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Basic Navigation with the Dolphin Cursor
Introduction
Below you will be introduced to the concept of a virtual cursor and the basic keyboard commands you can use to navigate a webpage.
Reading time: 5 minutes.
The Dolphin Cursor
A virtual cursor is a special kind of cursor created by screen readers to enable you to explore parts of the screen an application’s cursor cannot go. The SuperNova and Dolphin ScreenReader virtual cursor is called the Dolphin Cursor.
A popular place where the Dolphin Cursor is used is in the reading of webpages. This is because web browsers do not contain an application cursor that enables you to read through the webpage character-by-character, or word-by-word, or line-by-line.
The position of the Dolphin Cursor on the webpage is highlighted by SuperNova and Dolphin ScreenReader. You can change the style of the highlight or turn the highlight off through the Visual Highlighting options in the SuperNova and Dolphin ScreenReader Control Panel.
Basic keystrokes
The basic keystrokes you use to move the Dolphin Cursor through a webpage are the same popular keyboard commands you might use in your word processor or other apps.
| Command | Press |
|---|---|
| Move by character | LEFT ARROW and RIGHT ARROW |
| Move by word | LEFT CONTROL + LEFT ARROW and LEFT CONTROL + RIGHT ARROW |
| Move by line | UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW |
| Move to start of line | HOME |
| Move to end of line | END |
| Move to top of webpage | LEFT CONTROL + HOME |
| Move to bottom of webpage | LEFT CONTROL + END |
| Move by object | TAB and SHIFT + TAB |
Activating links
Besides enabling you to navigate through a webpage using keyboard commands, the Dolphin Cursor also includes keyboard commands that enable you to jump to, search for, and interact with elements on a webpage.
The commands to perform these tasks are discussed in upcoming sections, but for now, the most important Dolphin Cursor command you will require is the command to activate a link.
To activate a link on a webpage:
- Move the Dolphin Cursor to the link. If you are using a Low Verbosity Scheme or higher, speech and braille will announce "link".
- Press ENTER. The Dolphin Cursor will activate the link and the new webpage will load.
Turning off the Dolphin Cursor
Although the Dolphin Cursor is unintrusive, if you use magnification to read webpage content and the mouse pointer to interact with elements on a webpage, then you may want to turn off the Dolphin Cursor.
You can turn off the Dolphin Cursor by pressing LEFT CONTROL + 4. Alternatively, deselect the "Use Dolphin Cursor automatically" check box in the "Speech Advanced Options" dialog box of the SuperNova and Dolphin ScreenReader Control Panel.
Summary
In this section you discovered what the role of the Dolphin cursor is, how you can modify its appearance, and the basic keystrokes you can use to move the Dolphin Cursor through a webpage.
You also learnt how to activate a link and, if the Dolphin Cursor is not a feature you require, how to turn it off.
Quiz
- The Dolphin Cursor is a special type of cursor created by SuperNova and Dolphin ScreenReader. Is this statement true?
- You can use the DOWN ARROW key to move the Dolphin Cursor line-by-line through a webpage. Is this statement true?
- You cannot change the highlighting used to indicate the position of the Dolphin cursor on the webpage. Is this statement true?
End of section
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But before you move on, here are the answers to the quiz questions:
- True.
- True.
- False.
