Accessibility On Windows

Introduction

On this page, you will find information for the screen readers that Mudlet is able to work with on Windows. They are: Narrator, Jaws For Windows, and NVDA.

Narrator

General Information

Narrator is a screen reader that is built into windows. To enable it, simply press CTRL+Windows Logo Key+Enter. When you do, speech should start almost immediately.

NVDA

General Information

NVDA or NonVisual Desktop Access is a free, third party screen reader that works on Windows. Those wishing to use Mudlet with NVDA should be familiar with the review cursor, and with object navigation. Information on both of these topics can be found in the NVDA User Guide as well as in Commands Quick Reference. The latter can be found in NVDA's help menu, accessible by pressing NVDA + N followed by the letter H.

those planning to use the review cursor in the output window should be aware that the option, "Simple review mode", should be turned on. This option can be fount in the review cursor tab, in NVDA's settings dialog. If having this turned on becomes a hindrance when using other software, a configuration profile for Mudlet can be created in which this option can be turned on as long as the Mudlet window had focus prior to invoking the settings dialog. As with all other application specific configuration profiles, the profile will automatically deactivate when focusing any other application than the one the profile was created for.

The main toolbar can be reached with object navigation, and the items there can be activated by use of NVDA's default action key. This would be NVDA+Numpad Enter in the desktop layout and NVDA+Enter in the laptop layout.

Entering Lua Code

Currently, the editor that handles Lua is not accessible to screen readers; however, there is a work-around for those willing to write their code in an external editor and paste it into the Edbee applet, which currently appears as an unnamed grouping for screen reader users. This trick requires that Golden Cursor be installed, which is a popular addon for VDA.

1. Either create a new trigger, alias, etc. or select one you wish to edit
2. Prepare some Lua code in an external editor such as
   1. Notepad2
   2. Notepad++
   3. Visual Studio Code
3. Invoke NVDA's mouse settings dialog by pressing NVDA+CTRL+M
4. Ensure that the following two options are checked
   1. Report mouse shape changes
   2. Enable mouse tracking
5. Click, "OK" to save and close, or, "Apply", to save and leave the window open
6. Go to your external editor of choice and copy your code into the clipboard
7. Return to the Mudlet editor and tab until you hear, "Grouping"
   1. Optionally, if you pressed tab too many times, you will now be inserting tabs into the editor, press backspace a few times to clear them
8. You should now explore around the area with Golden Cursor's mouse movement keys until you hear that the cursor has become an, "Edit cursor"
9. Route the mouse cursor to the grouping by pressing +Numpad slash or NVDA+Shift+M for laptop layout users
10. Use NVDA + [ (left square bracket) to perform a mouse click.
11. Press CTRL+V to paste the code
12. Press NVDA+R to perform optical character recognition (OCR) on the grouping to ensure the code was pasted
13. Press CTRL+Tab to jump outside of the editor

Precise instructions can't be given on how to find the point at which the cursor changes to the correct shape because of varying screen resolutions; however, once found, a mouse position can be saved in Golden Cursor and used at a later time to jump the mouse inside the applet.

Blank lines

Accessibility for Mudlet for Windows has an issue reporting blank lines to screen readers properly. Narrator deals OK with this, while NVDA will repeat the same lines again. To alleviate this, go to Preferences - Special Options - and change 'when a game sends blank lines' to either 'hide them' or 'replace with space'.