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From: Al.Hoffman@p0.f143.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Al Hoffman)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Screen Reader
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Date: 12 Aug 90 04:01:27 GMT
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Index Number: 9769

[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

Hi Linda:

For information about Screen Reader, call 1-800-426-2133, ask for
Walt Dean.  I don't know if Screen Reader is the program for most
people, its not a simple program, one you can sit down and right
away be computing and having voice output.  Its more of a platform
from which you can configure the functions it contains, with the
programs you have, to produce the results you want.  Sort of like
Vert's special files for Word Perfect, you can write profiles for
Screen Reader, but the profile access language is the most powerful
out-there--including if I might be presumptuous, any macor program
alive.  Screen Reader has more information available to the profile
programmer from the platform, such as things like Starting Row of
changed text, and ?Ending Row of Changed text, "what you might
say?"

Well, the thing is that you can make Screen Reader work really
nicely, but you must do lots of work, and learn how the profile
access language works well enough to accomplish the real good stuff
first.  Its sort of one of those situations thats always coming up
in computing, what you put in is what you get out.  If you put in
just a little, you will get out little, but if you learn and work,
you will achieve more than you bargained for.

I personally feel that Screen Reader provides a interface method
that can be used accross operating systems, and with some new
functions, and profile access language additions, it could become
useful in the Windowing Interface environment--such as OS/2.

No, I don't work for IBM.  I think Screen Reader is not really the
right tool for may people who are only using a limited group of
software, because they usually can make their other program work
well enough with the application.  In my case however, after
working with ARtic, and a mainframe edit/work environment called
ISPF, for the past 9-10 months, and after seeing the Screen REader
profile a man in California wrote I can safely say that the Screen
REader profile does things I can't make ARtic do even with the
Macro driver I am using with it!

The unfortunate thing about all this is that most people don't want
to be programmers, yet they want to program, or at least get the
results that at the present stage of things, only personal
programming will provide.  For example, to make the ISPF profile,
the profile writer had to learn lots and lots about how he wanted
the voice output from the environment to sound.  He had to then go
find all the relavant information, and then make a logical plan for
using the functions providedin ScreenReader to get him the
results--then he had to write the code, and debug his mistakes, and
finally, "bing!" it worked...

Most people want only to get the "bing!" not the steps up to
it--and for most people its not cost effective for them even to try
and program everything they want--they'd never get done.

Oh well, can't say why I am babbling so much today, maybe the
grilled burgers I had a while back are making me typing-happy or
something.  Maybe this little babbling will help somebody out there
to understand their own situation with being frustratedwith their
stupid computer.  Hope so.

Bye!

--
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