Free Resources from the Net for (Special) Education

Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff.

Mozdev.org describes itself as “…a software development community dedicated to making quality applications and extensions freely available to all computer users.” With Mouse Gestures, Mozdev has definitely made the web more accessible to computer users who cannot use the keyboard or an ordinary mouse. Once again, access options have been enhanced because Mozilla’s Firefox and Thunderbird programs are open source.

Optimoz Mouse Gestures (Firefox and Thunderbird Extensions) These downloadable extensions enables a user to navigate and execute commands in Mozilla’s Firefox browser or in its Thunderbird email client without having to rely on the keyboard, menus, or toolbars. (Mouse Gestures also works with Chatzilla, Mozilla’s chat program. I’m only mentioning this and not discussing it furtner because I have no personal experience with Chatzilla.)

Mouse Gestures has the potential to make web access considerably faster for anyone. For the individual who accesses the computer with a head mouse or a track-ball, the helpful potential is tremendous. The user simply holds down a mouse-button, normally the right button, and then moves the cursor in a particular direction to move from one web page to another, to move between tabs, to open links, to select and open email files, to adjust text size, etc. The process is illustrated in the screenshot below. (Click on the screenshots for a better view.)

It is reasonably easy and straightforward to configure Mouse Gestures for individual preferences by selecting Extensions and then Options under the Tools menu in Firefox or Thunderbird. Pre-programmed gestures can be disabled, and new gestures can be created and added. The developers facilitate a “Gesture Exchange”. Some of the mouse gestures available on the exchange for working with email in Thunderbird are shown below.

It is significant that gestures can be creted and/or customized for individuals who find it difficult or impossible to move in certain ways. The developers of Mouse Gestures have provided good, but not exhaustive, documentation on their website. At the moment, Mouse Gestures works only in Linux and Windows. The developers have indicated that they would be pleased if someone were to volunteer to write the code for Mac.