QPointer Keyboard Navigator is a truly fantastic and original piece of software. It is unfortunately rather buggy so I can only hope that as newer versions become available the software will prove more reliable.
QPointer isn't that well known at the moment but I think that it's just a matter of time. The software comes in four flavours that give you complete control over your computer either with your keyboard or your voice. I am concentrating on keyboard-only access as I have not tested the voice control version yet.
QPointer Keyboard Navigator extends Windows' own keyboard control and keyboard shortcuts. It adds to the existing package, making it go far further and far more efficiently.
It really comes into its own for web-surfing. There are a lot of pupils and adults out there who find mouse control difficult or painful or both. Replacing the mouse with an ergonomic solution sometimes helps, or often a rollerball or joystick can do the job. But have you ever personally tried using a joystick to navigate the web? Joysticks have provided fantastic access for dozens of my clients who have no ability to use a regular mouse - but they can still be slow and frustrating to use and positioning alongside a keyboard can be tricky. If your pupil can use a keyboard - perhaps with a keyguard - then I think it's well worth trying QPointer Keyboard Navigator.
QPointer also claims to be IntelliKeys- and BigKeys-friendly so you can see it's been specially designed with us folk in mind!
Here's an example of it in one of its most impressive uses - on the web. Keyboard users are always frustrated by keyboard access to the web (myself one of them). Tabbing around links can take ages, it's hard to see what's highlighted, the tabbing gets 'trapped' by Flash content, and some pages just aren't written in an accessible format at all.
The Manchester United website it pretty typical. It contains lots of links, graphics and so forth and is not very accessible for someone who uses a keyboard to navigate. I have chosen Manchester United because the accessible version of their website ( www.manutd.com/Access) on the other hand is a applaudable example of accessibility.
The Manchester United site has loads of links on the front page that take an age to scan through with the TAB key. Many of the links are graphics rather than text (but they have used ALT tags)
For some reason while tabbing this page my browser took me back to my Address bar (as usual) but then wouldn't let me escape. I had to reach for my mouse...
Once I'd returned focus to the page I wanted to click on 'Mobile' from the menu that runs along the top of the page. I used my TAB key to get there and pressed ENTER when it was highlighted. Nothing. I had to reach for my mouse again...
Surfing the Internet using a keyboard only is a bit of a mug's game. But QPointer fixes this.
QPointer runs silently in the background. The only thing you should notice is a small yellow arrow that appears down near your computer's clock.
To try and select 'Mobile' again I press QPointer's F9 key (I have to hold it down for around half a second. This lets me use F9 for other non-QPointer purposes).
QPointer beeps to tell me that it's been accepted and it labels every link on the webpage with a number or, if runs out of numbers, a letter. Then its a simple matter of pressing that number or letter on the keyboard. So in this case QPointer has tagged the 'Mobile' link with the number 7 so I just press 7 on my keyboard.
It's not just links that QPointer will tag. Pressing and holding any key on the keyboard will tag all the words on the computer screen that begin with that letter, whether you're in Word, Excel, Internet Explorer or even some bespoke piece of software that only you use.
The other Function keys (F1 to F8) tag other things on the screen such as minimise/restore/close buttons, pictures, editable fields, scroll bars and so on. The keyboard can even be used to move the mouse around by pressing a letter that is in roughly the same place on the keyboard as the target is on the screen. You can then use the arrow keys to jump around all the things that you might want to click on in that area.
Once you've learnt the basics of QPointer it is a fantastic piece of software that gives a new and original form of access. My version is unfortunately very buggy and slows my computer down to a really unacceptable level. Hopefully this has been fixed by the time you're reading this.
But the best thing about QPointer Keyboard Edition? It's only £29! You can get a free 30-day trial CD from Keytools so I recommend trying it soon!
Commodio are responsible for making QPointer. Their official website is www.commodio.com.
The following suppliers can provide the QPointer. Appearance on this list does not indicate an endorsement by this site. If you are a supplier and are not on this list then please contact me.
02380 584314 | www.keytools.com
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