Tutorials

Below you’ll find links to tutorials either produced by me or by others, ranging in topic from NVDA to Windows 10 and beyond.

 

NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA)

 

NVDA is a free, open-source, community-driven screen reader that has been taking the blindness community by storm.

 

Welcome to NVDA 2018 by Joseph Lee

This tutorial series is designed for new and current NVDA users and goes through everything from installation, configuration, usage to add-ons. For changes between 2015 and 2018, and a history of this tutorial set, be sure to listen to what’s new in 2018 segment.

NVDA 2018 series (based on NVDA 2018.1 with some features from 2017.4):

1. Introduction:
   1. Welcome to NVDA
   2. What is NVDA
   3. NVDA features
   4. License and copyright
   5. Tutorial version and system requirements
   6. Obtaining NVDA
   7. Installing NVDA
   8. Creating a portable NVDA
   9. Installing or creating portable NVDA – alternate method
   10. Installed versus portable versus temporary NVDA
   11. Updating NVDA and starting portable copy after creation
   12. Start and exit NVDA
   13. Restarting NVDA
   14. Summary
   15. Welcome to NVDA part 1 complete package
2. Basics:
   1. Introduction
   2. NVDA modifier key
   3. A tale of two keyboard layouts
   4. Input help mode
   5. NVDA menu
   6. Welcome dialog
   7. Basic commands
   8. Touchscreen interaction
   9. Summary
   10. Welcome to NVDA part 2 complete package
3. All about objects:
   1. Introduction
   2. Objects, properties, hierarchy
   3. System focus and caret versus navigator object and review cursor
   4. Object navigation commands
   5. Review cursor
   6. Review modes
   7. Using the mouse
   8. Touchscreen navigation revisited
   9. Summary
   10. Welcome to NVDA part 3 complete package
4. NVDA And The Web:
   1. Introduction
   2. Supported web browsers and features
   3. Basic commands
   4. Screen layout
   5. Focus mode versus browse mode
   6. First letter navigation:
      • Part I – headings, links and non-link text blocks, landmarks, form fields, tables and table navigation, lists and list items, and jumping out of containers
      • Part II – visited and unvisited links, graphics, block quotes, separators, frames, embedded objects, annotations, spelling errors, and notes on command availability
   7. Refreshing web content
   8. Finding text
   9. Elements list
   10. First letter commands and web applications
   11. Live regions, math content, and other elements
   12. Summary
   13. Welcome to NVDA part 4 complete package: part 1, part 2
5. Popular applications:
   1. Introduction
   2. Popular apps overview
   3. Microsoft Office:
      • Word
      • Excel
      • Outlook
      • PowerPoint
   4. Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps (Windows 10):
      • Microsoft Store
      • Skype
      • Calculator
      • Alarms and Clock
      • Mail
   5. Other popular apps and tools:
      • GoldWave
      • StationPlaylist Studio
      • Microsoft Visual Studio
      • Notepad++
      • Kindle for PC
      • 7-Zip
      • Command line tools (Command Prompt, PowerShell, Windows Subsystem for Linux/Bash)
   6. Summary
   7. Welcome to NVDA part 5 complete package: part 1, part 2, part 3
6. NVDA Preferences I:
   1. Introduction
   2. Preferences overview
   3. General settings
   4. Synthesizer
   5. Supported speech synthesizers
   6. Voice settings
   7. Synth settings ring
   8. Braille settings
   9. Supported braille displays
   10. Keyboard settings
   11. Mouse settings
   12. Touch interaction
   13. Saving and restoring settings
   14. Summary
   15. Welcome to NVDA part 6 complete package: part 1, part 2
7. NVDA Preferences II:
   1. Introduction
   2. Review cursor
   3. Input composition settings
   4. Object presentation
   5. Browse mode
   6. Document formatting
   7. Windows 10 OCR
   8. Speech dictionaries
   9. Punctuation/symbol pronunciation
   10. Input gestures
   11. Restoring to factory defaults
   12. Summary
   13. Welcome to NVDA part 7 complete package: part 1, part 2
8. NVDA Tools and Configuration Profiles:
   1. Introduction
   2. Tools overview
   3. Log viewer
   4. Speech viewer
   5. Python console
   6. Reload plugins
   7. Content recognition
   8. Configuration profiles
   9. Summary
   10. Welcome to NVDA part 8 complete package
9. NVDA Add-ons:
   1. Introduction
   2. What is an NVDA Add-on
   3. Add-ons Manager
   4. Systray List
   5. DictationBridge
   6. Golden Cursor
   7. Resource Monitor
   8. Remote Support
   9. Windows 10 App Essentials
   10. Closing remarks and where to now
   11. Welcome to NVDA part 9 complete package: part 1, part 2

Welcome to NVDA 2018 addendum:

• NVDA and Windows 10 on ARM – an introduction to running NVDA on Windows 10 on ARM
• NVDA as a Windows Store app – musings on possibility of running NVDA as a Windows Store app

For people who wish to download the entire 2018 series can do so by clicking the below link (select the correct link depending on the format you want):
Welcome to NVDA 2018 zip files for: mp3 files, DAISY format (DAISY book produced and made available through the AccessiDocs Project of the Pennsylvania Council of the Blind)

NVDA courses

 

These were courses I taught in the past.

Your First NVDA App Module

• Your First NVDA App Module: a course on writing app modules for NVDA (Overview):
  1. Introduction to app modules (introduction, definitions, contacting app developers and writing a bare-minimum app module)
  2. Scripts, input and output (scripts, gestures, methods, output and how input help mode works)
  3. Objects (objects, object hierarchy, traversal and attributes)
  4. Events (events, event handling, callbacks and event mappings)
  5. Overlay classes (Overlay classes, object init event)
  6. API’s (App API’s and closing remarks)

  Your First NVDA App Module complete package (includes audio, Powerpoint presentations, and samples)

NVDA Tech Support: An Introduction

1. Introduction and key concepts and skills for tech support providers
2. How to read and understand NVDA log, log levels, and examples
3. Recognizing and troubleshooting common issues, tech support provider attitudes

You can also download this webinar series as a compressed archive.

Windows 10

 

Windows 10 is the latest version of Windows that uses continuous delivery for feature upgrades. Below are podcasts highlighting major features through Windows 10 development.

Windows 10 build progression:

• Using Windows 10 Technical Preview with screen readers (emphasis on NVDA; Joseph Lee)
• Using Windows 10 Technical Preview build 9926 with screen readers (emphasis on NVDA; Joseph Lee)
• What to expect in Windows 10 build 10565 with screen readers (emphasis on NVDA; Joseph Lee)
• Windows 10 build 14342 with screen readers (emphasis on NVDA; Joseph Lee)
• Windows 10 build 14965 with screen readers (emphasis on NVDA and Narrator; Joseph Lee)
• Windows 10 build 15042 with screen readers (emphasis on NVDA and Narrator; Joseph Lee)
• Windows 10 build 16232 with screen readers (emphasis on NVDA and Narrator; Joseph Lee)
• Windows 10 build 17025 with screen readers (emphasis on NVDA and Narrator; Joseph Lee)
• Windows 10 build 17063 with screen readers (emphasis on NVDA; Joseph Lee)
• Windows 10 build 17692 with screen readers (emphasis on NVDA and Narrator; Joseph Lee)
• Windows 10 build 18282 with screen readers (emphasis on NVDA and Narrator; Joseph Lee)
• Windows 10 build 18323 with screen readers (emphasis on NVDA and Narrator; Joseph Lee)
• Windows 10 build 18963 with screen readers (emphasis on NVDA and Narrator; Joseph Lee)
• Windows 10 build 21313 with screen readers (emphasis on NVDA and Narrator; Joseph Lee)

Windows 10 concepts, universal apps and other notes:

• UI Automation, universal apps and demonstration of Windows 10 App Essentials NVDA add-on