Developer(s) Freedom Scientific Type Screen reader | Operating system License Proprietary | |
Initial release January 1995; 22 years ago (1995-01) Stable release 18.0.2530 / February 23, 2017; 22 days ago (2017-02-23) | ||
JAWS ("Job Access With Speech") is a computer screen reader program for Microsoft Windows that allows blind and visually impaired users to read the screen either with a text-to-speech output or by a refreshable Braille display.
Contents
JAWS is produced by the Blind and Low Vision Group of Freedom Scientific, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA.
A July 2015 screen reader user survey by WebAIM, a web accessibility company, found JAWS to be the most popular screen reader worldwide; 30.2% of survey participants used it as a primary screen reader, while 43.7% of participants used it often. This level of usage is significantly lower than that found in the January 2014 survey, where the respective figures for JAWS were 50% and 63.9%.
JAWS supports all versions of Windows released since Windows Vista. There are two versions of the program: the home use edition for non-commercial use and the professional edition for commercial environments. Before JAWS 16, the home use edition was called Standard, and only worked on home Windows operating systems. A DOS version, sometimes also known as JDOS, is free.
The JAWS Scripting Language allows the user to use programs without standard Windows controls, and programs that were not designed for accessibility.
History
JAWS was originally released in 1989 by Ted Henter, a former motorcycle racer who lost his sight in a 1978 automobile accident. In 1985, Henter, along with a US$180,000 investment from Bill Joyce, founded the Henter-Joyce Corporation in St. Petersburg, Florida. Joyce sold his interest in the company back to Henter in 1990. In April 2000, Henter-Joyce, Blazie Engineering, and Arkenstone, Inc. merged to form Freedom Scientific.
JAWS was originally created for the MS-DOS operating system. It was one of several screen readers giving blind users access to text-mode MS-DOS applications. A feature unique to JAWS at the time was its use of cascading menus, in the style of the popular Lotus 1-2-3 application. What set JAWS apart from other screen readers of the era was its use of macros that allowed users to customize the user interface and work better with various applications.
Ted Henter and Rex Skipper wrote the original JAWS code in the mid-1980s, releasing version 2.0 in mid-1990. Skipper left the company after the release of version 2.0, and following his departure, Charles Oppermann was hired to maintain and improve the product. Oppermann and Henter regularly added minor and major features and frequently released new versions. Freedom Scientific now offers JAWS for MS-DOS as a freeware download from their web site.
In 1993, Henter-Joyce released a highly modified version of JAWS for people with learning disabilities. This product, called WordScholar, is no longer available.
JAWS for Windows
In 1992, as Microsoft Windows became more popular, Oppermann began work on a new version of JAWS. A principal design goal was not to interfere with the natural user interface of Windows and to continue to provide a strong macro facility. Test and beta versions of JAWS for Windows (JFW) were shown at conferences throughout 1993 and 1994. During this time, developer Glen Gordon started working on the code, ultimately taking over its development when Oppermann was hired by Microsoft in November 1994. Shortly afterwards, in January 1995, JAWS for Windows 1.0 was released.
Currently a new revision of JAWS for Windows is released about once a year, with minor updates in between. The latest version is 18.0, released in October 2016.
Features
The software includes a mode designed specifically for web use, activated when Internet Explorer is in the foreground. For web pages, JAWS first declares the title and number of links. Speech is toggled on/off with the Ctrl key, lines are navigated with the up/down arrow keys, and the (shift)Tab key moves between links and controls. Forms are found and read with Ctrl+Insert+Home, then the F key. JAWS can access headings in Word and PDF documents and web pages.
JAWS' feature set and configurability have been described as "complex", with training recommended for users such as web designers performing accessibility testing, to avoid drawing the wrong conclusions from such testing.