ScreenReader Update 13.02 | Dolphin Computer Access

Released: 12/11/2012

SuperNova version 13.02, a free update for all SuperNova version 13.01 customers, includes Dolphin's new Plug and Play-type connectivity for dozens of USB Braille displays. Several fixes have been applied to SuperNova's new Internet Explorer support originally released in version 13.01. Initial support for Adobe Reader version 11 has been introduced. Plus, many other general stability and performance improvements benefiting magnification, speech and Braille.

Braille: Plug and Play-type Connectivity for USB Braille Displays

The majority of popular USB Braille Displays are now recognised and used automatically by SuperNova. When you plug-in the USB cable, the appropriate SAM Braille driver is enabled and SuperNova selects and starts using your USB Braille display straightaway.

USB Braille Displays supported by the Plug and Play-type functionality in SuperNova version 13.02 include:

Optelec Alva BC6 series and Alva Satellite
Papenmeier Braillex series
HumanWare Brailliant B/BI series
Freedom Scientific Focus/PACmate series
HIMS: Braille Edge, Braille SENSE and SyncBraille
Handy Tech braille display series
MDV (Lilli)
Baum / HumanWare Super Vario/Brailliant Braille display series

More Braille displays to be added in future versions.

Important Notes for connecting Braille displays:

Most displays connect automatically. In many cases Braille connectivity depends on third-party drivers (both device and SAM). Devices such as the BC640, supporting the Human Interface Device protocol, do not require additional drivers to be installed.

Displays from: Baum, HIMS, Freedom Scientific and Humanware, require manufacturers' Windows device drivers to be installed first. Windows drivers should be supplied on a disk with your display or available as a download from the manufacturer's web site.

The Baum Super Vario and Humanware Brailliant series, install a "virtual Com Port". The port number may need to be retrieved from the Windows Device Manager and SAM configured manually to use this number. Dolphin Product Support can do this for you.

Braille displays, such as the HIMS Braille Sense, only accept screen reader output when they have been switched to a special screen reader or Terminal Mode and your Braille display must be set to use the USB Communications channel. This usually happens automatically. Manufacturers' instructions can advise if changing settings to work with a screen reader is necessary for your particular model.

Braille: View Driver Readme button in SAM control panel

It is now more convenient to access additional information about each Braille display and Text To Speech synthesiser supported by SAM. To read a description of: supported features, setup instructions and Braille button assignments do the following.

Open the SuperNova Control Panel with LEFT CONTROL+SPACE.
Open SuperNova's General/Advanced dialog by pressing ALT+G followed by A.
Open the SAM Control Panel with ALT+S.
Choose your Braille or Speech device from the list and open the driver Readme with ALT+V.

Braille: Button assignments

SuperNova's Braille button assignments for the Freedom Scientific Focus 40/80/Blue braille displays have been completely reviewed and updated. Buttons on the Focus displays now perform many more screen reader functions for reviewing your applications in Braille.

The complete list of commands is available by pressing the corresponding Readme button in the SAM control panel.

Internet Explorer

Thanks to customer feedback to web support improvements in SuperNova version 13.01, SuperNova version 13.02 now includes the following fixes for Microsoft Internet Explorer:

FIX: Table navigation now works correctly for larger tables.

FIX: Focus tracking between pages now correctly tracks and stores position. This means that if you navigate backwards or forwards and move the Dolphin Cursor the position will be consistently stored.

FIX: Prevented potential hang using route to mouse position.

FIX: Ordered list numbers are no longer confused with Landmarks.

FIX: Failure to rescan due to Flash exceptions on pages.

FIX: Automatic Dolphin Cursor does not always start when opening web pages in Internet Explorer.

FIX: Landmarks announced more reliably.

FIX: Clicking a mailto: link will no longer cause the current page to stop responding.

FIX: Problems on specific sites: Nsandi.com, Natwest.com, Ahram.org.eg.

FIX: Dolphin Cursor position incorrect on some Arabic pages.

FIX: Web DOM. Memory leak in Flash scanner.

FIX: Web DOM. Allow caption to be used as a fallback 'label' when listing tables in item finder.

FIX: Web DOM. Sites that wouldn't correctly report they had loaded completely. OnTime #14120.

FIX: Web DOM. Outlook 2003 wasn't navigating correctly if you changed between emails quickly. OnTime #26058

FIX: Web DOM. Headings are now classed as objects and are reported using their contents. Quick navigation and Move keys will now treat them as objects in their navigation as well. OnTime #25739, #26218, #25894, #26276

Adobe Reader

Adobe Reader is the most popular way to read documents written in the Portable Document Format PDF. SuperNova version 13.02 now includes initial support for Adobe Reader version 11. Other fixes for Adobe Reader include:

FIX: The 'Content Preparation Progress' dialogue is no longer announced too frequently.

FIX: Resolved hang while opening certain PDFs.

FIX: Snova Item Finder CAPS+TAB generates lists of elements for PDFs.

FIX: Resolved problems moving between columns in Adobe Reader.

FIX: Route Dolphin Cursor to mouse / Click to Read from here was broken in Acrobat Reader XI.

General Stability Improvements:

NEW: Watchdog system is now turned OFF by default. You can enable it with -watchdog from the command line.

FIX: Intermittent crash in magnification engine.

FIX: Screen could go black after SuperNova Screen Reader is loaded and the focus highlighting is on.

FIX: Fixed memory leaks in DK+F1 help popup menu.

FIX: Stop reading text under mouse during document read.

FIX: Incorrect keyboard announcements for Ctrl+W and Ctrl+Y in French Supernova

FIX: Slow character response in Word 2010

FIX: When starting selection Vocalizer Clair says "komma"

FIX: Crash in magnification engine using Lotus Notes 8 on a Windows XP machine

FIX: Hang whilst using Outlook / Contact Central

FIX: ""Read from here"", speech and focus not synchronized.

FIX: Hang in Microsoft Word. OnTime #27079.

NEW: Live Messenger: Added initial support for Live Messenger 2012.

FIX: FineReader - updated company name.

FIX: Lotus Notes version 6 improved support: Fixed focus jumping with mag on. Fixed text being broken up when reading so lines in e-mails were not read properly.

FYX: Java Accessibility. Ignore company name in Map properties.

NEW: Polish prompts added to support Microsoft Word, Outlook and Excel.

Windows 8

Note; A free update including support for Windows 8 X86 and X64 editions will be made available to all customers of SuperNova v13. For more information about Dolphin's support for Windows 8 visit www.YourDolphin.com/win8