Using HTML Help Systems

Help information for software is often presented in HTML format. You can read and navigate these Help systems just like Web sites on the Internet. A type of help system called HTML Help is used in many different kinds of programs, including JAWS. In addition to presenting information as HTML pages, an HTML Help system can also have an index, full text search capability, glossary, table of contents, and other features. In this section, you will learn how to use the comprehensive search and navigation features of HTML Help systems.

Table of Contents

The table of contents is one of the best ways to browse the various subject matter contained in the Help system. A table of contents contains one or more books. Books contain several related topics.

EXERCISE: In the exercise below, you will use the JAWS Help system to learn how to navigate the table of contents.

  1. In the JAWS window, open the Help menu and choose Help Topics. Alternatively, just press F1 from within the JAWS window.
  2. Hold CTRL and press the TAB key until you hear "Table of Contents page." Notice that in the JAWS help there are four tabs in this pane: Table of Contents, Index, Search, and Favorites.
  3. Use the UP and DOWN ARROW keys to explore the table of contents. As you move through the table of contents, you are moving through books or topics in a tree view. If a book is closed, you cannot see what topics it contains.
  4. Select the book Using the Internet with JAWS, and then press RIGHT ARROW to open it.
  5. Use the DOWN ARROW key to explore the topics contained in the book you just opened. Sometimes, in addition to several topics, books can contain other books. When you press down arrow the first time you hear JAWS say, "Level one." If you continue to press DOWN ARROW you will eventually hear JAWS say "Level zero" and the name of the next book below in the tree, which is closed. Level zero is the top level. As you open and close books and topics, JAWS announces when you change levels. As long as the level does not change when moving up or down, you do not hear the level repeated.
  6. Select the book Navigating Web Pages, and press RIGHT ARROW to open it.
  7. Press DOWN ARROW to move to the next level. JAWS tells you that you have moved to level two. You can think of these different levels as having a type of outline structure. Continue to press UP or DOWN ARROW until you select the topic Navigation Quick Keys.
  8. Press ENTER to open this topic. The information it contains is displayed in the topic pane on the right side of the window.
  9. Press F6 to switch to the topic pane. JAWS automatically begins reading the text in the topic pane. You can use the standard JAWS reading and navigation commands to read this topic. You can use any command or feature that you can use normally with JAWS in a web browser, such as pressing INSERT+F7 to view a list of links, or H to move from one heading to another.
  10. When you are finished reading you can press F6 again to move back to the tree view of books and topics. F6 is a command that switches between the two panes of the help window.

Index

The index of an HTML Help system lets you search by keyword. Indexes are useful for finding specific information about certain subjects.

EXERCISE: In this exercise you will use the JAWS help system to learn how to find information in an index.

  1. In JAWS, open the Help menu and choose Help Topics. Alternatively, just press F1 from within the JAWS window.
  2. If you are continuing from the previous exercise, first make sure that focus is back in the tree view of books and topics. If you are not certain, press F6 until you hear JAWS announce the tree view.
  3. Hold CTRL and press the TAB key until you move to the Index tab page.
  4. Let's assume you want to look up information about how to work with graphics. Type the word graphic.
  5. Press TAB to move to the list of indexed keywords. The JAWS Help system has selected the closest matching keyword, which is "Graphic Label." This isn't the keyword you are looking for.
  6. Use the arrow keys to explore the topics above and below the keyword you found. Then put the focus on the keywords "Graphics Labeler."
  7. Press ENTER on "Graphics Labeler." There is more than one Help topic associated with these keywords. Press the ARROW keys to explore the topics.
  8. Select Overview of the JAWS Utilities, and then press ENTER.
  9. Next, press F6 to move to the topic pane, and read the information about the topic.
  10. Press F6 to move back to the keyword entry box. Delete any word or phrase there, and then type cursors.
  11. Next, press TAB to move to that word in the list of keywords.
  12. Press DOWN ARROW to select the next keyword, which is "JAWS cursor."
  13. Continue to press DOWN ARROW to explore these. They are subkeywords of the term "cursors." For example, JAWS cursor, PC cursor, and Virtual PC cursor. Subkeywords are used to provide more specific information about a broad or more general topic. For example, an index could have the term "Dogs" followed by the subkeywords "German Shepherd," "Golden Retriever," "Labrador," and so on.

Searching the Help System

You can use a full-text search to find information on keywords that don't appear in the index or to find all topics where a certain word or phrase is used.

EXERCISE: Next, you'll learn how to use the JAWS Help system's full text search feature.

  1. In JAWS, open the Help menu and choose Help Topics. Alternatively, just press F1 from within the JAWS window.
  2. Hold CTRL and press the TAB key until you move to the Search tab page.

NOTE: If you are continuing from the exercise above you may need to press F6 to move back to the left side of the window first.

  1. Type the phrase, mouse pointer, and then press ENTER.
  2. Press TAB to move to the list of topics that contain the words you searched for. Make a note of how many topics are found. Use the UP and DOWN ARROW keys to explore this list. Notice that many topics were retrieved by the search. This is because the HTML Help system was looking for any topics that contained both of the two words contained in the first search. However, it was not looking to see if the words were next to each other in the text, or even if they were in the same sentence. It just found all topics containing both words at least once somewhere within each topic.

NOTE: The search may also have found larger words that contain part of the text you search for. For example, the word "pointer" might be found as part of the plural "pointers."

  1. Press ALT+W to move back to the keyword entry box. Type quotation marks around the phrase "mouse pointer," and then press ENTER to retry the search.
  2. Press TAB to move to the search results list to view the results. Notice that about half as many topics were found this time. Select any of the topics found, and press ENTER.
  3. Then, press F6 to move to the topic pane so you can read the information.
  4. To find out exactly where the phrase appears in the topic, press CTRL+F. Type the phrase in the JAWS find dialog box and then press ENTER. Focus moves to a line of text that contains the current search phrase. You can verify this by reading the current line with INSERT+UP ARROW. Press F3 to move to each instance of the phrase and repeat the Say Line command to hear the new text that is found. For more information on the JAWS Find feature, read the prior Surf's Up lesson on using the JAWS Find Command.

Marking Favorite Topics

You can bookmark topics you need to refer to regularly so you do not have to always look for them in the table of contents or through a search.

EXERCISE: Use the JAWS help system to add or remove a favorite topic.

  1. In JAWS, open the Help menu and choose Help Topics. Alternatively, just press F1 from within the JAWS window.
  2. Hold CTRL and press the TAB key until you hear "Table of Contents page."
  3. Select the book Using the Internet with JAWS and press RIGHT ARROW to open it.
  4. Select the book Navigating Web Pages and press RIGHT ARROW to open it.
  5. Select the topic Navigation Quick Keys and press ENTER to open this topic.
  6. Press CTRL+TAB until you hear "Favorites Page." The title of the currently opened topic is displayed.
  7. Press TAB to move to the Add button and press the SPACEBAR. Focus moves to the list of bookmarked topics which now includes the Navigation Quick Keys topic.
  8. Press ALT+F4 to close the JAWS help and then reopen it.
  9. Press CTRL+TAB until you reach the "Favorites Page" and press TAB to move to the list of bookmarked topics. The Navigation Quick Keys topic is still listed so you can press ENTER to open it and then F6 to move to the topic pane to read it. This saves you from having to navigate the table of contents to locate this topic each time you want to look up a navigation quick key.
  10. To remove a favorite topic from the list, press TAB to move to the Remove button and press SPACEBAR.

Printing HTML Help Topics

To print any topic in an HTML Help system, do the following:

  1. Select the topic that you want to print in the table of contents, or find the topic using the index or search feature. Be sure to press F6 to move to the topic pane before continuing.
  2. Press CTRL+P to open the print dialog box.
  3. Select the printer you want to use, as well as any other options available. Then press ALT+P or ENTER to activate the Print button.

Moving Back to the Previous Topic

While browsing through an HTML Help system, you can do the following to return to the previous topic:

  1. Press ALT+O to open the Options menu.
  2. Press B to choose Back.

TIP: In JAWS Help, you can press ALT+B to move to the "Back" link at the bottom of each page. Press ENTER to activate this link and return to the previous page. You can also press ALT+X to move to the "Next" link at the bottom of each page. Additionally, you can also press ALT+LEFT ARROW to move to a prior HTML help page or ALT+RIGHT ARROW to move forward.