Month: April 2020

Resource: Ten Conference Call Etiquette Tips for better CCB/GTT meetings

Ten Conference Call Etiquette Tips for better CCB/GTT meetings

Have you ever been on a conference call where people become a distraction by forgetting to put their phone on mute, or have sidebar conversations with others not on the call? We all know a few etiquette rules for at the dinner table, but what about etiquette protocol for conference calls?

Here are some easy guidelines to follow when attending a CCB/GTT Program conference call:

  1. Keep track of conference call dates/times. Make sure you know when your conference call is, and be sure to keep the conference call number and pin handy so you are not scrambling to find it at the last minute. Call in to the conference line a couple minutes early and enjoy chatting with others who arrive before the meeting starts.
  2. To know what is happening at GTT and the CCB Open Chat conference calls, register your email address by activating the Follow Link near the bottom of the page on the Blog at GTTProgram.Blog.
  3. Mute your phone when you are not speaking. To help avoid distracting sounds, conversations, or noises that are not applicable to the conference call, the mute button can be your friend. Muting your phone will help you avoid embarrassing sighs, munching noises from eating your lunch, or other background noise. CCB/GTT Zoom conference calls will mostly function with all participants muted, and those who want to comment or ask questions will be encouraged to use the Raised Hand feature.  Meeting facilitators will keep an eye on the list of Raised Hands and will invite participants to engage in the order the hands were raised.
  4. The Zoom Conference system allows you to include your name in the Participants Panel. If you use a telephone to dial into a CCB/GTT meeting, ask the Host to add your name so others can identify who’s on the call.  Ask a CCB/GTT staff member or volunteer to assist if you don’t know how to ensure your name is included.  As Zoom Bombers often don’t include a name in the Participants List we may remove you from a call if unnamed in such instances.
  5. State your name and where you’re from before speaking. Since the conference call attendees are not all in the same room, it is important for others on the line to know who is speaking so that they can better understand the context of your comments.
  6. Be prepared to discuss the topic at hand. Like with all meetings, you should do a little prep work or jot down topics or questions that you would like to bring up on the conference call.
  7. Keep background noise to a minimum. When you take your phone off mute to speak or to get ready to chime in, make sure that you are not distracting the other callers. This noise may be generated from standing outside in the wind, typing on your computer, kids running around, pets barking, side conversations with people in your vicinity just to name a few. It is best to find a quiet location for the conference call.
  8. Maintain a good telephone or Wi-Fi reception. A bad connection often causes static or dropped calls making your input to the conference call hard to understand, in which case you may have to call back into the meeting.
  9. Many CCB/GTT meetings will have an agenda and it will usually be provided before the conference call. Be sure to attend even if it isn’t a topic you need to learn about, as you might be able to assist others in their learning, and bring questions for the Q and A section of the meeting as there is usually time left for general discussion even when there is a topic on the agenda.
  10. CCB/GTT meetings will always have a defined facilitator and technical host. The facilitator will guide the conversation, introduce any presenters, make sure everyone sticks to the agenda and pays attention to time, the host will look after muting and unmuting the call, renaming participants in the Participants List, lowering hands and recording calls that lend themselves to being recorded.

 

Windows From the Keyboard Tips, Web Browsing – Copying Links, April 22, 2020

Hello. This is Gerry Chevalier from the GTT Edmonton Chapter. This weekly blog provides tips that I find useful as a keyboard user of Windows. The information is for Windows10 and Office 365, although many tips still apply to older versions. The tips do not require a screen reader unless specifically noted. Thus, the tips apply whether you are a keyboard user or low vision mouse user. Here is this week’s tip.

Web Browsing – Copying Links
Have you ever wanted to paste a link to a web page into an email or document? While you are on the web page press Alt+D to place focus in the address bar of your web browser. The link of your current web page will be highlighted meaning it is auto selected so you can then just press Control+C to copy the link to the clipboard. Now simply go to the text of your email or document and press Control+V to paste the link. Note: If pasting to an email it’s a good idea to press Enter immediately after pasting the link.

That’s it for this tip. Until next Wednesday, happy computing.

Windows From The Keyboard Tips, JAWS Specific Web Browsing Shortcuts, April 15, 2020

Hello. This is Gerry Chevalier from the GTT Edmonton Chapter. This weekly blog provides tips that I find useful as a keyboard user of Windows. The information is for Windows10 and Office 365, although many tips still apply to older versions. The tips do not require a screen reader unless specifically noted. Thus, the tips apply whether you are a keyboard user or low vision mouse user. Here is this week’s tip.

Web Navigation – Using the Keyboard with JAWS
This blog series is about Windows shortcut keys not specific to screen readers. However, I thought it important to devote this one tip to screen reader navigation on web sites because modern screen readers like JAWS, NVDA, and now Windows Narrator provide so much value added navigation that it is critical that you are aware how you can enhance your web browsing experience if you use a screen reader. the following examples refer to JAWS, but some of the shortcuts will work in NVDA and Windows Narrator screen readers as well.
• While on a web page, regardless of which browser you are using, press the letter H to jump forward from heading to heading at any heading level or Shift+H to jump backwards to the previous heading.
• Press 1 on the number row to jump to a level 1 heading. Press 2 on the number row to jump to a level 2 heading and so on. Many well-organized web pages will use a level 1 heading to begin the main content of the web page. Thus, when the page opens, you can jump directly to the main content simply by pressing 1 on the number row.
• Hold down the JAWS key and press F6 to bring up a list of headings on the web page. Arrow up and down the list of headings or press the first letter of the desired heading. When you find it in the list, just press Enter to position at that heading in the web page.
• Similarly, press the JAWS key + F7 to bring up a list of links on the web page. Arrow up and down the list of links or press the first letter of the desired link. When you find it in the list, just press Enter to activate the link. Note, if you press TAB within the list of links, you will find a “Move to Link” button which will position you on the web page where that link is located rather than activating the link.
• Press Insert+F5 to bring up a list of form fields on a web page. You may then arrow through the fields and press Enter on any field to position to that field on the page. This is a useful way to review all the fields on a form before you fill it out.
• Press B or Shift+B to jump to the next or previous button on the web page.
• Press C or Shift+C to jump to the next or previous combo box drop down on the web page.
• Press E or Shift+E to jump to the next or previous edit box. For example, most web pages have a search edit box to allow you to search the web site and you can reach this edit field by simply pressing the letter e.
• Press L or Shift+L to jump to the next or previous list on the web page.
• Press T or Shift+T to jump forward or backward between tables on the page. Within a table, you may hold down the Control and Alt keys while pressing up, down, left, and right arrows to move among the cells of the table.
• At the top of the table just above the first row, JAWS will announce the number of rows and columns. At this point, you may press F8 to select the entire table and then Control+C to copy the table to the clipboard. You could then paste that table into a Word or Excel document.
Press X or Shift+X to jump to the next or previous check box on the web page.
You may prefix the above shortcuts (B, C, E, L, T, X) with Control+Insert keys to bring up a list of that control. For example, Control+Insert+B will bring up a list of buttons on the page.
• Press Control+F to do a JAWS search but note that this will only search the current page not the entire web site. It is a useful way to position yourself to a location on the page where you know certain text exists.
• Press P or Shift+P to jump to the next or previous paragraph and speak it. P is often more efficient than pressing down arrow to read lines on the page because P will read multiple lines at a time that comprise a paragraph. The equivalent Windows shortcut is Control+Down Arrow.
There are many more JAWS web browsing techniques. Freedom Scientific, the creator of the JAWS screen reader, offers a free self-paced online tutorial called, Surfs Up, to help you effectively surf the web using only the keyboard.

That’s it for this tip. Until next Wednesday, happy computing.

Windows From the Keyboard Tips, Web Browsing Shortcut Keys, April 8, 2020

Hello. This is Gerry Chevalier from the GTT Edmonton Chapter. This weekly blog provides tips that I find useful as a keyboard user of Windows. The information is for Windows10 and Office 365, although many tips still apply to older versions.  The tips do not require a screen reader unless specifically noted. Thus, the tips apply whether you are a keyboard user or low vision mouse user. Here is this week’s tip.

 

Web Browsing – General Shortcut Keys

When browsing a web site there are several general keyboard shortcuts that work for all browsers.

  • Arrow up and down to read line by line.
  • Press Control+Up and Control+Down to navigate to the previous or next paragraph.
  • Press Control+Home to jump to the top of the web page and Control+End to jump to the bottom.
  • Press Tab and Shift+TAB to jump forward or backward from element to element such as between links or form fields.
  • Press Enter to expand menus or Alt+Down Arrow to open drop down lists.
  • When focused on a link, press Enter or spacebar to open the link which results to jumping somewhere else on the same web page or opening a new web page.
  • Press Alt+Left/Right Arrow to move backward /forward among the web pages in your browsing session.
  • Press Alt to reach the menu of your browser and then arrow among the menu items.
  • Press Control+Enter to open a link in a new browser Tab. Tabs are useful if you need to have multiple pages open at the same time. You move back and forth between open Tabs by pressing Control+Shift+Tab (previous Tab) or Control+Tab (next Tab). For example, suppose you are on the main table of contents for a web based user manual. You want to follow the link to chapter 3 but not close the main table of contents web page. In that case, press Control+Enter instead of Enter on the Chapter 3 link. Chapter 3 will open in a new browser Tab and you will remain in the main web page. To switch to the Chapter 3 Tab, press Control+Tab, and when you want to return to the main page, press Control+Shift+Tab. You may have many TABS open at the same time.
  • Press Control+F4 or Control+W to close a browser Tab when you no longer need it.
  • Press Alt+D to place focus on the current web page address/search bar. When you do this, the web address will automatically be highlighted so you could then do one of 3 things: 1) press Control+C to copy the address to the clipboard, or 2) type another address followed by Enter to open that new web site, or 3) type a search string followed by Enter to search for a new web site.
  • Pres Control+E to perform a web search. This will also place focus on the address bar but, in this case, the current address bar is cleared so you can type a new web search string.
  • While on the address bar, you can press Tab or Shift+Tab as well as F6 or Shift+F6 to move forward and backward between different browser controls. The behavior depends on which browser you are using but feel free to try these shortcuts to learn what is available. You will find items such as a history of web pages you visited, or your list of bookmarks and other tool bar items. Of note in the Google Chrome browser is the button to view site information. If you press Shift+TAB on the address bar you will be focused on the View Site Information button which you can press spacebar to activate. It describes the security level of your web page so that you can be confident the information exchanged between you and the web site is done in a secure manner.
  • This is a good place to discuss security and safe web browsing. In general, when on the address bar you can tell that a web site is secure if its address begins with https where the ‘s’ denotes a secure site. If you are on a web page whose address begins with only http, then be careful about exchanging information with that site. It is not a secure site and may even be masquerading as a company or organization that it is not.

 

That’s it for this tip. Until next Wednesday, happy computing.

Windows From The Keyboard Tips, How to Use the Recycle Bin, April 1, 2020

Hello. This is Gerry Chevalier from the GTT Edmonton Chapter. This weekly blog provides tips that I find useful as a keyboard user of Windows. The information is for Windows10 and Office 365, although many tips still apply to older versions.  The tips do not require a screen reader unless specifically noted. Thus, the tips apply whether you are a keyboard user or low vision mouse user. Here is this week’s tip.

 

Windows File Explorer – How to Use the Recycle Bin

Have you ever accidentally deleted a file and wanted to get it back? In File Explorer a deleted file is not actually removed from your computer. Rather, the file is moved to the Recycle Bin, so it is possible to restore the file. To restore a deleted file, follow this procedure.

  • Press Windows key + M to go to the desktop.
  • Press R multiple times until you reach the Recycle Bin icon and then press Enter to open the Recycle Bin.
  • You will be placed in a list of deleted files. Likely, your deleted file is in this list unless it was deleted a very long time ago. Also, when you deleted the file, if you pressed Shift+Delete to bypass the Recycle Bin, then the file will have been removed from your computer.
  • You can arrow up and down the list of files to find the file you have deleted. If you know the file name, you may press its first letter multiple times until you reach the desired file. Note that beside each file are details such as the name of the original folder that contained the file and its deletion date. You can read these values with a screen reader by using the right arrow or reading the entire line.
  • When you find the file, press the Applications key.
  • From the resulting context menu, select the Restore item and press Enter. The file will be restored to its original folder on your computer.
  • Press Alt+F4 to close the Recycle Bin.

Sorting the Recycle Bin:

If you have many files in the Recycle Bin, or you cannot remember the name of the file you deleted, it may help to sort the file list as follows.

  • If the current file you are focused on is selected, then unselect it by pressing Control+Spacebar .
  • Press the Applications key.
  • Arrow through the resulting context menu and select the Sort By submenu and press Enter to open it.
  • Arrow through the submenu and choose the sort option you want. For example, you can sort the list of files alphabetically by name, by their original location, by the deletion date, or by the date the file was last modified. You can also choose ascending or descending order.

 

That’s it for this tip. Until next Wednesday, happy computing.