Hey fellow #BlindMastodon users! I’m looking for recommendations on two types of writing tools for Windows:
- Accessible text expanders
- Word prediction software
I use both #JAWS and #NVDA screen readers. I tried Espanso (an open-source text expander), but it didn’t work well with NVDA. I also tested Lightkey for word prediction, but it didn’t seem accessible.
As an #ActuallyAutistic person, word prediction would really help with my autism-related communication challenges.
Have you found any text expanders or word prediction tools that work well with screen readers? What has your experience been like? I’d love to hear your recommendations and thoughts!
#Accessibility #AssistiveTechnology #TextExpander #WordPrediction #ScreenReader #Windows #AutismAccommodations #autism #blind @mastoblind @main
@RareBird_15 @mastoblind @main Hello. I use something called BEEFText for text expansions. It’s simplistic and not as fully functional as text expander, but it’s simlle and lightweight and free.
@EdenLinnea @mastoblind @main Trying BEEFText out right now, but the controls in the new combo dialog don’t seem to be properly labeled. Do you know what tab order the edit boxes are in? I know there are name, snippet, description, and keyword boxes, but I can’t figure out which one my cursor is in. The only one with a spoken label is the one for name, and I’m not sure if that’s the right label.
@RareBird_15 @mastoblind @main There is that. I forget honestly. I’ll check it fory. I had to map it and just remember. it’s simle, but just try a couple of combos and when you figure it out remind me which way. I do get confused sometimes.
@EdenLinnea @mastoblind @main Okay, I think I figured it out. The order of the edit boxes is snippet, keyword, name, description. I wanted to label them with JAWS prompts but it keeps trying to label the window, not the edit boxes.
@RareBird_15 @mastoblind @main If you figure out how to label them, let me know. If you have time, hunt down the dev and see if they’ll fix it. I forget how I even found it. I recommend using it with a space or a special character. I did an ompsy very had a shortcut that could be the beginning of several words.
@EdenLinnea @mastoblind @main Have you had issues with it not working sometimes? I created a few snippets but half the time when I type the keyword they don’t work.
@RareBird_15 @mastoblind @main No, but I have not used it in a while or extensively. Sometimes I feel lI had to fiddle with it, but the onesI’ve tried it with have worked. I don’t use it as much because most of my writing is in particular software that has its own shortcuts.
@EdenLinnea @mastoblind @main Never mind. Looks like another text expander that plays nice with JAWS but not NVDA. I was testing with NVDA when it stopped working. I switched to JAWS, and it started working again.
@EdenLinnea @mastoblind @main Also, I’ll try to contact the dev, but I doubt they’ll do anything. The BEEFText wiki says the app is now in maintenance mode, and that they’ll try to fix it if it breaks when new Windows versions are released, but that’s all they’re doing with it.
@RareBird_15 @mastoblind @main I tried Espanso as well and it didn’t work for me. The only one I was able to locate that works across the whole operating system is called auto hot key. Otherwise, I think you’ll just have to use the text expansion features in programs like Jarte, Microsoft office, and Libra office because there is no other accessible text expansion program that I can think of I have afraid. I actually wrote about that here https://robertkingett.com/posts/6121/
@WeirdWriter @mastoblind @main I actually thought about trying AutoHotKey, but it looked complicated. Lol I’m already learning JavaScript and I’m not sure I have the energy to learn another programming or scripting language at the same time.
@RareBird_15 @mastoblind @main You can edit espanso with their text files but I never got it to work. I just haven’t found any text replacement program that’s universal that works for the entire operating system. If anybody were to make one, I would throw money at them so quickly you could not blink fast enough. I just haven’t been able to find any solutions and I’ve been looking for years
