Good afternoon, everyone!

I was hoping to seek some thoughts on the comparison between screen readers - particularly the two free ones, NVDA for Windows and VO for Mac. I recognize that when you compare these two, it's not really an apples-to-apples comparison because they're for completely different operating systems. Still, I'm interested in the thoughts of anyone who has used both screen readers heavily. Does one seem more efficient than the other? Which one do you find more seamlessly gets you where you need to go within various programs? Do you find that one hinders your productivity or gets in your way more? For example, when listening to podcasts of people using VO, I sometimes feel that it reports a lot of information that I'd find extraneous, which would be less efficient in the long run - but I had the same thought about NVDA, until I realized I could turn off things like reporting table position, etc. In my brief experience playing with Voiceover, I felt like navigating between elements of a page (such as jumping from a sidebar or toolbar to a main content area) might be a little more clunky than I'm used to - but that could just be a lack of familiarity with the way things are laid out in OSX. So, any comparisons like that - things that annoy you about one or the other, places where one seems more efficient than the other, etc., would be great. Thanks in advance!

Screen reader keyboard shortcuts > JAWS

Jaws Screen Reader. This is another screen reader software that will let visually impaired people use the computer. It will also narrate the components on the desktop where the cursor of the mouse is pointed to. In addition to all this, Jaws can also convert the screen information into Braille language and transfer it to refreshable Braille. Use Word for the web with your keyboard and a screen reader to quickly do all essential basic tasks, such as open, create, and read a document or add page numbers. We have tested it with Narrator, JAWS, and NVDA, but it might work with other screen readers as long as.

Also available in a single-page printer-friendly PDF version.

Fusion provides the best of both worlds – ZoomText®, with its screen magnification and visual enhancements for screen viewing ease, coupled with the power and speed of.
A screen reader is a software program that enables a blind or visually impaired user to read the text that is displayed on the computer screen with a speech synthesizer or braille display. JAWS, J ob A ccess W ith S peech, is the world’s most popular screen reader, developed for computer users whose vision loss prevents them from seeing.

JAWS, which stands for Job Access with Speech, is a screen reader developed by Freedom Scientific.

Note:

JAWS works well with Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer.
+ , + , +

Historically, JAWS has worked best with Internet Explorer, and that combination still works well, but Internet Explorer is old and will never be updated with new features, so it is best to migrate to newer browsers.

Getting started

PC Cursor: The usual cursor on the screen. When activated, users can move this cursor around the screen. It can only go where a cursor can be placed.

Virtual PC Cursor: The virtual PC cursor is similar to the PC Cursor, and is used for navigating HTML documents.

JAWS cursor: is the mouse pointer on the screen. When activated, users can move around the screen and navigate through areas where a normal cursor cannot go.

Forms Mode: When entering a form using Tab, Arrow Keys, or the JAWS cursor, JAWS automatically leaves Browse Mode and enters Forms Mode. This changes some of the keystrokes so that the user can enter text. If Forms mode does not activate automatically, press Enter when on a form field to activate it. Press the Numpad Plus (+) to go back to browse mode and use normal navigation keystrokes.

To install JAWS, download the latest version at http://www.freedomscientific.com/downloads/JAWS, run the “Configlicense” batch file at enableJAWSConfigureLicense as an administrator, then reboot.

The basics

Topic	Task	Command
Reading:	Stop reading	Control
	Start reading continuously from this point on	Insert +
	Read next item
	Read next focusable item (e.g. link, button)	Tab
Activate:	Link	Enter
Activate:	Button	Enter or Space Bar
Headings:	Go to next heading	H
	Show list of all headings	Insert + F6
	Go to next heading of level [1-6]	1 - 6
Landmarks:	Go to next landmark/region	R
Main:	Go to the main content region	Q
Elements list:	Show list of all buttons, frames, graphics, lists, links, etc.	Insert + F3
Tables:	Go to next table	T
Tables:	Navigate table cells	Ctrl + Alt + or or or
Lists:	Go to next list	L
Lists:	Go to next list item	I
Graphics:	Go to next graphic	G
Links:	List all links	Insert + F7
	Go to next unvisited link	U
	Go to next visited link	V
Navigate:	Toggle between: Radio buttons, <select> list items, Tabs (ARIA widget), Tree view items (ARIA widget), Menu items (ARIA widget)	or or or
Virtual PC Cursor:	Toggle Virtual PC Cursor	Insert + Z
Go backward:	To previous heading, landmark, table, focusable item, etc.	Shift + [H, R, T, Tab, etc.]

Reading text

Topic	Task	Command
Line:	Say prior line
	Say next line
	Say current line	Insert +
	Say to cursor	Insert + Home
	Say from cursor

Note:

Jaws Screen Reader For Mac

Getting started

Jaws Screen Reader

The basics

Reading text