New ChromeVox Release - Version 1.18.0 ! Includes Mac OS X keyboard navigation shortcut change.

[rshearer]

Hi everyone,

We've just released ChromeVox 1.18.0 to the Web Store and to the open source repository. We also wanted to let you all know about the new home for ChromeVox docs - http://www.chromevox.com/ !

This release includes two big updates:

- An important change for Mac OS X users - the ChromeVox keys have changed to Control + Command. The Command key is located on either side of the spacebar on a standard Mac keyboard. We made this change to avoid conflicting with VoiceOver and other applications on Mac OS X.

- ChromeVox has now been translated into dozens of languages. If your operating system's primary language is set to something other than English, all ChromeVox-specific speech will be in that language. Chrome OS includes support for synthesized speech in English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian. On other operating systems, ChromeVox will support whatever speech synthesis you've installed.

Please see the release notes at http://www.chromevox.com/release_notes for more information on these and other changes.

If you want the update right away, you can either:

- Go to chrome://extensions and click the "Developer Mode" checkbox at the top of the page. Then click the "Update extensions now" button.

- Uninstall ChromeVox and then re-install from the Web Store: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/kgejglhpjiefppelpmljglcjbhoiplfn

Or, you can wait for the automatic update, which should arrive soon(ish).

Stay tuned - we'll be going through and updating the issues in the Issues List that have been resolved in this release.

__Rachel and the ChromeVox Team

[Mike Arrigo]

Just wondering, what exactly does the developer mode check box do?

[rshearer]

When you check the developer mode checkbox it just shows a few extra options on the chrome://extensions page, including the buttons that allow you to load an unpacked extension and pack an extension for release. It also shows the "Update extensions now" button (which is why we're recommending you activate developer mode if you want to update ChromeVox right away). These options are useful for developers who are building their own extensions.

Developer mode also gives you more details about extensions that you are currently running, including the ability to inspect any active views. But developer mode doesn't change anything about the behavior of ChromeVox or other extensions.

[Mike Arrigo]

The new release is nice, glad the conflict with voice over was eliminated, and the sticky modeis nice. How do you exit sticky mode? Tried pressing command twice, control command once and twice, doesn't seem to work, or if it does, it does not announcethat sticky mode is turned off. I notice now that chromevox reads the preferences window as well, this is nice.

[John J Herzog]

How do you modify combo boxes on web pages with the new chromevox? When I try to choose options from combo boxes, all I get is silence. Chromevox does not read things as I move through the items. Try choosing your arrival and departure cities on www.megabus.com for an example of this problem. Other than that, nice screen reader.

[rshearer]

Hi John,

Are you using a Mac? We do have a bug where ChromeVox doesn't speak native combo box options on the Mac. Unfortunately the only workaround right now is to use VoiceOver to speak the combo boxes. This should be easier now that the keyboard shortcuts don't conflict with each other.

[John J Herzog]

I am using a mac. I did not try chromevox on windows or linux due to the combo box issue. If the bug is only present on Mac that's cool. Thanks for the response.

[Mike Arrigo]

I have noticed this also, hopefully this is something that can be corrected.