Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Still struggling with NVDA (self.Blind)
submitted by K-R-Rose
So I posted a few days ago with my struggles of starting to use NVDA. I have done more research since then and have been digging into the command menus and whatnot. I can now loosely navigate around the laptop without a mouse, but I’m still struggling with PDFs. NVDA refuses to read anything more than a line no matter what I do. When I open an accessible PDF, it will start to read everything, but as soon as I touch anything it stops and won’t continuously read ever again after that. NVDA+down arrow only reads a single line, and I also can’t go to next paragraph, or tell it to read the whole paragraph. Additionally, NVDA keeps getting stuck on thumbnail images for multi page PDFs. It won’t actually read the document and tells me it’s “not in a table cell” when I press NVDA+down arrow.
Sorry I’m such a bother, but I can’t find any resources online that are helping me fix this issue. Hopefully you guys know what to do….
Sorry I’m such a bother, but I can’t find any resources online that are helping me fix this issue. Hopefully you guys know what to do….
BlindGuyNW 5 points 1y ago
I have a question which you should consider: why are you using a mouse with NVDA? It's really designed to be used with its own keyboard commands, and it sounds like you're trying to do things in a way which is counter to the way screen readers are designed to operate.
Screen readers can read what's under the mouse, but this isn't the way they are used by most people who use them in their daily lives.
Screen readers can read what's under the mouse, but this isn't the way they are used by most people who use them in their daily lives.
K-R-Rose [OP] 1 points 1y ago
Well I didn’t know that at first, but now I do and I’m trying to use keys only. Basically I’m starting to use NVDA because I just got a laptop (I’ve never personally owned one before) and college is throwing a lot at me that I can’t just go find illegal audio recordings of on YouTube. That’s how I survived high school, but that isn’t an option anymore so screen readers are all I really have
draakdorei 2 points 1y ago
Do you have an example PDF that you can link to?
I think I commented on your last post too. I read PDFs in Chrome, primarily JNovels or webnovel compilations by fans. They are mixes of images and text.
I haven't heard the table error message with INSERT + Down arrow (default NVDA key) on the PDFs, but I remember hearing similar errors when turning off Browser mode. I want to say the hotkey is INS + Spacebar to flip it on/off. It makes a noise to tell you when it flips.
The biggest diffeerence being arrow keys scroll when off, without reading text, and read text on every line when browser mode is on.
I'll play with the PDFs I have and see if I can replicate what you are hearing.
I think I commented on your last post too. I read PDFs in Chrome, primarily JNovels or webnovel compilations by fans. They are mixes of images and text.
I haven't heard the table error message with INSERT + Down arrow (default NVDA key) on the PDFs, but I remember hearing similar errors when turning off Browser mode. I want to say the hotkey is INS + Spacebar to flip it on/off. It makes a noise to tell you when it flips.
The biggest diffeerence being arrow keys scroll when off, without reading text, and read text on every line when browser mode is on.
I'll play with the PDFs I have and see if I can replicate what you are hearing.
modulus 1 points 1y ago
What program are you opening the pdf with?
What happens if you use arrows up and down, what does it say?
Are you on desktop or laptop keyboard layout?
What happens if you use arrows up and down, what does it say?
Are you on desktop or laptop keyboard layout?
K-R-Rose [OP] 1 points 1y ago
I’m opening the PSF on top of the page I’m already on, (for example gmail) because if I open in another tab it gets stuck on the page thumbnails. If I go up and down with the arrows, it switches to the next line to read as it’s supposed to. I have no idea if I’m laptop or desktop keyboard, and have no idea how to check.
modulus 1 points 1y ago
You can check your keyboard layout on NVDA - preferences - keyboard - layout.
Which browser are you using? I get a lot better results for PDFs opening them with Adobe Reader than in a browser.
Which browser are you using? I get a lot better results for PDFs opening them with Adobe Reader than in a browser.
K-R-Rose [OP] 1 points 1y ago
Oh interesting. I saw something mention Adobe reader but I didn’t know what it was. I’ll look into it
zersiax 2 points 1y ago
You may be in laptop layout, which would make the "sayAll" command nvda+a, rather than nvda+down arrow. That will likely help with that particular issue.
gunfart 2 points 1y ago
please don't take this the wrong way, and i salute you for getting out there and learning but you need to learn how to walk before you start sprinting ;)
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