In-Process 13 June 2017:
Firstly, the big news: NVDA 2017.2 is now available. Anyone with automatic updates enabled should have received a prompt to update. You can manually update NVDA by pressing NVDA+n to open the NVDA menu, pressing H for help then C to check for update. You can also download NVDA 2017.2 from https://www.nvaccess.org/download/.
Highlights of this release include full support for audio ducking in the Windows 10 Creators Update; fixes for several selection issues in browse mode, including problems with select all; significant improvements in Microsoft Edge support; and improvements on the web such as indication of elements marked as current (using aria-current). The full “What’s new” is online if you would like to read more.
Another new release to announce, this time the Microsoft Excel with NVDA training module. Following on from the success of “Basic Training for NVDA” and “Microsoft Word with NVDA”, NV Access are very pleased to present “Microsoft Excel with NVDA”. As with the other titles in the series, Microsoft Excel with NVDA is a comprehensive walk through all the features of Excel with the keyboard and NVDA. Each topic is accompanied by an activity to help solidify your knowledge. Topics covered include: Getting started with Excel, using headers, multiple worksheets, formulas, cell references, named ranges, tables, the elements list, text and number formatting, sorting, filtering, using charts, protecting and sharing workbooks. Microsoft Excel with NVDA is available from the NV Access shop.
With the great success of NVDACon again this year, there has been a lot of interest in recordings of the sessions from those who couldn’t attend. All the sessions are now available from the NVDACon site on the “Past Conferences” page. Thank-you once again to all the organisers and presenters for putting together a fantastic conference, and thank you to all those who participated for joining in and making NVDACon 2017 a great success!
The NVDA Certified Expert program has been a big hit, with many people proudly showing off their prowess with NVDA. One new feature that we’ve rolled out is that when you are listed on the Certification page you can now also add your contact details. If you are already listed on the page and would like to add or update details, simply log in to your account, and add or edit any of your contact information. We’ve also streamlined the log-in process. You now only need to log in once, rather than needing to log in to sit the certification and then separately to purchase the certificate.
Keen followers of In-Process will have seen our last post: “Microsoft Edge 2 years in: Where are we at for accessibility?”. Particularly for those using Windows 10, this is a great update on using Microsoft’s newest flagship browser with NVDA. Speaking of seeing posts, did you know you can subscribe to the In-Process RSS feed? If you would like to be automatically notified of new In-Process posts, your browser should be able to detect it on the page you are reading now. If you do need a direct link for your RSS application, you can point it to: https://www.nvaccess.org/category/in-process/feed/. If you’re wondering what RSS is, Google has many answers, here is one: A Really Simple Guide To Really Simple Syndication (RSS).
Speaking of Windows 10, one of the features of Windows we have had a lot of queries about is Microsoft’s new “OneCore” voices. OneCore are a range of new voices Microsoft have added to Windows 10. For those using Next builds of NVDA, you can test these out now by opening NVDA’s synthesizer settings (press NVDA+control+s) and choosing Microsoft OneCore from the list. You can then open the Voice Settings dialog (NVDA+control+v) and choose the specific voice you would like to use. These are due to make their way to the Master branch this week and eventually into NVDA 2017.3 when it comes out.
Another feature making its way through our Next branch is a new set of sounds for NVDA. Designed to be more subtle, modern and snappy, feel free to try these out in the latest Next build. As always, if you have any feedback on the voices, or anything else, there are a number of ways of getting in touch. If you find a bug or want to suggest a new feature, you can post an issue on GitHub. If you’d like to share ideas, ask for help from other users or follow along with the general conversation around NVDA, all the cool kids are on the E-Mail list. And if you’d like to get in touch with NV Access directly, you can E-Mail us.
Also in next thanks to Reef, continuing our work on supporting ARIA 1.1, is aria-placeholder, which is used for fields which have placeholder text before you type into the field. There aren’t many examples of aria-placeholder in the wild yet, so here’s a challenge to see if you can find one!
That’s all for this time. For the next In-Process, tune in at the same bat-time, same bat-channel!