14 DAY TRIAL // The upcoming Windows 10 Creators Update is quite an eagerly-anticipated release for Microsoft users, mostly because of the big number of improvements that the company plans to introduce, but it appears that there’s even more to come in this particular OS update.
In a lengthy post that went live during the weekend, Microsoft revealed some of the accessibility improvements that it wants to include in the Creators Update, confirming that Narrator will be a key focus for the company’s engineers in the next months.
Support for braille is one of the highlights of the Creators Update, and Microsoft says that it’s working with manufacturers to support as many displays as possible.
“The Creators Update will include beta support for braille input and output. The beta will support braille displays from more than 35 manufacturers, using more than 40 languages and multiple braille variants, including grade 2 contracted braille,” the firm said.
Significant Narrator updates
Furthermore, Microsoft says that Windows 10 Creators Update will support installing with the Narrator, as this feature will also become available throughout the setup process. Narrator will also come with a new way to launch, such as the CTRL + Windows key + Enter (previously, users could launch the app with Windows key + Enter). Cortana will also be able to start the app.
There will also be new speech voices and capabilities, with Microsoft promising 10 new voices, while Narrator will offer support for multilingual reading.
The audio experience has also been overhauled with dynamic ducking, which means that applications using the sound, such as Pandora, will have their sound volume lowered when Narrator is speaking.
Edge will get its own share of accessibility improvements, “including the ability to jump directly to a form element lick a check box, text field or button,” and the Creators Update will give the option to use a controller to drive Narrator interactions on Xbox.
Many of these features will become available in the upcoming Insider Preview builds for testing purposes, while everyone else should get them with the debut of the final version of the Creators Update due in early 2017.