TL:DR
-Control voice speed by words per minute instead of arbitrary % value

-Highlight each word as it's voiced. Allow pausing, rewind (e.g. 10 words, 1 sentence.) and skipping ahead. Read mode where successive paragraphs are immediately started after the previous completes itself.

-More options to enable or disable actions which cause voice output (e.g. don't read paragraphs/only read paragraphs on screen, not windows names etc.)

Hi,

I think narrator is really excellent and you've done a great job making it. Thanks!

I have some suggestions for features, I expect they may be considered already, but I think they would be very helpful.

First, having the speech speed as a % value is inconvenient for new and experienced users because anyone aware of what speed they listen at, say using another app or device,are required to use trial and error to find the % speed they prefer. Words per minute is a more real applicable tangible measure.

Second, the ability to pause a paragraph or sentence, to repeat a sentence, skip ahead, rewind, would be very helpful for listening. Especially when large paragraphs count as one sections of speech. As such, an option to highlight each word as it is voiced would help. Related, an option to have continuous reading enabled, so that once one paragraph completes, the next begins, would improve flow for reading articles, documents etc.

Third, while using narrator, redundant information is voiced regularly,
so options to control whether something should be output would be convenient.

Thanks so much for considering adding these features, I hope they make sense!

SP.UI.ModalDialog.showModalDialog and Accessibility issues

I got an opportunity to work on a SharePoint project recently. As part of this project, we had to fix accessibility issues on a SharePoint site. Here is the list of issues I found which can be made accessible out of the box. Let me know in case of any questions.

1. Modal content gets rendered in an iframe but without title. iframe should have a title as per Accessibility Guidelines. If you don't, screen reader starts reading the source URL. I suggest you to provide the page name as title at least .




2. It is possible to tab out of the modal. As per accessibility guidelines, keyboard navigation should be trapped with in the modal until it is closed.




3. Some screen readers have compatibility issues with reading iframe content and hence it is observed that some screen readers (for example: NVDA) are not able to read the content of the modal if modal has only the static content (without form controls). As a solution, I suggest you to keep the close control (link) with in the iframe. As of now, it is positioned outside the iframe which is causing a problem when we try to read the static content with arrow keys when close link has active focus.




4. Close is rendered as link but it is supposed to be a button.




5. There are some hidden buttons with text like "wrap focus to top of the page". I am not sure how it helps any user but the text is read out for screen reader users. Its better to remove these from DOM.




6. When we call a modal, sighted users see a progress message like "Loading..." but is not accessible for screen reader users. Sometimes it does work with JAWS and but it never works with either NVDA or VoiceOver.

Reach me at sujasreek@gmail.com if you have any additional questions.

Thanks & Regards
Sujasree Kurapati

I was directed to come here by customer support. I had to install Windows 7 on a different hard drive just to post this! I have been a member of the "insider" program since February 14th 2015.
I have a spinal cord injury which renders my hands and arms useless. I have been disabled for 25 years. I worked with Mark Novak, at the University of Wisconsin Weisman Center, on the original Access Pack for MS-DOS and Access Pack for Windows 3.1 which is the forefather of "Ease of Access". I must use a mouthstick or voice recognition to navigate any program in any operating system. I will cut to the chase.
Windows 10 doesn't address many of the features in "ease of access". What is addressed is inconsistent. I have submitted several suggestions as to the better integration of your "ease of access" program within Windows 10 throughout it's implementation. I have placed a copy of this in the insider program, the answer desk and the Windows 10 community. I will now post it here. I usually receive a few to several individual responses with the same problem and one response from a MS rep telling me to run sfc /scannow or some such remedy wasting my time and yours. I know we are a very small portion of the users you are marketing to but we add up and you have totally missed the mark with this OS and it's peripherals in the disability community. I will address just a few of the myriad of problems I am encountering.
The worst is Microsoft prioritizing Windows Edge and then making it useless to basically all "Ease of Access" tools because of the lack of adjustability. It is very disgruntling. This includes no disabling or uninstalling and not allowing many default changes in other listed programs to get around Edge.
Sticky keys used with many keyboard shortcuts are either useless or spotty with all MS programs. i.e. Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, EDGE etc...
Mouse Keys have changed so the pointer top speed is approximately 2/3 the speed in 8.1 and 7. The left single click (5) and double click (+) is picky where it will or won't work in Microsoft Apps.
I have tried 6 different keyboards, including a brand new Microsoft 800 on my Dell Optiplex desktop. I also have a Dell Precision M4800 laptop that I have tried the Microsoft 800 as a remote remote USB keyboard. They both have the same problems and results. Others are having the same or similar problems.
There are many more similar problems that have relegated me to using third party apps that do work with all of the ease of access tools.
Now after the latest update Mouse Keys disables itself after using it on IE 11 and attempting to use it on Edge. I must go to the accessibility app and recheck it. Any online Microsoft logon installs your password at bootup where there was none. Any assistance would be appreciated.

In windows 10, especially on the Surface devices, the ability to turn off the screen has been disabled. The old method was to press windows+p to get to projector options, then arrow up to second screen only and press enter.
There are three reasons why having a way to turn off the screen is important:
1. Privacy and safety. As a blind user, we have no idea who could be looking at our screen and if we are writing some highly personal data in a public place, then we have no way to insure someone is not looking over our shoulder and reading that data.
2. Eye fatigue. As a nearly totally blind user, my eyes start to hurt if my computer screen is the only light in the room.
3. Battery life. The screen is one of the most power intensive components on my computer and in Windows 7, I would get an extra 1-2 hours of life compared to the dimmest brightness setting.

In the edit hyperlink dialog in Word 2016, the following undesirable behaviour is observed:

• Pressing tab to move between elements, as you move from the "link to: existing file or web page" to the "Text to display" edit box, the OK button loses it's default button status. This means when you press ENTER, you get an error ding and nothing happens. The OK button should remain default button.




• As you press tab and move into "current folder tree view" (the list of files) - the first file is automatically selected and thus the URL you had previously used or typed is replaced with the address to the first file in your documents folder. Traditionally when tabbing to a tree view such as this, the list takes focus but the first file does not until you press spacebar or down arrow to the second file.




• When you select "Browsed pages", the list of pages displayed is drawn from the history from Internet Explorer. On Windows 10 particularly, many users don't even realise iE still exists. This list should be populated from the history from the users default browser.