Table of Contents
XVI Extensions
X-Windows
for the visually impaired
1999
Release 3.4.3
This document is partitioned
into the following sections:
- Section 1
- Introduction, outlines the contents
of the XVI X-Terminal Software.
- Section 2
- User Guide; describes how to
use XVI
Thank you for buying one
of 's products. The XVI X-Terminal Software is an additional component to
a BEAM Bxterm X-Terminal. Specifically developed to aid the use of a Bxterm
by the partially sighted. XVI provides a number of additional features
to a standard Bxterm.
- Comprehensive Zoom Modes
- XVI provides the ability
to zoom the display from 1 to 8 times the standard size. In all zoom sizes
a rapid hardware pan facility allows movement over the full screens display.
- Magnification Glass
- XVI provides a magnification glass facility that
allows the user to zoom the area around current cursor position.
- Cursor
Colouring and Size
- The colour and size of the cursor may be modified
to aid visibility.
- Mouse free Control
- Both the cursor and the paning
of the display can be moved by keyboard keys.
- Auto event tracking
- XVI
supports a range of optional tracking modes. These enable the automatic
panning of the display area over the fill display.
XVI uses a virtual display system. This system provides two areas, the
visible area is that displayed upon the monitor, and the the virtual area
within which the visible area moves. The following picture illustrates
the general idea.
The view area moves within the larger virtual area
automatically, either when the mouse nears the edge of the monitor screen
or explicitly directed to move by use of an XVI `hot key' sequence.
XVI
allows the size of the visible area to be zoomed. When zoomed every thing
displayed within the visible area is larger but it displays less of the
total virtual area.
During the normal use of windowing
systems, the centre of attention is often the current cursor position,
for example, to press an on-screen button the cursor may need to be over
the button prior to pressing a mouse button. XVI has a facility to help
with the tracking and locating of the cursor, it is called the magnifying
glass. The magnifying glass constantly displays a greatly magnified image
of the screen around the current cursor position. The effect is optional
and may be switched on and off at will.
Generally the
cursor under X-windows is black and white. XVI allow the colour of the cursor
to be changed to enhance its visibility. The size of the cursor can be
increased to aid visibility.
Tracking is a complex topic, its
setup is dependent upon the application requirements of the user. Tracking
is the means by which XVI can automatically move the viewable area around
within the hidden virtual area, automatically detecting the area of interest.
Is is possible for XVI to track the following events:
- Motif
- Track the
current Motif data entry window. This option only works with Motif applications.
The Motif entry window is shown on the display as a 4 pixel wide black
border around the input window, whenever this border moves XVI attempts
to display it on the screen. Typically this tracking mode is most useful
on data entry type applications.
- Text Print
- Tracks the last text printed
on the display.
- Text Cursor
- Attempt to follow the current text cursor
position.
- Focus Window
- Attempt to display the current focus window. The
focus window is the window currently accepting keyboard and mouse input.
Typically systems indicate the focus window by a specially coloured border.
- Drawing Commands
- Attempt to follow drawing commands, these range from
line drawing, to circle etc.
- Stay in client
- This mode differs from the
above in that the tracking is programed by the user to be a single client
application. XVI will then constrain the visible area to windows generated
by this client application.
- Focus Window Only
- Constrains tracking to
within the current focus window.
If you are using an XVI Bxterm then XVI may be automatically started up
every time the machine is switched on. The controls for XVI at startup
can be found in the "Startup Config" menu of the Bxterm xchoose application.
On Unix systems supporting the BEAM XVI server extensions XVI can be
started in the normal X application manner.
The
XVI main dialog is a window area on the display. It contains a number of
control and message objects. Control objects comprise a rectangular area
on the screen and allow modification by the user with the use of the mouse
or key presses. There are a number of different types of control objects
the main ones are:
Object Type | Description |
Button | This is shown
as a 3 dimensional button that can |
| be operated by the user by use
of the Left hand |
| Mouse button or by use of the Enter key. |
Toggle
Button | This is shown as a 3 dimensional button area that can |
| be
operated by the user by use of the Left hand |
| Mouse button or by use
of the Enter key. |
| The area turns dark or light to indicate an on/off
state. |
Slider | This is show as a slider control. It can be |
| operated
by the user by pressing and holding |
| the Left hand Mouse button and
dragging the |
| slider to the position required. Alternatively |
| the
keyboard arrow keys can be used to move |
| the sliders position. |
A
message object might by line of text giving the current level of magnification.
The key distinction is that controls do as the name suggests, they allow
the user to control the xvi application.
For persons who prefer to use
the keyboard, all the control features may be accessed via special keystrokes.
The XVI main dialog comprises distinct functional groups. On screen these
groups are contained within a border. Each group has a title ( The group
titles are message objects, are are shown on a light blue background ).
The zoom group has a title and two arrow buttons, one pointing up the
other down.
The Pan Control group has a push button and a slider while
the Tracking group comprises solely toggle buttons. To activate any button
move the cursor over the item and press the left mouse button. The slider
may be moved by pressing and holding the left mouse button while over
the slider button, drag the button to the desired position and then release
the mouse button.
- Tip
- Each button is a rectangular area on the screen.
For ease of use we have coloured the background of the buttons light grey,
this stands out from the darker grey background.
- Tip
- It is possible to
control the buttons and slider using only the keyboard. The TAB key, (
the fourth key up on the extreme left of the keyboard ) moves between
groups and the cursor keys ( the group of four keys situated two thirds
to the lower right on the keyboard) move between items. Keyboard control
is particularly powerful if Motif tracking is enabled, more on this later.
The groups perform the following operations:
Non XVI systems
don't support zooming, rather they have a zoom factor of one. The XVI has
a number of levels ranging from no zoom, 1 times, to around 6 times. There
are two ways of changing the current zoom level. Firstly, the main dialog
zoom group contains two control buttons. Secondly, the zoom level can be
controlled from the keyboard.
On screen the zoom group comprises,
a title and two 'arrow buttons' located side by side below the title. One
arrow button points upwards, the other downwards.
- Up Arrow Button
- The
zoom up button causes the entire screen to be magnified, once the monitor
has had time to settle every thing will be displayed larger. It will be
noted however, that not as much will be displayed. To view the portions
forced off the display move the mouse towards the appropriate edge of
the display and the entire screen will pan and make things visible.
There
is a maximum level of zoom at which point further pressing of the button
will have no effect.
- Down Arrow Button
- The zoom down button has the reverse
effect to the zoom up button described above
- Zoom:
- This indicates the
current level of zoom.
- Quick Reference
-
- Quick Keys
-
When the zoom level is greater than one, all of the information is no
longer displayed, a hidden area is created. The means by which this area
is brought visible on the monitor screen is called panning. Normally this
works using the cursor. Moving the cursor near the edge of the screen causes
some of the hidden area to be displayed.
The pan control group
comprises a title,button labeled "Keys Pan Display" or "Keys Pan Cursor",
and below the button a slider button. Below the slider button there is
the word Border while above is a number. The number given the current value
of the slider.
- Keys Pan Display Button
- This button controls the manner
in which the keyboard cursor keys are interpreted by XVI. The text on
the button indicates what the button will do, pressing the button when
"Keys Pan Display" is displayed will cause the XVI cursor keys to pan
the entire display. The alternative "Key Move Cursor" title allows the
cursor to be moved by the keyboard.
- Border Slider
- The border slider adjusts
the point at which the display automatically pans. This border can be used
to keep the cursor within a small area on the monitor. To control the slider
using the mouse, move the mouse cursor onto the slider button, press and
HOLD the left mouse button. Drag the mouse to the left to increase the
value, the right to decrease. Once the slider is active ( has a thick black
border ) the left and right cursor keys may be used to set the value.
The border slider minimizes the distance from the center of the screen
that the cursor moves allowing the user to focus over a small area. ie
Rather than the cursor moving around the screen the screen moves around
the cursor and the focus point on the screen is fixed. The larger the border
value the less distance the cursor moves from the center of the display
before the display pans.
The border my be set to a value between 0 and
50%. At 0 the cursor will move all the way to the edge of the visible area
before the screen pans. At 50 the cursor will attempt to stay in the centre
of the screen. This can be useful for users who have difficulty following
the cursor. The cursor will remain in the centre for as long as possible,
near the edge of the virtual area it has no alternative but to move. This
is best illustrated by a short 'play' on the terminal.
The pan control group has no quick keys. It can only be controlled
when the XVI main dialog is active.
One
of the Tracking modes of XVI ( more later ) allows the selection of a
single application. The name of this application is indicated on the status
line in this group. If no application is selected then the word "none"
is displayed. This group has no controls.
The "Other Items Group" is a catch-all for operations that don't fit in
any other group. The group contains a title and three buttons located in
a single column.
- User Preferences Button
- This button causes the User
Preferences dialog box to pop-up. The dialog, has further buttons to allow
the default XVI settings to be changed. Various options can be changed,
including the cursor colour size and the colour scheme of other applications.
- Xviterm Button
- The button invokes the Xviterm program. This program is
similar to the normal xterm X-Windows terminal found on many Unix computer
systems. It provides extensive zoom and tracking feature not found on xterm
itself.
- Help Button
- The Help button pops up the on-line help facility.
- Quick
Reference
-
In the introduction section of the
manual, the use of the magnifying glass was outlined. This group performs
various operations with the magnifying glass.
The Magnifying glass button
switches on and off a magnifying glass window. This window will show in
greatly magnified form, the region around the current cursor position.
The level of zoom within this window can be increased and decreased my
pressing the keyboard keys. The groups comprises title and two buttons,
one labeled Mag Glass On (Off) the other Mag Glass Stick On (Off).
The
figure below is screen shot to the magnifier in use.
The
Magnifying Glass group contains a title an two buttons located in a single
vertical column.
- Mag Glass On (Off) Button
- This button turn the magnifying
glass window on and off. It may also be controlled directly from the keyboard.
- Mag Glass Stick On (Off) Button
- It is possible to stick the mag glass
window to a fixed position on the screen. When stuck the magnifying glass
does not pan like other windows but remains static.
XVI provides a number of optional modes
of Tracking events that happen on the display. For example you may be viewing
a small section of the display, elect to press some button, this causes
a pop up dialog else where on the display that is not within the portion
you can currently see. There are now two alternatives, the first is to
use the mouse to pan around the display to find the pop up, the second
utilizes the power of XVI to automatically move the viewing area around
the pop up.
The Tracking options are selected from the main XVI dialog
or by the use of the function keys F1 to F7, a function key must be pressed
at the same time as the CTRL and SHIFT keys.
Most of the Tracking modes
may be used together, for example it is possible to Track drawing commands
and the text cursor, however due to the complex nature of many applications
such modes may lead to unexpected results. The visual area may move to
unexpected areas within the hidden virtual area. Be prepared to experiment
and note that different applications may well require differing setups.
The Tracking group comprises, title and eight toggle buttons
arranged in a single vertical column. A toggle button is similar in operation
to a domestic light switch, it has two states, on and off. On screen the
on position is indicated by a blacked out rectangle to the left of the
button text.
- The Automatic Toggle
- This button switches the automatic tracking
of events on and off. In its automatic mode XVI attempts to follow all
events. When off XVI still keeps track of the events but the visual area
is not automatically moved.
Quick Key:
If you want XVI to attempt to
find the latest event then press CTRL + SHIFT + KPENTER. This will move
to the latest event. KPENTER is the enter key on the numeric keypad.
- Motif
Toggle
- Motif is type of user interface, it is used by programmers to
create many popular applications. XVI supports a mode of tracking specifically
to aid the use of these applications. In Motif the current area of input,
is high-lighted by a bounding rectangle, generally black. The Motif tacking
mode attempts to track this rectangle keeping it within the visible area
of the display. Typically this is useful for data entry applications.
- Text
Print Toggle
- Text print tracking, attempts to follow the last character
typed. Typical application is a word processor or simple text editor.
- Text
Cursor Toggle
- Attempts to follow the text cursor.
- Focus window Toggle
- In X-Window applications, any window may at some time have associated
with it what is called the focus. It is to this window that all keyboard
and mouse input occurs. XVI can attempt to track this focus window.
- Drawing
Commands Toggle
- Drawing commands include line drawing, circles, polygons
etc. If the track drawing command option is active XVI will move the view
window to include the location of the last drawing event.
- Stay in Client
Toggle
- Any X-Windows application `talks' to the display and is called a
client. Any single client application may have a number of separate windows
on the display at any time.
To select a client application to track select
the Stay in client option from the XVI main dialog (or CTRL + SHIFT +F7).
Move the cursor over on of the application windows and press the keys
CTRL + SHIFT + <Return>.
During the explanation of the
Primary XVI Window, mention was made of additional setups. These setups
are all controlled via a number of pop-up dialog windows. For example the
User preferences button in the main window, when activated causes the
User preferences dialog window to appear. Each dialog window has some common
features. Each has a title and each has a horizontal row of buttons at
the bottom of the window.
- Tip
- It is possible to move around the buttons
using the TAB and Cursor Keys. The TAB key moves between key groupings,
the cursor keys move within a group. The buttons at the bottom of a dialog
are a group so use the cursor keys to select the button you want.
The user setup dialog allows the setup of various
XVI parameters. These parameters are divided into generic groups for ease
of use. To set the desired option activate the appropriate button.
The user preferences dialog comprises three areas, a title ("User Preferences),
a work area containing five normal buttons in a vertical column and a
single toggle button in a second column. Along the bottom of the dialog
is a horizontal row of buttons.
- Screen Background Button
- Setup the colour
and pattern of the root window. The root window is the background upon
which all other windows rest.
- Cursor Options Button
- Setup the colour and
size of the mouse cursor.
- XVI Colours Button
- Setup the colours of the
BEAM XVI application.
- Tracking Options Button
- Setup the tracking options.
- System Colours Button
- Setup the colours for ALL applications. Any colour
on the screen can be changed to another.
- Iconify XVI on startup Toggle
- If set to ON ( rectangle to the left of text blacked out ) then the main
XVI window is iconified at startup. Normally the icon representing the
main window is to be found at the lower left hand side of the display.
Once a user is familiar with XVI, then to avoid the XVI window cluttering
the display,this button is set to ON.
- OK Button
- Press this button to indicate
that you are happy with the settings and wish to exit this dialog.
- Cancel
- Exit the dialog without change.
- Save Button
- Saves the current XVI settings.
These setting are automatically loaded on startup.
- Load Button
- Load the
last set of saved settings. This is typically used to restore to a known
state after experimenting.
- Defaults Button
- Restore all settings to the
BEAM defaults.
The cursor setup dialog allow
the modification of the cursor colours and magnification. The cursor is
magnified independently of the rest of the screen and can be up to 8 times
larger. The cursor has two colours, a foreground and a background. To setup
a foreground colour select the foreground radio button. Then either choose
one of the fixed colours from the array of given colours or select one
by name from the scrolled list. Proceed in a similar manner for the background.
- Cursor Size Text Entry Box
- To set the zoom level for the cursor entry
a number from 1 to 8 into the box left of the words Cursor size.
- Cursor
Speed Text Entry Box
- The speed of the mouse cursor may be adjusted. Enter
a number from 1 to 5 into the box left of the words cursor speed. 1 is
the fastest and 5 the slowest speeds.
- Resize Cursor On Zoom
- With this
option set to on (toggle button black) when the display is zoomed the
cursor will be set to the size specified by the cursor size option. The
effect is that while the rest of the display changes in size the cursor
remains constant. With the option off the cursor is magnified along with
the rest of the display.
- Show Cursor Locator
- If this option in on there
will appear on the display edges 2 or 4 moving rectancles. These follow
the position of the mouse cursor and are intended as visual cues.
- Show
Desk Top Locator
- When the terminal magnifies, only a portion of the full
screen is shown. The locator bars switched on by this button show the postion
of the viewable arean within the possible whole screenfull. The length
of the bars indicate the size of the viewable area with respect to the
total possible.
- Try
- The Try button can be used to "try out" the selected
colour settings. These setting are only temporary and the original colours
are restored if the Cancel button is pressed.
The XVI colours dialog allows the look and feel of the XVI application
itself to be modified. The selection of colour is performed in the same
manner as the cursor colour dialog, select the radio button for the colour
to change, then select a colour from the array or list.
- Try
- The Try button
can be used to "try out" the selected colour settings. These setting are
only temporary and the original colours are restored if the Cancel button
is pressed.
The background dialog allow both
the colour and pattern of the root window to be modified. Select a pattern
from the list of patterns and a colour from the colour selector.
- Try
- The Try button can be used to "try out" the selected colour settings. These
setting are only temporary and the original colours are restored if the
Cancel button is pressed.
Any colour on
the display can be changed to another colour. Use this dialog to setup
the colours. Note, once satisfied you must use the Save button in the User
preferences dialog to save the settings.
- Description
- The System Colours
dialog is titled "System Colour Setup", within the work area is a button
labeled "Select colour to change" with a colour status box to it right.
Below the button and arranged in a row are three vertical sliders labeled
Red, Green and Blue. The normal dialog bottom buttons of "OK", "Cancel"
and Help are supplemented with an additional button labeled "Reset All"
located to the right of the "Help" button.
- Select colour to Change Button
- Press to select a colour to modify. To select a colour press this button
then move the mouse cursor over the colour you wish to change and press
the Left hand mouse button. The colour is now selected and is displayed
in the box to the right of the Select colour button.
- Red, Green and Blue
Sliders
- Manipulate the sliders, using the mouse or keyboard to change
the colour. Reset All The "Reset All" button will put back all the colours
to the stage of the last saved colours.
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