[accesscomp] Dan's tip for november 12
- From: "Bob Acosta" <boacosta@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "tektalk discussion" <tektalkdiscussion@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2012 08:03:04 -0800
This week I am focusing on screen access in magnification and screenreading.
A free, downloadable screen reader from Australia called NVDA has become a
very good option and alternative for the user needing a screen reader but
without the initial hefty price tag or recurring costs to keep the software
current. NVDA has received good reviews and though not best appropriate for
those employed, in school or using OpenBook, this should be strongly
considered for the senior, homemaker or any customer needing screen reader
access who doesnât want or canât commit to the costs of JAWS or Window Eyes.
This tech tip will explore the features of NVDA
NVDA Website
http://www.nvda-project.org/
NVDA Price
Free, Donations requested
System Requirements
NVDA runs on both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Microsoft Windows XP or
later. NVDA has no additional hardware requirements beyond those of the
operating system and requires around 50 MB of disk space.
Contact Information
Email: âadmin@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Phone: +61 7 5667 8372
(business hours, UTC+10:00, Brisbane Australia)
Postal address:
19 Broadview Place
Robina, Qld 4226
Australia
Website information
Excerpts from this site include:
NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) is a free and open source screen reader for
the Microsoft Windows operating system. Providing feedback via synthetic
speech and Braille, it enables blind or vision impaired people to access
computers running Windows for no more cost than a sighted person. Major
features include support for over 35 languages and the ability to run
entirely from a USB drive with no installation. NVDA is developed by NV
Access, http://www.nvaccess.org/ with contributions from the community.
For more information about NVDA, including features and system requirements,
visit the about section. http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/About
Free Download
Check out the download section http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/Download if
you would like to obtain a copy. Extra Voices can also be downloaded for use
with NVDA. http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/ExtraVoices
Need help with using NVDA? please visit our support page at
http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/Support, for many useful links and
resources including documentation, email lists, language-specific community
pages, and 3rd party organizations offering NVDA training and support.
If you are interested in NVDA's development, including reporting bugs or
feature requests, please see the development section
http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/Development.
If you would like to support the project, please consider making a Donation
to NV Access. http://www.nvaccess.org/wiki/Donate
FEATURES
Providing feedback via synthetic speech and Braille, NVDA allows blind and
vision impaired people to access and interact with the Windows operating
system and many third party applications.
Major highlights include:
* Support for popular applications including web browsers, email
clients, internet chat programs and office suites
* Built in speech synthesizer supporting over 43 languages
* Reporting of textual formatting where available such as font name
and size, style and spelling errors
* Automatic announcement of text under the mouse and optional audible
indication of the mouse position
* Support for many refreshable braille displays
* Ability to run entirely from a USB stick or other portable media
without the need for installation
* Easy to use talking installer
* Translated into many languages
* Support for modern Windows Operating Systems including both 32 and
64 bit variants
* Ability to run on Windows logon and other secure screens
* Support for common accessibility interfaces such as Microsoft Active
Accessibility, Java Access Bridge, IAccessible2 and UI Automation
* support for Windows Command Prompt and console applications
Internationalization
It is important that people anywhere in the world, no matter what language
they speak, get equal access to technology. Besides English, NVDA has been
translated into 36 languages including: Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic,
Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish,
French, Galician, Georgian, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic,
Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian,
Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Thai, Traditional and Simplified
Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.
Speech Synthesizer Support
Apart from providing its messages and interface in several languages, NVDA
can also enable the user to read content in any language, as long as they
have a speech synthesizer that can speak that language.
NVDA is bundled with eS1peak, http://espeak.sourceforge.net/, a free,
open-source, multi-lingual speech synthesizer. Additionally, NVDA can use
both SAPI 4 and SAPI 5 speech engines to provide speech output.
Innovation and Experimentation
NVDA is not driven by profit, nor is it constrained by a need to follow
market trends and demands. This allows for the freedom to research,
experiment with and implement new, innovative techniques to improve
accessibility for blind and vision impaired users, as well as enabling
features desirable to minorities to be given higher priority where
appropriate.
Technical Design and Implementation
NVDA is written primarily in the Python programming language,
http://www.python.org/ which allows for rapid development among other
benefits. Code that needs to be injected into other processes is written in
C++ for high performance. NVDA is built with an extensible, modular, object
oriented, abstract design. Its code can be easily extended in order to
support new features, applications and controls. NVDA's abstract design
allows for the seamless support and integration of many different
accessibility and native APIs. It is designed with a focus on accuracy,
efficiency and optimization.
License and Copyright
NVDA is copyright Â2006-2012 NVDA contributors.
NVDA is covered by the GNU General Public License (Version 2). You are free
to share or change this software in any way you like as long as it is
accompanied by the license and you make all source code available to anyone
who wants it. This applies to both original and modified copies of this
software, plus any derivative works.
Starting NVDA
Starting NVDA is as simple as either pressing control+alt+n, or choosing
NVDA from the NVDA menu under Programs on the Start Menu.
The NVDA Modifier Key
Most NVDA-specific keyboard commands usually consist of pressing a
particular key called the NVDA modifier key, (insert or cap-locks), in
conjunction with one or more other keys. An exception to this are the text
review commands which just use the numpad keys by themselves.
NVDA can be configured so that either the numpad Insert, Extended Insert, or
capslock key can be used as the NVDA modifier key.
Controlling NVDA
Pressing INSERT + N (or the NVDA Modifier Key + N) opens the NVDA User
interface. The NVDA user interface main menu items, submenu items and access
keys include:
1. Preferences (P)
a. General Settings (G)
b. Synthesizer (S)
c. Voice Settings (V)
d. Braille Settings (R)
e. Keyboard Settings (K)
f. Mouse Settings (M)
g. Review Cursor (C)Object Presentation (O)
h. Browse Mode (B)
i. Document Formatting (F)
j. Speech Dictionaries (D)
k. Punctuation Dictionaries (P)
2. Tools (T)
a. View Log
b. Speech Viewer
c. Python Console
d. Reload Plugins
3. Help (H)
a. User Guide
b. Keyboard Command Quick Reference
c. What's New
d. Web Site
e. License
f. Contributors
g. Welcome Dialogue
h. About
4. Revert to saved configuration (R)
5. Save Configuration (S)
6. Donate
7. Exit (X)
Basic key commands
Below is a table with three columns, name, key and discription.
Name Key Description
Stop speech Control Instantly stops speaking
Pause Speech Shift Instantly pauses speech. Pressing it again will
continue speaking where it left off (if pausing is supported by the current
synthesizer)
NVDA Menu NVDA+n Pops up the NVDA menu to allow you to access
preferences, tools and help etc
Toggle Speech Mode NVDA+s Toggles speech mode between speech, beeps
and off.
Toggle Keyboard Help Mode NVDA+1 Pressing any key in this mode will
report the key, and the description of any NVDA command associated with it
Quit NVDA NVDA+q Exits NVDA
Pass next key through NVDA+f2 Tells NVDA to pass the next key press
straight through to the active application, even if it is normally treeted
as an NVDA key command
Toggle application sleep mode on and off NVDA+shift+s sleep mode
disables all NVDA commands and speech/braille output for the current
application. This is most useful in applications that provide their own
speech or screen reading features. Press this command again to disable self
voicing mode.
Reporting System Information
Name key Description
Report date/time NVDA+f12 Pressing once reports the current
time, pressing twice reports the date
Report battery status NVDA+shift+b Reports the battery status i.e.
whether AC power is in use or the current charge percentage.
Report clipboard text NVDA+c Reports the Text in the clipboard if there
is any.
System Focus movement
Name Key Description
Report current focus NVDA+tab announces the current object or
control that has the System focus. Pressing twice will spell the information
Report title NVDA+t Reports the title of the currently active window.
Pressing twice will spell the information. Pressing three times will copy it
to the clipboard
Read active window NVDA+b reads all the controls in the currently
active window (useful for dialogs)
Report Status Bar NVDA+end Reports the Status Bar if NVDA finds
one. It also moves the navigator object to this location
NVDA provides the following key commands in relation to the system caret:
Name Key Description
Say all NVDA+downArrow Starts reading from the current position of the
system caret, moving it along as it goes
Read current line NVDA+upArrow Reads the line where the system
caret is currently situated. Pressing twice spells the line.
Read current text selection NVDA+Shift+upArrow Reads any currently
selected text
When within a table, the following key commands are also available:
Name Key Description
Move to previous column control+alt+leftArrow Moves the system caret to
the previous column (staying in the same row)
Move to next column control+alt+rightArrow Moves the system caret to
the next column (staying in the same row)
Move to previous row control+alt+upArrow Moves the system caret to
the previous row (staying in the same column)
Move to next row control+alt+downArrow Moves the system caret to
the next row (staying in the same column)
To navigate by object, use the following keys:
Name Desktop key Laptop key Description
Report current object NVDA+numpad5 NVDA+control+i Reports the current
navigator object. Pressing twice spells the information, and pressing 3
times copies this object's name and value to the clipboard.
Move to containing object NVDA+numpad8 NVDA+shift+i Moves to the
object containing the current navigator object
Move to previous object NVDA+numpad4 NVDA+control+j Moves to the object
before the current navigator object
Move to next object NVDA+numpad6 control+NVDA+l Moves to the object
after the current navigator object
Move to first contained object NVDA+numpad2 NVDA+shift+comma
Moves to the first object contained by the current navigator object
Move to focus object NVDA+numpadMinus NVDA+backspace Moves to the
object that currently has the system focus, and also places the review
cursor at the position of the System caret, if it is showing
Activate current navigator object NVDA+numpadEnter NVDA+enter
Activates the current navigator object (similar to clicking with the mouse
or pressing space when it has the system focus)
Move System focus or caret to current review position
NVDA+shift+numpadMinus NVDA+shift+backspace pressed once Moves the
System focus to the current navigator object, pressed twice moves the system
caret to the position of the review cursor
Report navigator object dimensions NVDA+numpadDelete NVDA+delete
Reports the current navigator object's dimensions on screen in per centages
(including distance from left and top of screen, and its width and height)
Text Review
The following key commands are available for reviewing text:
Name Desktop key Laptop key Description
Move to top line in review shift+numpad7 NVDA+7 Moves the review
cursor to the top line of the text
Move to previous line in review numpad7 NVDA+u Moves the review cursor to
the previous line of text
Report current line in review numpad8 NVDA+i Announces the current line
of text where the review cursor is positioned. Pressing twice spells the
line. Pressing three times spells the line using character descriptions.
Move to next line in review numpad9 NVDA+o Move the review cursor to
the next line of text
Move to bottom line in review shift+numpad9 NVDA+9 Moves the review
cursor to the bottom line of text
Move to previous word in review numpad4 NVDA+j Moves the review cursor to
the previous word in the text
Report current word in review numpad5 NVDA+k Announces the current word
in the text where the review cursor is positioned. Pressing twice spells the
word. Pressing three times spells the word using character descriptions.
Move to next word in review numpad6 NVDA+l Move the review cursor to
the next word in the text
Move to start of line in review shift+numpad1 NVDA+shift+u Moves the
review cursor to the start of the current line in the text
Move to previous character in review numpad1 NVDA+m Moves the review
cursor to the previous character on the current line in the text
Report current character in review numpad2 NVDA+comma Announces
the current character on the line of text where the review cursor is
positioned. Pressing twice reports a description or example of that
character. Pressing three times reports the numeric value of the character
in decimal and hexadecimal.
Move to next character in review numpad3 NVDA+dot Move the
review cursor to the next character on the current line of text
Move to end of line in review shift+numpad3 NVDA+shift+o Moves the
review cursor to the end of the current line of text
Say all with review numpadPlus NVDA+shift+downArrow Reads from
the current position of the review cursor, moving it as it goes
Copy from review cursor NVDA+f9 NVDA+f9 starts copying text from the current
position of the review cursor. The actual copy is not performed until you
tell NVDA where to copy to
Copy to review cursor NVDA+f10 NVDA+f10 Copies from the
position of the review cursor currently set with Copy from review cursor, to
the review cursor's current position. After pressing this key, the text will
be copied to the Windows clipboard
Report text formatting NVDA+f NVDA+f Reports the formatting of the text
where the review cursor is currently situated
Browse Mode
Complex read-only documents such as web pages are browsed in NVDA using
browse mode. This includes documents in Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet
Explorer, Google Chrome, Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash.
In browse mode, the content of the document is made available in a flat
representation that can be navigated with the cursor keys as if it were a
normal text document. All of NVDA's system caret
<http://www.nvda-project.org/documentation/userGuide.html> key commands
will work in this mode; e.g. say all, report formatting, table navigation
commands, etc. Information such as whether text is a link, heading, etc. is
reported along with the text as you move.
Sometimes, you will need to interact directly with controls in these
documents. For example, you will need to do this for editable text fields
and lists so that you can type characters and use the cursor keys to work
with the control. You do this by switching to focus mode, where almost all
keys are passed to the control. When in Browse mode, by default, NVDA will
automatically switch to focus mode if you tab to or click on a particular
control that requires it. Conversely, tabbing to or clicking on a control
that does not require focus mode will switch back to browse mode. You can
also press enter or space to switch to focus mode on controls that require
it. Pressing escape will switch back to browse mode. In addition, you can
manually force focus mode, after which it will remain in effect until you
choose to disable it.
Name Key Description
Toggle browse/focus modes NVDA+space Toggles between focus mode
and browse mode
Exit focus mode escape switches back to browse mode if focus mode was
previously switched to automatically
Refresh browse mode document NVDA+f5 Reloads the current document content
(useful if certain content seems to be missing from the document)
Find NVDA+control+f Pops up a dialog in which you can type some text to
find in the current document
Find next NVDA+f3 Finds the next occurence of the text in the document
that you previously searched for
Find previous NVDA+shift+f3 Finds the previous occurence of the text in
the document you previously searched for
Single Letter Navigation
While in browse mode, For quicker navigation, NVDA also provides single
character keys to jump to certain fields in the document.
The following keys by themselves jump to the next available element, while
adding the shift key causes them to jump to the previous element:
* h: heading
* l: list
* i: list item
* t: table
* k: link
* n: nonLinked text
* f: form field
* u: unvisited link
* v: visited link
* e: edit field
* b: button
* x: checkbox
* c: combo box
* r: radio button
* q: block quote
* s: separator
* m: frame
* g: graphic
* d: ARIA landmark
* o: embedded object
* 1 to 6: headings at levels 1 to 6 respectively
User Guide
NVDA Documentation
This page provides documentation about NVDA, including the latest product
user guide, audio demonstrations and other articles of interest to users.
Please be sure to review the documentation available on this page before
posting your ideas and/or questions to the NVDA community (mailing lists,
etc.).
Articles specific to development can be found on the development page
<http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/Development> .
http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/Development
The NVDA User Guide
<http://www.nvda-project.org/documentation/userGuide.html> ,
http://www.nvda-project.org/documentation/userGuide.html explains how to
get and install NVDA. It also lists the key commands and explains the
configuration options of NVDA. A copy of the user guide is included with the
program and can be accessed via the Help sub-menu in the NVDA menu.
Other User Articles
Our Wiki contains various user articles which may be of use:
* ApplicationSupport
<http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/ApplicationSupport> Application Support
http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/ApplicationSupport
* FAQ <http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/FAQ> Frequently Asked
Questions http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/FAQ
* Blog: NVDA and ETI-Eloquence: The Situation Explained
<http://www.nvda-project.org/blog/NVDAAndEloquenceSituation>
'NVDAAndEloquenceSituation' by jteh,
http://www.nvda-project.org/blog/NVDAAndEloquenceSituation
* ObjectNavigation <http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/ObjectNavigation>
Object Navigation
* ReportingIssues <http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/ReportingIssues>
Reporting Issues
* RunningAutomaticallyFromAUSBDrive
<http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/RunningAutomaticallyFromAUSBDrive>
Running NVDA Automatically from a USB Drive
* RunningNVDAFromAnU3Drive
<http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/RunningNVDAFromAnU3Drive> Running NVDA
from an U3 Drive http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/Troubleshooting
* Troubleshooting <http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/Troubleshooting>
Troubleshooting Problems http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/Troubleshooting
Users are free to edit the existing articles and/or create new articles in
this wiki. If you wish to contribute, you need to register an account
<http://www.nvda-project.org/register> or log in
<http://www.nvda-project.org/login> if you already have an account. See the
TracWiki <http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/TracWiki> documentation for more
information about this wiki. Please tag new user articles with the
UserArticles <http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/UserArticles> keyword.
Audio Reviews/Tutorials
NVDA on ACB Radio's Main Menu Live Â
<http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/Documentation>
In March 2007, NVDA was talked about on âACB Radio
<http://www.acbradio.org/> 's Main Menu Live show. The first hour was a
demonstration of NVDA by one of the developers (Michael Curran), and the
second half was an interview with Michael, as well as Rick Harmon who had
also produced an audio demonstration of NVDA. âDownload Interview on Main
Menu Live [mp3 <http://www.acbradio.org/archives/mainmenu/ml291.mp3> ]
Blind Geek Zone Demonstrates NVDA
Rick Harmon has recorded a 90 minute demonstration of NVDA for his site:
www.blind-geek-zone.net. âDownload Blind Geek Zone NVDA audio demonstration
[mp3 <http://www.blind-geek-zone.net/audio/NVDA.mp3> ]
NVDA update by Valiant8086
Aaron Spears composed a 60 minute long audio recording intended as an update
to Rick Harmon's 90 minute podcast, (listed above), during which he
demonstrates some of the newest features of NVDA and throws in some tips
too.âdownload NVDA updates audio [mp3
<http://blind-geek-zone.net/Audio/NVDA%20Updates.mp3> ]
NVDA Audio Demonstration by Michael Curran
Michael Curran, as a developer of NVDA, has recorded a 40 minute audio
demonstration of using the screen reader. He also talks about the
advantages/disadvantages,how the screen reader is licenced and so on. Please
note that this is now quite outdated, although much of the information is
still useful. Download Michael Curran's NVDA audio demonstration [ogg vorbis
<http://www.nvda-project.org/audio/nvda_demonstration_r380.ogg> ]
Extra Voices
Information about extra voices that can be downloaded and used with NVDA can
be found in the Extra Voices article
<http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/ExtraVoices> .
A Note about SourceForge and Internet Explorer
NVDA downloads are hosted on SourceForge. Unfortunately, Microsoft Internet
Explorer often blocks downloads from SourceForge.
If you are using Internet Explorer and your download does not begin within
30 seconds after activating a download link, the download has probably been
blocked. If this happens, the Information Bar will appear and you may hear
an accompanying sound, but this may not be announced by screen readers.
Please do the following to begin the download:
1. Press alt+n to move to the Information Bar, which will inform you
that the download has been blocked.
2. Press space to activate the button to show options. A menu will
appear.
3. Select and activate the Download item. You can do this quickly by
pressing d.
4. The normal download options will now appear. Begin the download as
normal.
Stable Release: 2012.2.1 (recommended for most users) Â
<http://www.nvda-project.org/wiki/Download>
This release is suitable for production use.
* NVDA 2012.2.1 main package
<http://www.nvda-project.org/releaseDownload/2012.2.1/nvda_2012.2.1.exe>
* What's new in 2012.2.1
<http://www.nvda-project.org/releaseChanges/nvda_2012.2.1_changes.html>
Last updated 11/5/12 dls
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âFor nothing is impossible with God.â Luke 1:37
Robert Acosta, President
Helping Hands for the Blind
Email: boacosta@xxxxxxxxxxx
Web Site: www.helpinghands4theblind.org
You can assist Helping Hands for the Blind by donating your used computers to
us. If you have a blind friend in need of a computer, please mail us at the
above address.
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- » [accesscomp] Dan's tip for november 12 - Bob Acosta
