Hi Robert
I put together a tutorial for sighted users of NVDa more for a
web developer etc It is a rough draft and the ones with the * next
to it is a heading for the section below.
Not sure how much info to put in? or leave out but then again
that is what a draft is.
It when tidied up more might go up on the website of mine.
*Tutorials for a sighted person to learn NVDA
*What is a screen reader?
A "screen reader" is the generic term for a program that helps
blind people use a computer. Simply put, a screen reader will
"read" (speak) the content of a page to the blind user.
*Where do you go to download a free screen reader
You will need to go to the following website at
http://www.nvaccess.org then locate the downloads page. Here you
will find the latest version of the NVDA screen reader.
After it has been down loaded to your computer locate the file and
click on it, a musical sound will be heard. You will see in front
of you documentation that can be read then agreed to. You will
then be given 3 options, one to install NVDA to your computer, the
second to make a portable copy and the third to run a tempory copy
of NVDA with out installing it to your computer. Choose the first
option and follow the directions to install it to your computer.
If a UAC screen comes up just use the ALT key + Y key to say yes
to it so it can be installed to the computer.
*Keys to start, exit and also go into the settings of NVDA
To start your copy of NVDA if it is not running use the ALT key +
CTRL key + the letter N
To go into the settings of NVDA use the NVDA key + the letter N.
When the preferences menu comes up arrow or click on the settings
menu to open it. Here you can make changes like speeding up or
slowing down how fast NVDA speaks etc.
Under the HELP section is where you will find the user guide.
To turn off NVDA use the NVDA key + the letter Q. Either tab or
click on the ok button to close it. You might of noticed depending
what option is shown the default is set to exit NVDA.
* NVDA modifier keys
Where I refer to the NVDA key this is a modifier key which can
either be the caps lock key, the insert key or the extended insert
key. You would use one of these you chose to close NVDA for
example insert key + the letter Q.
*Some keys you will use
Depending if you are testing NVDA either on a desk top progrogram
or on the web the keys used will be keyboard based.
In most cases on the Desk top you will use the ENTER key to go
into a program, the tab key, sometimes to jump into a section and
the shift/tab key, to jump back out of itthe arrow keys not on the
numeric keypad, to navigate the Desk top and menus, the ALT key to
bring up a file menu and the ALT key + F4 key to close a program
or page.
The following sections in the user guide might help you called
objects, navigating with the system focus and navigating with the
system caret along with the focus high lighter feature in NVA to
know where you are on the Desk top or web page.
There are different keys that are used on a web page to quickly
navigate a web site in browse mode these are known as single
letter navigation keys which can be found in the NVDA user guide.
Some people will refer to these as quick navigation keys on a web
page that NVDA can use.
.
*Focus high lighter in NVDA
If you are a sighted developer or trainer and you want to see what
NVDA is talking at that time you can turn on the focus high
lighter in NVDA To turn it on you will need to have NVDA running,
then press the NVDA key + the letter N. When the preferences menu
comes up, locate the settings menu wither either the arrow keys or
mouse. If using the arrow keys press the ENTER key on the settings
menu. Here you will see different sections come up. Locate the
vision section of NVDA in most cases you would use your arrow keys
or a sighted person would click on it.
If using the arrow keys after you have found the vision section
just use the tab key. You will be given different options such as
Enable Highlighting, Highlight system focus, Highlight navigator
object and Highlight browse mode cursor.
You will need to check the box on the option you want to use.
To find out more on what they do when checked or un checked please
read the user guide under the help section of NVDA. You will need
to locate the vision and the Focus Highlight section in the user
guide where you can find out more on what they do.
This might be while on a website or on the desk top.
*Turning off NVDA from speaking what it is focused on
If you are a sighted developer and do not want to hear NVDA speak
what it is doing you can turn off the speech in NVDA. Press the
NVDA key + the letter S and toggle it until you hear NVDA say
ssspeech mode off. The other alternative is just mute the speaker
in |Windows or just turn them off.
If you want to hear NVDA speak again just repeat the process until
you hear NVDA say speech mode talk.
*Speech Viewer
For sighted software developers or people demoing NVDA to sighted
audiences, a floating window is available that allows you to view
all the text that NVDA is currently speaking.
To enable the speech viewer, check the "Speech Viewer" menu item
under Tools in the NVDA menu. Uncheck the menu item to disable it.
To find out more about the speech viewer please see the section
called speech viewer in the user guide.
*Testing your website with NVDA
Visually impaired and blind people do not use a mouse on a website
but in the case the only option is using a keyboard. NVDA has
quick navigation keys that you can use to navigate a web site. You
should be able to use any supported browser that NVDA can use. for
example Google Chrome, The new Microsoft Edge, fire Fox and many
other chromium based browsers.
Depending how you are going to test your web page locate the page
you want to test and make sure NVDA is focused insside of that
page. You can use the CTRL key + HOME key to go to the top of the
page.
There are many quick navigation keys that NVDA can use on a
website but the most common ones used are H for headings, B for
buttons, L for lists, • t: for table, F for form field, E for edit
field, C for combo box, R for radio button, D or landmark.
Pressing one of those letters while in browse mode on a web page
will take you down by say H for headings down the page while
adding a shift key with that same letter H for will take you back
up the page by headings.
For a complete list of quick navigation keys that can be used with
NVDA while on a web page please see the section called Single
Letter Navigation in the user guide.
*Hearing the difference between browse mode and focus mode with
NVDA
When you go to test your web page with NVDA you can either hear 2
different sounds. One sound will be when it goes to browse mode
and the other to focus mode. If you want to hear it spoken use the
NVDA key +CTRL key + the letter B. When the browse mode settings
dialogue comes up locate the section called Audio indication of
focus and browse modes and un check that box then apply and ok
the changes. Now yoou should hear NVDA say browse mode where the
quick navigation keys can be used to navigate a web page quickly
in browse mode and focus mode where you can type into a editable
area.
You can force NVDA to change between these 2 modes. Use the NVDA
key + space bar to do this.
The following web page by Web Aim called WebAIM: Using NVDA to
Evaluate Web Accessibility may help you to use NVDA on a web page
and go more into dept on other ways you can imporive your web
page for accessibility.
The link to this page is https://webaim.org/articles/nvda/
* Using the say all command to read a web page
You might want to hear your web page read out by NVDA and while in
browse mode you can use the following keys the first option is for
a desktop user and the second for a lap top user.
Say all commands can also be used on a document.
Say all
NVDA+downArrow
NVDA+a
Starts reading from the current position of the system caret,
moving it along as it goes
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
On 31/07/2020 3:18 am, Robert Kingett
wrote:
Wasn't sure if this should go in the chat subgroup, but I am
looking for tutorials geared towards sighted users of NVDA? I
have many sighted people wanting to test with it, but they can't
grasp the concept of keyboard navigation. They're still using
the mouse to interact. Also, they are tabbing everywhere. Is
there a tutorial for testers?