NVDA: Free Screen Reader for Windows James Teh & Michael Curran Directors, NV Access Limited Lead developers of NVDA
Who is NV Access? • Australian non-profit organisation • Develops the NVDA screen reader • Funded through grants, contracts and donations • Received support from Mozilla, Adobe, Yahoo!, Microsoft • www.nvaccess.org
What is NVDA? • NonVisual Desktop Access • Free, open source screen reader for Microsoft Windows • Allows blind/vision impaired users to access Windows • Allows user to "read the screen" via synthetic speech/braille • Developed by users, for users
NVDA Features • Zero cost! • Multilingual: translated into over 40 languages • Portability: can run entirely from a USB drive • Regular, automatic updates • Supports Windows XP – Windows 8.1 (32 and 64 bit)
Application Support • Office suites: Microsoft Office Word/Excel/PowerPoint, IBM Lotus Symphony • Web/document browsers: Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Adobe Reader • Email clients: Mozilla Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express/Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail • Adobe Flash
NVDA Features • Announcement of controls & content as the system focus/cursor moves • Announcement of textual formatting; e.g. font name/size, style, spelling errors • Announcement of text under the mouse • Independent object navigation and review • Support for touch screens
How is NVDA Being Used? • By home users: email, news, music, finance, shopping, social, etc. • By students: school and university • In the workplace, including By those who are self-employed, particularly in IT • People on the go: public library computers, Internet Cafes • Software and website accessibility testing; e.g. Yahoo!, Microsoft
Usage Statistics • Over 60,000 downloads in last3 months • Currently over 15,000 people on average using NVDA each day, spanning 160 countries • WebAIM Screen Reader User Survey #4 (2012) reports NVDA 2nd most used Windows Screen Reader
Why is NVDA Good for Students? • It's free! – Can have at home as early as possible – Can be installed on unlimited computers – Access to only certain school computers puts students at a disadvantage • Portability: carry and use anywhere • Consistency: same screen reader at home and school
Awards • 2007: Michael Curran: Australian National Disability Award • 2009: Vision Australia "Making a Difference" award • 2009: Michael Curran: Vision Australia Youth Service award • 2010: NVDA appeared on New Inventors Australian Television show; won "Les is More Award“ – Presented "to an inventor whose invention might make a real difference to people's lives or the environment"
Awards • 2011: James Teh: Special Excellence Award in the 2011 QUT Outstanding Alumni Awards • 2011: Queensland Disability Action Week Community Organisation - Disability Organisation Award • 2011: Federal Communications Commission Chairman's Award for Advancement in Accessibility • 2011: James Teh: finalist for the Queensland Young Australian of the Year Award • 2012: AFB Access Award
Recent Developments • Support for Microsoft PowerPoint • Support for track changes in Microsoft Word • Configuration profiles: different settings for different situations • Updates to work with Microsoft Office 2013
More Information • www.nvaccess.org
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