How does a BLIND person use a computer? Jaws for Windows and Mac Voiceover

[@irisgirl86music14]

I really like this video :) I like how you cover all the available screen readers available on Windows and Mac. ON Chromebooks, the built in screen reader is Chromevox, on Android phones it's Talkback, and on Linux it's Orca. A few additional facts worth knowing: - The JAWS home annual license was first introduced in the US around the beginning of 2019. It costs $95/year. The license was just introduced to Canada in July 2021 and it costs around CAD$120/year. I didn't know you could get JAWS for £99 a year in the UK! I only know the annual license exists in the US and Canada and nowhere else. - To start Narrator, the command is now control windows enter. Windows U was used on older version of Winddows I believe. And a few fast facts about NVDA (which is the screen reader I use 98% of the time these days along with Narrator and a 40 min demo of JAWS on rare occasions): - NVDA is far more international than JAWS, meaning that it tends to support minority languages better and tends to meet the needs of those in developing countries better for this reason. Don't get me wrong, JAWS works well with many other languages other than English, but its interface is only available in around 15 languages as opposed to NVDA's 50+ interface languages. I'd say Voiceover, Talkback and other similar built in screen readers tend to have this advantage as well. NVDA also tends to work better when writing in Asian languages like Mandarin or Japanese, for example. - NVDA is portable, which means you can run it from a USB flash drive. This is really handy if you need to access a Windows computer that is not your own. - NVDA can be extended using addons, similar to JAWS scripts. Narrator does not have this ability. Addons are coded in the Python programming language, which is the main programming language used in NVDA. Addons can be created to make apps more accessible, but they can also be made to add extra features as well. For example, the popular Eloquence and Vocalizer synthesizers can be purchased as a bundled NVDA addon, and popular JAWS features such as place markers and speech history are available in the form of NVDA addons. NVDA addons can also be located from a central repository unlike JAWS scripts. However, JAWS scripts are still far more prevalent in the workplace partly due to tradition. - And re: voice synthesizers, I also like Eloquence a lot, but I also like the human sounding voices as well. NVDA comes bundled with an open source synthesizer called eSpeak. It is incredibly responsive and can speak a ton of different languages, but it is very robotic sounding, and many find it much much harder to understand than Eloquence. Personally I really dislike eSpeak and find my comprehension is really poor using it. For years, eSpeak was the default voice on NVDA until recently, when the new OneCore voices on Windows 10 (also used by Narrator) are now the default when installing NVDA on Windows 10, although eSpeak is still the default on earlier versions of Windows. The SAPI5 voices, which are built into Windows, can also be used by all screen readers on Windows. Although Eloquence is not a human sounding voice, I find its pronunciation and sound quality to be fairly similar to human sounding voices, much more so than eSpeak. I also find Eloquence to not be completely expressionless either. You can in fact buy Eloquence for use with NVDA (there's no way Eloquence can be legally bundled with NVDA without making NVDA a paid product), but personally I'm really happy with the Windows OneCore/SAPI voices and use those with NVDA.

[@mamaK648]

Glad I caught this one. Great into and demo. Technology is really amazing and I hope it advances even more in the future. Already grateful for where it's at now. Thanks for sharing guys!

[@CrixJoki]

Interesting, thanks for sharing :)

[@sannaslife6395]

I love voice over

[@sarajayne7337]

Thanks for sharing. I am a teacher and next year I will have a student with low vision and also low hearing. I have learnt that they use JAWS and Focus 40. I had no idea what these were, you have taught me. Thanks do much.

[@BlindGirlVlogs]

Hi, I'm so glad this was useful. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll do my best to answer them. Doesn't have to be technology related, anything about blindness. Take care. Have a lovely day.

[@sarajayne7337]

@@BlindGirlVlogs thanks so much. I will do.

[@footynutguy]

I used to use supernova in the early 2000's but when it was time to upgrade in 2009 I switched to the Mac as it was about the same price as a pc with accessibility software and I found it far easier to use. I imagine ox software is better these days but I couldn't see myself going back.

[@egroovesoldschoolmusic7171]

What’s port D, I know about control d but not port d.

[@footynutguy]

The microphone loves Shaun. Who else have we got to take the Micky out of :)

[@egroovesoldschoolmusic7171]

Hi, I’ve used Jaws for years but sometimes, it’s still a bitch! What I wanna know now is, how do you copy a URL from the website Twitch? I’m trying to download a musician friend of mine’s twitch videos and it’s not like facebook or youtube where I can just go to the video I want and copy the URL, this Twitch website is a pain in the butt. Any suggestions?

[@BlindGirlVlogs]

I don’t know about that platform, but ordinarily you would hit Port de I think and then control C?

[@pancakewalrus99]

jaws is shit software.

[@BlindGirlVlogs]

🤣