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 (Nonvisual Desktop Access)

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.

It is also advisable to turn Mouse tracking off. This can be done with NVDA+M, and is also accessible within the mouse category of NVDA's settings. This should prevent a nasty freeze that can leave computers inoperable for minutes at a time.

Accessing Toolbars In the Editor

While it is possible to use object navigation to reach the toolbars in the editor, it is not an optimal solution. This is most evident in the trigger editor, where the navigator must traverse 150+ controls to reach them. Instead, an NVDA addon exists that can speed this process along.

Toolbar Explorer enables navigation of any toolbars that are found in a given window. Once a toolbar is selected, it is possible to navigate to, and click on any buttons associated with the selected toolbar.

It's as easy as pressing ALT+applications key from within the editor window. then using the left and right arrows to move between the toolbars, and up and down to move through the buttons in the previously selected toolbar. Enter will perform a standard press of the button and cancel out of toolbar navigation mode. If your keyboard does not have an application key, this gesture can be reassigned in the standard way. It can be found under the object navigation category. The addon's page also contains more usage information than is covered here.

Entering Lua Code

Entering code into the lua box in the editor is very similar to using any other text editor, with the exception that you will have the option to autocomplete Mudlet functions as you type them. For instance, let's say we want to fire off a timer, so we start typing: tempT At some point, suggestions will be offered, arrowing through them is possible, to accept one of them, just press tab. In the previous example, it is not necessary to type tempTimer in full.

The tab key also enters a number of spaces to indent code. Because of its use in this manner, it is not possible to use tab to break out of the editor's influence. However, CTRL+Tab works for this purpose.

N.B. The lua box will maintain the level of indent until told to change. This means if lines 1-3 are not indented, but line 4 is, when entering more lines, 5 and up will be indented to line 4's level. When working with blocks of code, this is exactly what makes it nice to use. To decrease a line's level of indent, navigate to it and press SHIFT+TAB.

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'.

JAWS for Windows (Job Access With Speech)

While it's possible to use Mudlet with JAWS, there is an issue making it an impractical solution. That being that JAWS is not reading the output window like other screen readers do. The Reader package can help with this, but only to a limited extent. It is not possible to select and copy text, therefore, it is recommended to use another screen reader, such as Narrator or NVDA in conjunction with Mudlet, rather than JAWS.