Notices by Amir (amir@tweesecake.social)

Update: Courtesy of @jcsteh Start menu issues affecting Windows 11 24H2 are being resolved. Check here: https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/issues/17951
@NikJov @NVAccess

Like many access issues affecting NVDA, history repeats itself. NVAccess just told us to essentially live with the freezing and search results reading issues affecting the Start menu on Windows 11 24H2. They requested that we ask Microsoft to fix the issues, which essentially means coming to terms and living with the glitches. FYI JAWS devs fixed them for their users some months ago.
https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/issues/17951
@NVAccess

@NVAccess No, I mean seanbudd's new comment, encouraging users to ask Microsoft for a fix. I understand your mindset, and even grasp it from the perspective of an open-source screen reader dev or manager. However, the reality is far bleaker than that, and OS bugs, like the ones affecting the Start menu now, are sometimes more serious to be handed over to Microsoft's whim. I'm just glad JAWS developers haven't followed this line of thinking.

@jcsteh Sorry James but, with all respect and I do respect what NVAccess has done, this is a so-called blanket statement. Yes, like every fix or new feature, this JAWS fix might cause issues. NVDA fixes or new features also cause issues. But with this one at least, I've seen no issues with JAWS and the way it properly handles the Start menu. Even if issues arise down the road, I'm positive Freedom Scientific will fix them more quickly. Honestly if I were to ask Microsoft to fix each and every Windows bug, I'd rather ask them to enhance Narrator so as to obviate the need for the likes of JAWS or NVDA.
@NVAccess

@jcsteh And how can you be sure that Freedom Scientific has fixed the Start menu issue by a hack? Are you sure it's not a full-fledged fix? The way you insist on calling it a "hack" means perhaps you have some insider knowledge.
@NVAccess

@jcsteh Very much appreciated. I’d gently say my original comments did address the main issues discussed. That said, I completely understand the challenge of balancing user groups and funder obligations. Still, this current prioritization means NVDA 2025.1 is landing more like a delayed 2025.2, and the heavy focus on Remote has come at the cost of more frequent glitches and lingering unresolved issues. It’s becoming increasingly clear that NVAccess needs a couple more full-time devs. If contributors from around the world can financially support NVDA, there must be a way to work around the employment limitations under Australian law. NVDA is global now, so its development model should reflect that if it’s to thrive.
@NVAccess

@jcsteh Ah, no, it wasn't about priorities, but the topic shifted to that. I meant the original topic, and the issue being discussed, was clear enough. I meant like many P2 to P5 issues, this one is also being sort of dumped by NVAccess. And whatever the legal or financial hurdle is, it's negatively affecting NVDA in today's environment where attention to a whole host of apps and environments cannot, and should not, be handled by just a couple of full-time employed devs.
@NVAccess

@jcsteh Not at all. I've never intended to underestimate your awareness of the need for more resources. However, I've been meaning to say that your resource allocation given the limited full-time dev availability, no matter what is behind it, has resulted in some areas taking a back-seat position.
@NVAccess

@jcsteh Interesting. I can consistently duplicate it on more than 3 Windows 11 machines, and I know a very good number of people who have the very same issue. And if it has been fixed by JFW devs it means that it can be chased.
@NVAccess

@NikJov And apart from going into Browse mode - which happens quite frequently for me, here NVDA frequently fails to read the highlighted item as I keep typing into the Search box - issues not affecting JAWS 2025 at all.
@jcsteh @NVAccess

@NikJov Exactly. With JAWS 2025, the first Press of Escape clears the edit box, and the second Escape closes the Start menu. It's far more tolerable than the NVDA status quo where either the Browse mode gets activated, no highlighted result is read, or worse, a freeze might occur if Tab is pressed rapidly.
@jcsteh @NVAccess

@jcsteh Thanks for taking a closer look at this. I just tested the experimental build, and provided feedback and a log file on Github. Basically the try build also produces the issues, and the freeze is also there. My log captures both.
@NikJov @NVAccess

@jcsteh JAWS 2025 enters Virtual navigation mode only if Up arrow is pressed in the highlighted results, or if we press the Down arrow to move past the last result. Virtual navigation doesn't appear randomly/ unexpectedly at all.
@NikJov @NVAccess

@jcsteh Exactly so. Your build really fixes the virtual navigation issue there.
@NikJov @NVAccess

A message for my UK friends or those interested in football. Any chance of receiving the BBC 5 radio channel for football coverage outside the UK? The BBC 5 link I have doesn't work with VPN services as they enforce geoblocking heavy-handedly. I'm thinking of setting up a UK-based VPS or something like that to circumvent the limitation.

@KaraLG84 Welcome. It's under development, but DAISY support isn't there.

@KaraLG84 One small point in favor of Bookworm. Its 2024.2 release has fixed the Epub chapters issue. Epub chapters are now ordered according to the document's spine.

Update:
The state of book-reading apps on Windows is pretty disappointing:
• QRead: Discontinued, lacks formatting display, doesn’t announce links, and can’t hide blank lines.
• Bookworm: No DAISY or Bookshare support.
• Thorium Reader: Still in development, but buggy—crashes with many DAISY books and only displays one page at a time.
• Dolphin EasyReader: Limited to a single page view, no smooth navigation between pages, and has an odd navigation UI.
• Kurzweil 1000: Versatile with a built-in dictionary, but discontinued, lacks heading navigation, and is very expensive.
• Speech Central: Costs $8, making it impossible to test if it truly supports text-only navigation via screen readers, as it's mainly marketed as an audio reader. According to the dev, development for Windows 11 has been paused.
#Accessibility

NVDA and its oddities. Should newly added features be pulled to avoid issues which they might most likely generate, issues which won't probably be fixed in a timely manner? Remember the link destination feature and the saga surrounding it not working with all link types? Now unmuting other apps with newly added NVDA commands, in alpha, does not work as expected. I don't think useful features like this should be pulled, but take a look and decide for yourself: https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/issues/16402
@NVAccess

Folks, do you happen to have access to the Italian library for the blind called Fondazione Ezio Galiano? If so, please kindly contact me. Also please boost this. Thanks.