General Information
This page is laid out for easy navigation via JAWS:
- Use h to jump from section to section.
- Use Tab to move among links for
different script versions. JAWSKey+F7 should also provide
a list of these links.
Revision 116a
These are JAWS scripts for the Windows version of Zello.
Documentation of script usage and features can be viewed by typing
Insert+F1 twice in quick succession from within Zello
while these scripts are running.
This script version is dynamic, meaning that updates to it will be made
"in place." Newer revisions will replace older ones, and I will add
change notes to this section as changes are made.
Here are the changes in release 1.16a, most recent first.
In JAWS, use the h or 3 keys to move through
changes by release date, or Tab to jump straight to the
download links.
Revision 135, released September 26, 2018
This revision supports Zello 1.86 and JAWS 2019 public beta, requires JAWS 14 or later, and includes numerous code upgrades and some bug fixes. Details:
- The oldest supported JAWS version is now 14.0 instead of 12.0. This permits use of newer script language features.
Accordingly, much code is updated to use newer techniques and functions.
- The jsm files are updated, which will be important to any script translators.
- The scripts and installer support JAWS versions up through the public beta of JAWS 2019 as of this writing (September, 2018).
- When focus is lost on the close of a window, the scripts restore it if possible to the visible list control in the foreground window.
This happens, for example, when Esc is used to close a profile, online user list, etc., and return to a main-screen list such as Contacts.
- When a new dialog appears, such as a profile, the scripts properly set focus to it so focus is not lost.
- Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab work properly instead of missing all but the first two tabs, and JAWS announces the tab name correctly on a tab switch.
- Searching for the first user (non channel) in the Contacts list will no longer stop on a channel whose password is incorrect.
- Drives D and E along with C are tried when the installer needs to find JAWS but is not allowed to read the registry. This is a rare issue and is not often if ever found outside of corporate settings.
Revision 117, released October 14, 2017
This update comes after a long silence (since March, 2013), during which there were a few updates to Zello itself and the release of several major
upgrades to JAWS. I stopped working on these Zello scripts in 2013 first because of the number of serious Zello bugs I encountered starting
in 2012 and the fact that new releases of Zello were introducing new bugs; and then because I detected very little community interest in Zello scripts.
Zello's popularity increased suddenly in 2017 as Zello became a popular application for helping with Texas hurricane relief efforts, but I
still detected no interest in Zello scripts in the blind community until October.
Warning: I still regard Windows Zello as buggy, based on brief tests I ran in August, 2017. However, I provide this script
update in case it is useful.
For examples of bugs I initially saw in 2012, some of which I believe still exist, visit
my PC Zello 1.17 Bug List page.
Included updates in this script revision:
- The oldest JAWS version supported is now JAWS 12.0.
- The scripts are now intended to support Zello 1.77.
- The installer is now Nullsoft instead of Inno Setup.
- JAWS 2018 is supported by the installer.
Revision 102, released March 29, 2013
This is an update to support Zello 1.30. Features and notes:
- Contact and participant lists are recognized in Zello 1.30 as they
were in 1.22 and earlier. This makes Ctrl+arrows and other things work
as expected in Zello 1.30.
- Zello 1.30 does not allow the Tab and
Shift+Tab keys to reach the contact list. With the scripts
running, a workaround is to Alt+Tab out of and then back
into Zello. The scripts will place focus on the contact list when you
return to Zello in this way.
Revision 101, released November 29, 2012
This release contains a few documentation updates for Zello 1.22.
Also, channels with an invalid password count in searches as disconnected
channels. This means you can use Ctrl with arrows to find
channels whose passwords need updating.
Revision 93, released July 29, 2012
This is another fairly major update and addresses some issues in Zello
1.18 and 1.19.
Enhancements and fixes:
- The Applications key now opens context menus in Contacts,
Recents, and a channel participant list, all of which stopped working
natively in Zello 1.18 and 1.19.
- JAWS better announces contact list items. New items announced
include
- Contact status for non-channel list entries, based on the actual
status icon. The posted status message is of course still announced as
well when it is different from the icon.
- Full-length status messages regardless of whether they are cut
short on screen.
- Clearer indication of new messages, still including the message
count.
- The word "channel" for channel list entries.
Similar improvements are included for the participant lists for
channels.
- Invisible tab controls no longer cause tab page announcement on
Insert+t. This fixes, for example, the inclusion of "page
is Contacts" in sign-in screens.
- Unlabeled graphic icons no longer cause speech.
- Focus no longer stays on invisible windows but moves to visible ones
when possible. This causes 'Forgot your password?' to get focus during
auto signin and prevents focus loss on signin errors and other situations.
- Space is no longer announced in outgoing text alert edit boxes when JAWS
is in a typing echo mode other than Characters.
- Insert+PgDn works more often to read the Zello status
line.
- More sign-in-time messages speak, though the actual "Signing
in..." message still doesn't.
Revision 77, released June 23, 2012
This is a fairly major update and the first script version that
includes features specifically aimed at Zello 1.17. These scripts
still work with Zello 1.16 as well.
New features and fixes:
- When focus switches from another application into Zello, JAWS will
land in a list control if one is available instead of always moving to
the "Push to talk" button. This facilitates movement among users and
channels.
- Tab and Shift+Tab work in the dialog that
pops up when a call alert comes in.
- When you send a call alert to a contact, JAWS will announce when
it successfully sends. If it is an invalid request, such as when you
try sending to an offline contact, JAWS will announce this also.
Note that there remain some types of failures that JAWS may not
announce however..
- Typing letters in a list, such as Contacts, will do an incremental
search and land on the next list entry beginning with what has been
typed. You can, for example, quickly type "ec" to find the Echo user
(if that user is in your contacts).
- The search always starts at the first list entry though, not the
current entry. This may be fixed in a future release, but it is caused
by a peculiarity of Zello itself.
- Incoming authorization requests immediately speak on arrival,
including the name of the user making the request.
- When people join or leave a channel while you are focused on the
channel's entry in the Contacts list, JAWS will say how many people
joined or left instead of repeating the channel's list entry.
- If you leave focus in the list of participants in a channel, JAWS
will announce the names of people joining or leaving.
- Ctrl+Shift+P, the script command for playing the next
unread message, works in the Recents tab as well as in the Contacts
tab.
It also works in history lists and moves to a message as it starts
playing.
- Ctrl+Shift+E failed to function properly for some users
due to the appearance of a "Resize" icon for the Zello window too
close to the status line. This should now be fixed.
Revision 51, released June 11, 2012
Heads Up: Ctrl+Shift+A, the keystroke that
announced the number of pending authorization requests, is now
Ctrl+Shift+E. This change conforms to Zello's actual
intentions: The count is really the number of pending events of any
kind. Currently the only type of event supported in Windows Zello is
authorization requests, but the script author expects text alerts
eventually to be included there.
This update includes the following enhancements:
- The manual includes much more information on how to use Zello with
the scripts.
- The scripts cause F7, the default Zello transmit key,
not to speak its name repeatedly when typed from within Zello or even
from within any other application.
- Ctrl+Shift+A is now Ctrl+Shift+E as
explained above.
- There is a system for searching your contact list for various
types of entries: Use Ctrl+Left/Right to switch among types
of searches and Ctrl+Up/Down to search using the current
search type. This system allows you quickly to locate channels and
users with unread messages, channels that have been disconnected, the
user or channel currently in solo mode if any, and the first user in
your contact list, below all the channels.
The manual describes this system in more detail.
- Ctrl+Shift+P from the contact list starts playing
missed messages from the selected channel or user. Pressing
Ctrl+Shift+P while a message is playing stops that one and
starts the next one, which facilitates rapid skimming of new messages.
- Ctrl+Shift+W launches the Zello script home page in
your default browser, which can be handy for checking for script
updates. This command also sends information about your running JAWS
version, Zello version, script revision, etc., to the web site so the
script author can better know what configurations to support with the
scripts.
This script update also includes a few experimental features, disabled
by default but accessible via special hotkeys. These are described in
the manual. The experimental features currently included allow you to
hear user and channel names when people talk, hear which channel you
are sending to before you start speaking, and use certain wireless
headsets to start/stop transmission or review unplayed messages
without having to use the keyboard.
A link to the manual appears near the top of this page.
Revision 25, released May 29, 2012
Several features added:
- Much more complete help accessible via a double press of
JAWSKey+F1, including a whole section on basic PC Zello
usage.
- Ctrl+Shift+S reads the user's current status, and a double
press allows the user to update it.
- Ctrl+Shifft+A does the same for any pending authorization
requests.
- Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab switch among tabs
in the main window, and JAWSKey+T (the SayWindowTitle
command) includes the active page name.
- Improved announcement of prompt information in the initial account
creation screen.
- More buttons say "button" instead of saying no control type. The
sign-in screen contains examples.
- An intuitive process for changing Zello hotkeys: Press
Space to start or cancel the changing of a hotkey.
(Normally this would have required mouse clicks.)
- Silencing of extra announcements of "ListView" during arrowing
through list controls like the Contact list.
Revision 4, released May 25, 2012
Initial release version with the following features:
- Silencing of F7, the default push-to-talk key.
- Better naming and spoken information for many controls in the
Options pages.
- An indication of which Options page is currently active (just that
page's button says "Pressed" when focused).
Download: Revision 116a executable installer (can also open with 7Zip)