|
|
|
Non Visual Display Access (NVDA)
By Katie Robinson, Summer Intern
What is a screen reader? [TOC] A screen reader is a program that speaks what is happening on the computer to the user. People who have low vision or are totally blind use screen readers. People who may have problems reading may also at times use screen readers. There are many screen readers available; this text is going to cover one screen reader called NVDA.
NVDA stands for “Non visual desktop access”. Everything that you are going to do on the computer will be told to you with synthesized speech. Synthesized speech is an artificial computerized voice. You will be doing everything only by using the computer keyboard.
After you have selected to run NVDA from the program list, you will hear NVDA begin to speak. If you hear NVDA, but are not placed in the NVDA interface window hold down the INSERT key and then press the letter N. This command will bring up the NVDA interface window at any time. The NVDA Interface window is what you will use to control the NVDA settings. You will be able to control how fast NVDA speaks, how high or low the voice pitch is, the volume and much more. Reviewing what you have learned so far... Look back on what you have read so far to answer these questions. Place a star next to the statements that are true:
The NVDA window consists of three menus. From left to right they are: NVDA, Preferences, and Help. To access the menus press the ALT key. On your keyboard the ALT key is located to the left and the right of your spacebar. (I strongly recommend the next activity, because you want to be sure you can understand everything NVDA is telling you)
Activity 1: Changing the speed of the voice. [TOC] Press INSERT+N to bring up the NVDA interface window. Press the three following keys at the same time: CONTROL+SHIFT+V (Many keyboards are different, but almost always the CONTROL key is the furthest on the left and the right on the bottom row, the same row where the spacebar is located.) This brings up the voice settings dialog. Press the TAB key once to get to the “Rate slider” Press your Page Up key to slow the speech. (You’ll learn how to speed up the voice at a later time). When the speech is at a rate you are comfortable with press the enter key. After you press enter you will be brought back to the NVDA interface window.
Activity 2: Exploring the NVDA menus. [TOC] Bring up the NVDA window by pressing INSERT+ N. Press the ALT key and then release (NVDA will announce “NVDA sub-menu alt+n” This is telling you that you are on the first menu, and that if you are in the NVDA window and you press ALT+N, you will be placed in the NVDA menu. Arrow down through this first menu and listen to all the options. When you have heard all of the options in the NVDA menu, then press the ESCAPE key once to close the menus options NVDA will announce “NVDA sub-menu alt+n”. Press the right arrow key to go to the preferences menu. NVDA will announce “ Preferences sub-menu alt+p” (This is telling you if you are in the NVDA interface window, and you press ALT+P, you will open up the preferences menu. Down arrow through the preferences menu and listen to all the options, this is the menu you will probably be using the most. Listen to the short cuts listed; remember that these short cuts only work when you are in the NVDA interface window. When you have heard all the options in this menu press the ESCAPE key once. 10. NVDA will announce “Preferences sub-menu alt+p”. Press your right arrow key once. NVDA will announce, “Help sub-menu alt+h”. (This is telling you that if you press ALT+H, you will go to the help menu”. Down arrow through this menu to hear its options. When you have heard all of the options in this menu press the ESCAPE key, twice to exit the menus. Quick Fact: Want to check the time? Hold down the insert key and press the F12 key and NVDA will announce the time and date.
Reading commands, are what you are going to be using to make NVDA read text. We are going to be using the NVDA interface window to practice reading. The following are the text reading commands: SHIFT + numpad 7 moves the focus to the top of a line. SHIFT + numpad 9 moves the focus to the bottom of a line. Numpad 7 moves the focus to the previous line. Numpad 8 moves the focus to the current line. Numpad 9 moves the focus to the next line. Numpad 4 moves the focus to the previous word. Numpad 5 moves the focus to the current word. Numpad 6 moves the focus to the next word. SHIFT + numpad 1 moves the focus to the start of a line. SHIFT + numpad 3 moves the focus to the a line. Numpad 1 moves the focus to the previous character. Numpad 2 moves the focus to the current character. Numpad 3 moves the focus to the next character.
Review these commands and make sure you know them well! Copy them down in a format you can use and study.
Setting user preferences. [TOC] There are many different preferences that can be set by the user. These user preferences allow you to control exactly what NVDA does. Everybody has different preferences, so everybody’s settings may be different. The best way to decide what you like would be to explore all of the NVDA menus and look at the different options. Then set the preferences that you would like. Below are all of the options that can be chosen from the “Preferences menu”.
Shortcut keys: CONTROL + SHIFT + U. When you bring up User Interface, there will be a drop down menu and two check boxes. Do not change anything in the drop down menu. You will only use this option to save changes you have made to NVDA. For example if you slowed the speech down and wanted it to be that way next time you started NVDA, you would go into the preferences menu and press enter on user interface. Then you would tab to the “Save configuration on exit” check box and check it. If you do this, the next time you start NVDA, it will have the same user settings as when you closed it.
Shortcut keys: CONTROL + SHIFT + S. This option lets you choose from two different speech synthesizers. The three different choices show up in a drop down box. The first one is called “e-speak”. This is the voice that NVDA defaults to when it starts. It will always start with this voice unless you change it to start with a different one. The second voice is called “Sapi5”. If you like this voice better then e-speak, you can change NVDA to start with this voice. The third option under this drop down menu is for no speech.
Shortcut keys: CONTROL + SHIFT + V. Under this, there are six different options. The first option is in a drop down menu; this menu lets you change the language. The second option is “Rate” this is a button that can be moved by pushing the page up and page down keys to change how fast or slow NVDA speaks. The next option is the “Pitch”. This is controlled in the same way as the “Rate” slider button. This allows you to control how high or low the voice sounds. The next option is “Volume”. This is the same kind of button as the “Pitch” and “Rate” slider buttons. This lets you control how loud or soft NVDA speaks. The two final options under “Voice Settings” are “Speak all punctuation” and “Speak cap before capitals”. These are both boxes that can be checked or unchecked by pressing the spacebar. If “Speak all punctuation” is checked then all punctuation will be read. If “Speak cap before capitals” is checked, when you hold down the shift key and type a letter NVDA will say cap and then the letter you typed.
Shortcut keys: CONTROL + E. There are three options under keyboard echo, they are all boxes that are checked with the spacebar. The first box is “Speak typed characters”, this means if this box is checked, when you are typing NVDA will say every letter you type. The second box is “Speak typed words”, this means if you check this box, NVDA will speak every word you type after you push the spacebar when writing. The final box is “Speak command keys”, this means if this box is checked, NVDA will tell you when you press command keys. Command keys are keys like ALT and CONTROL.
Shortcut keys: CONTROL + M. There are two check boxes that are checked or un-checked by pressing the spacebar. The first option is “Report mouse shape changes”. When the mouse is moved over certain things on the computer screen, it changes its shape. So if the check box is checked, NVDA will tell you when the mouse changes shape. The other check box is “Report object under mouse”. This means NVDA will tell you what is under the mouse on the screen.
Shortcut keys: CONTROL + SHIFT + O. There are six check boxes under object presentation. These are the boxes that are checked and un-checked with the spacebar. The first box is “Report tooltips” if this is checked then NVDA will report whenever a tooltip pops up on the screen. The next box is “Report help balloons” If this box is checked then NVDA will announce when a help balloon pops up on the screen. The next box is “Report object short-cut keys”. If this box is checked, when you are in menus or anything that may offer short-cuts, NVDA will read them. The next check box is “Report object group name”. The next check box is “Report object state first”. The final box is “Beep on progress bar updates”. If this box is checked, whenever NVDA comes across a progress bar it will beep to tell you that the progress bar has moved up. A progress bar usually shows when something is loading, and the progress bar is a visual way of showing how far along it is.
Shortcut keys: CONTROL + SHIFT + B. Right now you will not be using this option.
Shortcut keys: CONTROL + SHIFT + F. There are eight check boxes that can be checked or unchecked with the spacebar. All of these options deal with how NVDA will interact with a document. “Report font name,” if checked, will tell you the name of the font being used. “Report font size,” if checked, will tell you what size the font is. “Report font attributes,” if checked, will tell you the characteristics of the font. “Report style,” if checked, will tell you the style. “Report pages,” if checked, will tell you what page number of a document you are on. “Report line numbers,” if checked, will report what line you are on in a document. “Report tables,” if checked, will report when there is a table. “Report alignment,” if checked, will report the alignment. Sometimes certain words in a document will be aligned in the center of the paper; this is done to make the word stand out. To a screen reader it does not matter where something is aligned on a paper. Words can also be aligned to the left or the right. |
|
