Re: [orca-list] Need guidance on imported XLS

[Janina Sajka <janina rednote net>]

Thanks, Joanie, for taking the time to understand this document and
provide such thorough guidance. You're the best.

Janina

Joanmarie Diggs writes:
> Hi Janina
>
> > 1.) Is there anything in the design of this xls that doesn't import
> > well into OpenOffice? If so, I may be able to get a change in the
> > source document.
>
> It imported fine for me. 
>
> > 2.) Should I expect Orca will auto announce row and column headers
> > plus cell contents as I tab and shift-tab through this document? 
>
> It should once you set them.  To tell Orca that the current row has your
> headers, press Insert R.  Similarly, Insert C tells Orca that the
> current column has headers.  If you want to clear either of these, you
> press the command twice quickly.
>
> I did notice something, however.  The fact that this spreadsheet has the
> first row frozen seems to cause Insert R to fail to make it the location
> of the column headers.  I'll investigate that further and file a bug if
> that is indeed the case.  In the meantime, here's what you can do:  Go
> to the Window menu, arrow to freeze, and press Enter on it.  Freeze is a
> toggle and Orca is not indicating it's state when it is checked.  Bug
> number 2 which I'll file shortly.  For now, the Problems and Needs sheet
> is Frozen as is the Needs sheet.  The Problems sheet is not.
>
> > What
> > would be the short list of user commands I should try in order to access
> > read and write operations in this ss. 
>
> Beyond setting the headers:  By default, when you navigate in a
> spreadsheet, Orca speaks the entire rows contents. If you want it to
> just speak the current cell as you arrow up and down, you can press Orca
> Modifier F11.
>
> Looking at the Problems sheet I get the distinct feeling that a sighted
> person created it. <grin>  Each cell in column B is huge and contains
> line after line after line of text.  It's very attractive though. <grin>
> Anyhoo, what this means is that moving to the cell will cause Orca to
> read all of those lines as a single object.  If your goal is to casually
> read what's there, that shouldn't be a problem.  If your goal is to
> examine what's there, you might consider getting into editing mode for
> the cell in question.  To do so, press F2.  That's a Calc command by the
> way. When you're in editing mode, the cell functions like a entry and
> you can arrow around in it.  To get out of editing mode, press Escape.
>
> > If this question sounds like I'm
> > inexperienced with spread sheets--I will readily confess this is the
> > case.
>
> Then just in case:  
>
> * To navigate among worksheets in the workbook, press Control Page Up
> and Control Page Down.  
>
> * If you arrow to a cell and start typing, what you type will get added
> into that cell.  When you're finished writing, you can use the arrow
> keys to move to the cell you want to look at next.  Also, Tab will move
> you to the next cell on the right; Enter will move you to the next cell
> down.  If you got into this writing situation by accident (i.e. by
> bumping a key), press Escape.  That will restore the cell's contents to
> whatever they were before you bumped it. <smile>
>
> * In light of the above bit about arrowing moving you to the next cell
> even when you are writing:  What you might prefer to do when writing in
> a cell is to press F2 to get into editing mode.  Then, as I mentioned
> above, the cell functions like an entry.  Enter will still get you out
> of editing mode, however.  So if you need to force a line break within a
> cell, use Control Enter.
>
>
> > 3.) System performance seems somewhat sluggish in this document on
> > my 1.03GhZ laptop with 1Gb RAM and its 5400 rpm IDE drive. Does that
> > sound right? Am I underpowered for this kind of work?
>
> I don't think you're underpowered.  I noticed some sluggishness as well
> (2.2 GHz, 2GB RAM) but only when I had Orca set to speak the entire row.
> When speak cell was enabled the performance was good.  
>
> Hope this helps!  If you have more questions, let me know.
> Joanie
>
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Janina Sajka,   Phone:  +1.202.595.7777;        sip:janina a11y org
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