DVBViewer Pro is the most accessible application

[amirhs]

I'm posting the following for those who are interested in the topic or those who might simply find it via a Google search.

As a visually impaired individual I've been using various DVB apps and cards over the past 8 years. However, in 2008 I made the switch to DVBViewer Pro because in terms of accessibility with screen readers nothing can beat it.

Before the switch, I was a ProgDVB user and even developed and updated a comprehensive set of scripts for it. This continued up to V4.9 of ProgDVB. However, with ProgDVB's move toward .net support, the app instantly became a mess in terms of accessibility -- even specialized scripts can't make it accessible, and this continues till today.

In short, ProgDVB has lost its ability to display channels in a tree view, even when channels are clicked via the mouse pointer; making it impossible for the visually impaired to find and navigate among channels. Also, menu/dialog navigation in ProgDVB has become painfully slow with screen readers, and, unlike DVBViewer, it tends to crash from time to time. And, last but not least, if 3 or more satellites exist, visually impaired users can no longer find and switch to the satellite they want via the mouse-simulating keys of their screen readers.

In contrast, DVBViewer Pro, now at its V4.80.1 release, is perfectly accessible with JAWS, Window-Eyes, and NVDA. One quick comment: in Window-Eyes you should tell the screen reader that the Channels tree view is actually a tree view; that is, you should assign the "Tree view" class to the Channels tree. Otherwise -- and without this simple work-around, Window-Eyes will read nothing in the Channel tree. At any rate, by default you can press the letter "K" to reach DVBViewer's channel tree. There you can move around and select your desired channels. Also, you can press Tab once, type the partial or complete name of your desired channel, press Shift+Tab, and locate the channel(s) you want. Once on it, press Enter and the channel will be activated.

While this is not intended to serve as a comprehensive tutorial, I suggest making the following changes to make the app even more accessible:

1. Go to the Options dialog from the Settings menu, move to the Extended section of the dialog in the tree view, press Tab a few times, uncheck the check box which says "Enable support for visual impaired users (JAWS), press Tab once and check the check box which says "Enable support for visual impaired users (only JAWS scripts). This provides you with the best level of accessibility regardless of the screen reader you use.

2. You can assign single keys or shortcuts to virtually all DVBViewer functions and features in the Options dialog. Simply move to the "Input" section of the Options dialog, and as you hear the phrase "Input open," press tab to reach the area which allows you to locate all functions and change, add, or remove keys for them.

3. DVBViewer can accept channels in the form of channel favorites. These can appear on the Channels menu, and can even appear under various submenus there. For more on that, please consult the manual.

In case you have any questions about DVBViewer accessibility, feel free to ask them here.

[Griga]

Thanks for this report. It's good to get feedback like this

[amirhs]

Griga, speaking of accessibility, the first control of the EPG window -- which is a tree view -- requires a small amount of work because screen readers tend to repeat the "Start time" as they read each single event; that is, they insert the "Starting time" -- like 2:30 -- before other details for that event, making the event announcement both confusing and verbose. Otherwise, this window is also accessible.