New Vision Concepts
EZReader - Low Vision Editor

    

Table of Contents

Return to the Application List.

 OverView

The Low Vision Editor (LVEditor) is a text editor for blind users, operated entirely from the keyboard. As with any text editor, content may be edited simply by typing characters from the keyboard. A variety of keyboard shortcuts are supported to issue commands to LVEditor. Files may be created, opened, edited, saved, renamed and deleted.

 Mode List

The shortcut Ctrl-E will display a list of display modes and actions that a use may take. It is called the "Command List" and it the most commonly used list when working with LVEditor.

The first 7 items, called display modes, are discussed in the next section.

The remaining items allow the user to search, display information or open specific URLs in their default browser. These are discussed below, in sections of their own.

 Display Modes

The LVEditor screen can display up to seven different kinds of content - the text content of the file, a list of files, a list of shortcuts, a list of Chapters, a list of Bookmarks, a list of FootNotes and a list of synonyms. As a user moves through a list using the up/down arrow keys, the currently selected line item in the list is spoken. If the user attempts to scroll above the top item, LVEditor will speak "Top of List". If the user attempts to scroll below the bottom item, LVEditor will speak "Bottom of List"

From any list, pressing ESC exits the list and returns to the document edit mode.

When lists of information are shown, the up/down arrows can be used to select an item in the list. Selected items will be read out loud. Typically, pressing ENTER causes an action to be taken, such as opening a selected file. Pressing ESC will exit the list and return to editing the document.

On startup, LVEditor reopens the document that was open when the last session was closed. The document will also be scrolled to the same position as was currently displayed when the last session was closed.

 Speech Capabilities

The text content of LVEditor can be read out loud, with the option to stop reading at any time. As text is spoken, each word is highlighted and underlined. The document is scrolled vertically to ensure that the spoken word is visible at all time.

The shortcut key Ctrl-S starts and stops speaking.

LVEditor will start speaking at the current location of the cursor. If speaking is stopped, the last spoken word will be highlighted.

From the cursor, LVEditor shortcuts allow the current word to be spoken (Ctrl-W), the next word to be spoken (Ctrl-F) or the previous word to be spoken (Ctrl-B).

Using the next/previous keyboard shortcuts the user can step through the entire document one word at a time.

At any point, the user can press Ctrl-S to continue speaking the text to the end of the document.

 File Operations

LVEditor support opening, saving, creating, renaming and deleting files.

File List:To see a list of files, select "File List" on the Command List and press ENTER. Ctrl-Q may also be used to open the File List at any time.

Opening a File: To open a file, select it from the File List and press ENTER.

Saving a File: Use the Ctrl-G shortcut to save the currently opened file.

Creating a File: The Ctrl-P shortcut will close the current file, create a new file using a default file name and then open the new file in EZEditor.

Renaming a File: Any opened file can be renamed by pressing the Ctrl-R shortcut, which displays a popup text box in which the user can enter the new file name, then press ENTER to rename the file. Pressing ESC will cancel the rename operation.

Deleting a File: The currently opened file can be deleted by pressing the Ctrl-D shortcut. The content of the deleted file will still be displayed at that point and if the user changes their mind about the action, the shortcut Ctrl-G can be used to recreate the file. However, the usual step after deletion would be to use the shortcut Ctrl-L to open another file from the File List.

 Search Capabilities

From within the File Edit mode, LVEditor provides a case insensitive search capability, opened by pressing the Ctrl-K shortcut. That opens up a popup text box in which the users enters a search term, then presses ENTER to close the search textbox and to scroll to the next occurrence of the search term, with the search starting a the current cursor location. The Ctrl-N shortcut will search again for the same search term without invoking the popup text box.

There are three other special Search shortcuts. Each scrolls to the next location of the type specified.

 Editing Capabilities

The user can type into LVEditor when speaking is stopped. When a word is selected, then what the user types will replace the selected word. If no word is selected, then what the user types will be inserted at the location of the cursor in the document.

A selected word can also be deleted by pressing the DEL or BackSpace keys.

When speaking is stopped and a word is selected, the right arrow key will unselect the word and place the cursor to the right of the word, ready for the user to type text into the editor following the word that had been selected.

When speaking is stopped and a word is selected, the left arrow key will unselect the word and place the cursor to the left of the word, ready for the user to type text into the editor in front of the word that had been selected.

When editing a file, the Ctrl-G shortcut is used to save changes.

The ESC key is reserved for exiting the document without saving any changes made during an editing session.

 Shortcuts

LVEditor uses shortcuts to perform non-editing operations. Shortcuts consist of pressing and holding the Control key, then pressing another key to complete the action. For example, the shortcut Ctrl-L is used to display a list of available files.

A full set of available shortcut keys can be displayed from within LVEditor by pressing the Ctrl-U shortcut key.

The Shortcut list can also be accessed from the Command List.

 Creating a FootNote

A user creates a FootNote simply by typing in the word FootNote on a new line. The word FootNote can be followed by additional words and can span multiple lines.

It is recommended, that a blank line be inserted before and after a FootNote to make it easier to edit or remove the FootNote at a later time.

 Creating a Chapter

A user identifies the start of a Chapter simply by typing in the word Chapter on a new line. The word Chapter can be followed by additional words, such as the Chapter title, but it is recommended to keep the words limited to a single line of text.

 Creating a Bookmark

A user identifies the start of a Chapter simply by typing in the word Bookmark on a new line. All following text, until ">>>" is entered, is considered part of the Bookmark. Bookmarks can be multi-line.

 Common Editing Shortcuts

LVEditor supports most common, well-known editing shortcuts, such as the following:

 Other Shortcuts

A few other shortcuts are also available:

 All Shortcuts

Here's a list of all shortcuts:

Thank you for considering EZReader!