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A list of Windows XP accessibility features and related keyboard shortcuts

FILTERKEYS

Contains information about the FilterKeys accessibility feature, which enables a user with disabilities to set the keyboard repeat rate (RepeatKeys), acceptance delay (SlowKeys), and bounce rate (BounceKeys).

HIGHCONTRAST

Contains information about the high contrast accessibility feature.

MOUSEKEYS

Contains information about the MouseKeys accessibility feature. When the MouseKeys feature is active, the user can use the numeric keypad to control the mouse pointer, and to click, double-click, drag, and drop. By pressing NUMLOCK, the user can toggle the numeric keypad between mouse control mode and normal operation.

SERIALKEYS

Contains information about the SerialKeys accessibility feature, which interprets data from a communication aid attached to a serial port as commands causing the system to simulate keyboard and mouse input.

SOUNDSENTRY

Contains information about the SoundSentry accessibility feature. When the SoundSentry feature is on, the computer displays a visual indication only when a sound is generated.

STICKYKEYS

Contains information about the StickyKeys accessibility feature. When the StickyKeys feature is on, the user can press a modifier key (SHIFT, CTRL, or ALT) and then another key in sequence rather than at the same time, to enter shifted (modified) characters and other key combinations.

TOGGLEKEYS

Contains information about the ToggleKeys accessibility feature. When the ToggleKeys feature is on, the computer emits a high-pitched tone whenever the user turns on the CAPS LOCK, NUM LOCK, or SCROLL LOCK key, and a low-pitched tone whenever the user turns off one of those keys.

 

Pasted from <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd317974(v=vs.85).aspx>

 

 

Watch these keys:

  • Right Shift for eight seconds (Switch FilterKeys on or off)
  • Left Alt+left Shift+Print Screen (Switch High Contrast on or off)
  • Left Alt+left Shift+Num Lock (Switch the MouseKeys on or off)
  • Shift five times (Switch the StickyKeys on or off)
  • Num Lock for five seconds (Switch the ToggleKeys on or off)
  • Windows Logo +U (Open Utility Manager)

Pasted from <http://support.microsoft.com/kb/301583#method4>

In addition, this article shows and explains all the settings dialogues for accessibility options in Windows XP.

How to find your computer’s name

  1. Right click on “my computer” on desktop,
  2. or on “[My] computer” on start menu,
  3. and clicik “Properties”image
  4. or hold the windows key and press “pause /break” on upper right,
  5. in the window that comes up (tab computer name on XP), you can see the name:
    image

Common commands in Speech Recognition for all languages supported

(I cut a corner and left out the language variants ZH-TW and EN-UK, sorry, we do not teach those here):

How to resolve error “Speech Recognition could not start because the language configuration is not supported”

  1. Problem: I have seen this error CAM05472,
  2. Root cause: when the display language and speech language do not match (the latter is set to default to the former in the LRC, but it seems they can get out of sync), as you can witness here (English display does not match Chinese speech recognition): CAM05474
  3. Solution: Follow the instructions in the error message, i.e.
    1. Access the Speech recognition control panel here: image
    2. Then change the speech recognition language to match the display language, like I am doing here: CAM05475
  4. Quick workaround: Not sure about how quick, but in the LRC, you can also just try and restart the computers, they are “frozen” to a default configuration in display and speech recognition language (English/English – matches).

Watch how you can train Windows speech-recognition (e.g. in English)

Example 5: Watch how you can dictate to Windows speech-recognition (e.g. in English) and correct results in MS-Word

  1. Important: Listen carefully: I am not a native speaker, but have a reasonably low amount of errors, because it enunciate, speak clearly and slowly, and separate the words.
  2. Consider it part of the exercise that you will have to re-read and re-type some your output – use track changes in MS-Word:
    1. Make it a game: How good can you get?
    2. If you get really good at it, make a screencast like this one and include it in your Mahara ePortfolio  as authentic evidence of your foreign language proficiency.
  3. Overall, it’s like how I refer to cycling: Beats walking. Anytime. Smiley

How to type phonetic symbols on a computer

2013/11/16 2 comments
  1. Web-based On-screen-keyboards (point-and-click; low learning curve, but no fast typing speed; typing into a textbox from where you can copy/paste the result into other programs):
    1. http://westonruter.github.com/ipa-chart/keyboard/: Sounds are systematically organized. Suitable for learners, but also good for teacher demonstrations. image
    2. Partially based on keyboard shortcuts: http://www.ipatrainer.com/user/site/index.php?pageID=ipawriter: image
      1. http://ipa.typeit.org/full/: Other than the English version, the full version includes non-English sounds. The interface is optimized for fast typing (sorted by keyboard key). Presumably better for teachers using a screen projector as a whiteboard. image
      2. i2speak.com (reviewed here earlier): imageimage
      3. Update: Richard Ishida’s seems also impressive,
        1. image
        2. and you can use phonetics terminology to get characters selected, like so: image
  2. Windows-based:
    1. http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/resource/phonetics/: MS-Windows keyboard layout. May be good for even faster typing, if you can memorize the keyboard layout or add keyboard stickers (we unfortunately have too many languages vying for our hardware keyboard space already). Requires download & installation (may be added to the LRC keyboards during next imaging if we receive enough requests).
    2. http://staff.washington.edu/dmontero/IPACharmap/.
    3. http://sourceforge.net/projects/allchars/: If you are use to the ALT+### method of entering characters and are still on XP, this may be for you: You can generate your own keyboard shortcuts for phonetic characters.
    4. MS-Word:
      1. http://email.eva.mpg.de/~bibiko/downloads/uniqoder/uniqoder.html: Allows to select IPA-Symbols from a toolbar. Untested.
  3. There are also always X-Sampa and CXS and ASCII-IPA: ways of writing IPA in plain ASCII messages  – but yet another thing to teach novices in phonetics may be a bridge too far.

Example 6: How even a false beginner can work with foreign language Speech recognition on Windows 7 Enterprise

  1. Executive summary: Don’t let initial poor speech recognition results discourage your from using this feature. Results will much improve if you go through a few minutes of the built-in voice training for speech recognition. Like in the last 30 seconds of this video.
  2. With the upgrade to Windows 7 Enterprise in the LRC – and the continued availability of high-quality Sanako headphones on the majority of LRC PCs – , we can now offer speech recognition in a number of foreign languages – including French.
  3. This feature can be used for language learning exercises, including dictation, like in this example. How robust is windows 7 speech recognition?
  4. You can expose yourself to some embarrassingly bad French in this screencast – and that is the point. (My French is limited to a mere 2 high school years of 3-hour per week voluntary French studies, more than 30 years ago, no practice since).
  5. The screencast shows how even a (false) beginner can,
    1. 0:00-1:00: from terrible initial results,
    2. 11:45-12:10: considerably improve (not make perfect!) the foreign language (here French) speech recognition on Windows 7,
    3. 1:00-10:40: by going through the built-in voice training.
  6. The LRC computers are “frozen”between reboots, but students still need to train them only once, since they can back up and restore their training data easily.
  7. (This is not proof of the overall validity of the recognition – for that, you are better off watching this screencast with Windows 7 Enterprise speech recognition in German).