Changeling’s Guide to Discord for Screen Reader Users
IMPORTANT
After a break, I have decided to begin maintaining this guide again. Before I start providing regular updates, I need to revise the guide to reflect the changes Discord has made since I started this project in 2019, and to allow for a form factor that will allow me to more easily make edits as updates to discord are released. This second edition will take some time and effort to put together, so please continue to use the existing version in the meantime.
If you find this project valuable, please consider making a donation. The content is free, but producing it takes time and effort. Also, maintaining the website and getting my hands on devices to test for documentation purposes costs money. If you are not in a position to give, I’ve been there. Thank you in advance for your patience and your contributions.
What is This?
This is a page that contains all the links to posts in the “Changeling’s Guide to Discord for Screen Reader Users” series, as well as some answers to some frequently asked questions. if these questions aren’t being asked on a frequent basis, this is me telling you that they should be.
How Do I navigate the Guide?
Each link is set to open in a new tab. You can click the link, read the post, close the tab, and find the link to the next post.
Who Are you? Why Did you Write This?
I am a blind computer user who was first given free run of the Internet after graduating high school in 2006. I quickly discovered the ability of the internet to let one person connect with others, and I embraced anything that gave people more choices for accomplishing this. I was particularly intrigued with Discord’s combination of building community, as well as its knack for creating topic specific forums within that community (channels), and it worked easily across all platforms. When I first drafted the guide, no other screen reader specific documentation existed, and I decided it should. A few days later, it did.
Can I link to This on my Website or Social media?
Of course. I put the information up so it could be freely available. You can use the short link http://changeling.mx/DiscordGuide for an easier fit within social media character limits.
Do Versions of this Guide for Other Platforms Exist?
I am happy to announce that the version of this guide specific to VoiceOver on iOS is now available. The developers continue to make changes and squash bugs, but the experience is finally stable enough to allow me to endorse the experience. Additionally, the user experiences between iOS and android are similar enough that someone could read the iOS-centric guide and be able to use the Android version.
Changes
The following is a list of changes to the guide to account for changes in functionality, new features, etc.
For the Front Page
- Added a section to document recent changes.
- Removed the “How Can I Get Help?” section.
- Provided a short link in the section permitting the sharing of this guide on other websites.
- Changed the section names to “Desktop” and “Mobile” to acknowledge multiple platforms.
For Desktop
- Added a link to JAWS scripts for Discord in information about navigating the UI.
- Changed the chatting information to include directions for reading messages using HTML navigation and the Discord navigation features.
- Added information about choosing roles to the section on servers and channels to account for the trend of only showing channels to users who assign themselves certain roles within a server.
- Added a section to the post about servers and channels explaining how to rearrange servers into the user’s desired order.
MetaChanges
Changed the post permalinks by adding “/discord” to all of them for organizational reasons. Additionally, they are tagged with “/desktop” or “mobile” depending on which guide they belogn to.
Posts in the Series
Specific to Desktop
- Introduction
- Navigating the User Interface and User Settings
- Servers and Channels.
- Chatting: Text, voice and video
Specific to Mobile
- Introduction
- Navigating the User Interface and User Settings
- Servers and Channels
- Chatting: Text, voice and Video
Very clear and concise, bravo!
Thanks. It’s what I was going for.
I got it with IOS.
Haven’t gotten to making it iOS specific just yet. It’s got some quirks that are making it hard for me to chart.
Discord on iOS is a train wreck, or so I’ve been told.
It’s better than it was, but it’s still problematic. You can kind of use it.
Will you finish the guide to the micro blogging service? And, What add-on do you use for google docks?
I will try to finish the guide for the microblogging service, but health issues are in play and I don’t have a timeline. The add-on for Google Docs is just called WordPress, I believe. It just lets me draft things in a cleaner environment.
I love Discord so much, especially now that it works better.
cool, wish I knew how to use it.
Yeah, I’m part of quite a few groups that use it now. I really like that I can customize notifications so much.
how many groups are out their? what screen reader is good touse it with?
Well… That is what the guide is for… 😛
I didn’t realize that. Let me read this here guide.
An infinite number of groups, and your best bets seem to be #JAWS and #NVDA. mobile is a different animal.
ok, I will play with it later, what’s the quallity of the voice chat feature?
Well I’ve always said devs should directly aspire to work me out of a job. 🙂 I mean that seriously; the more it works without my retrofitting, the happier we all are, including me. I’m the only active scripter at @LevelAccessA11y because most of us are about making that happen.
Yeah. While I understand that scripting is a source of employment, I really like it when a program can be used without it because it can reach more users.
And more screen readers. 🙂 Scripting won’t die anyway; it’s still needed for optimization of speed-intensive jobs like call centers, and probably always will be. But it should be more an enhancement than a solution. It’s still a solution sometimes now though.
Yeah. The Discord folks seem to be responsive to feedback, so that works.
@changeling increased an account a few months ago but haven’t used much yet. What do you feel discord is best for?
@quark It was for gamers, but has since been expanded to include fandoms and other online activities. I really just like that each server has channels so you can mute channels in a group if you’re not interested in that topic.
@changeling cool, is there a star trek fandom server or community?
@quark There’s probably more than one. You might even find one that’s not toxic the way some fandoms are.
@changeling this. Is the key. Who runs each server, just anyone like it is in mastodon?
@quark Pretty Much. It’s actually easier to run a server on Discord than Mastodon.
Ooo! I’m so curious to see this jackbox thing in action. I’ll try to be there. 🙂
Nice.
I just need to investigate and see if there’s discord for mac and how accessible it is. I’m putting that on my tomorrow to do list.
It’s there, but my understanding is there are some issues. It has to do with the updated version of Electron they use, but you might be able to make it work.
If you can get in the server and find the watch stream button, that’s really all you’ll need.
I’ll take a gander. Worse comes to worse I can join on my phone I suspect.
You can get to the server that way, but spectator mode isn’t on the phone yet for some reason.
You can use your phone to play along, though.
phone dischord on ios sux ass
Alright. I’ll look at things tomorrow. I may pop back here with questions if I need anything. I’m gonna read through your website first, though.
That’s a good start.
[…] يمكن تحميل البرنامج عبر زيارة هذه الصفحة، كما يمكن الاطلاع على دليل لاستخدام المنصة باللغة الإنجليزية موجه لمستخدمي برامج قراءة الشاشة عبر هذه الصفحة […]
Hey, thanks for all of this! I’ve only just started using discord today, so this will be useful! Can I share the link in a few whatsapp groups?
of course. You can copy the link to the guide, to the tweet, or both. All depends on your preference.
Thanks! This will really come in helpful! A few people are wondering whether you would be able to do one for the Mac?
I don’t have a Mac, so I’ll probably have to get someone to write it. My understanding is Mac is a problem because VO doesn’t get along with the version of Electron Discord uses.
Ah, that makes sense. A lot of friends are saying they can navigate it with links and voiceover’s search function as well.
yeah. I don’t think it’s completely unuseable, but there are significant problems, and the devs are a small team focusing on PC and the mobile platforms, so I’m kind of going with what they’re doing. I usually suggest Mac users use the web app, and that seems to help things.
The Mac doesn’t get along with a lot of stuff. Just try the code editor in Free Code Camp. Windows is just, where it’s at in my oppinion.
Yeah… Lots of problems there. It’s unfortunate if someone has invested in one of those machines.
Yeah. I’m glad I have this Windows PC still.
Thanks for producing this. I mostly navigate Discord easily on the laptop, but it’s a bit more tricky on the iPhone, so this will help. I mainly use it with one of my DFS sites to keep up with lineup changes so I can win money on Draftkings/Fanduel. 🙂
No problem. i’m a favor of programs that are cross-platform and give people choices. Discord is the closest thing there is right now, so this is a labor of love for me.
Yep, that site taught me everything I know as far as Discord. 🙂
Greetings to all.
I hope this entry finds you well. I’m doing alright, I can’t believe I’m awake at this ungodly hour but here I am. I did sleep for a bit so maybe that’s why I’m up. I just wish I could get my sleeping schedule back to normal but I cant’ seem to do so. Oy well, since I’m here I might as well write.
So just a quick note here, for those who are using discord and needing to learn things about how to navigate it using a screen reader here’s a link that may help you.
I have been asked by many people about why I keep posting about saving the dolphins in Taiji Japan or why I care about what color the cove is on a daily basis. I have found a link that will answer your questions if interested. If after reading you still have questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me. I love raising awareness for this horrific act that goes on there. I will also say be aware of what you will read, it’s not pretty.
For a bit of amusement I stole this from Facebook and thought, why not? So, here goes…
* How old are you backwards: 64.
* Tattoos: None.
* Ever hit a deer: No, but I was in a car with someone who did.
* Rode in an ambulance: Yup sure have.
* Iced skate: Yes but not for many years.
* Rode a motorcycle: Yep.
* Stayed in hospital: Unfortunately.
* Last cell phone call: Flint.
* Last text from: Bianca.
* Pepsi or Coke: Pepsi.
* Favorite pie: Pumpkin or lemon meringue.
* Favorite season: Spring and autumn.
* Broken Bones: I have had no broken bones but I’ve had a fractured ankle, it was fractured in three places.
* Received a ticket: Nope.
* Favorite color: In my case it would be colors, purple, red, blue and black.
* Sunrise or Sunset: Definitely sunset though I do like the sunrise as well.
* Ocean or Mountains: The Ocean.
* Dog or Cat: I love all animals.
* Morning or evening: I like both for different reasons.
* Who will play: I don’t know though it’s irrelevant because this isn’t FB but my journal. However if you wanted to leave your answers in a comment, I wouldn’t be opposed to that.
Valentine’s Day was sort of a bust. I felt really bad because pretty much right after dinner I fell asleep. I think Emmy felt a bit cheated because she wanted to hang out and do things like watch movies but instead I went horizontal and that was all I wrote apparently. To be fair I hadn’t slept well that night and hadn’t gotten much rest so I was a bit tired. She said she wasn’t mad at me but I still felt like a heel for doing that to her. Dinner was grate though. We had Lasagna, Caesar salad and garlic Texas toast. We were silly and drank milk out of wine goblets because we didn’t’ have any wine. For dessert which neither one of us ate because we were full, there were sugar cookies decorated for the day and/or lemon bars, some plain and some with chocolate on them. They came out with a new ice cream which I thought would have been perfect for the dessert but I didn’t have any and I couldn’t have gotten it had I wanted too. It is only at Krogers which we do not have here in MN, such a shame in my opinion. It is called strawberry champagne and the description is as follows: a strawberry ice cream base with a glittering champagne ribbon and rosé fizzing candy. Like I said it would have been perfect for the holiday and it sounds really yummy too.
I went to the food co op today. I love going to that place because it has such a feel good vibe to it. I got a few groceries there for my health food pantry which I haven’t yet created but plan to do so soon. I looked at whey protein for my smoothies and they wanted way too much for it, I’m not sure if I can find it cheaper online but I plan to have a look to see if I can find it. I also got two packages of Kind bars which I absolutely love, I haven’t tried these two particular flavors yet though but they sounded really good. I have to be careful of which ones of those I get though because some of them include coconut which I cannot eat, so reading labels is a definite thing. Kashi cereals are my friends as well, they are super good for you from what I understand so I got two flavors to try to see if I like them. I’m sure I will, one is called Strawberry Fields and the other is called Chocolate Cocoa. You just can’t go wrong with strawberries or chocolate.
The Lent season begins Wednesday Feb 17 and I don’t usually take part in that anymore but this year I have decided too. So this year I’m giving up all forms of soda, chips and cookies or anything that can be considered junk food actually. The only exception for me is dark chocolate as that does have some health benefits. Dropping soda is something I have wanted to do for a while now and this will give me the push to do so. I know that some may probably scoff at me but this is what I need to do for myself, my friends can either support me or not but I’m doing this either way. The trick is going to be staying strong enough when the teasing does come and I know it will, I know I can do this. I have the will and I know that I can conquer. I know that I’ll feel much better for doing so in the end.
Alright, I think I’m finished with this entry finally. I’ll write again soon or at least I’ll try.
You all take care of yourselves and each other. I hope that today is filled with love, joy, peace and positivity for all of you. No matter what life throws your way, try to hold your head high and let your beautiful lights shine in a world that needs your brightness, don’t let anyone dim or snuff out your light.
XO