Although we must recognize that accessibility options in modern operating systems have greatly improved, it is also necessary to mention that they do not manage to adapt to all situations. Due to that lack of flexibility and the high price of other commercial solutions, NVDA was born, an open source, free, and Windows-compatible screen reader for blind people.
The story dates back to April 2006. Concerned about the extremely high cost of screen readers for blind people, Michael Curran started developing a reader based on Python and the Microsoft SAPI module as a synthesizer. Over time, that project became NVDA, NonVisual Desktop Access, and today it presents itself as one of the most complete solutions in screen reading for the blind, Braille support, compatibility with mathematical formulas, and more.
NVDA: One of the Best Screen Readers for Blind People
I have noticed that NVDA's learning curve is quite steep. Its documentation is full of keyboard shortcuts and tutorials to perform certain actions, among which the use of WhatsApp Web, reading subtitles under PotPlayer, and its interaction with Zoom stand out.
There is much to take in here, and one of the things I discovered is that a normal website can become a serious obstacle for NVDA. For example, during my test I couldn't get NVDA to read bold text or links unless the cursor was positioned over them, but from an accessibility standpoint, we shouldn't abuse those resources.
It is difficult to talk about NVDA's quality simply because I am not the audience its development targets. However, what I can say is that the synthesizers built into Windows are superior to what comes in the installation package. eSpeak-NG is an open source synthesizer with code available on GitHub, and as far as we have been able to verify, its last update was December 2019. Personally, I was surprised by how bad it sounds, but using another synthesizer in NVDA is not complicated: Press the correct key combination to activate the menu (in my case, CapsLock+Ctrl+S), and replace it.
Software by the Blind, for the Blind
In summary, I think calling NVDA 'a screen reader for blind people' and nothing more is quite unfair. We are dealing with a complex and flexible platform, extremely popular (it ranks second behind the proprietary option JAWS), with a huge amount of information and tutorials in the background, receiving frequent updates (its latest build is already compatible with Windows 11), and maintaining its commitment to zero cost. Its official page sends a clear message: Software by the blind, for the blind. If you think you need it, the link to the Spanish edition appears below.
Official site in Spanish: Click here
