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Basic Android and Talkback Settings

Please note the content of this section has been sourced from Google's Accessibilty pages which are presented here in a format that lends itself to easy reading with a screen reader.
You can go direct to the Google site by activating the following link https://support.google.com/accessibility/android/ .

You can adjust the look, feel, and functionality of your device so that it suits your needs and preferences. This page describes several settings that can improve your experience using Android and TalkBack.

Learn how to adjust your settings

Open Quick Settings

The Quick Settings panel contains some commonly used device settings, such as airplane mode, Bluetooth, and volume.

To open Quick Settings when your device is locked, two-finger swipe down from the top of the screen.
To open Quick Settings when your device is unlocked, two-finger swipe down from the top of the screen to open the notification shade. After the notification shade is open, two-finger swipe down again to open the Quick Settings panel.

Open the Settings app

The Settings app lists all device settings. There are several ways to open the Settings app:

In the Quick Settings panel described above, explore by touch to find the Settings button, then double-tap to open.
On the Home screen, explore by touch to find "Apps" and double-tap to open. In the Apps screen, find "Settings" and double tap to open. Apps are typically listed in alphabetical order. If Settings isn't on the first page of apps, you can move to the next screen with a two-finger left swipe.
If you've turned on "Ok Google" on your device, you can use voice commands to open the Settings app. Just say "Ok Google," wait for the tone to indicate voice search is active, then say "Open settings." Learn how to turn on "Ok Google".

Recommended Accessibility settings

To review or change your Accessibility settings, open the Settings app, then find the Accessibility section.

The following Accessibility settings may improve your experience using TalkBack.

Auto-rotate screen

If you're using TalkBack, rotating the screen can interrupt spoken feedback. To turn off this setting in Accessibility settings, uncheck Auto-rotate screen.

When the Auto-rotate screen setting is turned on, the screen automatically rotates when you move your device between portrait mode and landscape mode. The screen might also rotate if you're in a moving vehicle or if you're carrying your device in a pocket or bag.

Speak passwords

This setting controls TalkBack spoken feedback as you type passwords. To protect your privacy, this setting is off by default.

Off: Password characters are only audible via headset.
On: Password characters are announced audibly like any other typed characters.
To change this setting in Accessibility settings, check or uncheck Speak passwords.

Power button ends call

When this setting is turned on, you can simply press your device's power button to end a call. This setting can make it faster and easier to hang up.

To turn on this setting in Accessibility settings, check Power button ends call.

Recommended keyboard settings

For the best experience with TalkBack, make sure you're using the Google Keyboard.

To check what keyboard you're using:

Go to Settings > Language & input.
Under Keyboard & input methods, check that the Current Keyboard is the Google Keyboard.
If you don't have the Google Keyboard, you can download it from Google Play.

Recommended TalkBack settings

To open TalkBack settings, navigate to Settings, then Accessibility, then TalkBack, and finally Settings.

Shake to start continuous reading

TalkBack has a setting that lets you read text continuously by shaking your device. This shortcut can be useful for reading a long document, email, or webpage to the end.

To change this setting in TalkBack settings, turn on "Shake to start continuous reading." You can choose among several different intensity levels: Very light, Light, Medium, Hard, and Very hard. You might want to try two or three different settings to find what's best for your device and your personal preferences.

Another way to read continuously is to open the global context menu by swiping down then right, then select Read from next item or Read from top. Learn more about the global and local context menus.

Change TalkBack volume

Android has different volume levels for different audio sources. Pressing the volume up and down keys changes the ringer volume. To change TalkBack speech volume, place a finger on the touch screen and press the volume up or down keys.

Change earcon volume

Depending on what text to speech engine you're using, you might need to adjust the volume of the TalkBack earcons. You can change the earcon volume in "Other feedback settings" with the "Sound volume" setting. For example, if the volume of the TalkBack earcons is too loud, you can set the sound volume to 50% of media volume.

Focus speech audio

To ensure that TalkBack speech is never drowned out by other audio sources, such as music or videos, you can turn on "Focus speech audio" in TalkBack settings. When this setting is on, other audio volume decreases when TalkBack is speaking.

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Keyboard control (Chrome/Safari): Screen Speak - Press ALT + s, Pause Audio - Press Alt + p. To reset/reload page activate the Reload Page button below.


Search Section

If you are using a laptop, then to search for text on any currently displayed page press Control and F, then enter the required search text in the displayed search box. Any text found in the current page will be highlighted, you can use the up and down symbols displayed within the search box to search forward or backwards for occurrences of your search text.

If you are accessing this site via a smart phone or tablet, you will need to navigate to the 'More options' button, usually towards the top right hand side of your screen, to access your device Search options for the currently displayed page. Note that sometimes instead of the word 'Search' your device might display 'Find in page' as the option to select for searching the current page.

To search for text primarily in other pages of the Simplyinformed Website, enter text in the search box below. To get back from the search results Press ALT and Left Arrow. Please note there may be a few initial links that take you to other sites that match your site search string, these can of course be disregarded if you only want to be taken to content on this site. Please note that the Search box is displayed as a table with one row and three columns, in other there are three cells in the search table layout. Cell one is where you enter your search string and press enter, or move to cell two to activate the Search Button. Move to cell three to find the clear search content button to clear out the text in cell on, ready to enter a new search string. Use the Up and Down arrows to move through search table cells when using NVDA. Once the Narrator has been taken to the search box press the enter key so that the screen reader switches into text input mode.

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