[NABS-L] ZOOM Accessibility Tips

D'Agostino, Alfred ADAgostino at ndm.edu
Sat Mar 28 21:18:12 UTC 2020


This communication provides some points regarding Zoom non-visual accessibility and may be of interest to students and instructors .

(In a previous e-mail, I supplied a list of keystrokes for hosting/participating in a Zoom meeting – they are reproduced at the end.)



To have full keyboard accessibility support within the Zoom meeting:

The toolbar must be set to not automatically hide. This can be done by unchecking the "Always show meeting controls" under the "Accessibility" section of the application Settings, or in the "In-meeting (basic)" section of the web portal Settings. This may also be accomplished on a per-meeting basis using the "Toggle the 'Always show meeting controls' option in Settings/Accessibility" keyboard shortcut:



The  table below contains a list of important PC and MAC navigation keyboard shortcuts:



Description

Windows

macOS

Toggle the "Always show meeting controls" option in Settings/Accessibility

Alt

Ctrl + \

Navigate among Zoom popup windows/toolbars

F6

CMD + ~

Change focus to Zoom meeting controls (at the top when sharing your screen at the bottom when not sharing)

Ctrl + Alt + Shift

CMD + ~

Begin remote control

Alt + Shift + R

Ctrl + Shift + R



Note regarding screen reader (NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver, Talkback) access to Zoom screen sharing:

Although the screen reader can access information on the host or presenter computer, it is not accessible to the participant computer.

Screen sharing may involve the whiteboard, Notepad/ Word document, PowerPoint, etc. The screen reader cannot access these.



User content shared through Zoom’s screen sharing feature is rendered to meeting participants as an HD video stream. In order to make contents of the screen share accessible to attendees who use screen readers, it is important that the presenter completely describe what is on the screen and provide the files/ notes with meeting attendees. Zoom provides file upload capabilities in its in-meeting chat so that meeting hosts may share files to participants while in-meeting.  This solution will ensure that the document's full content and semantic markup is preserved and made accessible to screen reader users. Preferably, the non-visual user must receive the files beforehand.



When in a meeting:

Use a headset with mike or set of earphones with mike. Set the Zoom audio control to internal, so that your audio output is not heard within the meeting.



Use of the Zoom remote control feature to control another computer's screen reader:

Zoom's remote-control feature allows users to control the screen sharer's screen reader. The host computer must first enable "share computer audio" to stream the screen reader speech output to the guest computer.



 Once the guest has gained remote control, the common screen reader keystrokes will be registered on the host computer.



Some Available Keyboard Shortcuts:

  *   F6: Navigate among Zoom popup windows.

  *   Ctrl+Alt+Shift: Move focus to Zoom's meeting controls

  *   Alt: Turn on/off the option Always show meeting control toolbar in Accessibility Settings

  *   Alt+F1: Switch to active speaker view in video meeting

  *   Alt+F4: Close the current window

  *   Alt+A: Mute/unmute audio

  *   Alt+M: Mute/unmute audio for everyone except host Note: For the meeting host only

  *   Alt+S: Launch share screen window and stop screen share Note: Will only work when meeting control toolbar has focus

  *   Alt+Shift+S: Start/stop new screen share Note: Will only work when meeting control toolbar has focus

  *   Alt+T: Pause or resume screen share Note: Will only work when meeting control toolbar has focus

  *   Alt+R: Start/stop local recording

  *   Alt+C: Start/stop cloud recording

  *   Alt+P: Pause or resume recording

  *   Alt+H: Display/hide In-Meeting Chat panel

  *   Alt+U:Display/hide Participants panel

  *   Alt+I: Open Invite window

  *   Alt+Y: Raise/lower hand

  *   Alt+Shift+R: Gain Remote Control

  *   Alt+Shift+G: Stop Remote Control

  *   Ctrl+2: Read active speaker name

  *   Ctrl+Alt+Shift+H: Show/Hide floating meeting controls

  *   Ctrl+W: Close current chat session

  *   Ctrl+Up: Go to previous chat

  *   Ctrl+Down: Go to next chat

  *   Ctrl+T: Jump to chat with someone



Alfred T. D'Agostino, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Chemistry
Notre Dame of Maryland University



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