Navigation Continued
A Quick Review
We've used our up and down arrows to navigate to the previous and next line. We've used our left and right arrows to navigate to the previous and next character. We've added in the control key to our left and right arrows to navigate to the previous and next word.
What's Next?
Paragraphs! How do you think we read paragraph by paragraph?
Ding, ding, ding! You got it. That pesky control button again! At least, I know you would have gotten there eventually.
We use control + down arrow to read the next paragraph, and control + up arrow to read the previous paragraph.
Practice
Read the following short story by using control + down arrow to navigate paragraph by paragraph. When you've reached the end of the story, try navigating to the beginning by using control + up arrow.
Story 1
Once upon a time, in a quiet neighborhood, there lived a mischievous cat named Whiskers. Whiskers was known throughout the town for his sly and sneaky ways. Every night, when the moon rose high in the sky, Whiskers would sneak out of his cozy house and tiptoe through the neighborhood, looking for adventures. He would silently slink through the bushes, his eyes gleaming in the darkness as he searched for unsuspecting creatures to play tricks on.
One night, Whiskers crept into Mrs. Jenkins' backyard, where she had a bird feeder full of delicious seeds. Whiskers had his eyes on the prize and carefully planned his approach. With swift and silent movements, he climbed up the tree nearby and slowly inched his way toward the feeder. Just as he was about to snatch a tasty treat, Mrs. Jenkins flicked on the porch light, revealing Whiskers perched on the edge of the feeder. Startled, Whiskers leaped from the tree and dashed away, leaving behind a trail of feathers that had fallen from the birds in their fright.
Despite his escapades, Whiskers was adored by the neighborhood for his playful antics. Children would often find small presents, like toy mice or shiny objects, left on their doorsteps. Whiskers would watch them from a distance, his bright eyes twinkling with amusement. He was the sneakiest, yet friendliest, cat in the whole town, and everyone couldn't help but smile at his clever tricks and playful nature.
Say All
One last reading strategy we have to discuss. NVDA has a "Say All" feature. If you press the NVDA key (either Insert or Caps Lock depending on your keyboard layout) + down arrow, NVDA will read continuously beginning with the current location of your NVDA cursor, or beginning with the last item you heard. This can be done in a document, a web page, basically any application window.
To pause speech, press the Shift key. To resume speech exactly from where you paused it, press the Shift key again.
To stop speech, press the control button once. To have NVDA read again, you will need to press the "Say All" command again.
The difference between pause and stop commands is that the pause command assumes that the break in reading will only be momentary, while you may choose to stop speech if you are finished listening to specific content and wish to switch to a new task or navigate to another content area.
Practice Again
There is another practice section below. This time press your NVDA key plus down arrow to read the entire story at once. Try using the shift key to pause and resume reading at least once during the story.
Story 2
Once upon a time, on a chilly winter morning, Sarah and her friends eagerly dashed outside, ready for a day of fun in the glistening snow. They bundled up in their cozy coats, scarves, and mittens, feeling the crisp air tickle their noses. As they stepped into the fluffy white wonderland, their eyes sparkled with excitement. Sarah's friend, Lily, immediately started building a snowman with a big grin on her face. Sarah joined in, rolling a giant snowball and carefully stacking it on top of another. They found some rocks for the eyes and mouth, and a carrot for the nose, creating the most magnificent snowman on the block.
After finishing the snowman, Sarah and her friends couldn't resist the urge to have a snowball fight. They giggled and shrieked as they gathered snow and packed it into tight balls, taking cover behind trees and bushes. Sarah's team was winning, but Lily's team had a surprise attack up their sleeves. They aimed their snowballs carefully and launched them with all their might, hitting Sarah's team right on target. Amidst the laughter and friendly competition, they all ended up rolling in the snow, making snow angels and leaving behind wiggly imprints of their bodies.
As the sun began to set, Sarah and her friends felt their cheeks turn rosy from the cold, and their tummies growling with hunger. They decided to build a snow fort to keep warm and have a little snack break. They molded snow bricks, stacking them one by one until they had a cozy little space to huddle in. Sarah's mom had prepared some hot chocolate and snacks, which they eagerly devoured, warming up their frozen fingers and toes. With rosy cheeks, full tummies, and hearts filled with joy, they waved goodbye to the snowy wonderland, looking forward to their next snowy adventure.
Top and Bottom of Window
To navigate to the top of any application window (i.e. web page, word document, email, etc.) press "Control + Home". To navigate to the end, press "Control + End". It should be noted that if your keyboard does not have a home or end key, the commands are a bit different. To navigate to the top of the window, press "control + function + left arrow" and to navigate to the bottom of the window press "control + function + right arrow." If you navigate to the top of this page by pressing "Control + Home", and then use the Say All command (NVDA key + down arrow), you can hear the entire contents of this page read continuously, start to finish.
Try it now! If you navigate to the top of this page, you should hear NVDA say "NVDA Lesson 1.1." If you navigate to the bottom, you will hear NVDA say "Copyright 2023..." To navigate back to this location, you can use the strategy of navigating by paragraphs (Control + up or down arrow), or line by line (up/down arrow).
Navigation Cheat Sheet
- Navigate to previous or next character: left or right arrow
- Navigate to previous or next word: Control + left or right arrow
- Navigate to previous or next line: up or down arrow
- Navigate to previous or next paragraph: Control + up or down arrow
- Navigate to top of window: Control + Home
- Navigate to bottom of window: Control + End
END OF LESSON QUICK CHALLENGE!
Read the instructions very carefully! We are looking for another silly secret phrase, but to find each component you need to correctly follow each direction. Once you find one component, move onto the next. Keep track of your answers. I know you can do it!
Step 1: Find the 4th word in the sentence.
The leaves blew in with the wind.
Step 2: Find the 3rd letter in this word.
Cranberry
Step 3: Move line by line. Find the word on the 4th line.
- Sunset
- Moonlight
- Pluto
- Galaxy
- Universe
Step 4: Find the 2nd word in this sentence.
How far are we from the park?
Step 5: which word doesn't belong? Move word by word or line by line.
Close
Near
Beside
Far
Step 6: Lastly, Find the only word in the 3rd paragraph.
One day a happy duck found a loaf of bread. He was so hungry and the bread looked so yummy. But as the duck prepared to take a nibble, along came a much larger, and much hungrier goose.
"No, that's mine" the duck mumbled, though he was afraid of the bigger bird.
"Away!"
But the goose ignored the pleas of the little duck, and took a huge helping of the crispy bread in his beak. The duck began to cry.
To the duck's surprise, upon finally noticing the pathetic little bird, the goose nudged a healthy chunk of bread towards the duck with his wing. The goose was willing to share, and both birds went home to their nests with full tummies.