<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/" type="topic" id="howto_flat_review">
<info>
<link type="guide" xref="index#reviewing"/>
<link type="next" xref="howto_orca_find" />
<title type="sort">2. Flat Review</title>
<desc>Examining a window spatially</desc>
<credit type="author">
<name>Joanmarie Diggs</name>
<email>joanied@gnome.org</email>
</credit>
<license>
<p>Creative Commons Share Alike 3.0</p>
</license>
</info>
<title>Flat Review</title>
<p>
<app>Orca</app>'s Flat Review feature allows you to spatially review the
contents, both text and widgets, of the active window. In this mode,
<app>Orca</app> treats the window as if it were a two-dimensional sheet of
text, eliminating any notion of widget hierarchy or other logical grouping
within the window.
</p>
<p>
The "flattened" contents, also known as the Flat Review context, can be
<link xref="commands_flat_review">navigated</link> by line, by word, by
character, and by object. In addition, you can perform a left-click or
right-click on the object being reviewed. Finally, you can use
<link xref="howto_orca_find">Orca Find</link>, a Flat-Review-based feature
to search the active window's contents.
</p>
<p>
Because the Flat Review context is a spatial representation of the active
window's contents, it is created when you first enter Flat Review and only
contains those objects which are visible. As a result, you will not be able
to use Flat Review to access items which are in the window but currently
off-screen. In addition, if the window's contents change of their own
accord, the Flat Review context will not automatically be updated. You can
cause a new context to be built by toggling Flat Review off and back on.
</p>
<p>
Finally, Flat Review by its nature is a mode that cannot be used at the same
time that <app>Orca</app> is tracking focus. Thus if you are in Flat Review
and then use the application's navigation commands to move the caret or to
give focus to another object, you will automatically leave Flat Review.
</p>
</page>