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Firefox 3.0

• Description: Web browser

• URL: http://www.mozilla.org

• Summary: Under development. Works well with Orca for many web pages.

• Details

Details

(Screenshot of Orca and Firefox)

It is now possible to surf the web effectively under the Gnome desktop by using the latest versions of Firefox 3.0 and Orca. Changes and enhancements to accessibility are being made on an almost daily basis, and with each change, the browsing experience becomes that much more compelling. However, in order to take advantage of, and help test new functionality, it is important to insure that your development versions of Firefox and orca remain up to date. The purpose of this wiki is therefore two fold: First, it will outline the procedures to install and regularly update the software you need. it will also serve as an evolving reference, describing all currently available commands relating to navigation and accessibility.

Installing and updating Orca

Please refer to the Downloading and Installing Orca page for information on building and installing Orca from the latest sources.

After the install completes, you must quit and then restart Orca for new changes to take effect. You should periodically insure that your version of Orca is kept up to date by repeating the steps outlined above.

Installing and updating Firefox 3.0

in order to install the development version of Firefox, you first need to get the latest nightly build, and then uncompress it into a directory of your choice. The most up to date build can always be obtained from here:

ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-trunk/ Uncompress the file with commands similar to the following:

bunzip2 firefox-3.0b4pre.en-US.linux-i686.tar.bz2
tar -xvf firefox-3.0b4pre.en-US.linux-i686.tar

To run your new version of firefox:

cd firefox
./firefox

You can insure that your Firefox is up to date by periodically selecting the check for updates option under the help menu.

Using Firefox 3.0 with Orca

When you begin working with Firefox 3.0, you have the option to determine whether caret navigation is controlled by Gecko or by Orca. In older versions Gecko controls the caret by default, more recent versions Orca is controling the caret. But with more recent versions, Orca caret navigation offers superior functionality. Therefore, in most cases, users will want to let Orca control the caret. The status of this option can be toggled during your Firefox session by pressing Insert+F12. Alternatively, if you are running an older version and would like Orca to control the caret by default, you can add the following lines to your ~/.orca/orca-customizations.py file:

import orca.Gecko
orca.Gecko.controlCaretNavigation = True

In either mode, you can use Tab and Shift+Tab to move through links and other elements of a page. You can also use your arrow keys to navigate the page as you would when reading a standard text document.

A complete list of Firefox hot keys is available at the following URL: http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/keyboard.

The following Orca-specific commands are also available:

Note, additional commands will be listed here as they are added, so please check back often.

A little explanation for the functionality which are not immediately obvious:

• Landmarks: ??? The XHTML role attribute defines the following roles: banner, contentinfo, definition, main, navigation, note, search, secondary, seealso. New functionality in Orca allows you to navigate to the next and previous landmark on a page. These commands are currently "unbound," meaning they do not have a keystroke assigned to them. You can define the keystrokes you would like to use on the Key Bindings pane of the Orca Preferences dialog.
• Previous/next object: You can now use Orca+Left and Orca+Right to move between objects in order. This should come in handy for "escaping" combo boxes and lists in forms after making your selection. Because these new commands treat each object as if it were on a line by itself, users who have requested this type of line navigation will hopefully find that this new functionality also addresses some of those needs.
• Goto next/previous form field: Want to find a quick way of finding that search box? .. well next/previous form field will give focus to the next/previous form field, and will position you on the element ready for you to interact with the object.
• Structural navigation: Toggles Orca's keybindings for quick navigation. I.E. "h" will/wont take you to the next heading, "t" will/wont take you to the next table, etc. The reason for having this functionallity is due to internet applications that decide to use keyboard input for their own purposes.

See also the Mozilla Bugs page for a list of Mozilla bugs that prevent Orca from doing as good a job as it could do.

Firefox Keystrokes

In addition to the Orca keystrokes above, you might also consider using some of the keystrokes built into Firefox itself:

• http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Shortcuts

• http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/keyboard.

Orca specific settings for Firefox 3.0

Once Firefox is loaded, to load up Orca specific settings for application press orcaKey+ctrl+space. The orca settings screen will load, and you can customize your settings on an application bases. In addition to the standard tabs, you will find the MineField tab.

The following settings can be found here:

• Orca Caret navigation: we have either Orca or Gecko in control. More recently Orca navigation is far superior so this is strongly recommended.
• Use Orca structural navigation: Toggles Orca's keybindings for one key quick navigation, I.E. "h" for headings, "t" for tables, etc.
• Position cursor at start of line when navigating vertically: useful for Braille users, and makes it easier to understand navigation. User knows to reach an element on that line, they have to move forward.
• Automatic reading of page once loaded: A personal preference, some users prefer to have the page read out when page is loaded, others do not.
• Speak cell cordinates: Tell Orca that you wish cell cordinates to be announced when navigating tables.
• Speak multiple span: Some columns in a particular row may span more than one standard column. When this toggle is checked, Orca will inform you of this.
• Announce cell header: Announce the table header associated with the current cell.
• Skip blank cells: Only navigate between cells that have actual content.
• Speak results during find: allows Orca to provide feedback during find, without exiting find.
• Only speak changed lines during find: Assuming that you have opted to have the results spoken from within the Find toolbar, what you might find is that Orca begins to announce the line that contains your results at about the time your finger types the next letter in the search string, which will interrupt speech. Therefore, by default, Orca will always speak the line with the match even if you haven't moved. Uncheck this option if you find this behavior too "chatty."
• Minimum length of matched text: Assuming that you have opted to have the results spoken from within the Find toolbar, this option allows you to specify how long the matched text must be before that line is spoken.

Other Resources

• Live Region Support in Orca

• ARIA Widget Support in Orca

• UIUC Firefox Extension

• AccessFirefox