Google released version 70 of the Chrome Browser this week, and you may notice that navigating combo boxes has changed when using JAWS – no, you are not doing anything wrong. This change in behavior is due to how the new Chrome version handles events, which in turn impacts combo boxes. This change impacts users of JAWS 2018 and earlier when navigating to a combo box and attempting to read the contents without first opening it using ALT + DOWN Arrow. Thanks to our close partnership with the Google Chrome developers, we have implemented the changes needed in JAWS 2019 and Fusion 2019 to ensure combo boxes will read correctly, without the need to open them first.
This same change will be available in JAWS 2018 in a November update, and will correct this behavior for JAWS 2018 and Fusion 2018. In the meantime, when navigating to a combo box open it first to get the correct behavior.
Any idea why JAWS freezes when attempting to edit chrome’s settings?
We are not aware and this shouldn’t be happening. Best advice is to contact our Technical Support department, by phone 727-803-8600, or via email, support@vispero.com.
Thanks for posting this. In an online course I’m taking the quiz was full of combo boxes. Luckily I’d literally read this post ten minutes before I took the quiz, otherwise I’d have been totally flummoxed!
Debee – So glad the timing worked out. Hope your quiz went well!
Chrome uses more memory than older browsers like Internet Explorer. And the changes that make JAWS effective with the dynamic web also impact memory usage. Make sure you don’t have too many tasks open when editing settings in Chrome. I’ve find it freezes when I have too many other windows open as well, but not if I’m only working on two or three active tasks. CTRL-W will close unwanted browser windows or tabs while alt-
F4 is your best friend for closing most everything else.
And thanks for the tip that might help others as well.
Good afternoon, this is not particularly related to the post at hand, however, I wonder if the freedom scientific developpers could make travelling websites such as kayake, ebookers, expedia and so on more accessible with jaws. Jaws users who traver frequently, especially by plane, find them to difficult to navigate.
Alexandra – it is our desire that all users, even those with visual impairments, can independently navigate travel websites too. Unfortunately much of the responsibility rests on the shoulders of the website providers themselves. Freedom Scientific’s sister company, The Paciello Group (or TPG for short), works with external companies to ensure their web developers and thus their web sites are fully accessible. Our recommendation is that you reach out to the companies you mention and let them know of your concerns. Thanks for the comment and happy traveling.
Hi,
A bit off-topic but why JAWS is not changing the pitch of the voice when seeing a capital letter when using JAWS cursore in web pages? I still sometime have to use JAWS cursore instead of virtual cursore, and, for example, pitch is not changing when placing the JAWS cursore on the first character of a word in the start of a sentence. However, when pressing numpad 5 2 times twice quickly JAWS says the character phonetically with the pitch changed. This effects every virtual document. Thanks.
Hmmm. That is an interesting question. Your best approach is to contact our technical support department to see if they can help you out. Send them an email at support@vispero.com.