Distinguishing clickable elements
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Yasser Tamer
Aug 22, 2025, 6:00:03 AM (14 days ago) Aug 22
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Hello,
Thank you to the NVDA admins and moderators for creating this space where we can share ideas and suggestions.
I’m not sure if what I’m noticing is something that can be adjusted in the settings, or if it’s more of a feature request for future NVDA releases:
In other screen readers (for example, JAWS), whenever a button, link, or any clickable element appears, the reading pauses until you move forward with an arrow or tab. With NVDA, at least in my experience, this doesn’t happen. I usually realize something is clickable only after I’ve learned the interface through use.
Here’s one example: in Gmail, when I navigate with the arrow keys, reaching the “Compose” button isn’t announced as a button, nor does NVDA stop at the previous item to signal its presence. Instead, I have to press “B” or use tab navigation to know that the “Compose” element is clickable.
Is this something I can adjust in NVDA’s settings, or is there an add-on that addresses it?
Thanks so much in advance!
Thank you to the NVDA admins and moderators for creating this space where we can share ideas and suggestions.
I’m not sure if what I’m noticing is something that can be adjusted in the settings, or if it’s more of a feature request for future NVDA releases:
In other screen readers (for example, JAWS), whenever a button, link, or any clickable element appears, the reading pauses until you move forward with an arrow or tab. With NVDA, at least in my experience, this doesn’t happen. I usually realize something is clickable only after I’ve learned the interface through use.
Here’s one example: in Gmail, when I navigate with the arrow keys, reaching the “Compose” button isn’t announced as a button, nor does NVDA stop at the previous item to signal its presence. Instead, I have to press “B” or use tab navigation to know that the “Compose” element is clickable.
Is this something I can adjust in NVDA’s settings, or is there an add-on that addresses it?
Thanks so much in advance!
--
Yasser T. Atef, UG
Open Education for Excellence Award 2023 recipient| Open Education Global (OeGlobal)
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recent publications and work:
Atef, Y. (Guest), & Cougler Blom, B. (Host). (2024). Making caring learning environments for people with disabilities (No. 41) [podcast episode]. In Facilitating on Purpose Podcast.
Atef, Y. (2024). Care and Equity: The View from The Lens of Disability Inclusion. Mind Brain Education, 10(2), pp. 36–44.
Gupta, A., Atef, Y., Mills, A., & Bali, M. (2024). Assistant, Parrot, or Colonizing Loudspeaker? ChatGPT Metaphors for Developing Critical AI Literacies. Open Praxis, 16(1), pp. 37–53.
Podcast episode (Oeg Voices):
Atef, Y. (2023, November 17). OEG Voices 059: Yasser Tamer on the Individual Student OE Award of Excellence
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Atef, Y. (2023, August 3). Ways of Being Intentionally Inclusive (B. Stachowiak, Interviewer; episode 477).
*********
Yasser Tamer
Aug 23, 2025, 12:08:54 PM (13 days ago) Aug 23
to NVDA Screen Reader Discussion, Yasser Tamer
Dear all,
This is to kindly draw your attention to the thread I created yesterday.
Thanks and sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused!
jarred...@gmail.com
Aug 23, 2025, 1:40:44 PM (13 days ago) Aug 23
to nvda-...@nvaccess.org
Yasser,
Not sure, but I think you might try turning off screen layout. To do this the easiest way, go to a webpage and make sure you’re in browse mode then press the NVDA key plus V (v as in victor) assuming an English keyboard layout, as that might matter. You should get a message that says “Use screen layout off.”
If this doesn’t work to turn off screen layout, you can also find it in the NVDA options under “Preferences,” then “Settings,” then “Browse Mode.”
Again, not sure if this is the behavior you’re describing, but try that setting and see if it gets you what you want.
Jarred
Quentin Christensen
Aug 24, 2025, 7:51:33 PM (11 days ago) Aug 24
to nvda-...@nvaccess.org
When you read through Gmail and it reads the compose button - it's the "Button" part that tells you it is interactive. When it next reads "Clickable heading labels", it's telling you about the next thing, which is tagged as something you can click on.
When you say the reading (doesn't) pause, how are you reading? If you are using say all (NVDA+down arrow or NVDA+a) then it isn't designed to stop at things you can interact with. Say all is designed so you can keep reading this whole page if you want. But maybe I am misunderstanding the question?
--
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Quentin Christensen
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jacob kruger
Aug 25, 2025, 2:05:52 AM (11 days ago) Aug 25
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My guess would be that items with onclick assigned to them, etc. won't necessarily be focusable otherwise, so they won't be targets of using the tab key to navigate?
Jacob Kruger
"Resistance is futile...acceptance is versatile..."
Yasser Tamer
Aug 25, 2025, 5:05:46 AM (11 days ago) Aug 25
to nvda-...@nvaccess.org
Hi Quentin,
I tried turning off the say all using NVDA+A/ down arrow but it does not take effect.
The reading does not pause when the "click here" hyper link appears in an email for example..
Yasser
Gene Asner
Aug 25, 2025, 5:15:04 AM (11 days ago) Aug 25
to nvda-...@nvaccess.org
I doubt people would want pauses. Hearing the word link and then the
link spoken would be what I expect most people want to hear.
Gene
On 8/25/2025 4:05 AM, Yasser Tamer wrote:
> Hi Quentin,
> I tried turning off the say all using NVDA+A/ down arrow but it does not
> take effect.
> The reading does not pause when the "click here" hyper link appears in
> an email for example..
> Yasser
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 25, 2025 at 2:51 AM Quentin Christensen
> <que...@nvaccess.org <mailto:que...@nvaccess.org>> wrote:
>
> When you read through Gmail and it reads the compose button - it's
> the "Button" part that tells you it is interactive. When it next
> reads "Clickable heading labels", it's telling you about the next
> thing, which is tagged as something you can click on.
>
> When you say the reading (doesn't) pause, how are you reading? If
> you are using say all (NVDA+down arrow or NVDA+a) then it isn't
> designed to stop at things you can interact with. Say all is
> designed so you can keep reading this whole page if you want. But
> maybe I am misunderstanding the question?
>
> On Sun, Aug 24, 2025 at 3:40 AM <jarred...@gmail.com
> <mailto:jarred...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Yasser,____
>
> __ __
>
> __ __
>
> __ __
>
> __ __
>
> Jarred____
>
> Training: https://www.nvaccess.org/shop/
> User group: _https://groups.google.com/a/nvaccess.org/g/nvda-users
> <https://groups.google.com/a/nvaccess.org/g/nvda-users>_
> Other groups: https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/wiki/Connect
> <https://groups.google.com/a/nvaccess.org/d/msgid/nvda-users/CAKsDpFjwRotSZO-SO9k4J3C0qgoGswKqcHKN4iXPa3okkJJXEw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
> <https://groups.google.com/a/nvaccess.org/d/msgid/nvda-users/CAKj3bDWX_HHMFQ3HxKKYzpof623DpJMemosT8SMhZqeZO3DYEA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
link spoken would be what I expect most people want to hear.
Gene
On 8/25/2025 4:05 AM, Yasser Tamer wrote:
> Hi Quentin,
> I tried turning off the say all using NVDA+A/ down arrow but it does not
> take effect.
> The reading does not pause when the "click here" hyper link appears in
> an email for example..
> Yasser
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 25, 2025 at 2:51 AM Quentin Christensen
> <que...@nvaccess.org <mailto:que...@nvaccess.org>> wrote:
>
> When you read through Gmail and it reads the compose button - it's
> the "Button" part that tells you it is interactive. When it next
> reads "Clickable heading labels", it's telling you about the next
> thing, which is tagged as something you can click on.
>
> When you say the reading (doesn't) pause, how are you reading? If
> you are using say all (NVDA+down arrow or NVDA+a) then it isn't
> designed to stop at things you can interact with. Say all is
> designed so you can keep reading this whole page if you want. But
> maybe I am misunderstanding the question?
>
> On Sun, Aug 24, 2025 at 3:40 AM <jarred...@gmail.com
>
> Yasser,____
>
> __ __
>
> Not sure, but I think you might try turning off screen layout.
> To do this the easiest way, go to a webpage and make sure you’re
> in browse mode then press the NVDA key plus V (v as in victor)
> assuming an English keyboard layout, as that might matter. You
> should get a message that says “Use screen layout off.”____
> Not sure, but I think you might try turning off screen layout.
> To do this the easiest way, go to a webpage and make sure you’re
> in browse mode then press the NVDA key plus V (v as in victor)
> assuming an English keyboard layout, as that might matter. You
>
> __ __
>
> If this doesn’t work to turn off screen layout, you can also
> find it in the NVDA options under “Preferences,” then
> “Settings,” then “Browse Mode.”____
> If this doesn’t work to turn off screen layout, you can also
> find it in the NVDA options under “Preferences,” then
>
> __ __
>
> Again, not sure if this is the behavior you’re describing, but
> try that setting and see if it gets you what you want.____
> Again, not sure if this is the behavior you’re describing, but
>
> __ __
>
> Jarred____
>
> --
> ***
> Please note: the NVDA project has a Citizen and Contributor Code
> of Conduct.
> NV Access expects that all community members will read and abide
> by the rules set out in this document while participating in
> this group.
> https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
> <https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md>
>
> You can contact the group owners and moderators via
> nvda-user...@nvaccess.org
> <mailto:nvda-users%2Bman...@nvaccess.org>.
> --
> ***
> Please note: the NVDA project has a Citizen and Contributor Code
> of Conduct.
> NV Access expects that all community members will read and abide
> by the rules set out in this document while participating in
> this group.
> https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
> <https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md>
>
> You can contact the group owners and moderators via
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>
>
> --
>
> Quentin Christensen
> Training and Support Manager
>
> NV Access
> www.nvaccess.org <http://www.nvaccess.org>
>
>
> --
>
> Quentin Christensen
> Training and Support Manager
>
> NV Access
>
> Training: https://www.nvaccess.org/shop/
> <https://www.nvaccess.org/shop/>
> Certification: https://certification.nvaccess.org/
> <https://certification.nvaccess.org/>
> Subscribe to email updates (blog, new versions, etc):
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> Please note: the NVDA project has a Citizen and Contributor Code of
> Conduct.
> NV Access expects that all community members will read and abide by
> the rules set out in this document while participating in this group.
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> Please note: the NVDA project has a Citizen and Contributor Code of
> Conduct.
> NV Access expects that all community members will read and abide by
> the rules set out in this document while participating in this group.
> https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
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> NV Access expects that all community members will read and abide by the
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Quentin Christensen
Aug 26, 2025, 9:40:05 PM (9 days ago) Aug 26
to nvda-...@nvaccess.org
Sorry Yasser, my comment wasn't an instruction but a question :) I was asking HOW you were reading when you expected it to pause - were you using say all (and those commands were the ones for say all) or reading by line or jumping by link etc.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/nvaccess.org/d/msgid/nvda-users/CAKj3bDWX_HHMFQ3HxKKYzpof623DpJMemosT8SMhZqeZO3DYEA%40mail.gmail.com.
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