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
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