What's New in MAGic 10.0

MAGic 10.0 is a Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA) upgrade. Program CDs will begin shipping to SMA holders in July 2006. Current customers with ILM or dongle authorization for MAGic 10.0 can download the full version of MAGic 10.0 and start using it right away.

SMA customers who have not yet made the transition to ILM authorization will be issued a new serial number and sent an authorization disk with your program CD as part of the SMA shipment. If you want to download and begin using MAGic before your SMA shipment arrives, you can call Customer Service at (727) 803-8015 to receive your Authorization number (please have your current serial number ready).

MAGic purchases since March 1, 2006 will be sent a free update to MAGic 10.0 in July. They can also download and begin using MAGic 10.0 immediately.

If you do not have a current SMA and wish to purchase MAGic 10.0, contact Freedom Scientific at (800) 444-4443 or (727) 803-8000.

Features and Enhancements
Download MAGic 10.0
Interview with MAGic Product Manager, Dusty Voorhees
Features in Previous MAGic Versions

Features and Enhancements

Basic Training

In addition to the MAGic User's Guide and the extensive on-line help system, MAGic 10.0 includes over two and a half hours of comprehensive training for all the essential functions of MAGic. You'll learn everything you need to know to get started quickly with MAGic and how to make use of its extensive set of features. This training is in digital talking book (DAISY) format, allowing you to follow along with text and/or narrated audio.

Note: During the installation of MAGic from the 10.0 program CD, you'll be asked if you want to install the MAGic DAISY training materials.

New Speech Engine

MAGic’s new speech engine is more powerful and more responsive than ever before. Some of the features of this updated speech engine include:

• Punctuation control allows you to choose between speaking all punctuation, most punctuation, some punctuation, or none.
• Quicker typing echo.
• Better support for SAPI 4 and SAPI 5 synthesizers.
• Faster detection of SAPI engines.
• Customizable spell rate, separate from the reading rates.
• Typing echo by characters, words, or both characters and words.
• Announcement of uppercase letters, either by increasing the voice pitch or by saying, “Cap” before the letter.
• Ability to indicate capitalization while using document navigation commands by character, word, or line.
• MAGic can now announce when a menu has a submenu and notifies you when you select an unavailable command on a menu.

Individual Voice Settings

In previous MAGic releases, you could set different speech rates for document reading and typing echo, as well as a default rate for everything else. This functionality has been expanded in MAGic 10.0.

Now you can adjust settings for the document reading, message (for informative spoken messages), menu and dialog, keyboard (for typing echo), and mouse (for mouse echo) voices. You can define the speech rate, pitch, speaker, and punctuation level for each of these voices.

To adjust MAGic’s individual voices, open the Speech menu and choose Individual Voice Adjustment. Alternatively, you can use the Global Voice Adjustment command to make speech changes that apply to all voice contexts.

Note: If you want to change your synthesizer or language settings, use either the Global Voice Adjustment or Individual Voice Adjustment dialog box.

Voice Profiles

In previous MAGic releases, there were Primary Language and Secondary Language tabs to adjust settings in the Voices dialog box. While you could use this functionality to have MAGic speak two languages, it was also possible to have two sets of speech settings for the same language, or even use the primary settings for Eloquence and use the secondary settings for another synthesizer.

MAGic 10.0 has expanded that functionality with voice profiles. When using voice profiles, you are no longer limited to just primary and secondary settings. You can save as many voice profiles as you want, with as many languages or synthesizers as you want to use.

To create a voice profile:

You can quickly switch to any of the voice profiles you have created by pressing MAGic Key+F11. A context menu displays, allowing you to choose one of the available profiles.

Alternatively, press MAGic Key+APPLICATION Key to open the MAGic Context Menu, select Voice Profile, and choose the desired profile from the submenu. If focus is in the MAGic user interface, you can right-click the Speech button (or press the APPLICATION Key while the button is selected) and choose the desired voice profile.

MAGic Context Menu

The new MAGic Context Menu provides you with quick access from any program to the most commonly-used magnification and speech options. There are also commands that allow you to save your MAGic settings. To open the MAGic Context Menu, hold down the MAGic Key and press either the right mouse button or the APPLICATION Key.

New Mouse Commands

You can now start reading by placing the mouse pointer at the location where you want to begin reading and then pressing the left mouse button while holding down the MAGic Key to perform the Say All command.

In addition, if your mouse has a scroll wheel between the left and right buttons, you can use it to perform a variety of useful MAGic commands:

• Hold down the MAGic Key while rolling the mouse wheel up to increase the current magnification level.
• Hold down the MAGic Key while rolling the mouse wheel down to decrease the current magnification level.
• Hold down the MAGic Key and click the mouse wheel (or middle mouse button) to switch from the current magnification level to 1x magnification. Perform this command again to switch back to your previous magnification level.

Additional uses of the mouse to carry out MAGic functions can be assigned using the MAGic Keyboard Assignments dialog box (accessed from Keyboard menu).

JAWS and MAGic Handshaking

With the release of MAGic 10.0 and JAWS 7.10, JAWS and MAGic share more common code than ever before. JAWS and MAGic communicate with each other to provide the optimal experience when using magnification together with full screen reading. When using the two products together, JAWS now coordinates MAGic’s visual tracking to follow the text being spoken, even when JAWS is using the virtual cursor.

Users will find more commonality between learning the two products as well. MAGic uses the same key combinations on the num pad portion of the keyboard to carry out speech commands. The two programs share the same key commands for table navigation and reading in Internet Explorer, Adobe Reader, and Word. Special functions created for popular programs also share the same key assignments. This allows for easier transitions when moving from using MAGic’s low vision speech to using the full screen reading capabilities of JAWS.

Application-specific Settings

Your usual magnification and speech settings may not be suited to all programs that you use. For this reason, MAGic allows you to save specific groups of settings that are automatically applied while you use certain programs. These are referred to as application-specific settings.

For example, if you prefer different color or mouse enhancements in a specific application, you could create and save settings that are only active while you are using that application. Whenever you are working with the application, MAGic will change to your desired application settings. When you quit the application or switch to a different program, MAGic will revert back to your default settings. Application-specific settings make it easy to customize MAGic to work well with all of your favorite programs.

Verbosity Schemes

In MAGic 10.0, you can now create and use verbosity schemes. Verbosity schemes give you additional control over which items MAGic announces, as well as how they are announced. You can also define custom text that MAGic speaks when you move to a control or other element. Alternatively, you can assign a sound that you want MAGic to play instead of speaking. You can also choose to combine both speech and sounds, or tell MAGic to ignore certain items entirely.

When you start MAGic for the first time, you are given the option of trying out a new verbosity scheme that uses both speech and sounds to provide information.

Additional Verbosity Choices

MAGic 10.0 includes many new verbosity options, allowing you to control how much information MAGic speaks. To change your verbosity preferences, open the Speech menu and choose Verbosity.

Remote Access via Citrix and Terminal Services

You can now use MAGic in remote access terminal sessions with Citrix MetaFrame and Microsoft Terminal Services. MAGic provides users of client computers with speech and magnification access to the terminal session environment. All you need to do is install MAGic on the server and client computers and purchase remote access authorization for your license.

Note: The Remote Access feature is only available for licenses of MAGic Professional that use Internet License Manager (ILM) for authorization.

New MAGic Commands

MAGic 10.0 contains many new reading commands. From the Keyboard menu, select Keyboard Assignments to browse through the list of actions to see what commands are available.

• Move View to Cursor - SHIFT+MAGic Key+NUM PAD 5
• Route Cursor to Mouse -INSERT+NUM PAD PLUS
• Route Mouse to Cursor - INSERT+NUM PAD MINUS
• Say Current Access Key - SHIFT+NUM PAD 5
• Say Default Button in Dialog Box - INSERT+E
• Say Top Line of Window - INSERT+END
• Read Title Bar - INSERT+T (formerly INSERT+END)
• Say Window Prompt and Text - INSERT+TAB or MAGic Key+TAB
• Set Typing Echo - INSERT+2
• Open MAGic Context Menu - MAGic Key+APPLICATION Key
• Say Current Character - NUM PAD 5
• Say Next Sentence - CTRL+MAGic Key+S
• Say Next Paragraph - CTRL+MAGic Key+P
• Say Prior Paragraph - ALT+MAGic Key+P
• Say Currently Selected Text - MAGic Key+CTRL or INSERT+SHIFT+DOWN ARROW
• Read to Cursor - INSERT+HOME
• Read from Cursor - INSERT+PAGE UP
• Set Screen Echo - INSERT+S
• Set Typing Echo - INSERT+2
• Tether Mouse to Display - CTRL+INSERT+NUM PAD MINUS
• Switch to Previous Magnified View - SHIFT+MAGic Key+NUM PAD SLASH
• Select Verbosity Scheme - ALT+INSERT+S

New Table Reading Commands

These commands move focus to the indicated table cell and speak the contents. You can use these commands in HTML, PDF, and Word tables:

• Say Current Cell - ALT+CTRL+NUM PAD 5
• Say Cell to Right - ALT+CTRL+RIGHT ARROW
• Say Cell to Left - ALT+CTRL+LEFT ARROW
• Say Cell Below - ALT+CTRL+DOWN ARROW
• Say Cell Above - ALT+CTRL+UP ARROW
• Say First Cell - ALT+CTRL+HOME
• Say Last Cell - ALT+CTRL+END
• Say First Cell in Column - ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+UP ARROW
• Say Last Cell in Column - ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+DOWN ARROW
• First Cell in Row - ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+LEFT ARROW
• Last Cell in Row - ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+RIGHT ARROW

New HTML Reading Support

MAGic now has a new reading engine for HTML content. Reading Web pages, HTML e-mail, and help files is now easier, as you can use the same navigation and reading commands as with other documents. You can use the arrow keys to move through the content and read by words or lines. You can also use the Say All command to read Web pages from start to finish or from a specific position you select, and the page will read in the correct order (as specified by the page author).

With MAGic, you can easily mix keyboard and mouse commands while reading Web pages. Filling out Web forms is just as easy, whether you are navigating using the keyboard or clicking form fields with the mouse. MAGic will let you switch easily between navigating the Web page contents and interacting with the form controls.

When using the mouse, clicking on a form control, such as an edit box or list, switches MAGic to Forms mode. To exit Forms mode, click anywhere on the page other than the form controls.

When using the keyboard, move to a form control and press the ENTER key to switch to Forms mode. To exit Forms mode, press NUM PAD PLUS.

Tip: Forms mode is automatically turned off when you activate the button that submits the form.

After you switch to Forms mode, you can then use the arrow keys to navigate within the list or edit field. In the case of edit fields, you can also use navigation and selection keystrokes as usual. You cannot navigate outside the form controls with the arrow keys until you exit forms mode by clicking outside the field or pressing NUM PAD PLUS.

Additional Information List Features for HTML

In Internet Explorer, you can now press INSERT+F5 to display a list of all form fields on a Web page. You can use this feature to find specific form fields or to review the form you have filled out. Each field is listed along with the current state or the information it contains. To move to any of the fields, select it in the list and then press ENTER.

In addition, you can now press either INSERT+F7 or MAGic Key+F7 to display a list of all hyperlinks on the page.

Enhanced Microsoft Word Support

MAGic 10.0 includes many new features for use in Microsoft Word. There are many new keystrokes that you can use to navigate documents and gather information. In addition, a number of new options that allow you to control how much document information MAGic speaks have been added to the Adjust MAGic Options (MAGic Key+O) dialog box. Incorporate ease of use into your corporate or individual documents by using bookmarks to automate MAGic's recognition and announcement of table column and row titles.

Enhanced Microsoft Excel Support

Support for Microsoft Excel has been greatly enhanced in this version of MAGic. There are many new keystrokes that you can use to define row and column titles, gather information, and other tasks. You'll find a wide array of tools you can use to make your spreadsheets more accessible and easier to navigate. You can access most of these features by pressing MAGic Key+O. In addition, you can incorporate ease of use into your corporate or individual documents by using Excel's name feature to automate MAGic's recognition and announcement of table column and row titles.

Assign a Hot Key to Start MAGic

During installation, you can choose whether to assign a hot key to the MAGic desktop shortcut. This lets you decide which keystroke you want to use to start MAGic 10 so that it does not conflict with the hot key for starting other programs. If you answer Yes when asked if you want to assign a hot key to start MAGic, the default hot key will be ALT+CTRL+M. If you want to use a different assignment, press the key combination you want to use followed by ENTER. If you answer No, a hot key will not be assigned.

Download MAGic 10.0

You must have the Internet License Manager (ILM) or dongle required version of MAGic 9.x to update to version 10.0.

MAGic 10.00.885.1 ILM release (64 MB)
Free DEMO of MAGic 10.00.867 (59 MB)
MAGic 10.00.885.0 dongle required release (62 MB)

Note: MAGic can be run from a USB thumb drive with all your settings being stored on the thumb drive. This allows you to take your settings with you as you use MAGic on various computers in different locations. Select MAGic thumb drive downloads for more information.

Interview with MAGic Product Manager, Dusty Voorhees

You can download and listen to an interview with Dusty Voorhees, product manager for MAGic. Dusty will discuss the exciting new features available in MAGic 10.0. The interview is available in DAISY and MP3 format. If you download the DAISY version, you'll need a DAISY reader (such as FSReader or FSReader Demo) to listen to the interview.

"What's New" interview with Dusty Voorhees (MP3 version)
"What's New" interview with Dusty Voorhees (DAISY version)

Features in Previous MAGic Versions

Features in previous MAGic 9.x versions