[Trainer-Talk] Laptop layout versus desktop layout

[Quentin Christensen]

While my main experience is with NVDA, I have also taught Jaws previously -
for the purpose of my comments below at least they are similar enough - As
a teacher I would firstly concentrate on what the user needed, and their
capabilities.  So, someone who is 20 years old and looking to get a career
in IT and maybe teach people AT use themselves - you might work through a
range of different screen readers and the different keyboard layouts and
modes of each.  Someone who is 75, has never used a computer before and
just lost their sight, you likely want to keep it as simple as possible and
expand as they become more confident.

If someone is looking to purchase a computer, then part of the conversation
would be desktop vs laptop, and if laptop, then how large, the pros and
cons of different keyboard sizes and layouts, and what they may already be
familiar with (if someone has used a screen reader for ten years and always
used desktop layout, then they would need to consider the learning curve of
changing to a laptop without a number pad for instance).

I would try to ensure a user is at least aware that there are different
keyboard layouts.  The first concern I think is to ensure that the user is
competent with doing what they need to do and efficient with the screen
reader with one layout - whichever one that is.

Another way to think of it - having desktop and laptop keyboard layouts in
a screenreader is in a lot of ways similar to the way that there are
multiple ways of doing most things on a PC - you can access many features
in Word with a keystroke, from the ribbon or from the context menu for
instance.  Do most users need to know all three ways?  Probably not, one
can be more efficient than the others but which one is also going to vary
from user to user.

As well as knowing specific needed tasks, knowing where to find features
and get help is important, whether that is for a screen reader, Microsoft
Office, or Windows itself.

Kind regards

Quentin.

On Sun, Nov 14, 2021 at 4:49 AM Kelsey Nicolay via Trainer-Talk <
trainer-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Hello all,
> I was curious what you guys think about this. I have always learned to use
> JAWS in desktop layout, never really messing with laptop layout too much
> because all my laptops have had number pads. However, I have heardfrom
> others that knowing laptop layout is important Because you never know when
> you might have to use a laptop that does not have a number fad. I always
> thought that which keyboard layout to uie is personal preference, but from
> a trainer perspective, do you teach both and let students decide or is one
> layout better than the other?
> Sent from Kelsey Nicolay’s iPhone
> _______________________________________________
> Trainer-Talk mailing list
> Trainer-Talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/trainer-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> Trainer-Talk:
>
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/trainer-talk_nfbnet.org/quentin%40nvaccess.org
>


-- 
Quentin Christensen
Training and Support Manager

Web: www.nvaccess.org
Training: https://www.nvaccess.org/shop/
Certification: https://certification.nvaccess.org/
User group: https://nvda.groups.io/g/nvda
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NVAccess
Twitter: @NVAccess <https://twitter.com/NVAccess>