Screen Readers and the Keyboard¶
PadForge read aloud by a screen reader and driven from the keyboard: what you hear, the keys, and the one thing NVDA needs.
PadForge is tested with NVDA. Every control the Tab key reaches has a name a screen reader speaks, in the language the interface uses. The app looks the same with or without a screen reader, and the keys work without one.
NVDA and administrator rights¶
PadForge runs as administrator, and Windows lets a screen reader read an administrator program only when the screen reader can work with one. An installed copy of NVDA can. A portable or temporary copy of NVDA cannot, unless that copy also runs as administrator. Use the installed copy.
What you hear¶
- A button that shows only a symbol speaks what its tooltip says, such as "Record" on the record buttons.
- A field or slider speaks the setting it changes: "Web Controller Port, edit, 8080".
- The controller type buttons on the Dashboard and in the sidebar speak as radio buttons, checked on the slot's current type: "Nintendo, radio button, checked". The filter chips on the Devices page and the tag chips in the Workshop speak the same way, checked on the current filter.
- The engine and slot power buttons speak as toggle buttons, pressed while on, then their state: "Enabled, toggle button, pressed, Awaiting devices".
- The arrows of a scroll bar or a number box, and the buttons at the top right of the window, speak their names: "Scroll Up", "Increase", "Minimize".
- Each cell of the Mappings table speaks what it holds: the output, the source, the live value, or "Does not apply" for a dead zone the row has no use for.
- A sensitivity curve speaks the point its keys move: "Point 2 of 4, input 50%, output 38%".
- Page titles and section titles are headings.
- Each dialog speaks as a dialog when it opens.
- Status changes are spoken as they happen: the message in the status bar at the bottom of the window, and the status lines on the Dashboard, Settings and Devices pages, such as a server starting or a driver's install status. They are spoken only while PadForge is the active window, so nothing interrupts a game.
Keys¶
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Tab, Shift+Tab | Move to the next or previous control |
| Space, Enter | Press the focused button, chip, swatch or tile. On a sidebar entry, open its page |
| Escape | Close the dialog or the open list |
| Ctrl+Tab, Ctrl+Shift+Tab | With the focus inside a tab of a controller's page, move to the next or previous tab |
| Alt+Up, Alt+Down | On the Macros tab, move the selected step of the action sequence up or down one place |
A dialog opened from the keyboard starts with the focus on its first control. The Add Controller list and the profile list do the same: the arrow keys and Tab move through them, and Escape closes them and puts the focus back on what opened them.
Sensitivity curves¶
Tab reaches each curve. The point the keys move is drawn orange while the curve has the focus.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Left, Right | Select the point before or after |
| Home, End | Select the first or last point |
| Up, Down | Raise or lower the point's output by 1% |
| Page Up, Page Down | Raise or lower the point's output by 10% |
| Shift+Left, Shift+Right | Move the point's input by 1%, short of the points beside it. The two end points keep theirs |
| Insert | Add a point on the curve, halfway to the next point |
| Delete | Remove the point. The two end points stay |
Last updated for PadForge 5.1.0.