SpeakOn contains three main elements: tasks, controls and menus. The functions of these are explained below. The first two form a hierarchical structure where tasks contain controls.
There are three menus. The Main menu is used routinely and the Help context menu is used whenever you need help information. The Quick menu is for advanced users as explained further below.
In SpeakOn, the focus is always on one of the controls or a menu item. The only way to communicate with a SpeakOn task is by using the control or the menu item that has the focus.
A task enables the user to perform a group of related operations. The operations available in tasks can vary. For example, media tasks enable the user to retrieve and play media.
The user can start and end a task when no longer required. From time to time, you can perform new tasks and these can be started from the Main menu.
The task you are working on is termed the 'current task'. Each task contains one or more controls.
Controls are elements within a task to perform a specific operation. For example, a media task contains a control named 'Library' of the type 'Tree' which allows the user to navigate a tree-like structure of directories to find media to listen to.
The user can operate only one control at a time and this is the control that has the focus. To move the focus between controls, press the 'Focus' [Tab] (3) key. The control that has the focus is termed the 'current control'.
The user operates the controls using the context keys and SpeakOn responds with speech.
There are ten control types: Message, Button, CheckBox, List, CheckList, Options, Slider, Edit, Tree and Player. The operation of these is explained in this Tutorial as required and also summarised
here
A menu always starts with a vertical list of menu items. Each menu item can have sub- menus containing other menu items of related operations.
There are three menus as follows:
Main menu - a context-sensitive menu which relates to the current task and control.
Quick menu which is an abbreviated version of the Main menu.
Help context menu - contains a list of all help functions.
The functionality of these menus is described below:
The Main menu is the one you will use most. It contains operations relating to the current task and control. It usually also contains an item to end the current task. When operated from the Manager task it contains an item to shut down SpeakOn itself.
Items used frequently in the Main menu have key shortcuts associated with them and as you get used to SpeakOn you will use these shortcuts more often to save time.
The Quick menu groups together those items in the Main menu which do not have shortcut keys. This menu is useful to advanced users who are familiar with the shortcut keys and want from time to time to quickly access those items in the menu that do not contain shortcuts.
The Help context menu contains a list of all context sensitive help facilities in SpeakOn including the sub-menus mentioned below.
The Main Keys sub-menu and the Keys available for the current control sub-menu help you remember the keys and their associated actions. By scrolling through these sub-menus you can remind yourself of the keys available and their actions. You can also invoke the various key actions directly from these sub-menus by selecting the key you want. As you become familiar with SpeakOn's key actions, you will use these keys sub-menus less and less.
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