Quick Guide - Posting a Message in Facebook - NVDA and Firefox

Posting a Message on Facebook

Here are some quick steps with NVDA, demonstrating how to post straightforward text updates in Facebook, both to your own Timeline and the Timeline for any Groups that you may have joined. I have also popped a few steps on how to quickly access and read the posts as well - I hope they help!

As with any screenreader steps, there are always other ways of approaching the same tasks, the following is my own approach and not necessarily the best way for you. But my intention is to try and give you an idea of how light, quick and direct the steps to posting messages in Facebook can be when using NVDA.

By the way, I'm using NVDA V2014.3 and Firefox V33 and, in case you are wondering, I have the default eSpeak English voice running without any of the regional variations. I have a real soft-spot for the Scottish variation but that's a story for another day... Okay, let's get to it:

Post a Message on Your Facebook Timeline:

1. After logging in, press ALT SHIFT 2 to activate the link to your own Timeline. Alternatively, press CONTROL HOME and DOWN ARROW a handful of times to the timeline link in your name.
2. With your own page downloaded, press the NVDA web quick key of E to move your focus to the "What's On Your Mind?" edit field.
3. Now press the ENTER key to leave the virtual cursor reading mode (when you do this you will hear a sound effect) and proceed to type in your message. Check for any errors when you're done.
4. Press TAB to move out of the edit field and continue to press TAB until you have focus on a collapsed menu button. This control will either be labelled Your Friends or Public - with the specific label demonstrating who is permitted to read the post you have just written. Therefore, if the label is already set as your require it you can safely press TAB to move on.
5. If you do need to change the level of permission, press ALT DOWN ARROW then SPACEBAR. A small dynamic menu will open, allowing you to press the DOWN ARROW and select the appropriate option. For example, if your setting was "Public" you arrow down until you hear "Your Friends" and press ENTER to confirm. Focus returns to the main button and you can ensure that it has been set properly using INSERT UP ARROW as normal. After that, TAB to the next control.
6. With focus on the Post button, press SPACEBAR to activate it - your message is now posted to your timeline.

Skip Through and Read Your Timeline Messages:

1. Ensure that you are on your timeline page and press the number 2 key on the main keyboard to move to the Newsfeed level 2 heading.
2. With Newsfeed in focus, press the number 5 key to begin moving through the Level 5 headings - these are the headings for each of your posts, arranged in chronological order.
3. Use your standard reading keystrokes such as INSERT DOWN ARROW and INSERT UP ARROW, together with basic navigation keys such as UP and DOWN ARROW to read your posts as appropriate.

Read the Home Page Timeline:

1. Use ALT SHIFT 1 to move focus to the Home page.
2. Call up your Element List with INSERT F7. Press ALT H to switch to the Headings view.
3. TAB into the list of headings and navigate down the list to Newsfeed. Press the ENTER key to activate.
4. From the Newsfeed heading, press the quick key of 5 to move through the level five headings at the top of each post. Use the standard reading keystrokes as necessary.

Post a Message in a Group Page:

1. Use ALT SHIFT 1 to move focus to the Home page.
2. Call up your Element List with INSERT F7. Press ALT H to switch to the Headings view.
3. TAB into the list of headings and navigate down the list to Groups Press the ENTER key to activate and move there.
4. Now DOWN ARROW to move the virtual cursor to the appropriate Group entry in the list. Press ENTER to confirm, causing focus to move to that Group page.
5. Check the page is correct with INSERT T - NVDA should read out the name of the Group.
6. Now tap the quick key of E a couple of times to move focus to the edit field labelled "Write Something".
7. Complete your message and check the details.
8. Use the TAB key to move through the other options and focus on the Post button. Press the SPACEBAR to post the message.