Month: March 2023

Window 11 and NVDA – The Introduction

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About Me

My name is CathyAnne. I am an Access Technology Trainer with 25 years experience teaching blind and low vision computer users and trainers. I author textbooks that teach students how to access computers with NVDA and JAWS for Windows screen readers.

Introduction

This lesson is the first of many. In this series, I’ll discuss accessing Windows 11 with NVDA.

NVDA is a free screen reader available at NV Access (www.nvaccess.org). While you’re there, please consider donating to this organization.

NV Access has brought computer access to blind and visually impaired consumers across the globe.

Screen readers echo Windows controls and text. Screen readers literally read the screen.

If you are blind and have an interest in learning how to use Windows 11 and other applications, I invite you to join me.

If you are sighted and curious about non visual access to Windows 11 and other applications, join me in a comprehensive exploration of Windows 11 with NVDA.

Let’s discuss some NVDA and Windows basics.

Launch NVDA

When you installed NVDA, you were given the option to create a Desktop shortcut with an associated shortcut key CTRL-ALT-N

Launch NVDA with the Windows keyboard accelerator CTRL-ALT-N.

If you didn’t install the Desktop shortcut and shortcut key, open NVDA in the Windows Start Menu.

NVDA Modifier Key

NVDA has default Modifier Keys.

    • Desktop Layout NUMPAD INSERT (0)
    • Laptop Layout CAPSLOCK

When I reference a keyboard command with NVDA, that indicates the NVDA modifier key.

Reduce Speech Rate

If the NVDA speech rate is so fast that you understand generalities but not specifics, slow down the speech.

I’m going to teach you how to access concepts and controls. In order to learn Windows controls, you need to listen carefully as you navigate Windows.

You can increase the speech rate when reading a document but, for the purposes of these lessons, I recommend slowing speech to a comfortable level.

Silence Speech

Press either CTRL key to silence speech. Don’t do this too quickly. As you learn Windows with NVDA, you’ll depend on the screen reader to access Windows controls. If you silence speech too quickly, you risk missing important information.

I’ve had students open a dialog and immediately silence speech. I ask the focused control and they don’t know. They hit CTRL too quickly!

Read the Focused Control

If you do silence speech to quickly or have difficulty understanding a focused control, use the NVDA command NVDA-TAB to re-read the focused control and contents.

Practice using the command when configuring NVDA speech and general settings.

We’re going to discuss those next.

Adjust NVDA Speech Parameters

Adjust NVDA speech parameters in NVDA Speech Settings.

Open NVDA Speech Settings in the NVDA menu:

    • Open the NVDA Menu (NVDA-N)
      • Press UP and DOWN ARROW to navigate menu options
    • Select and press ENTER on the Preferences submenu
      • Press UP and DOWN ARROW to navigate submenu options
    • Select and press ENTER on “Settings”
    • The NVDA Settings dialog opens
      • The NVDA Settings dialog has a list of property sheets on the left side of the dialog
        • Press UP and DOWN ARROW to navigate property sheets
        • Select the “Speech” property sheet
      • Controls for each property sheet are on the right side of the dialog
        • Press TAB and SHIFT-TAB to navigate property sheet controls

 

Configure the following:

    • Synthesizer – A read-only edit box displays the active synthesizer
    • Change – Activate this button to configure a different speech synthesizer
      • If you aren’t familiar with installed synthesizers, I recommend leaving this set at the default
    • Voice – A combo box selects a synthesizer voice
      • Press UP and DOWN ARROW to review synthesizer voices
      • As you navigate, the voice changes to reflect the selection
      • After selecting a voice, press TAB to move to the next control
    • Three slider bars configure voice parameters
      • Configure slider bars with Windows slider bar commands:
        • UP and DOWN ARROW
        • RIGHT and LEFT ARROW
        • PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN
        • HOME and END
      • The slider bars are:
        • Rate
        • Pitch
        • Volume

The remaining controls are checkboxes unless specified. Press SPACEBAR to toggle checkboxes. You can explore these and configure them as needed.

I’ll explain the most important options.

    • Automatic language switching (when supported) – If the synthesizer supports it, NVDA automatically switches languages
    • Automatic dialect switching (when supported) – If the synthesizer supports it, NVDA automatically switches dialects
    • Punctuation symbol level – Select a punctuation level in this combo box
      • Press UP and DOWN ARROW to select an option
      • Press TAB to move to the next control
        • Choose from:
          • None
          • Some
          • Most
          • All
      • Change the punctuation level at any time with the NVDA keyboard accelerator NVDA-P
    • Capital pitch change percentage – Configure the capitalization pitch change in this edit box
      • Insert a positive or negative pitch change value
      • The NVDA voice pitch change when echoing capital letters
    • Say cap before capitals – NVDA echoes “Cap” before each capital letter when reading by letter
    • Beep for capitals – NVDA beeps when it encounters a capital letter when reading by letter
    • Use spelling functionality (if supported) – NVDA attempts to correctly pronounce homonyms based on textual context

Save or cancel the changes with buttons at the bottom of the dialog. Press SPACEBAR to activate buttons:

    • Activate the OK button to save the changes and exit the dialog
    • Activate the Cancel button to cancel the changes and exit the dialog

Speech Parameter Keyboard Accelerators

Use NVDA keyboard accelerators to temporarily change NVDA speech parameters.

Adjust speech parameters:

    • Desktop layout: Press NVDA-CTRL and don’t release the keys.
    • Laptop layout: Press NVDA-SHIFT-CTRL and don’t release the keys
    • While holding NVDA-CTRL or NVDA-SHIFT-CTRL, press RIGHT ARROW to choose a speech parameter
      • Voice – Select a voice you want to use
      • Rate – Adjust the speech rate
      • Pitch – Adjust the pitch
      • Volume – Adjust speech volume

Select a parameter you want to configure.

With NVDA-CTRL or NVDA-SHIFT-CTRL pressed, press UP and DOWN ARROW to configure the selected parameter

Repeat these steps to configure each parameter.

After configuring speech parameters, release all keys.

To make the changes permanent, save the configuration file.

NVDA General Settings

Some general settings manage when NVDA launches and how NVDA closes.

Open NVDA General settings in the NVDA Menu or with an NVDA keyboard accelerator.

In the NVDA Menu:

    • Open the NVDA Menu (NVDA-N)
      • Press UP and DOWN ARROW to navigate menu options
    • Select and press ENTER on the Preferences submenu
      • Press UP and DOWN ARROW to navigate submenu options
    • Select and press ENTER on “Settings”
    • The NVDA Settings dialog opens
      • The NVDA Settings dialog has a list of property sheets on the left side of the dialog
        • Press UP and DOWN ARROW to navigate property sheets
        • Select the “General” property sheet
      • Property sheet controls are on the right side of the dialog
        • Press TAB and SHIFT-TAB to navigate property sheet controls

NVDA keyboard accelerator:

    • Press NVDA-CTRL-G

Navigate to:

    • Save Configuration on Exit – When you exit NVDA, configuration changes are saved
      • This is a checkbox
      • Press SPACEBAR to toggle checkboxes
    • Show exit options when exiting NVDA – When this checkbox is toggled off, NVDA shuts down immediately, bypassing the shutdown dialog
      • Press SPACEBAR to toggle checkboxes
    • Play sounds when starting or exiting NVDA – When this checkbox is checked, NVDA plays sounds when NVDA starts and exits
    • Start NVDA after I log in – When this checkbox is checked, NVDA automatically starts after login
    • Use NVDA during sign-in (requires administrative privileges)
      • When this checkbox is checked, NVDA starts at the sign-in page
      • Administrative privileges are required for this setting
    • Use currently saved settings during sign-in and on secure screens (requires administrative privileges)
      • Current saved settings are used at the sign-in screen
      • This is a button
        • Press SPACEBAR to activate buttons
      • A dialog asks if you’re sure you want to make these changes
        • Press TAB and SHIFT-TAB to navigate dialog buttons
        • Press SPACEBAR to activate a button
        • After accepting the change, you’ll need to accept an administrative alert
    • Automatically check for updates to NVDA – Each time you launch NVDA, the application checks for updates and alerts you if one is available
      • This is a checkbox
    • Notify for pending update on startup – If you don’t install an update, NVDA alerts you the next time you launch the screen reader
      • This is a checkbox
    • Allow the NVDA project to gather NVDA usage statistics
      • The NVDA project gathers anonymous data about NVDA
      • This is a checkbox
    • Activate the OK button to save the changes and exit the dialog.
      • Press SPACEBAR to activate buttons
    • Activate the Cancel button to cancel the changes and exit the dialog.

If you save the changes, the changes are applied and active.

If you enabled the option to save settings on exit, NVDA saves the changes to the default configuration when NVDA exits.

Save the Default Configuration

After configuring NVDA, you can manually save the default configuration in the NVDA Menu or with an NVDA keyboard accelerator.

In the NVDA MenuL

    • Open the NVDA menu (NVDA-N)
      • Press UP and DOWN ARROW to navigate menu options
    • Select and press ENTER on “Save Configuration”

You can also save configurations with an NVDA keyboard accelerator

    • Press NVDA-CTRL-C

The configurations are saved.

Exit NVDA

To exit NVDA, use the NVDA keyboard accelerator NVDA-Q.

If you unchecked the General settings “Show exit options when exiting NVDA” checkbox, NVDA immediately shuts down.

If you didn’t uncheck the General settings “Show exit options when exiting NVDA,” checkbox, a dialog opens.

By default, focus is in a list box. Press UP and DOWN ARROW to select a list box option:

    • Exit
    • Restart
    • Restart with add-ons disabled
    • Restart with debug logging disabled

Press TAB And SHIFT-TAB to navigate dialog controls.

After selecting an option, activate the OK button to take the selected action.

Press SPACEBAR to activate the button.

Windows Text Navigation Commands

Windows features text navigation keyboard commands. These commands are used by both sighted and blind computer users.

These commands work in any edit box and on the Internet.

Open an email, word processing document, or web page and practice using these keyboard commands.

    • Move to the next character RIGHT ARROW
    • Move to the previous character LEFT ARROW
    • Move to the next line DOWN ARROW
    • Move to the previous line UP ARROW
    • Move to the next paragraph CTRL-DOWN ARROW
    • Move to the previous paragraph CTRL-UP ARROW
    • Move to the next screen PAGE DOWN
    • Move to the previous screen PAGE UP
    • Move to the next page CTRL-PAGE DOWN
    • Move to the previous page CTRL-PAGE UP
    • Move to the top of the page CTRL-HOME
    • Move to the bottom of the page CTRL-END

Using these Windows keyboard commands, you can navigate text in any Windows edit field and on the Internet.

Press CTRL at any time to silence speech.

NVDA Say All

The NVDA Say All keyboard accelerator reads text from the cursor location to the end of the document. The cursor moves as NVDA reads the text.

This command works in all edit fields and on the Internet.

To execute the NVDA Say All command:

    • Focus in an edit field or web page at the location you want to start reading
    • Execute the NVDA Say All command:
      • Desktop layout: NVDA-DOWN ARROW
      • Laptop layout: NVDA-A

NVDA reads the text from the cursor to the end of the document. The cursor follows the echoed text.

Press CTRL to silence speech. The cursor is focused after the last echoed word.

Read the System Clock

Read the system clock with an NVDA keyboard accelerator. To read the time, press NVDA-F12.

    • Press NVDA-F12 to echo the time
    • Press NVDA-F12 twice quickly to echo the date
      • Hold down the NVDA modifier key and tap F12 twice quickly

This keyboard accelerator can be used anywhere in Windows.

Conclusion

You learned three NVDA specific commands in this lesson:

  • Read the focused control NVDA-TAB
  • Say All NVDA-DOWN ARROW or NVDA-A
  • Read the system clock NVDA-F12

Everything else you learned in this lesson is Windows including navigating dialogs, toggling checkboxes, accessing combo boxes, etc.

Please take the time to configure NVDA speech parameters to suit your needs. Practice navigating text edit fields and web pages with the Windows text navigation commands and Say All.

For a lesson transcript, please visit www.cathyanne.com.

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If you have any questions or comments, please make use of the comment section below or contact me using the information in the about page.

I’ll see you next time! Thanks George!

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