Composing an Email Message

Gmail gives users the option to compose an email of their own as a link.
Therefore, to activate that link, users should use the Links List.
From the Inbox, hold onto the Insert key and press F7.
Press the R key until JAWS says Compose.
Press Enter.

Users are taken to a webpage where they can compose a message of their own.
JAWS will say To colon Edit.
This means that first area users are taken to is a section to type the email address where the message is going.

Email addresses are in two parts.
The first is before the @ symbol.
The second is after the @ symbol.l
The part before the @ symbol is the user’s username.
As with the username users create when establishing an email account, this part is unique to the individual user.
The part after the @ symbol is the name of the email service provider.
This could be gmail, yahoo, hotmail or a number of others.
They will end similarly to web address with a .com, .gov, .edu etc.

So for example, an email address could look like this:
smithja@gmail.com.

After users have typed the address they what their email to go to, they need to type their message.
In order for users to type a message, they need to go the appropriate field.
To get there, they should tap on the Tab key 7 Times until they hear JAWS say Message Body Edit.

Before users arrive at the appropriate field they hear a number of other options.

The first is the CC Field.
JAWS will say CC Colon Edit.
This stands for Carbon Copy
This allows users to send their email to others.

The second form field is the BCC Field.
JAWS will say BCC Colon Edit.
This stand for Blind Carbon Copy.
It allows users to send their email to others.
However, the difference between blind carbon copy and carbon copy is that blind carbon copy will prevent the original recipient from knowing the message was copied.

The next section users come to as they are tabbing down to the message body is the Subject Field.
Users want to stop here and type a subject for their email.
It could be a title of their message or simply HI.

The next two sections deal with attachments.
This may be advanced for new email users.
However, they are methods for sending computer files with emails.

Once users tap on the Tap key one more time, they will hear JAWS say Message Body edit.

This indicates that they have arrived at the appropriate section to type their message.

To send the message after it is typed.
Tap on the Tab key once.
JAWS will say Out of Table, Send Button.
To activate the send button, press the Space Bar or Enter.
The message should have been sent.


Composing an Email Message by Chris Corrigan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at atthdc.blogspot.com.