Hi,

The issue folks are talking about can be summarized in one way: UI Automation. The following is a bit geeky, so please bear with me:

By default, Edge 79 (beta and stable) enables native UI Automation implementation. This means in order to access content in Edge (Chromium-based, that is), solid UI Automation implementation must be agreed upon between web browser (UIA server) and screen readers (UIA clients). Unfortunately, according to one screen reader vendor, UI Automation in Edge 79 isn’t solid yet, so one screen reader is resorting to forcefully turning off UIA support in Edge (from screen reader point of view).

As for all sorts of announcements JAWS is making in Edge 79: this is caused by UI Automation notification event (introduced in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update). This event is used by apps to let screen readers announce essential messages. This is how Narrator can announce certain messages, and recent JAWS versions support this event.

For now the workaround (until Microsoft resolves this) is forcefully telling Edge 79 to not expose UI Automation to screen readers. This can be done by:

1. From Edge 79, go to address omnibox and type “edge://flags” (without quotes and EXACTLY AS SHOWN).
2. From experiments edit field, type “UI Automation” and press Tab.
3. From Native UI Automation combo box, choose “disabled” and restart Edge if prompted.

I’ll publish more info on a dedicated Windows 10 forum for screen reader users (with updated info on screen readers and their responses) in a few moments.

Cheers,

Joseph

How do I change the settings in edge?  Microsoft help desk says you can’t.  You can just reset or repair it, you cannot turn on or off any settings. I just don’t want edge to ribbit on about things I really don’t need to know such as opening or closing navigations.   

The new Chromium-based version of Microsoft Edge has worked well with JAWS 2020 in my testing. It’s very similar to Chrome in terms of accessibility.

On Thu, Jan 16, 2020 at 01:43 PM, Tyler Wood wrote:

Becoming familiar with the web browser and its settings is essential these days since there are so many things to enable or disable. It's also good to have a few browsers at your disposal - for instance, Chrome, edge, and firefox - just in case a website doesn't play nice with one or the other.

It's been essential long before "these days."  Browsers have been vastly configurable for some time now.  What's really nice, though, is that many of them now have a search feature for their settings, not unlike Windows 10 does for system settings.  I generally find it a lot easier to locate what I want with a search, or several searches using different, but related, keywords than to brute force drill down through page after page or tab after tab of settings.  There has also been a tendency to move things around over time, so if you remember what setting it is you want to tweak it's much easier to locate with a search if it's been moved.

Any given tool, including screen readers, occasionally won't "play well" with some given thing when another tool of the same class will.  Having several options, even if you're not 100% fluent with the second and third ones, often makes the difference between success and failure for getting at certain information (and that includes for those of us who are not using screen readers, too).
 
--

Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 1909, Build 18363  

Tolerance is the positive and cordial effort to understand another's beliefs, practices, and habits without necessarily sharing or accepting them.

        ~ Joshua Liebman

Hi all,

When I boot up  my computer, this is what I hear.

The freedom scientific video disability driver did not install properly. It tells me to reboot up my computer, and do a repair to the driver. When I try to do a repair, it always fails to repair. How do I fix this? I am currently using jaws 2020, latest update. However, it does the same thing when I try jaws 19 or 18as well. I am running windows ten. Any ideas on how to fix this?  and thanks for your help in advance. Jim

How do I change the settings in edge?  Microsoft help desk says you can’t.  You can just reset or repair it, you cannot turn on or off any settings. I just don’t want edge to ribbit on about things I really don’t need to know such as opening or closing navigations.   

The new Chromium-based version of Microsoft Edge has worked well with JAWS 2020 in my testing. It’s very similar to Chrome in terms of accessibility.

On Thu, Jan 16, 2020 at 01:43 PM, Tyler Wood wrote:

Becoming familiar with the web browser and its settings is essential these days since there are so many things to enable or disable. It's also good to have a few browsers at your disposal - for instance, Chrome, edge, and firefox - just in case a website doesn't play nice with one or the other.

It's been essential long before "these days."  Browsers have been vastly configurable for some time now.  What's really nice, though, is that many of them now have a search feature for their settings, not unlike Windows 10 does for system settings.  I generally find it a lot easier to locate what I want with a search, or several searches using different, but related, keywords than to brute force drill down through page after page or tab after tab of settings.  There has also been a tendency to move things around over time, so if you remember what setting it is you want to tweak it's much easier to locate with a search if it's been moved.

Any given tool, including screen readers, occasionally won't "play well" with some given thing when another tool of the same class will.  Having several options, even if you're not 100% fluent with the second and third ones, often makes the difference between success and failure for getting at certain information (and that includes for those of us who are not using screen readers, too).
 
--

Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 1909, Build 18363  

Tolerance is the positive and cordial effort to understand another's beliefs, practices, and habits without necessarily sharing or accepting them.

        ~ Joshua Liebman

The new Chromium-based version of Microsoft Edge has worked well with JAWS 2020 in my testing. It’s very similar to Chrome in terms of accessibility.

On Thu, Jan 16, 2020 at 01:43 PM, Tyler Wood wrote:

Becoming familiar with the web browser and its settings is essential these days since there are so many things to enable or disable. It's also good to have a few browsers at your disposal - for instance, Chrome, edge, and firefox - just in case a website doesn't play nice with one or the other.

It's been essential long before "these days."  Browsers have been vastly configurable for some time now.  What's really nice, though, is that many of them now have a search feature for their settings, not unlike Windows 10 does for system settings.  I generally find it a lot easier to locate what I want with a search, or several searches using different, but related, keywords than to brute force drill down through page after page or tab after tab of settings.  There has also been a tendency to move things around over time, so if you remember what setting it is you want to tweak it's much easier to locate with a search if it's been moved.

Any given tool, including screen readers, occasionally won't "play well" with some given thing when another tool of the same class will.  Having several options, even if you're not 100% fluent with the second and third ones, often makes the difference between success and failure for getting at certain information (and that includes for those of us who are not using screen readers, too).
 
--

Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 1909, Build 18363  

Tolerance is the positive and cordial effort to understand another's beliefs, practices, and habits without necessarily sharing or accepting them.

        ~ Joshua Liebman

From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of Mike Fulton
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2020 9:17 AM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: accessible password managers

On Thu, Jan 16, 2020 at 01:43 PM, Tyler Wood wrote:

Becoming familiar with the web browser and its settings is essential these days since there are so many things to enable or disable. It's also good to have a few browsers at your disposal - for instance, Chrome, edge, and firefox - just in case a website doesn't play nice with one or the other.

It's been essential long before "these days."  Browsers have been vastly configurable for some time now.  What's really nice, though, is that many of them now have a search feature for their settings, not unlike Windows 10 does for system settings.  I generally find it a lot easier to locate what I want with a search, or several searches using different, but related, keywords than to brute force drill down through page after page or tab after tab of settings.  There has also been a tendency to move things around over time, so if you remember what setting it is you want to tweak it's much easier to locate with a search if it's been moved.

Any given tool, including screen readers, occasionally won't "play well" with some given thing when another tool of the same class will.  Having several options, even if you're not 100% fluent with the second and third ones, often makes the difference between success and failure for getting at certain information (and that includes for those of us who are not using screen readers, too).
 
--

Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 1909, Build 18363  

Tolerance is the positive and cordial effort to understand another's beliefs, practices, and habits without necessarily sharing or accepting them.

        ~ Joshua Liebman

Water Fox is even faster. I just started using it and it is noticeably faster loading pages than Chromium based browsers. I dont have any real issues with Edge but Water Fox is just faster so far anyway.

On 1/16/2020 10:43 AM, Tyler Wood wrote:

Hi,
There are settings in firefox to disable this, as well as in edge and chrome.
Becoming familiar with the web browser and its settings is essential these days since there are so many things to enable or disable. It's also good to have a few browsers at your disposal - for instance, Chrome, edge, and firefox - just in case a website doesn't play nice with one or the other.
I'm using Chrome, at least until I get the new Microsoft Edge, with firefox as a very little used backup. I stopped using it as my main browser when I realized just how much faster Chrome loaded web pages.
Hope that helps. It's a lot to take in and learn, at least at first, but a lot of web browsers share core functions such as remembering passwords, clearing history and temporary internet files, auto complete e.g. remembering usernames or searches that you type in the address bar. It just may be phrased a little differently in each.

-----Original Message-----
From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of David Diamond
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2020 12:39 PM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: The New Edge not that Great with JAWS Yet.

Thanks.  Most live and die with Firefox.  I get frustrated with that too because it keeps asking me if I want it to remember a user name and password.  I know, I am a mess when it comes to things like this.

-----Original Message-----
From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of Sieghard Weitzel
Sent: January 16, 2020 9:31 AM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: The New Edge not that Great with JAWS Yet.

Hi David,

You are describing Edge HTML which originally was included with Windows 10. This new version of Edge which started to be distributed via Windows Update yesterday is based on the open source chromium engine which is aso used by Google Chrome and many other web browsers and it behaves completely differently. In fact, it is very much like Chrome, extremely accessible, very fast and with fantastic keyboard shortcut support.
There are no more "opening" or "closing" or whatever other announcements. I really recommend to wait until you get it via Windows Update and then try it. If you use Jaws and ask it to speak the version with Jaws Key + Control + V when the application is open, you should hear something like version 79 with a bunch of other numbers, if it still says version 44 you still have the old Edge.
For iPhone users there is also an iOS version of Edge and if you sign in on your PC and your iPhone with your Microsoft Id all your favourites, history and such will sync, I rarely use a browser on my iPhone, but Jonathan Mosen is apparently quite impressed by the iOS version as well as the new chromium based Windows version of Edge.

-----Original Message-----
From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of David Diamond
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2020 8:30 AM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: The New Edge not that Great with JAWS Yet.

I must be missing something or late to the dance.  I can't stand Edge with all of its prompts.  "Opening ... closing ..."  It drives me crazy.  It is like someone telling you all the time, "starting street crossing, stopping street crossing, coming to ... leaving ..." I don't need or want all that information told to me.  Just tell me you are opening the web page or dialog box.

-----Original Message-----
From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of Michael Mote
Sent: January 16, 2020 5:46 AM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: The New Edge not that Great with JAWS Yet.

I disabled the UI autimations in the flags settings of Edge. It seems to be working a little better. I would also highly recommend that you turn off autofilling of your user names and passwords. Maybe it's a personal preference for me, but it seems to work better when this information is not be remembered by the browser.

On 1/16/20, Debbie April Yuille <debbiey1982@...> wrote:

Hi All



I've just installed the new edge from the Microsoft website and I'm
finding it not very accessible with JAWS. First of all when navigating
around pages you get it saying "Japanese" some of the time as well as the page content.
Also, the menu controls are not always read out. I'm using the latest
build of JAWS 2020.

Any input is much appreciated.



Thanks

Debbie

Hi,
There are settings in firefox to disable this, as well as in edge and chrome.
Becoming familiar with the web browser and its settings is essential these days since there are so many things to enable or disable. It's also good to have a few browsers at your disposal - for instance, Chrome, edge, and firefox - just in case a website doesn't play nice with one or the other.
I'm using Chrome, at least until I get the new Microsoft Edge, with firefox as a very little used backup. I stopped using it as my main browser when I realized just how much faster Chrome loaded web pages.
Hope that helps. It's a lot to take in and learn, at least at first, but a lot of web browsers share core functions such as remembering passwords, clearing history and temporary internet files, auto complete e.g. remembering usernames or searches that you type in the address bar. It just may be phrased a little differently in each.

-----Original Message-----
From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of David Diamond
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2020 12:39 PM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: The New Edge not that Great with JAWS Yet.

Thanks. Most live and die with Firefox. I get frustrated with that too because it keeps asking me if I want it to remember a user name and password. I know, I am a mess when it comes to things like this.

-----Original Message-----
From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of Sieghard Weitzel
Sent: January 16, 2020 9:31 AM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: The New Edge not that Great with JAWS Yet.

Hi David,

You are describing Edge HTML which originally was included with Windows 10. This new version of Edge which started to be distributed via Windows Update yesterday is based on the open source chromium engine which is aso used by Google Chrome and many other web browsers and it behaves completely differently. In fact, it is very much like Chrome, extremely accessible, very fast and with fantastic keyboard shortcut support.
There are no more "opening" or "closing" or whatever other announcements. I really recommend to wait until you get it via Windows Update and then try it. If you use Jaws and ask it to speak the version with Jaws Key + Control + V when the application is open, you should hear something like version 79 with a bunch of other numbers, if it still says version 44 you still have the old Edge.
For iPhone users there is also an iOS version of Edge and if you sign in on your PC and your iPhone with your Microsoft Id all your favourites, history and such will sync, I rarely use a browser on my iPhone, but Jonathan Mosen is apparently quite impressed by the iOS version as well as the new chromium based Windows version of Edge.

-----Original Message-----
From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of David Diamond
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2020 8:30 AM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: The New Edge not that Great with JAWS Yet.

I must be missing something or late to the dance. I can't stand Edge with all of its prompts. "Opening ... closing ..." It drives me crazy. It is like someone telling you all the time, "starting street crossing, stopping street crossing, coming to ... leaving ..." I don't need or want all that information told to me. Just tell me you are opening the web page or dialog box.

-----Original Message-----
From: main@jfw.groups.io <main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of Michael Mote
Sent: January 16, 2020 5:46 AM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: The New Edge not that Great with JAWS Yet.

I disabled the UI autimations in the flags settings of Edge. It seems to be working a little better. I would also highly recommend that you turn off autofilling of your user names and passwords. Maybe it's a personal preference for me, but it seems to work better when this information is not be remembered by the browser.

On 1/16/20, Debbie April Yuille <debbiey1982@...> wrote:

Hi All



I've just installed the new edge from the Microsoft website and I'm
finding it not very accessible with JAWS. First of all when navigating
around pages you get it saying "Japanese" some of the time as well as the page content.
Also, the menu controls are not always read out. I'm using the latest
build of JAWS 2020.

Any input is much appreciated.



Thanks

Debbie

Hi all,

When I boot up  my computer, this is what I hear.

The freedom scientific video disability driver did not install properly. It tells me to reboot up my computer, and do a repair to the driver. When I try to do a repair, it always fails to repair. How do I fix this? I am currently using jaws 2020, latest update. However, it does the same thing when I try jaws 19 or 18as well. I am running windows ten. Any ideas on how to fix this?  and thanks for your help in advance. Jim

I really don't understand this infatuation with Edge. If you want a
captcha-solving extension, use Google Chrome instead, the original
Chromium-based browser and download the Rumola extension for solving
captchas:


http://skipinput.com/


Gerald





On 1/16/2020 1:55 PM, Jay wrote:

Hi.

Does anyone know of a captcha solving extension that can be used with
Edge? Any help would be awesome. Thanks.