[nfbcs] JAWS and NVDA

[Steve Jacobson]

Nicole,

You have stumbled upon a followup to your last note.  How do we measure accessibility when the same software works differently with different screen 
readers.  From what I know, there are just differences in how screen readers get the information that they get.  NVDA, being newer, tends to depend heavily 
on MSAA and UIA to get information.  JFW and Window-Eyes, being older, will sometimes depend on those same elements but also on their off-screen 
models of what is being displayed.  Sometimes these approaches cause information to be spoken that NVDA can't.  I've also seen cases where, probably 
due to UIA problems, NVDA goes silent on some unusual web pages that Window-Eyes and JFW handle at least well enough to get by.  If you add to this 
the fact that FireFox will sometimes work differently with screen readers than Internet Explorer, you can see that there is a whole tree of variables.  
Fortunately, this doesn't matter most of the time, but I see it being a greater and greater issue as I see more modern web-based applications where I work.  

I see that you did figure out how to make JFW work with the specific software that was causing problems, but there are times when this approach may not 
solve the problem.  On my job, I still use some software that cannot be easily used or used at all with NVDA but works fine with both Window-Eyes and 
JFW.

I'm really not giving you any answers, am I?  Sorry.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Fri, 1 Aug 2014 17:26:53 -0700, Nicole Torcolini via nfbcs wrote:

>Does anyone know of any good resources that explain how JAWS and NVDA work?
>I am trying out a program right now. JAWS does not go to all of the controls
>when pressing tab, but NVDA does. NVDA does not read out all of the labels,
>such as on checkboxes and radio buttons, but JAWS. Both of them kind of
>work, but not to the point that I can use either one without having to do
>extra stuff, like use the JAWS cursor when using JAWS.
> 
>Nicole
>_______________________________________________
>nfbcs mailing list
>nfbcs at nfbnet.org
>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org
>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nfbcs:
>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/steve.jacobson%40visi.com