Go to page controls

Back to Home Page

Basic Talkback Navigation

There are some basic gestures that you need to master in order to move the focus of the Talkback narrator around the screen. Users with sight would normally just place their finger on the displayed screen, selecting the item they want to activate or the input field they want to enter text into.

Obviously with limited or no sight this is not possible, so by using finger gestures when Talkback is active: such as flick left, right, up or down with one finger on the display, it is possible to instruct the Talkback screen reader to move in a preferred direction, or select an option of your choice.

Note: the flick gesture is meant to be a quick swipe of the finger across the screen, as if you were removing a speck of dust from the display.

As soon as Talkback is activated using the default flick left, right, up or down with one finger actions, you have access to many different icons and menu options shown on the displayed screen.

On the Home screen, icons are laid out in rows and columns.

Providing you are not in a text input window that is expecting text via a keyboard or dictation, the left and right single finger flick will move you around the currently displayed elements or icons on the screen.

Flicking up or down will change the way you move around the screen, swipe up or down to hear the traversing steps available. Such as move by characters, words, paragraphs, headings, links, controls and default, which usually means moving around the screen by traversing the main elements (icons on the screen).

Depending on what is being displayed on your current screen some of the traversing steps might not be available.

The menu options available are context sensitive, which means the options are available are relative to the currently displayed screen.

You can activate what is known as the Global Context Menu on any screen by drawing an L shape on the screen. A new window will appear for you to select the desired option, for instance, read from top, repeat last utterance, pause feedback and a lot more.

To navigate around the Global Context menu flick left or right, if you reach the top or bottom of the displayed option list you will hear a dull thud, you can continue flicking in the same direction and you will be taken to the next option, either at the top or bottom of the current list.

Note, if flicking left or right is not moving you around the displayed list of options, flick up or down and stop when you hear the narrator announce 'Default', now when you flick left or right you will traverse up and down the current list.

In general to change the default action from navigating displayed elements you need to flick down or up with one finger to hear available options, such as, show context menu, edit, activate and other options.

The options you will hear are relative to the particular application or window you are currently in. Another way of saying this is, that the currently available options are context sensitive.

Having chosen one of the currently available options you can activate the selected option by double tapping anywhere on the displayed screen with a single finger. Then navigate to the Cancel button, and activate it to exit the Global Context Menu.

So in general to move around the screen flick left or right. However to listen to other options for traversing the screen that has the current focus, flick up or down, listening to the available options. Then as required double tap with one finger to activate your chosen option.

Rather than display the Global Context Menu for the current screen, you can select the Local Context Menu which displays only the options that are relevant to the current screen.

To display the Local Context Menu draw an upside down L on the screen, (move your finger up the screen and then to the right); this will display the Local Context menu, from which you can select the desired option by flicking left or right with one finger and then double tapping with one finger to activate your chosen selection. Navigate to the Cancel button, and activate it to exit the menu.

When moving into a text input window, for example an input box, a form or an editable text window, the narrator will automatically switch into insertion mode, sometimes referred to as Edit mode. This means that Talkback is expecting text to be fed into the text area via dictation or keyboard.

You can move the insertion point for text around any text that has already been inserted, by selecting the appropriate traversing step by flicking up or down and selecting, move insertion location by characters, words, lines, paragraphs, headings, links, controls and finally the default option, which usually means go back to moving around the main elements on the screen.

When inside and editable text area you can display the local context menu with the upside down L gesture, mentioned above. This will allow you to select, move cursor to beginning, move cursor to end, paste, select all or start selection mode, which is the option you would choose to select only a portion of text.

To copy a portion of text in an editable window, move to an edit box, Talkback will announce this. Move to the place you want to copy text from, remember to flick up or down to choose whether you want to move by character, word or line.

Once you have arrived at your desired insertion point, select the local context menu with the upside down L gesture; from this menu choose edit options, then choose Start selection mode. You will now be taken back to your editing window where you can move the cursor to the end of the desired selection point, now use the volume up or down arrows to move right or left, selecting your desired text, now bring up the Local Context Menu, select Edit options and then Copy.

You will now be returned to your edit window where you can now move to where you want to paste the copied text. When you are in the correct position to insert your copied text bring up the Local Context Menu, select Edit options and then Paste. The copied text should now appear in your edit window.

Note, when you are displaying a webpage perhaps using Chrome, you can activate the Local Context menu and select how you want to traverse the webpage when you flick left or right, you can select to move by, Headings, Links, Controls, Characters, Words, Lines, Special content, and Landmarks. Then as required double tap with one finger to activate your chosen option.

Don't forget to navigate to the Cancel button, and activate it, in order to exit the Context Menu.

Go to top


Accessibility Page Control Section


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.

Go to top


Find us on Facebook button Icon

Copyright © Simply Informed 2010 Simply Informed Icon