keystrokes
keystroke commands
What are
Keystrokes?
Each press of a key is called a keystroke. There are three ways you can press a key.
- You can tap it once,
- You can tap it twice quickly
- Or you can hold it down.
You will be reminded of these steps in other lessons, as you go on; but, if you can get this concept learned, it will make learning the lessons run more smoothly.
What is a command?
A command is where you will press a certain number of keystrokes in a certain way, to cause the computer to perform a specific task.
For example: If you type the letter A, the computer responds by placing a letter A up on your computer screen. JAWS then can read this to you by pressing another keystroke command of left arrow. This is a simple example; but, it should help you understand the terminology used in these lessons.
Some commands require you to press more than one keystroke at the same time. For Example: If you intend to close the window or program that you have in focus, you will use the "alt F4" command.. This is a command that you will be using quite often. To activate this command, you will hold down the alt key and tap the F4 key to close the window or program.
If you are asked to press a command that has two or more keys, the rule of thumb is to hold down all the keys accept the last one given in the command. The last key is tapped once and then you can let up on all the keys. Some commands take a while before you will hear JAWS respond to it; but, do not press it again or you could repeat the same action to a different screen. If you have pressed the command and it doesn't seem to work, then really think about what keys you pressed. If you absolutely know that they were the correct keys, then you can try it again. Otherwise, wait a minute; then arrow around to see if it took you to the place you wanted to go. Sometimes, JAWS gets confused and forgets to tell you that it completed a command.
In the following lessons, we will use the term command for keystrokes most often.
Are you ready to begin? If you are, then press enter on the next link to begin lesson one. Remember to take your time and continue to record good notes. Parts to your computer
End of page