The release candidate for the 3rd major update for NVDA in 2015 has been released. This release includes initial Windows 10 support, experimental support for the new Microsoft Edge web browser in Windows 10, improvements to allow for easier navigation in web apps and other sites, and a smattering of bug fixes. The complete change log is below.
Highlights of this release include initial support for Windows 10; the ability to disable single letter navigation in browse mode (useful for some web apps); improvements in Internet Explorer; and fixes for garbled text when typing in certain applications with braille enabled.
New Features
The existence of spelling errors is announced in editable fields for Internet Explorer and other MSHTML controls.
Many more Unicode math symbols are now spoken when they appear in text.
Search suggestions in the Windows 10 start screen are automatically reported.
Support for the EcoBraille 20, EcoBraille 40, EcoBraille 80 and EcoBraille Plus braille displays.
In browse mode, you can now toggle single letter navigation on and off by pressing NVDA+shift+space. When off, single letter keys are passed to the application, which is useful for some web applications such as Gmail, Twitter and Facebook.
New braille translation tables: Finnish 6 dot, Irish grade 1, Irish grade 2, Korean grade 1 (2006), Korean grade 2 (2006).
The QWERTY keyboard on the Papenmeier BRAILLEX Live Plus braille display is now supported.
Experimental support for the Microsoft Edge web browser and browsing engine in Windows 10.
Changes
Updated liblouis braille translator to 2.6.3.
When attempting to install an earlier version of NVDA than is currently installed, you will now be warned that this is not recommended and that NVDA should be completely uninstalled before proceeding.
Bug Fixes
In browse mode for Internet Explorer and other MSHTML controls, quick navigation by form field no longer incorrectly includes presentational list items.
In Firefox, NVDA no longer inappropriately reports the content of an ARIA tab panel when focus moves inside it.
In Internet Explorer and other MSHTML controls, tabbing into sections, articles or dialogs no longer inappropriately reports all content in the container.
When using Baum/HumanWare/APH braille displays with a braille keyboard, braille input no longer stops functioning after pressing another type of key on the display.
In Windows 10, extraneous information is no longer reported when pressing alt+tab or alt+shift+tab to switch between applications.
Typed text is no longer garbled when using certain applications such as Microsoft Outlook with a braille display.
In browse mode in Internet Explorer and other MSHTML controls, the correct content is now reported when an element appears or changes and is immediately focused.
In browse mode in Microsoft Word, single letter navigation now updates the braille display and the review cursor as expected.
In braille, extraneous spaces are no longer displayed between or after indicators for controls and formatting.
When an application is responding slowly and you switch away from that application, NVDA is now much more responsive in other applications in most cases.
Windows 10 Toast notifications are now reported as expected.
The value is now reported as it changes in certain (UI Automation) combo boxes where this was not working previously.
In browse mode in web browsers, tabbing now behaves as expected after tabbing to a frame document.
The Windows 10 lock screen can now be dismissed using a touch screen.
In Windows 7 and later, text is no longer garbled when typing in certain applications such as Wordpad and Skype with a braille display.
On the Windows 10 lock screen, it is no longer possible to read the clipboard, access running applications with the review cursor, change NVDA configuration, etc.
Changes for Developers
You can now injet raw input from a system keyboard that is not handled natively by Windows (e.g. a QWERTY keyboard on a braille display) using the new keyboardHandler.injectRawKeyboardInput function.
eventHandler.requestEvents has been added to request particular events that are blocked by default; e.g. show events from a specific control or certain events even when in the background.
Rather than a single i18nName attribute, synthDriverHandler.SynthSetting now has separate displayNameWithAccelerator and displayName attributes to avoid reporting of the accelerator in the synth settings ring in some languages.
For backwards compatibility, in the constructor, displayName is optional and will be derived from displayNameWithAccelerator if not provided. However, if you intend to have an accelerator for a setting, both should be provided.
The i18nName attribute is deprecated and may be removed in a future release.
Category: News
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J.J. Meddaugh is an experienced technology writer and computer enthusiast. He is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a major in telecommunications management and a minor in business. When not writing for Blind Bargains, he enjoys travel, playing the keyboard, and meeting new people.
