Hi. I am blind and am using a screen reader (JAWS 2019). Does anyone have any guidance on how to best use Toad for Oracle with a screen reader as a developer? Are there any additional screen reader scripts I need to install? Any links to accessible documentation/training/instruction manuals is also appreciated. Thanks!
Hi,
Unfortunately, we don't have any specific documentation that I'm aware of for this.
As far as I know, the biggest limitation with JAWS support in Toad was with our Toolbars. We use DevExpress VCL toolbars (https://www.devexpress.com/products/vcl/navigation/). Years ago, they did not support JAWS, but looking now at their code and comments on their forum, it looks like they have added some level of accessibility support.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure if that includes JAWS and I don't know which version it began.
I'll see if I can download a trial version of JAWS. I'll post back here when I have more info.
-John
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I just installed a JAWS trial. From what I can tell, JAWS behaves the same with Toad 12.12 as the latest 13.2 beta.
When I hover my mouse over the main toolbar items, JAWS does not speak. But then if I click one of them, and move my mouse (or use keyboard arrows to navigate) over the sub items, JAWS speaks. I tried a few other applications and saw similar behavior, so maybe this is normal.
There are windows inside Toad with lots of toolbar buttons and no text. Even if we got the main menu toolbars working right, I think it would be tough to find your way through those toolbar buttons. It seems to do pretty well with right-click context menus though.
In summary, some of it seems to work, but I see how it could be tough (at best) to navigate depending on what you are doing, what shortcut keys you memorize, how patient you are listing to JAWS speak, etc. I wish I had something more helpful to tell you.
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Hi John. Thank you for your assistance and leg work. If you have any other recommendations on where I can turn for some guidance, please let me know. I will contact the makers of JAWS to see if they happen to have any info on their end as well. Thanks!