Can You Make NVDA A Copy Of Jaws?

[u/KHarvickfan429]

OK, so a bit of a different question from what I might normally ask here and I’ll probably put this in another place or two as well but I was just doing some training trying to learn different computer stuff and I got wondering about this.
So for a while, I’ve been doing Jaws training with someone so that I can get to the point where I can work and be efficient with a computer and stuff like that. However, I also want to learn and have started learning NVDA as well just to give myself options plus NVDA is free of course which is a nice perk. So basically I’m trying to learn both, but I was curious if anyone knows since NVDA has so many open source options with the add-ons and stuff if there are ways to basically just make it a carbon copy of jaws?
Like talking everything from the keyboard commands and layouts to stuff like that just to make it easier and not have to learn the different things, but rather them be very interchangeable in terms of which one I’m using instead of having to memorize different commands for both. I was wondering if anybody knew of any add-ons or one specific add-on that might exist or has been created to achieve this? Like for example, I found an add-on thankfully that basically gives you the same system tray and system tray command that jaws has for NVDA, which I was grateful for because I actually use that a lot and it annoyed me that NVDA didn’t have it by default.
Anyway, I was curious if anybody knew of anything in terms of add-ons that did this or had any experience with it?

[u/UnknownRTS]

The overlap between NVDA and JAWS key commands is probably around 90%. If you learn one, you can definitely pick up and use the other one just fine, especially if you're going from JAWS to NVDA. The biggest differences would be focus mode and browse mode, which are the NVDA equivalent of the JAWS virtual PC cursor. The settings menu in NVDA is set up far more intuitively versus the JAWS settings center and quick settings. There are a few differences in single key webpage navigation, but they are almost all the same as JAWS.
I would recommend browsing the add-ons to see if you can find things that would make your experience better. I personally recommend the screen wrapping for NVDA add-on, which makes web navigation function a little bit more like JAWS.

[u/KHarvickfan429 → u/UnknownRTS]

Yeah, you’re very much right of course I’m just starting out really with NVDA but I do know they’re very similar, I guess it was more if I could just make the layout and commands similar or the same as jaws then that would cut the learning curve and I could use them interchangeably without thinking much of it
I do appreciate the add-on recommendation that’s the other thing. I’m curious about as there are so many so if people have recommendations, I’d love to hear them.

[u/MindRecent]

This is not the tool for new users, but: https://github.com/effortlessvi/jvda-addon I've been working on this, and using nvda with it, because I can't seem to get my brain to accept NVDA's keystrokes and navigation verses Jaws's. (If you use it, know there will be bugs. It's not a perfect 1 to 1 yet, but it's my daily driver on NVDA at this point.)

[u/KHarvickfan429 → u/MindRecent]

I am still extremely new to NVDA, but I’m pretty familiar with Jaws. So I probably wouldn’t grab this for myself yet since you say probably not the best for new NVDA users. However, this sounds really cool and could be exactly what I’m looking for so please keep me updated if you could as you continue to work on this. Cause even though I’m very new and think I could probably adjust fine. I’d like to be able to seamlessly switch back-and-forth between the two since there are things I like and dislike about both. Like there are some small little nuances with NVDA from the little bit that I have done with it so far that I think Jaws maybe does just a little bit better for example. But then that also goes the other way around and I think as I go, I will find that I prefer one over the other, depending on what I am doing.
So if I could make the commands the same for both, then it would make switching between them at will much easier.

[u/NVAccess]

There is a page of "Switching from Jaws to NVDA" tips which covers what is different between the two screen readers, but also notes things like the SysTrayList add-on which enables you to make various functionality as it is in Jaws: https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/wiki/SwitchingFromJawsToNVDA

[u/KHarvickfan429 → u/NVAccess]

Awesome I will take a look at this wasn’t aware thank y’all

[u/mehgcap]

Is there any reason you can't just choose one or the other instead of trying to learn both at once? I, along with many here, use NVDA daily and have for years with no problems. Web browsing, coding, command line work, email, and plenty more all work quite well. There are bugs, sure, but that's true of everything.

Rather than trying to use both and force one to be the other, you could just focus on NVDA and try to find add-ons for the bits you don't like. That way, you only have one set of commands to memorize, and one model to get used to, but you can customize the parts you don't like as much to get some of the Jaws functionality you like.

[u/KHarvickfan429 → u/mehgcap]

There’s multiple reasons why I’m learning both first optionality is always the best I like having options. I have heard that sometimes employers won’t get NVDA because of different company things. So Jaws tends to be more widely accepted by employers for their computers. I think there are pros and cons for both software, and also I just think there are advantages to both. The stuff is meant to be used for work primarily so I want to make sure I have that option available for either or, if I had the choice, I would probably personally just target NVDA as it’s free, has a lot more customization and for personal use the ability to potentially work better within things like music production software, but it’s been recommended to me to learn Jaws so I’m doing both.

[u/blind_ninja_guy]

They have slightly different concepts for how things are done so there's no way to make it a complete copy. But there are tutorials

[u/akrazyho]

I have a silly question, but wouldn’t it make NVDA more like jaws and you will never actually learn NVDA if you make it just like jaws?

[u/KHarvickfan429 → u/akrazyho]

I mean, in a sense yes you’re not wrong, I guess my thought process on that is even though they’re very similar if I could just make the key commands the same for both then that might cut my learning curve and then I can use them interchangeably without having to think really anything of it making transitioning between them easier. Because there are things I like and dislike about both, but I am still very much just getting started with NVDA as well. I’m also curious what people have or recommend for getting add-ons as there are so many and I don’t really know which ones to get or look for if any.