October 19, 2017 11:19 am

Welcome to In-Process

This week, as hinted, is the In-Process choose your own adventure edition! The instructions assume you are using NVDA (in Browse mode). In any case, you can read it from start to finish if you prefer.

So, let’s start your adventure!

The Cave

You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building. Around you is a forest. A small stream flows out of the building and down a gully.

To the east is a metropolis. To the south is a portal which will bring you back here.

To go East, press 2. To go South, press SHIFT+3.

Metropolis

You visit Melbourne, the city of coffee! To the south is the Blind Citizens Australia (BCA) convention. Mick, Quentin and one of our board members, Mat attended the BCA Convention last weekend. Mick and Mat were on a panel discussing “Getting a job, what works?” Their stories and those of the other participants were of great benefit to the attendees.

To the north is a forest. To the east, is a discount store.

To head North, press 2. To head East, press 1.

Discount store

You find a key!

On the key is a code “BCA2017”. To use the key, go to the NV Access Shop and enter the code at the checkout within the next week.

To head North-west, press 2. To explore the room further, press SHIFT+1.

North

You find yourself in a green forest. A sign reads, “Welcome to LibreOffice country!”.

We know many of our users are passionate about supporting open source software. Working better in LibreOffice is something we often get asked about. We don’t currently have any new resources to devote to this, however, we are evaluating the issues users have with LibreOffice and NVDA. If you have encountered any problems, please do let us know. You can either file an issue on GitHub, or e-mail Quentin as he is currently collating them.

To the west, you hear dulcet tones echoing over a mountain range. To the north, you see snow.

To head West, press 2. To head North, press 3.

Snow

You hear a booming voice say “Ho! Ho! Ho! It’s not Christmas yet. I’ll see you in a couple of months. For now, the code from the discount store is your present.

To head South-west to the mountains, press 2. To head to the discount store, press SHIFT+1.

Mountains

You climb the mountain. At the top, you find three copies of “Basic Training for NVDA”. This resource is very popular and is available in electronic text, audio and Braille. You examine the three formats: – The electronic text is in a zip file. HTML format works in any web browser. DOCX is readable in Microsoft Word. ePub is a popular electronic book format. The KFX format works in the Amazon Kindle app and can be read with NVDA. – The Braille format comes in hard-copy braille, posted free with tracking. It can travel pretty much anywhere in the world! – The audio is packaged as Daisy MP3 downloadable directly after buying. Daisy is a standard for audio books, used in many players such as the Victor Stream and the Plextalk Pocket. See the user manual for your device for how to copy the material onto it.

If you are using an iPhone or iPad, did you know that you can upload the book to your iTunes library to listen to? Apple has instructions on uploading audio to your iTunes account.

Remember, head to the NV Access Shop to get the material and use the key you found earlier to unlock secret treasures!

To the west, you see a vibrant city. To the north, you smell bacon!

To search for the key, press SHIFT+1. To head west, press 2. To head north, press 3.

Bacon!

You find a poem on a scrap of papyrus. A narrator, standing behind a tree with a megaphone reads it to you:

Ode to bacon:

Oh bacon, I love thee, For you are so delicious! All I wish to eat every day, Is bacon!

“Ah”, the narrator says, sighing wistfully, “I love a nice rhyming bacon poem, don’t you? Look, I’d love to stay, but I’m a bit peckish now, you’ll have to do the rest of the adventure on your own, ok?”

The narrator exits to the North.

To the south-west is a vibrant city. (But why leave when there is bacon here?)

To head south-west, press 2. To stay here and enjoy the wonderful poem again, press SHIFT+3.

The vibrant city

You enter the vibrant city. A technology giant strides up to you, bestowing gifts of a beret and a key. You examine the key, different to the first, this key appears to be constructed of solid USB. On the side of the USB key is the inscription “Fall Creators Update”. Bemoaning the decline of the possessive apostrophe, you pocket the key.

Microsoft has just released the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. Those on Windows 10 can expect to this update gradually roll out over the next few weeks or so. If you are keen to get it as soon as possible, never fear! This notice we found nailed to a tree may help.

NVDA 2017.3 works well with the Fall Creators Update, so there is no reason, on that front, not to upgrade. As always, if you do encounter any problems, please do either Create an issue on GitHub or E-Mail us

For those still on Windows 7 or 8, Microsoft today tweeted that “If you’re using assistive technologies and want to update to Windows 10, free upgrade available until Dec. 31, 2017.”

You place the beret on your head at a jaunty angle. To sit and watch the sunset, press 2. To enter a music shop, press 3.

Music Shop

Entering the music shop, you spy an old man with a twinkle in his eye. Although you have never seen him before, he appears to have been expecting you. The shopkeeper ushers you past the guitars, pianos and glockenspiels. He takes you up a dimly lit staircase to a dusty room. From a cupboard, he carefully pulls a simple, yet beautiful lute. Returning it to its case, he hands it to you, and ushers you out of the shop, all without a word.

Although you were only in the shop for what seemed like minutes, the sun is now setting. You sit on a bench and play the lute. Passers-by drop coins into the case, and you use the money to buy a delicious bacon snack!

Sunset

You adjust your cap from a jaunty angle to a rakish angle, and head for the beach. Sitting by the water, you think that this has been a very productive trip. A Viking longship glides towards you, as if to a schedule. You board and sail peacefully home.

The end

Wow, thanks for a great adventure. I hope you enjoyed it. Do come back again next time (although I can’t promise a choose your own adventure every time!)