Using and accessing MATE/Get help using MATE

Introducing and launching MATE help

This course does not aim to be exhaustive in terms of desktop usage, nor does it cover the various applications supplied with MATE. It is intended as an accessible guide for visually impaired users wishing to learn the basics of desktop navigation and configuration.

MATE's help, on the other hand, is exhaustive in terms of desktop functionality. However, its content and instructions are not necessarily accessible. It lists all keyboard shortcuts, but you may have sometimes to translate the explanations into menu commands and keyboard shortcuts.

In formal terms, it resembles a reference book. However, as Help is a computerized document, it offers more possibilities than a standard book. In MATE Help, consulting a given topic is a two-step process. The first step is to find the subject you're looking for, and the second step is to read the information on the subject.

In the next lessons, we'll look at the specifics of navigating this book on the computer. By the end of this module, you should be able to access a wealth of information about MATE and your screen reader's default settings.

In this lesson, you'll learn how to open MATE Help and the MATE Help application window.

Open MATE help

We will now take you through a first exercise, which involves launching MATE Help from the main menu. First of all, make sure you're on the MATE desktop. If any windows are open, close them by pressing the Alt+F4 shortcut. To open the main menu, press Alt+F1.

The main menu should now be open. Select the System menu with the Left arrow and scroll down with the Down arrow.

Now select the Help menu using the Up and Down arrows navigation keys. Press enter to open it.

When it opens, the MATE help window may not be displayed in full-screen mode. If this is the case, you can maximize it. To do this, open the System menu using the keyboard Alt+Space-bar shortcut. Select the Maximize command using the Down arrow. If this command does not appear in the menu, this means that the application window is already in full screen mode. In this case, just press Escape to close the System menu.

The MATE Help window items

The MATE Help window should now be open. It is simpler and more streamlined than the MATE windows you have seen so far. Refer to page 10 of the Touch Guide, or plug in the Touch Module if you are blind.

MATE Help

At the top and bottom of the page are the Previous and Next buttons. These buttons allow you to turn the pages of the digital book.

At the top of the window, you will find the path to the page you are currently reading. By default, you are taken to the MATE Desktop User Guide top page. But if you are reading a sub-heading, the top bar will show you the full path to the page. You can move around each level by using the tab key. To return to a higher hierarchical level, simply press the Previous link.

The title bar is followed by a toolbar, also accessed by using the Tab key. It has three functions: the Bookmarks menu, the Search menu and a general menu.

Finally, on the rest of the page, you will find your book's table of contents. You can scroll through it using the Tab key.

You have now completed Lesson 1. The next lessons will introduce you to the two ways of consulting Help, its accessibility features and Help for MATE desktop applications.

Browsing MATE help

In this lesson, you will learn how to leaf through the Help book, and take advantage of the electronic version of Help.

Leaf through MATE help

The first way of browsing MATE Help is to go through its sections as if you were reading a book. To do this, use the tab key, which brings your cursor to the navigation buttons and the first topic in the table of contents. Once your cursor has reached this area, you can use the arrow keys to scroll through the page.

To practice, let's explore MATE's keyboard shortcuts. Make sure the Help window is open. If necessary, repeat the exercise from Lesson 1 to open the Help window.

Now press Tab to access the help topics. Then press the Down arrow to select the Basic Skills topic. Press Enter to open it.

The introduction to the topic should be displayed on the screen. To read it through, press Tab and scroll down the text using the Down arrow.

The main area of the screen now displays a summary of the topics related to the subject you have just opened. Scroll down using the down arrow and open a topic by pressing the Enter key. In this exercise, activate the Keyboard Skills link.

Note that before activating a topic, we recommend that you read the entire table of contents. This will enable you to visualize the organization and sequence of the topic's help pages. It will also help you understand which page the Previous and Next links refer to. These links are both located at the beginning and at the end of the page. Note that Previous does not take you back to the previously visited page, but is equivalent to turning back the page in the book. This is why it can be useful to know the order of the headings so as not to be confused by the result of the Previous command.

Take advantage of the electronic version of MATE help

In the next exercise, you will learn how to go back while navigating.

Make sure that the Keyboard Skills page is displayed on your screen. If not, you will have to repeat the previous exercise.

When you browse the article on the MATE Keyboard Skills, in addition to the sub-headings at the end of the page, you will find a couple of links to the Keyboard Shortcut Preferences. Note that these references are presented in the form of links. To access the related topics, press the Enter key when your cursor is on a link.

Your cursor should now be on the MATE Keyboard Shortcuts Preferences overview page. Press tab to start reading. To return to the page you were reading, i.e. the presentation of keyboard shortcuts, you can use the alt-left-arrow shortcut.

The next exercise will give you a quick way to return to the home page wherever you are. Make sure you're on the MATE keyboard shortcuts introduction page.

The electronic version of MATE Help allows you to take full advantage of this document structure. Topics are organized hierarchically, with chapters, sections and subsections. Each page fits into this organization by reporting to a sub-section, section or chapter. MATE Help lets you know where in the book the article is located by means of a bar at the top of the page. Remember that the Previous and Next buttons, allow you to scroll only sequentially through the pages of the book. Position your cursor at the top of the screen using the up arrow.

Once on the Previous button, press tab. You'll notice that you're back to the general table of contents, the heading and the section leading up to this article. To return to the book summary in a single operation, select the link entitled Desktop User's Guide. Then press Enter. This exercise has shown you a quick way to return to the table of contents when you have gone deep into the subject hierarchy.

Finding a point of help

Rather than browsing the Help like a book, MATE lets you search its contents for information using keywords. Here's how to do it.

For the next exercise, make sure your cursor is on the MATE Help home page.

To open the search box you can type Ctrl+Tab to move into the top bar, then Tab twice to reach the Search button and Enter to activate it.

In the input box that appears, you can enter your search keywords. For this exercise, type the word Accessibility. Then press Enter.

To read the results, press the Tab key. When your cursor is on the page, use the Tab key to scroll through the headings containing the word Accessibility. To read the details of a heading, press the Enter key. In this exercise, choose the item Assistive Technologies Preferences.

When you've finished reading the article, you can return to the results list using the Alt+Left arrow shortcut. We suggest you do not do this for this exercise.

Using bookmarks

In this lesson, you will learn how to add bookmarks, view a bookmark target, that is go to the location this bookmark is pointing to, and delete a bookmark.

Adding a bookmark

Your cursor should be in the MATE desktop Assistive Technologies Preferences article. In the next exercise, you will bookmark this article so that you can find it more quickly the next time you visit the User Guide

Using the Ctrl+Tab shortcut and then the Tab key, move your cursor to the Find button. This will give you a fixed reference point, as the toolbar has five buttons which are not read correctly by the screen reader.

To access the bookmarks menu, press Shift+Tab, that is the Back-Tab key. Then press either Space-tab or Enter.

When you first open the Bookmarks menu, you will find only the Add Bookmark button. Activate it by pressing either the Tab or Enter keys.

You are now in the bookmark list. Press Escape to close it.

Use the Tab key to select a higher-level heading. In this example, choose Personal and press Enter.

You are going to mark the page that has just opened. Press Back-Tab until you reach the Find button, and the another Back-Tab to select the Bookmarks menu and open it using the Enter key.

The bookmark you added in the previous exercise appears. Press the Left arrow twice to reach the Add Bookmark button and activate it by pressing Enter.

Viewing a bookmark target

Here is how to find the bookmarks you have added. First, use the Tab key to position your cursor on the Find button, as a fixed point of reference. Than press the Back-Tab key once to place your cursor on the Bookmarks menu, and activate it using either the Enter or Space keys.

The bookmarks list appears on the screen. To scroll through it, use the Up and Down arrows. When you reach the bookmark you are interested in, press Enter. The item pointed to by the bookmark will appear on the screen.

Deleting a bookmark

Here is how to delete a bookmark you have previously added. First, use the Tab key to position your cursor on the Find button, as a fixed point of reference. Than press the Back-Tab key once to place your cursor on the Bookmarks menu, and activate it using either the Enter or Space keys.

The bookmarks list appears on the screen. To scroll through it, use the Up and Down arrows. On each line, if you press the right arrow, your cursor reaches the delete button for that bookmark. Press Enter to activate it.

Deletion is instantaneous and you should use the Escape key to close the Bookmarks drop-down when you are done.

This concludes lesson 4. In the next lesson, we will introduce you to some additional features related to accessibility and the management of MATE Help page displays.

MATE Help page management functions

MATE Help gives you additional options for managing pages and reading them more conveniently. In this lesson, you will learn how to change the way a page is displayed and how to print a page.

Modifying page display

First of all, MATE Help lets you enlarge or reduce the text size. To do this and as seen above, position your cursor on the Search button, as a fixed marker. Then press Tab once to select the Menu button and Enter to open it.

Use the Down arrow to scroll through the menu and reach the Larger Text or Smaller text commands.

Another button in this menu lets you open a new Help window. This feature helps you to better manage the help path if it seems too complex in a single window. But the new window start displaying the top of the Desktop User Guide.

Translator Note : A better option would be to use the Right click to launch the command Open Link in New Window, but the author does not know the keyboard shortcut to emulate this fonction in accessibility mode.

When you are done with this second window, you can return to your initial reading by pressing the Ctrl+W shortcut.

Finally, the Search command lets you search for a word on the current page. It behaves differently from the one seen in Lesson 3, in that it doesn't explore all the Help pages, but only the one currently open.

Print a help page

To print a help page, first position your cursor on the Search button using the Shift+Tab key.

Now press Tab to select the general menu and Enter to open it. Then, using the Down arrow, select the Print command and press Enter to open the Print dialog box.

This dialog box is used in the same way as the one discussed in Module 2 in the Writer word processor. Note, however, that in this case it may be useful to select Print to PDF in the printer list. This will enable you to send the page as a PDF file, which may make it easier to share, or enable you to set up reference cards following a different organization.

Translator Note : The following sentence needs some review ...

Please note, however, that the file generated is an image that cannot be accessed using the screen reader.

Application-specific help

There are three different ways of accessing application-specific help. In this lesson, you'll learn how to use the application's internal resources and how to use MATE help.

Application-internal resources

How to access application help depends on the graphic elements of the application window. If it has a menu bar, you can use the Help menu. This menu gives you access to online resources or the application's internal documentation. It also includes an “About” command that lets you know the version number of the application installed on your computer.

If the application essentially takes the form of a dialog box, it may also feature a help menu.

Finally, most dialog boxes feature a Help button at the bottom of the window, next to the OK, Close, Validate or Cancel buttons. Activating this button with the Enter key takes you directly to the application-specific part of MATE Help, or to the part of the application's internal documentation dealing with this dialog box.

Using MATE Help

MATE, which manages your desktop, comes with a number of applications that it supports directly. Others are external, although MATE installs them by default. This is the case, for example, of the Writer word processor.

The screen reader, on the other hand, is one of the applications supported directly by the desktop. Here's how to find out which tools MATE supports directly and access their documentation. Make sure the MATE Help window is displayed on your screen.

Press the Shift+Tab key to reach the Find button as a reference point.

Now press Tab to position your cursor on the general menu and open it by pressing Enter. Then using the Down arrow, select the Alll Help command and press Enter.

Now press Tab to access the page content. It consists of links, with the names of the applications, and text describing them in a few lines. For this exercise, select the Orca Screen Reader section. Press Enter to open this section.

The navigation within Orca's help is the same as you previously learned in this module. This gives you access to all the help you need in order to use the screen reader.

Please note that these steps are essential before you can search for a topic relating to a specific application, as the Search command seen in lesson 3 limits its search to the currently open help.

Questions and answers

This lesson features a list of five multiple-choice questions. The correct answer can be found in the Quiz answers section. For further interaction, the reason why the other answers are not correct can be also found in this area.

Multiple-choice questions

1. In which menu of the main menu can you find MATE's internal help?
   1. The System menu
   2. the Applications menu
   3. The Places menu
   4. The Accessories sub-menu
2. Which key lets you start navigating within a page you've just opened?
   1. The Down arrow
   2. F6
   3. Tab
   4. The Right arrow
3. Which of these statements is true
   1. The Find menu allows you to search for a word on the current page.
   2. The Back command returns to the page you have just read.
   3. The Search menu limits the search to MATE or the application selected from the general help.
   4. It is not possible to bookmark an article if it is accessed via the search function.
4. Where are the commands for managing bookmarks?
   1. On the menu bar, accessible by pressing F10
   2. In the contextual menu of pages
   3. On the menu bar, to the left of the Search menu
   4. At the bottom of the article we marked
5. How do you get back to the MATE Help Summary?
   1. Using the Back button on the article
   2. By clicking on the first link in the top location bar
   3. Using the Ctrl+Home shortcut
   4. Using the Home key

Quiz answers

1. Answer 1. The Help command in the System menu is used to access MATE's help function.
2. Answer 3. The Down and Right arrows only work after you have pressed on the Tab key, while F6 has no effect.
3. Answer 3. The Search menu limits the search to MATE or the application selected from the All Help. To search for a word on the current page, use the Find command in the General menu, located one Tab after the Find menu. The Previous command simply flips through the MATE Help book in the backward direction.
4. Answer 3. The bookmark management commands are found in the Bookmarks menu, accessed with the Tab key. This bar cannot be accessed with the F10 key.
5. Answer 2. To return to the table of contents, use the first link in the top location bar.

You have now completed this module.