Gary
Cramblitt

# For Users with Disabilities

This section of the documentation discusses accessibility features in &kspread; for users with disabilities. Some of these features apply to &kde; as a whole and are controlled from &kcontrolcenter;. Some apply to all &koffice; applications, and some are specific to &kspread;.

## Installing the `kdeaccessibility` Module

Most of the features described in this chapter are enabled by installing the `kdeaccessibility` module. The `kdeaccessibility` module is part of the &kde; project http://www.kde.org. The `kdeaccessibility` package can be obtained from &kde-ftp;, the main ftp site of the &kde; project.

Many distributions offer precompiled binaries on their ftp sites. Please check your distribution's web sites for more information.

More information about &kde; accessibility can be obtained by visiting http://accessibility.kde.org/.

## Visual Impairments

&kspread; is not usable by totally blind users. It is hoped that a general screen reader for the blind will be available in future versions of &kde;.

### Theming

For low-sighted or light allergic users, several features are available in the &kcontrolcenter; Appearance & Themes Theme Manager, like high contrast color themes. If you are light allergic, the HighContrastDark or HighContrastLight themes may be helpful. If you have difficulty reading small fonts or seeing small icons, the HighContrastDark-big or HighContrastLight-big themes will increase the size of text, buttons, and icons. You may also customize background, colors, fonts, and icons from the same dialog. A set of monochrome icons is available.

If you choose one of the Big themes, you may discover that some windows are too large to fit your monitor. Purchasing a larger monitor will be helpful. You can drag the portions of the window not visible into the visible area by holding down the &Alt; key and dragging with the &LMB; anywhere within the screen. If you have trouble operating a mouse, you can also move screens by pressing &Alt;F3. In the dropdown Windows Operations Menu, choose Move. Move the screen with the arrow keys and press &Esc; to finish the move.

### &kmagnifier;

The `kdeaccessibility` module includes a screen magnifier application called &kmagnifier;. If it is installed, you can run it from K-Button Utilities KMag (Screen Magnifier).

### Text-to-Speech

The `kdeaccessibility` module includes a Text-to-Speech component called KTTS. If KTTS is installed, you can configure &kspread; to speak the text that is under the mouse pointer or speak the text of each screen widget as it receives focus. Before using this feature, first configure KTTS. See The KTTS Handbook for details. To turn on the TTS feature in &kspread;, select Settings Configure &kspread;... from the menubar. This will display a dialog box. Clicking on TTS will allow you to change the following.

Speak widget under mouse pointer

  When checked, &kspread; will speak the text of each widget as the mouse pointer moves over the widget.

Speak widget with focus

  When checked, &kspread; will speak the text of each widget as it receives focus.

Speak tool tips

  When checked, &kspread; will speak the popup tool tip for each widget in addition to the text of the widget.

Speak Whats This

  When checked, &kspread; will speak the Whats This help for each widget in addition to the text of the widget.

Say whether disabled

  When checked, &kspread; will speak the word "disabled" if the widget is currently disabled (grayed).

Speak accelerators

  When checked, &kspread; will speak the accelerator of the widget in addition to the text of the widget. Accelerators are the underlined letters you see in the text of the widget. For example, in the main menu, the Quit menu item has the "Q" underlined. You can choose it by pressing Q. To speak the accelerator, check this option and enter the word you want to speak before the accelerator in the Prefaced by the word box. In this example shown above, &kspread; will speak "Accelerator Q".

Polling interval

  This option determines how often &kspread; will check for a change in the widget under the mouse pointer or a new focused widget. You should leave this option on the default setting.

If the TTS option does not appear on this screen, you do not have the KTTS component installed in your system.

Not all widgets are spoken. For example, the items on the main menubar are not spoken.

## Motor Impairments and Mouseless Operation

### KMouseTool

If you can operate a mouse, but have trouble clicking, the KMouseTool application may help. Run it from K-Button Utilities KMouseTool (Automatik Mouse Click).

### XAccess Features

The &kcontrolcenter; offers several keyboard features collectively called XAccess. They include:

Sticky Keys

  This feature permits operation of meta keys, such as &Alt;, &Ctrl;, and &Shift; without having to hold the keys down. It is useful when you can only use one finger or one hand to operate the keyboard. With Sticky Keys on, press and release a &Alt;, &Ctrl;, or &Shift; key, then press another key. The result is as if you pressed both keys at once. Press the &Alt;, &Ctrl;, or &Shift; key again to turn off the sticky key. Activate this feature in K-Button&kcontrolcenter; Regional & AccessibilityAccessibility Modifier Keys.

Slow Keys

  This feature is useful if you have hand tremors or difficulty accurately pressing keys. It prevents inadvertent key presses by requiring that a key be held down for a minimum time before it is accepted. Activate this feature in K-Button&kcontrolcenter; Regional & AccessibilityAccessibility Keyboard Filters.

Bounce Keys

  This feature is also useful if you have hand tremors. It prevents inadvertent repeated key presses by preventing another keystroke for a certain amount of time. Activate this feature in K-Button&kcontrolcenter; Regional & AccessibilityAccessibility Keyboard Filters.

### Mouse Emulation

Mouse Emulation permits you to move and click the mouse using the keyboard. Press &Alt;F12 to activate it. Use the arrow keys to move the mouse pointer to the desired location, and press spacebar to "click" the mouse. Unfortunately, you cannot use Mouse Emulation to perform &RMB; clicks or dragging.

### Mouse Navigation

This feature permits you to emulate the mouse using the numeric keypad of your keyboard. To activate it, go to K-Button&kcontrolcenter; PeripheralsMouse Mouse Navigation. Check the Move pointer with keyboard (using the num pad) box. When you do this, the other settings will become enabled, and you can customize the keyboard pointer behavior further, if required. The various keys on the number pad move in the direction you would expect. Note that you can move diagonally as well as up, down, left and right. The 5 key emulates a click to a pointer button, typically &LMB;. You change which button is emulated by using the / key (which makes it &LMB;), * key (which makes it middle mouse button) and - (which makes it &RMB;). Using the + emulates a doubleclick to the selected pointer button. You can use the 0 key to emulate holding down the selected pointer button (for easy dragging), and then use the . to emulate releasing the selected pointer button.

### Keyboard shortcuts

Use the Menu key to pop up the context menu. On most keyboards, the Menu key is on the righthand side of the keyboard between the &Windows; and &Ctrl; keys. It has a menu icon on it.

### Resizing panels

If you have activated two or more views of a spreadsheet, you can move the sizing bar between the views by pressing F8. A sizing icon appears overtop the sizing bar. Use the arrow keys to move the bar up or down, or left or right. Press F8 again or &Esc; when finished sizing.

### Setting focus to widgets

Normally, one can use the &Tab; and &Shift;&Tab; to move focus from one widget to the next in any application. However, in &kspread;, pressing &Tab; does not move the focus; instead it moves the cell selection forwards. You can set focus to any widget that can receive focus by pressing &Alt;F8. A small lettered box appears overtop each widget on the screen that can receive focus.

Press the letter to move focus to the corresponding widget. Press &Alt;F8 again or &Esc; to abandon moving the focus.