NonVisual Desktop Access

Rim streams everything playing on the target computer to the controller in full-fidelity stereo.

If the user runs JAWS, NVDA, Narrator, or VoiceOver, the helper hears that screen reader exactly as the user does, along with every system sound and error cue, at least anything that's coming through the default sound card.

Pneuma quotes connection latency of under 99 milliseconds.

The stereo's important for people who are being supported with music production and other audio software.

Pneuma Solutions' own white paper describes JAWS ignoring a technician's keystrokes through popular remote desktop products unless someone first reconfigured JAWS on the user's machine.

Rim handles keyboard input reliably regardless of the screen reader on either side.

A JAWS user can help an NVDA user.

A Mac user can help a Windows user.

I have recommendations for which screen readers to learn.

On Windows, I'd recommend you learn NVDA.

This is a free and open source screen reader that is fairly popular.

If you're on a Mac computer, I recommend you learn VoiceOver.

Okay, so let me go back.

I'm going to sort these by upvotes.

Paul asks, is it still necessary to learn the JAWS screen reader? Right now I'm learning NVDA.

Do you have an opinion about that?

As far as the kind of history, if you will, of access technology, a big thing that sticks out to me is how screen reading software got started.

Screen reading software, I'm referring to JAWS, job access with speech, or NVDA, non-visual desktop access.

For Windows systems specifically, JAWS got its start back in the late 1900s.

I know.

I remember a time when I was back in elementary school and we had the giant box computers that sat on a desk.

And they had a very skeletal, if you will, version of JAWS that you could really only use on the main screen.

And so now to see screen reading software of all kinds, whether it be voiceover for Mac OS or JAWS and NVDA for Windows, and of course, all the other screen readers that have popped up along with them, be able to do everything and then some with computers is a really cool thing to watch happen.

And of course, we then have now screen reading software for smartphones and smartphones.

Yeah, I know exactly what you can imagine.

Anyway, I want to mention before we get to the emails, NVDA 26 or 2026.2 is out.

Whoop, whoop.

It is.

It's definitely whoop, whoop, Stephen Scott, because it's got that new magnifier built in.

Yeah, do you know what? Well done to the NVDA team on this one.

Well done on this.

We got the NVDA magnifier.

You can use the 20 cell display, which is separate, but yeah.

And as far as you know, in regards to JAWS and NVDA, because they have more support, well, I know JAWS does have multi-line braille display support.

Does NVDA, do we know about that at this point?

I think it does.

I think it's getting there.

Ron and I are now going to trade off every now and then and talk about Windows navigation, Windows computers, PCs, laptops, all things Windows.

We're mainly going to focus on JAWS and NVDA use because many of us are screen readers or instructors who teach screen reader usage.

And like Jonathan said, structured discovery in terms of technology is very similar to structured discovery in terms of what we usually talk about it in the National Federation of the Blind in travel.

But it's also important to know that structured discovery as a method can be applied to anything that you are teaching or learning.

Building confidence on any device can largely be broken up into three major knowledge groups.

First, you should know the machine that you're working on in broad strokes.

You should know the tool that you're working with, such as JAWS, NVDA, Magnifier, etc.

And you should think about what you already know well and what you would like to learn as you explore.

I've started to spend more time with voiceover.

But I have used the magnifier zoom text and the magnifier on Windows, and I'm starting to learn a bit about NVDA and Narrator And they all seem like they have their different uses and yeah.

So you did mention Braille.

So what sort of Braille investigations have you done at the moment?

Thank you.

Hi everyone and welcome to a bit of a chit chat from across the pond here in Australia where I am.

And I have the unique pleasure once again to have Quentin on from NV Access which is of course the company that distributes, makes, supports everything else NVDA which of course stands for Non Visual Desktop Access.

And Quentin is their main support slash trainer slash something else that I can't quite remember off the top of my head.

[laughs] And, um, so I was waiting for it to load up, and it was taking some time.

Do you know the screen reader, I tried NVDA, JAWS, didn't try Narrator, uh, but both of them, both NVDA and JAWS, were just stuck constantly.

Wouldn't speak, would take ages to respond.

Oh, well, that's your-