The following posting, regarding the use of Microsoft Word 2003 and Jaws was written by staff of the Adaptive Services Division of the DC Public Library. While the majority of the tutorials are original, credit should be given to the authors of the Basic Word curriculum used by the DC Public Library’s Computer Lab and to the Chorlton Workshop for additional information and guidance that contributed to their creation.

CHANGE THE TEXT FONT, FONT STYLE, OR FONT SIZE

Font
Highlight the text you wish to change.
Tap on the Applications Key.
The Applications Key is to the left of the Ctrl Key on the right hand side of the keyboard.
To find it, locate the Spacebar and move three keys to the right.
Once you have used the Applications Key, you will hear JAWS say Context Menu.
Down arrow once and JAWS will say Font.
Press Enter.

From there you are able to do a number of things.
The most used options are:
Changing the type of font you are using in your document.
Changing the font style.
Changing the font size.

Changing the Font
When you open the Font Window, Jaws opens in the Font Option.
Jaws will say to set the value use the arrow keys or type the value.
From there you can down arrow until you come to the font you wish to
use.
The default is Calibri, however many people also use Arial.

Exercise 5 Changing the Font of the Gettysburg Address
Hold onto Ctrl and press the A key.
JAWS should say Selected and begin reading the entire document.
You can press Ctrl if you want to stop JAWS from speaking.
You have just highlighted the entire document.
From there, tap on the Applications Key.
You will hear JAWS say Context Menu.
From there, Down Arrow until you hear Jaws Say Font.
Press Enter.

When you open the Font Window, Jaws opens in the Font Option.
JAWS will say to set the value use the arrow keys or type the value.
From there you can Down Arrow until you come to the font you wish to
use.
Down Arrow until you hear JAWS say Arial Black.
Press Enter.
The window will close and you have just changed the font of the text to
Arial Black.







Changing the Font Style

Changing the font style makes certain elements in your document distinctive for emphasis.
For example, at various places in this text, key terms are in Bold.

Underlines and Italics are also used to emphasize elements in texts. However, they can also be used to cite sources in academic documents. For example, you can underline the title for Braille Book Review or write Braille Book Review in Italics.

To change the font style of a document, highlight text you wish to change.
Then, use the following keyboard shortcuts:

While holding Ctrl press B for Bold.
While Holding Ctrl press I for Italics.
While Holding Ctrl press U for Underline.

You can reverse these actions by using the same commands.


Exercise 6: Changing the Font Style for the Gettysburg Address

The title for the Gettysburg Address is not distinguished from the rest of the text. In order for readers to better understand what they are reading, many authors make the title distinguishable from the rest of the document. To do this they will sometimes make the title separate from the rest of the document, change the size, change the style etc.

For this example we are going to change the style of the title to make it more distinguishable from the rest of the speech.

Make sure you are at the top of the document by holding onto the Ctrl Key and pressing the Home Key.
Hold onto the Alt key and press the 5 Key on the number pad to read the current sentence.
If JAWS says Gettysburg Address, you are at the title and in the right place.
Your cursor is to the left of the title.
So highlight the text by holding onto the Shift key and pressing the End key.
JAWS should now say Selected and begin reading the title to you.

From there,
Hold onto the Ctrl Key and tap on the B Key.
You have just made the title for the Gettysburg address bold.


Changing the Font Size

Highlight the text you wish to change.
Tap on the Applications Key.
You will hear Jaws say Context Menu.
From there, Down Arrow until you hear Jaws Say Font.
Press Enter.
Tap on the Tab Key until you hear Jaws say Size Colon Edit Combo.
From there you can type the size you want your font to be or Down or Up Arrow until you come to it.
The standard is 12.
For large print, the Americans with Disabilities Act recommends 18.
So down arrow several times until you hear Jaws say 18.
The menu will close and the text will still be highlighted.


Exercise 7 Changing the Size of the Gettysburg Address

This version of the Gettysburg Address is not accessible to a low vision user.
Therefore, we should make the text size large enough for a low vision user to read it.
First, highlight the entire document.
Hold onto Ctrl and press the A key.
JAWS should say Selected and begin reading the entire document.
You can press Ctrl if you want to stop JAWS from speaking.
Tap on the Applications Key.
You will hear Jaws say Context Menu.
From there, Down Arrow until you hear Jaws Say Font.
Press Enter.
Tap on the Tab Key until you hear JAWS say Size column edit combo.
From there you can type the size you want your font to be.
The standard is 12.
For large print, the ADA recommends 18.
So down arrow several times until you hear JAWS say 18.
The menu will close and the text will still be highlighted.
Press the Up Arrow to unhighlight the paragraph.
JAWS should say Blank.
You have just changed the font size of the document.