So, what works well with NVDA? Here’s a short list of applications I use that work quite well, and that you might find useful:

Your mileage may vary, so don’t be afraid to test out the accessibility of your favorite application. It’s not always perfect, but I’ve had some applications that I thought were inaccessible using a commercial screen reader become useful to various degrees under NVDA.

What this means is that in some cases, applications that may not have been very accessible under the commercial screen readers might become accessible under NVDA. NVDA uses the built-in accessibility frameworks in Windows to provide the information it needs to provide spoken feedback of what’s on screen at the moment. The experience with NVDA is a bit different than the commercial screen readers, as there’s no special display driver required to make things accessible. Dead simple… and you’re back to your normal routine. Basically it’s agreeing to the license, clicking a few buttons and clicking Finish when it’s done. When it comes to installation, NVDA is quite straightforward to install, with an installation wizard that walks you through the process with speech, even if no other screen reader is installed on your system. On the other hand, NVDA is a high-quality, open-source and most importantly, free screen reader that I’ve used exclusively for the last 90 days and would highly recommend to Windows users looking for an alternative to the commercial screen readers.

While JAWS and it’s brethren are carefully designed, well tested and well supported by their respective creators, they also generally are a bit expensive, especially when factoring in the software maintenance agreements that keep these screen readers up to date. As a visually impaired Windows user, there’s quite a few options out there when it comes to screen reading software for you to choose from… JAWS, Window-Eyes and System Access might be the best known of the commercial screen readers on the market, while in the open-source space there’s one screen reader most visually impaired users have heard of… NVDA, or Non-Visual Desktop Access.

Nvda screen reader 2018