[nvda] Re: HTML support

Based on your last description, I understand why you are having a problem. The buffers are being redesigned and I don't know if the problem will exist in future releases. Here is the cause of the problem: When you open Google, scripting on the page automatically moves you to the edit field. At that point, the virtual buffer is automatically turned off by NVDA. You hear something like virtual pass-through off. I'd have to check to see just what you hear but NFVDA is telling you that the buffer is off. Therefore, when you type f to move to the next field, you are actually typing the letter f into the Google edit field, as you will see if you use the read current line command. As far as I know, once the buffer is off, there is no NVDA command to turn it on. The only way I know to do this is to tab or shift tab to a place on the page where no input field exists. If you move to a link, for example, the buffer will automatically be turned on. This is very bad design and I hope the developers seriously consider changing it. First, should the buffer automatically be turned off when an input field is encountered? My answer is absolutely not. There are two related reasons for this. First, filling out forms is something lots of blind Internet users have problems with. If they had good training or used good tutorials, this wouldn't be a problem. the mistake most blind people make is to go into forms mode, or it's equivalent and just tab through one field after another. However, lots of blind people like to look through forms before filling them out. Having the virtual buffer automatically turn off makes this very difficult. You can't just down arrow through a form or use read to end to read it to see how it is organized and what is asked for and forms often have information between fields that people should know about and be able to read while looking through a form. Just tabbing through a form is a perfect way to have problems filling it out. Yet, this completely incorrect method is used by loads of blind people who then complain constantly about forms not being accessible. A blind person may wish to look through a form before filling it out or the person may wish to do what I do, which I believe is vastly superior for those reasonably experienced at filling out forms. I down arrow through forms without bothering to first look through the form, at least that's what I do in most cases. Down arrowing and taking actions where appropriate, allows me to understand and fill out the form in the most accurate and efficient manner. I use forms mode or its equivalent where necessary to enter information, then return to the virtual pc cursor or equivalent and continue to down arrow through the form. NVDA, as currently designed, appears to assume that staying in the buffer bypass mode is desirable when filling out forms and automatically does this when a field is encountered. This makes it so inconvenient to fill out forms in any way other than just tabbing through fields that it almost makes it mandatory that blind users fill out forms in the most inaccurate and prone to difficulty manner possible, just tabbing through the fields. This design should be carefully reconsidered and redesigned. It should never happen that the user is automatically placed in pass-through mode. Some action should be required to take this action and a command should be available to take you out of pass-through mode whenever desired.
Gene 
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