look, mum, no hands!

111Categories: Free & easy tools, Navigating applications

Two Firefox extensions allow Dragon NaturallySpeaking users to navigate web pages in Firefox by voice: Hit-A-Hint (HaH) and Mouseless Browsing (MB).

Both extensions place numbers near clickable elements. HOWEVER, they do so differently [see forum discussion comparing HaH & MB].

Having used both, I can say that Mouseless Browsing is by far the best way to browse with Firefox for three reasons:

1. The numbers appear very quickly


2. The numbers do not obscure page elements


3. You do not have to refresh the numbers to click on a different element on the same page

I would even argue that Firefox + MB is as fast or faster than Internet Explorer for Dragon users.

I've written the following instructions to save others from reinventing the wheel, so to speak.


Setting up Mouseless Browsing 0.4.1 for use with Dragon NaturallySpeaking

• Install Firefox 1.5 if you haven't already done so. Any previous Firefox settings and compatible extensions can be migrated automatically.

• Install Mouseless Browsing 0.4.1.

You can set the options for using this extension under Tools menu > Extensions > Mouseless Browsing > Options.
The only option I changed was to enable "use number pad exclusively for Mouseless Browsing".

I initially had difficulty using Mouseless Browsing with voice commands because it relies on navigating links through the number pad. To my knowledge, there is no native Dragon command for 'press [eg] 8 on the number pad'.

However, it is possible (and expedient) to execute this command if we use a macro to automate the process.

The free Dragon macro tool, Vocola, lets us do just this. I wrote a simple Vocola macro for Mouseless Browsing -- posted below -- so that all I have to do is say "click 81" and link #81 will open.

Please feel free to use this command. Firstly, you'll have to install Natlink/Vocola, say "Edit VoiceCommands" from a Firefox window, and paste the following lines into the editor:

<x> := 0..150;
click <x> = {shift+F6}{F6}{NumLock} $1 {enter} ;
#the first two keystrokes remove the focus from any active text boxes

Say "refresh macros" and you're good to go!

For more Firefox navigation shortcuts, please see Browsing the Web by voice with Mozilla Firefox.