Read scriptures from jw.org with JAWS Scheme Reading

It is possible to read scriptures from jw.org without the distraction of having JAWS read all the links to references and verse numbers. It takes a little bit of setup but saves enough time and irritation to be well worth the effort.

Find Enjoy Life book

If JAWS is running and you are already in an article on jw.org skip to the next heading.

  1. Turn on JAWS.
  2. Open the browser of your choice.
  3. Press Control-L to go to the address bar, then type jw.org and press enter.
  4. Press B for button until you hear "Library" then press enter.
  5. When the page loads press escape to get out of forms mode.
  6. Arrow down to Books and Brochures and press enter. Note: you could pick another type of publication that has scripture references, but I chose Books and Brochures for clarity and simplicity.
  7. Press Control-F for JAWS find and type Enjoy Life and press enter. JAWS should say "Publication download options Enjoy Life Forever!—An Interactive Bible Course"
  8. Press H to find the heading/link that actually opens the brochure instead of downloading the publication. Press enter on "Enjoy Life Forever!—Introductory Bible Lessons"
  9. Press Control=F for find and type lessons then press enter. Now if you tab or arrow down you'll find "How Can the Bible Help You?" Press enter on that.
  10. Press 1 to move to the main title heading of the page. Now press B until you hear "Digital addition" and make sure it's pressed. The Printed edition is understandably inaccessible for screenreader users.

Setup JAWS scheme reading

  1. Press tab until you hear a scripture reference link. If you have been following this guide it will be 2 Timothy 3:16 but it doesn't matter which scripture link you use as long as it's on jw.org.
  2. Press enter on the scripture link and it will open a dialog box with JAWS focus on the close button.
  3. Press H to move to the heading that says which scripture(s) are being shown. Below the heading you'll find a play button that can be used to play the scripture from the NWT2013 audio addition.
  4. Arrow down to the text of the scripture. Make sure you are not on a link or number.
  5. Press JAWSKey-5 to hear the color of the text JAWs has just spoken. You'll need to remember it for just a minute.
  6. Press JAWSKey-Shift-Control-DownArrow. Yes, I know pressing that many keys at once isn't easy. You won't have to press it all the time.
  7. Press Alt-T and select the radio button that says " Use Rule Type: Attributes and Color Rules Apply for Reading"
  8. Press tab and if it says "New" that's the correct option.
  9. Tab to the control that says "Text Color" where you will pick the color name you heard in step 5. on my system it is Grey13. You can start typing the first letters of the color name to find it faster.
  10. Once you have found the correct color you can press Alt-U to get to the next option you must set. Speak Unit must be set to lines in order for this to work correctly.
  11. I uncheck "Skim Reading Indication" because it just makes more noise if it is on.
  12. Your done setting options so press Alt-S to start skim reading. JAWs should only read the words of the scripture and not the footnote links and verse numbers.
  13. To start skim reading with the last rule you set or chose press JAWS-Control-Downarrow.
  14. When JAWS stops reading press Control-F to open the find box. Type "close" and press Alt-E for find previous. Then press Enter.
  15. You should now be on the close button for the scripture dialog. Just press Enter to close it and you'll be right back on the scripture link that opened the dialog.

Using JAWS Scheme Reading

Now everything is set up. When you next encounter a scripture you want to read: Press Enter on the scripture link. Then press JAWS-Control-DownArrow to read it with the color scheme reading rule you setup. Press Shift-F3 for find previous to jump back to the close button and press Enter on it. Of course close won't be in the JAWS Find if you searched for something else in the meantime. If that is the case just repeat step 14.

Note: Using your newly set-up JAWS scheme reading rule you can also read whole chapters of the Bible from jw.org under the "Read the Bible Online" link. The same font color is used so JAWS-Control-DownArrow will read it without the links and verse numbers.