NVDA 2013.1 final released!

On May 18 2013, NVAccess is pleased to announce the final 2013.1 version of NVDA.

Highlights of this release include a more intuitive and consistent laptop keyboard layout; basic support for Microsoft PowerPoint; support for long descriptions in web browsers; and support for input of computer braille for braille displays which have a braille keyboard.

NVDA is used by 10s of thousands of blind and vision impaired people spanning more than 120 countries, enabling them to socialize, get an education, and participate in the workforce — things that may not have been possible previously for those who could not afford other expensive screen reading solutions.

you can download the new version from

http://sourceforge.net/projects/nvda/files/releases/2013.1/nvda_2013.1.exe/download

NVDA 2013.1RC2 is released!

NVDA 2013.1RC2 is released. This is a release candidate, which means that unless any critical issues are found, this will be almost identical to the final 2013.1 version.

Note that some translations may not yet be updated. They will be updated by the time of the final 2013.1 release.

The new release includes the following changes:

Fixed a problem which sometimes occurred when connecting to or pressing keys on Papenmeier BRAILLEX newer models.

When updating a previous installation, old eSpeak voices are now removed.

it is now possible to use browse mode for pages in Internet Explorer 10 when in standards mode; e.g. www.gmail.com login page.

More information like more changes and the download link, you can find at

http://community.nvda-project.org/blog/NVDA2013.1rc2Released

NVDA 2013.1RC1 is released

On 19th of April, NV Access released NVDA 2013.1RC1. This is a release candidate, which means that unless any critical issues are found, this will be almost identical to the final 2013.1 release.

Note that some translations may not yet be updated. They will be updated by the time of the final 2013.1 release.

Changes from Beta2 to RC1 are a Updated eSpeak speech synthesizer to 1.47.07, Fixed problems when interacting with Microsoft PowerPoint presentations in some cases, particularly in protected view. updated translation and documentation.

For more information, please go to http://community.nvda-project.org/blog/NVDA2013.1rc1Released

NVDA 2013.1Beta2 is released!

On 4th of April 13 NV Access released the second Beta of the 2013.1 NVDA. Testers are encouraged to report any bugs found while using this.

Note that some translations may not yet be updated. They will be updated by the time of the final 2013.1 release.

For more information about the changes from Beta1 to 2, visit www.nvda-project.org.

You can download the new version at http://community.nvda-project.org/releaseDownload/2013.1beta2/nvda_2013.1beta2.exe.

NVDA 2013.1beta1 is released

Last week NV Access released a first beta version of the new 2013.1 NVDA. It is intended for those who are interested in testing and evaluating the upcoming release, but is not recommended for production use. Testers are encouraged to report any bugs found while using this beta.

Highlights of this release include a more intuitive and consistent laptop keyboard layout; basic support for Microsoft PowerPoint?; support for long descriptions in web browsers; and support for input of computer braille for braille displays which have a braille keyboard.

Important note to laptop layout users: The laptop keyboard layout has been completely redesigned in order to make it more intuitive and consistent. The new layout uses the arrow keys in combination with the NVDA key and other modifiers for review commands. Therefore, several of the other commands in the laptop layout had to be moved around. Some of the new keys are listed below:

•Say all: NVDA+a •Read current line: NVDA+l •Read current text selection: NVDA+shift+s •Report status ba: NVDA+shift+end

In addition, among other changes, all of the object navigation, text review, mouse click and synth settings ring commands have changed. Please see the Commands Quick Reference document for the new keys.

You can download the version from www.nvda-project.org/releaseDownload/2013.1beta1/nvda_2013.1beta1.exe

I'm very sorry that the direct links doesn't work so you can't click on it, please copy it into your adress bar in your web browser. Thanks for your comprehension.

NVDA and pdf-documents

With NVDA, it is also possible to read pdf-documents. These type off document is very popular for example when you download an ebook or want to read your newest handy bill. The advantage against word-documents is, you can't change the content.

To read PDF-documents you need the adobe reader, a free program to read ebooks. You can download it from

www.adobe.com

When you downloaded it successful, please open the file and follow the installation-assistant. Please click in every step "next" until the program will be installed.

That's it-have fun with your pdf-documents!

NVDA and gmail part two - the user interface

After you successful registered in gmail, you are now possible to look at the interface from your new mail provider. Please click on the link "postbox" to go to your received mails.

On the next page, you'll find lots of useful links.

At the top, you have listed all google services (news, mail, groups, Youtube etc.). In the middle, there are features like write an e-mail, edit your labels, your folders (postbox, bin, spam, sended mails).

To all these points you can easy and quick navigate in the link list. To show you all links on the website, press NVDA+F7. For example if you want to go to your postbox, please press the letter "p" in the link list until the screen reader says "postbox."

I hope, these instructions aren't wrong. Here in Germany, I can only use gmail in German language so I can only describe the leyout how it looks in German, but I think it should be the same too in english. May be the names of the links are different, but if you look at the website, I'm sure you will manage it! An now, have fun with gmail!

NVDA and gmail - part one the registration and advantages against other mail providers

I have chosen gmail for the describtion how to create an mailaccount because in my opinion it is the best website with the greatest user interface for screen readers. Another advantage against other providers (web, freenet) is, that you can use lots of more features from google:

google news (you can read the newest news from all over the world!), Groups (you can create a group for a specific topic. This is like a mailing list), blog (you can write a webblog like I'm doing).

All this, you can do with one account! But the most important thing is, the mail area is great to use with NVDA!!! to create an google account go to www.google.com/mail and click on the link "register." please fill out the form on the next site. The captcha you have to solve is now no problem for NVDA! if you need captchas more than this time, you can install "webvisum." this is a great firefox add-on to solve captchas. For more information please read the areas "nice add-ons to surf easier with NVDA on the internet" and "instructions how you can install Webvisum" in my blog.

Before I had my mail adress by google, I had it by freenet. The website wasn't accessible for a screen reader and it was to much stuff on it. Until you can write an e-mail, it takes very long. All these problems disapiere with gmail! how easy you can navigate though the mail area, you will read in my next blog!

additional add-ons for NVDA

There are different add-ons for NVDA. These add-ons are not added in the screen reader automatically, you can download and install them if you want. To install an add-on, download the file, select Manage add-ons under Tools in the NVDA menu, press the Install button and browse to the add-on file you downloaded.

One add-on, it's called "OCR", (optical character recognition) extract text from an object which is inaccessible. The Tesseract OCR engine is used. You can download the add-on from http://files.nvaccess.org/nvda-addons/ocr_0.20120529.01.nvda-addon

Another add-on is "Braillenote Classic Braille Display Driver." This driver is for the Braillenote classic notetaker. It only supports the classic braillenotes, mPower or Apex were not tested. Interested? download it from http://dev.unreliabledevice.net/files/nvda/addons/braillenoteDriver-0.2.nvda-addon

A list with these add-ons and a describtion from NV access can you find at www.nvda-project.org/wiki/AddOns

Be carefull with add-ons aren't developed from NV access. This add-ons may be can crash down your NVDA version. More add-ons you can find at http://stormdragon.us/nvda/