NVDA
road tested programs
In an ideal world it would
be helpful to screen reader users, if both websites and
software were completely accessible to screen reader users.
Simple guidelines (for both websites and software) need to be
followed for a screen reader user to be able to get the most
out of the website or software they want to use. Most of the
time it can be fixed easily by the website or software
developer.
Most of us have either driven a car (or been a passenger in a
car) and understand the difference between a good road and a
road that needs fixing. Some may even be unusable until some
work has been done on them. In the same way, as screen reader
users, we may also find programs and websites with varying
degrees of accessibility built into them. There is nothing
worse than downloading software over and over again, only to
find out it is unusable by the screen reader user. Sometimes
the software is accessible straight out of the box, but sadly
this is not always the case. Please note, that although a
certain program may be accessible at a particular time, this
does not guarantee that the next version out will have the
same level of accessibility available. If this is the case,
please contact the software developer of the program you are
trying to use and let them know what has become inaccessible
in their later releases.
Training
material and phone support for NVDA from the NV Access
online shop
Are you aware that NV
Access have put together an online Shop where you can buy training material for the NVDA screen reader?
You can also get phone support.
Please stay tuned for more training
material as it becomes available.
For more information please visit the NV
Access Online Shop at the following link https://www.nvaccess.org/shop/
NVDA expert
certification
To find an NVDA certified expert near you,
please visit the following link https://certification.nvaccess.org/.
The certification page contains the official list of NVDA
certified individuals from around the world, who have sat
and successfully passed the NVDA expert exam.
Have you got a good grasp on the NVDA
screen reader? Have you got what it takes to sit the NVDA
expert exam? You can test your knowledge for free. If you
pass the exam in the required time frame, then you can
purchase an official certificate and be acknowledged on the
above webpage under the list of worldwide NVDA experts.
Find
out about NVDA progress via the nvaccess In Process
blog
To find out what is happening within the NVDA
project, visit “In-Process” - the new NV Access blog, where
you can be informed of happenings within the organisation,
staff and of course, NVDA.
http://www.nvaccess.org/category/in-process/
Click on any of the links in the table below, to visit other
NVDA related webpages that may be of interest to you.
NVDA
related webpages
NVDA screen
reader related resources
For a variety of NVDA related resources from
around the world, please visit the NVDA screen reader related
resources page at the following link
NVDA screen reader related
resources
Promotional
video on the NVDA screen reader
If you are unsure what a screen reader is,
please click on the following link to listen to a promotional
video on the NVDA screen reader https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks7AwV_uxO0&feature=youtu.be
Please feel free to pass this information onto others that you
think may be interested or who may want to find out more.
Information
for computer application/software developers
If you are a software developer, please
consider reading the following information to help make your
software packages accessible. This way, they can be accessed
by users of adaptive technologies (such as screen readers and
braille displays etcetera) which in turn broadens your
audience. Please go to the following link for more information
http://www.afb.org/section.aspx?SectionID=57&DocumentID=198
Should you wish to test your software yourself (prior to
future releases), please download the free NVDA screen reader
which is available from http://www.nvaccess.org/
Alternatively, you can contact a screen reader community and
ask some of the users to test your software for accessibility,
and to provide useful feedback to you, so that any issues
arising can be fixed before the final release. Adhering to
good development practices from the beginning not only
enhances your audience base, but also makes for a more
enjoyable experience for those wishing to be able to use your
product or software package.
Announcement
email list
If you would like to know
when there is a release of NVDA (or just to keep up to date
with what is happening with the project from time to time),
you can join the NVDA announcement email list. It can be
found on the NVaccess website at http://www.nvaccess.org/news/
When you are there, jump down by headings (by pressing the
letter H) to a heading called News by email, and sign your
self up to keep up to date with what is happening.
Information for NVDA
users
If you are an NVDA screen
reader user and have come across an accessible program
that you would like others to know about, please send an
email to hurrikennyandopo@hotmail.com
and make sure that you include the following information:
- The name of the program
- A link to the program developer's
website (if possible)
- A brief comment about the level of
accessibility of the program
My aim is to continue to develop a list
of programs that are known to work with NVDA, and any
amendments or special instructions needed to make them
usable. This is so that people new to NVDA have an idea of
which programs to download for specific purposes (for
example a word processor, a browser or an email client). I
am interested mainly in those programs which actually work
with NVDA.
Notes relating to the
list of categories that follow below...
The software listed below was gathered
together by the NVDA screen reader community - so that we
could share this information with other NVDA users. I
have listed programmes that both I personally have tried on
the Windows operating system, and that others have
contributed to say that they work. The level of
accessibility of each program will rely on how well the
developer wrote the program, along with how well the person
using it knows the software. If you find other software that
you find accessible, please do not hesitate to pass this
information on so that others can in turn learn about it
also.
If a listing has * *
immediately following, then it will relate to further notes
at the end of this page.
If there are no comments then the program is completely
accessible.
If there are limitations or other things needed to make it
accessible, that will be noted.
Add-ons
If you are aware of any
add-ons that work well with NVDA, and you would like to
share these with other NVDA users, then please submit these
directly to the NVDA community website add-on page.
Classic Shell
Classic Shell adds some
missing features to Windows 8, 7 and Vista
like a classic start menu, a
toolbar for Windows Explorer and others.
Works
on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 (the same installer
works for both 32 and 64-bit versions). http://www.classicshell.net/
NVDA community add-ons
webpage
In some cases, you may need add-ons for the NVDA screen reader
to give it extra functionality for a programme. (For example,
the winamp add-on allows you to access more information within
winamp). To obtain an add-on that may be required, please
visit the official NVDA community add-ons webpage that is
being put together at http://addons.nvda-project.org/
New NVDA add-on button
In the next upcoming version of NVDA 2013.2 a button is being
put in. This is found under the manage add-ons section. Look
for a button called "get add-ons". Once pressed, it will take
you to the NVDA community add-ons page. The button can be
found under the tools..manage add-ons section within NVDA.
SpeechHub synthesiser
package for NVDA (by Bill and Isaac)
There is a new synthesiser package that can be used with NVDA.
It allows different synthesiser packages to be bundled into
the one package and this in turn means you don't have to go
looking for them. Please read the directions on how to install
the package and also acquire the SpeechHub add-on to make the
package work. The new SpeechHub package can be found at http://www.speakon.org.uk/SpeechHub.html
Vocaliser for NVDA
synthesiser package
This is a commercial synthesiser package available for
purchase. To find out more information please visit https://vocalizer-nvda.com/
Web Visum
Web Visum is an add-on for the Mozilla Firefox browser. It's
worth getting. For more information or to download it, it can
be found at http://www.webvisum.com/