This chapter contains the following information:

• Overview
• Configuration Options

This chapter will give a brief overview on configuring Windows Media Player 10 for maximum accessibility.

Overview

Windows Media Player 10 has been re-engineered to include heightened accessibility options to an end-user. The software is now more keyboard accessible, and it is easier to activate captions (in previous versions, the option was more difficult to locate in the menus). Even with this greater accessibility, there are still a few issues that need to be addressed to have a public computer be accessible as a turn-key, or “out-of-the-box” solution for end-users. Other caveats regarding Windows Media Players accessibility usually are in reference to the use of Windows Media Player embedded in web pages, due to the great inaccessibility of that setup. However, this is more of a web and media developer issue, not a computer lab manager issue. To provide the most appropriate work-around for this issue, however, would be to provide other media players, such as QuickTime or RealPlayer. Seeing as all three support their own, proprietary formats, this is bound to happen anyway in all but the smallest, most restrictive environments, but it is still a good point to keep in mind.

Configuration Options

Make sure that you have the latest version of Windows Media Player installed, as previous versions, such as Windows Media Player 9, offer less accessibility and require even greater customized configuration to ensure access to keyboard users.

1. Start Windows Media Player
2.  Select “Tools”, and then “Options” in the main toolbar. If the toolbar isn’t visible, first press the “Alt” key to show it.
3. Select the “Security” tab. The following screen should appear.
   
   
4.  Ensure that the option “Show local captions when present” is checked to allow for caption files stored on the local computer to operate properly.
5. Click “OK” to save the options and return to the main window.
6.  Return to the menus by pressing “Alt” or by mousing over, and reach the “Play” menu.
7. Go to the “Captions and Subtitles” submenu, and select the option “On if Available”. This will leave captions on by default.