Last updated on 4 August 2024
Direct click, direct swipes, and direct scroll functions are among the useful features included in the Jieshuo screen reader. In this post, let’s talk about these functions and their uses. Note that all of these functions can be activated from the main menu, using the voice assistant, or via gestures.
Direct Click:
It is enough to double-tap anywhere on the screen to activate a focused item when a screen reader is running. This clicking is done via the screen reader itself and can be referred to as an “accessibility click.” Although this method usually works, there are apps that have an accessibility issue where double-tapping or clicking via the screen reader doesn’t work on certain elements. Additionally, some apps use this method of activation to detect if a screen reader is running, thereby hiding certain options or preventing certain features from being used. An example is the read-aloud feature in Microsoft Office, which, if double-tapped, displays a message that it cannot work while a screen reader is active.
The direct click Jieshuo function helps in these scenarios. A direct click simulates clicking the element by finger, or directly, without using the screen reader’s clicking method. You can focus on the item that you want to click either by placing your finger where the element is on the screen or by using the swiping method. Then, you can use the direct click function, which is assigned to the tapping once with a two-finger gesture.
Direct Swipe and Direct Scroll:
There is a basic rule that implies that swipes a non-screen reader user does with one finger are done with two fingers when using a screen reader. Swipes can be on a specific item to perform certain functionality related to that item, like swiping left on a message in Telegram to reply, or it can be on the screen itself, not on a particular item, which is mainly used to scroll on-screen elements.
Although this is the rule, a screen reader user may face issues when swiping, especially when trying to swipe a specific element. You can read more about this in the relevant section of this article.
To make things easier for users, Jieshuo includes the direct swiping and scrolling functions:
Direct Swipes:
There are four Jieshuo functions to simulate physically swiping focused on-screen elements: direct swipe up, direct swipe down, direct swipe right, and direct swipe left. When activating any of these functions, Jieshuo tries to simulate a finger swipe on the focused element, which, like in direct clicking, can be focused on either by touching the item or by moving to it using the previous and next focusable element functions or gestures.
Direct Scroll:
The direct scrolling functions also cover all four directions: direct scroll up, direct scroll down, direct scroll right, and direct scroll left. The difference between these functions and the previously mentioned direct swipe functions is that here, the target is not a focused item on the screen. Instead, it is a point on the screen, likely in the middle or close to it, simulating a physical finger swipe in one of the four directions. This can be useful for moving between home screen pages, scrolling items so new items appear on the screen, refreshing content in some apps that offer the pull-down option to refresh, or swiping up on the home screen to open the all apps screen, which is supported in many launchers.
It is worth noting that the direct scrolling functions are mainly added for devices still on Android 11. Multi-finger gestures were introduced on Android 11 but weren’t fully functional until Android 12, so Google prevented TalkBack from using them. However, with Jieshuo, it is possible to enable them. When enabled, the two-finger swiping becomes broken. As this is a method that many people use to scroll on-screen elements or move between app pages, the functions were added as an alternative workaround. Note that the mentioned problem doesn’t affect Samsung phones as well as most Pixels.
Conclusion:
Jieshuo’s direct click, direct swipes, and direct scroll functions prove to be very useful in certain situations. The direct click could be considered the most used and needed one, but that doesn’t prevent the others from being good additions that could help perform certain tasks more conveniently.
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