I’ve been working on–with the help of LLM agents– bringing multiline Braille support to NVDA. For example, multiple elements of a web page, not just the currently focused one. NVDA does support multiline braille displays, but it still sends only the focus element. This is a personal project. my main goal is to make and to explore what multiline Braille can do. I was originally excited by JAWS brining support for multiline braille, but their progress seems to have stalled for the time being.
Some key features include:
- Flowing a web page in browse mode across elements. E.g., when focus is on a heading the following content is shown below it.
- Columns view for tables, including panning down rows, and paging across columns.
- Lists: showing multiple items in lists and indenting nested lists. This works in browse mode as well as lists such as NVDA’s settings dialog and tree views such as File Explorer.
- Monitoring an object on part of the display, or another display, while working elsewhere.
- Primitive graphics drawings such as an outline or brightness view for tactile graphics capable displays.
I have used the Monarch display to design and build this. It should work with any multiline display. Though some graphic features may not. This is the reason for asking for any testers out there, as I can’t verify other displays.
I would like for another tester(s) to give BrlMultiline a try. Especially with a Dot Pad, as that is becoming popular. (Note for Dot Pad: NVDA includes a driver, and Dot Inc. has another add-on package available which seems to have a different driver.) If you are interested in multiline braille and especially if you have hardware, check it out here.