Welcome to July! We’re halfway through 2021 already, how time flies! This week, we’ve got news on NVDA 2021.1 Release Candidate, Windows 11 and our Basic Training Sale. Plus, a tip on using Web Apps which have their own keystrokes with NVDA.
BREAKING NEWS: NVDA 2021.1 Release Candidate is now available. This post has been updated with information on the RC build now.
NVDA 2021.1 Release Candidate
We are still moving towards the next version of NVDA. We’re now up to the Release Candidate of NVDA 2021.1. There have been a few updates since Beta 3 which we covered last In-Process. There’s a fix for the Seika Braille driver and updates to translations. Also, we’ve fixed the bug which prevented users from updating from Beta 3 and Beta 4. If you are still using Beta 3 or Beta 4, you will need to download the new beta from the NVDA 2021.1 RC1 Release Announcement. But otherwise, everything should now work smoothly.
NVDA Satisfaction Survey 2021: Last chance
We’ve had a great response to the NVDA Satisfaction Survey 2021. But it must close soon. If you haven’t yet had your say, it’s only short and won’t take long. We encourage you to please complete The NVDA Satisfaction Survey 2021 in the next couple of days.
Basic Training still on sale
We’ve also had a great reaction to the sale on Basic Training for NVDA. It’s never been this low before and a lot of people are jumping on board! Basic Training is the premier training module to learn NVDA. Now is the cheapest time ever seen to improve your skills, but This Sale can’t last.
Windows 11
This week, Microsoft announced the next version of Windows: Windows 11. Joseph Lee put together some early impressions of the first insiders preview build of Windows 11 in a thread on the User Group.
Given how much of a refresh of the user interface Windows 11 is, it’s not surprising there are some differences. Getting to the list of “all apps” from the start menu, for instance, is a little different to Windows 10, but still works. The arrangement of settings has changed as well but still works. Windows+x shortcut keys don’t currently work, and Microsoft is aware of that issue. Joseph has updated his Windows App Essentials NVDA add-on (formerly Windows 10 App Essentials), to work around a couple of other issues. No doubt there will be lots more tips, tricks, and commentary from all sides as Windows 11 gets closer. Remember, Microsoft have only announced Windows 11, you can’t buy it in shops yet.
So, broadly, NVDA does work with this first build of Windows 11. There are a couple of issues, both accessible and general use. That is to be expected from most insider builds. Just like the beta releases of NVDA, Microsoft releases insider builds of Windows. These are intended for keen users to test and report back on any issues found. Like alpha and beta builds of NVDA, Windows Insider builds are early pre-releases. They are “Beta” software, and not recommended for most users, or on your main PC.
Have you tried the Windows 11 insider preview build? If you try it, please do jump into the NVDA Chat Group and share your findings.
Single letter navigation
One of the fixes we noted last time, introduced in NVDA 2021.1 Beta 3, was that J and K now work again in the Twitter app. In Twitter, both in the app and on the web, these keys jump between the next and the previous tweet. The Twitter app essentially acts like a web page. But there is a catch – covered in the Single Letter Navigation section of the NVDA User Guide. On the web, in browse mode (as NVDA will be until in the edit field to type a new tweet), NVDA is looking for K to move to the next link. Increasingly, complex web pages offer their own keystrokes to access features. Google Docs does this, as do Gmail, Twitter, and Facebook. Press NVDA+shift+spacebar to toggle NVDA’s single letter navigation on or off. Turning single letter navigation off lets you use a website or web app’s keyboard shortcuts.
That’s all for this week. We encourage everyone to try the NVDA 2021.1 Release Candidate and let us know how you find it! If you are tech savvy and interested, feel free to try the Windows 11 Insider Build. If you do, feel free to join the conversation in the NVDA Chat Group.