Chat for (Vi) blind players

A section for the Blind or Visually Impaired to chat and discuss screen-readers and Braille systems. When posting here please ensure you remember the target audience.
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Chat for (Vi) blind players

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fastfinge
Oct 22nd 2009 edited
I've seen a number of blind core-exiles players asking, on odyssey and other places, what the most accessible solution is for using IRC. While the Ajax chat link core-exiles provides may not work with your screen reader, the core-exiles chat is really just an IRC server. If you're using HAL, you may have success using the chat link. For more instructions on how to do this, see the next post from a HAL user. However, you may wish to continue reading if you'd like messages to be read out automatically. IRC is good news for the rest of us, as several third-party IRC clients are already, or can be easily made, accessible. As the chat is a huge part of the core-exiles game and community, and you can even win prizes for hanging out there, I thought I'd post some information about how to make it work for blind players. Also, I have under a hundred fuel, and it's going to take absolutely forever to regenerate. So I might as well make myself useful!

Let's start off with the easiest, and least powerful, solution. If you're using Firefox and NVDA, you can install a Firefox extension called Chatzilla. Chatzilla is an IRC client built directly into Firefox, so you can chat right from within the browser. Unfortunately, if you're not using NVDA, this won't work at all for you as far as I am aware. To get it going:

1. Install Chatzilla from the mozilla addons directory, or from the official Chatzilla website at: http://chatzilla.hacksrus.com/
I'm going to assume you know how to install a Firefox extension. If you've never done this before, and can't figure it out, send me a message in game and I'll see if I can help.

2. Once the extension has been installed, click the Chatzilla menu item. You will find it on the menu bar, under tools.

3. At this point, a new Chatzilla window will have opened, and you will be in the main edit box, where you can type commands and messages. In order to connect to core-exiles, and join the core-exiles chatroom, type the following commands exactly:

/nick your-core-exiles-name

Replace your-core-exiles-name with your name in the game. This will set your nickname in chat.

/server irc.core-exiles.com

You will hear some system messages about connecting to the server at this point. Once NVDA has shut up, type:

/join #core-exiles

This will put you in the main chat channel. As long as you stay in the chatzilla window, you will hear all new messages, and you can send your own messages by typing in the edit box. If you want to review the chat history, or see who else is in the channel, press f6. F6 will toggle you between an edit box to type messages, the chat history, and a list view of all the people in the channel. The limitations of this system are that it only works with NVDA as far as I know, and you will not hear new chat messages if you leave the chatzilla window.
If you're running Jaws, Window-eyes, or have a SAPI voice, or just want something more powerful, you can use a chat program called mIRC from:
http://www.mirc.com
Note that mIRC is not freeware. It will run as a thirty day demo, and then you need to purchase the software before you can use it anymore. When you first download and install mIRC, it will not be accessible. However, multiple solutions have been written that will fix this shortfall. As the method to set-up each system differs wildly, I will not document them in detail. Most systems come with there own detailed documentation. Instead, I will provide links to what are, in my opinion, the two leading solutions. First is SJAMS from:
http://randylaptop.com/software/sjams-a ... -for-mirc/
Despite the title, it supports SAPI and Window-Eyes as well as Jaws. I'm biased towards this solution, as when it was actively developed, I contributed code, support, and bug-testing to it. However, the system can be a little tricky to get going. If you're looking for something a little easier, try tIRC from:
http://www.talkingirc.net/tirc/
Once you get to the point where you're asked for server details, enter irc.core-exiles.com. When asked for a channel, enter #core-exiles.
The advantage to these systems is that they will read out new messages, even while you're doing something else. So you can play the game, and hear the chat at the same time. Or turn on your speakers, and listen in while you're off doing something else completely.
If you're on mac OS X, the only accessible IRC solution is Adium from:
http://www.adiumx.com
When you get it installed, find add account under the file menu, and pick IRC from that submenu. Enter irc.core-exiles.com as the server, and make sure your nickname is your core-exiles account name. Once that is successful, go to join group chat under the file menu, make sure the core-exiles server is selected, and enter #core-exiles as the chat name. This will open a window with the chat text, and a box for messages. If you want messages read out automatically, go to the Adium preferences, and select events in the toolbar. Then, make sure all of the chat events are set to speak. Once you've done that, you can leave the Adium window, and continue to hear new messages.

If you have any difficulty with any of this, feel free to PM me, fastfinge, in the game. Accept if you're on Linux, I'm afraid you're on your own. I have no help for you. Perhaps someone else has a clue.

This all just scratches the surface of IRC. core-exiles aren't the only people running IRC servers; in fact, there are thousands of them, for everything from programming to dating. So enjoy this quick-start, and feel free to explore the rest yourself!

Also note that the above statement about hal was made before the Chat interface changed to a Flash, Ajax based one.

now if your using Hal your better doing as mentioned above and finding a workable Irc client such as Mirc.
am using Miranda IM as my irc client with my screen reader windows eye and had no problem .

there also some usefull scripts to use with Miranda IM if your a windows eye user found here .
https://www.gwmicro.com/App_Central/App ... iptid=1223
miranda is really good. with mirc though the 1 thing you can do is to set irc to use speech other than your screen reader. so you can use the windows voices.
Dana Dawson
Data Recovery Tech
Historical Archives Division
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