 4.5 | August 30, 2002 |
|
| JFW 5.0 | October 9, 2003 |
|
| JFW 6.0 | March 3, 2005 |
Product activation Product activation is a license validation procedure required by some proprietary computer software programs. In one form, product activation refers to a method invented by Ric Richardson and patented by Uniloc where a software application hashes hardware serial numbers and an ID number specific... DAISY Digital Talking Book DAISY is a standard for digital talking books. DAISY books are typically used by people have "print disabilities," including blindness, impaired vision, dyslexia... reader manufactured by Freedom Scientific, for reading JAWS training material |
| JFW 7.0 | 14 October 2005 |
USB flash drive A flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus interface. flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. Most weigh less than 30 g... version Mozilla Firefox Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers... among other applications Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products... |
| JFW 7.1 | June 21, 2006 |
Document Object Model The Document Object Model is a cross-platform and language-independent convention for representing and interacting with objects in HTML, XHTML and XML documents. Aspects of the DOM may be addressed and manipulated within the syntax of the programming language in use... engine for HTML HTML HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages.... rendering |
| JFW 8.0 | November 17, 2006 |
Speech Application Programming Interface The Speech Application Programming Interface or SAPI is an API developed by Microsoft to allow the use of speech recognition and speech synthesis within Windows applications. To date, a number of versions of the API have been released, which have shipped either as part of a Speech SDK, or as part... Speech Synthesizers Windows 98 Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid... or Windows ME Windows Me Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me , is a graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft, and was the last operating system released in the Windows 9x series. Support for Windows Me ended on July 11, 2006.... Windows Vista Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs... |
| JFW 9.0 | November 19, 2007 |
|
| JFW 10.0 | November 3, 2008 |
ITunes iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.... version 8 and the iTunes Store ITunes Store The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States... |
| JFW 11.0 | October 23, 2009 |
|
| JFW 12.0 | October 21, 2010 |
Ribbon (computing) In GUI-based application software, a ribbon is an interface where a set of toolbars are placed on tabs in a tab bar. Recent releases of some Microsoft applications have embraced this form with a modular ribbon as their main interface. The Ribbon is a contextual interface that offers functionality... using the "virtual ribbon menu" WAI-ARIA is a draft technical specification published by the World Wide Web Consortium that specifies how to increase the accessibility of dynamic content and user interface components developed with Ajax, HTML, JavaScript and related technologies... specification for making webpages more accessible |
| JFW 13.0 | October 24, 2011 |
Optical character recognition Optical character recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, is the mechanical or electronic translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. It is widely used to convert books and documents into electronic files, to computerize a record-keeping... for graphics on the screen |