Bill,
When you're invited to a Zoom meeting, you can press enter on the
meeting link, but what happens depends on whether you have the Zoom
desktop app installed. I've had the app for a while, so I'm working from
memory on the website side of things.
If you don't have the Zoom desktop app installed, pressing enter on the
meeting link takes you to the Zoom website. The website explains that
you need to download and run an applet, so you press enter on a button
to start the download, then go to the downloads bar to run the file,
which I believe is a plugin for the specific meeting. I don't remember
whether running the applet puts you in the meeting automatically or
brings up the meeting screen with buttons and links so you can adjust
settings and join the meeting yourself. What I do remember is that the
web interface was problematic. I have a vague memory of trouble keeping
focus and trouble finding and activating controls. The problems were
significant enough that I tried the cell phone app and stuck with that,
but it's very possible that things have improved since then.
If you have the Zoom desktop app installed, pressing enter on the
meeting link takes you to the Zoom website. The website asks for
permission to open the Zoom desktop app, so you press enter on an Open
button. The Zoom app opens, and you're in your meeting.
Like many other things, the Zoom app is very accessible and easy to use
once you get used to it. It helps to create a free account, so you can
sign into the app and explore it. In a nutshell:
* When you open Zoom, there are controls for joining a meeting, signing
in, and signing up.
* After signing in, you find a screen with maybe half a dozen tabs
(e.g., Home, Meeting, Chat) , which you move to with ctrl+tab.
* Once you pick a tab, you can use the tab key to move through the
options. The screen reader calls most controls buttons, but they may be
radio buttons and other things. Most of the time, I up/down-arrow on a
"button" to find out what options I have.
* With a free account, you can adjust a few basic settings, and the app
remembers. For example, you can set Zoom to mute you and turn off video
when you join a meeting so that you can turn both on yourself once you
get situated.
* The first few times I tried using the Zoom app with a headset, I lost
the TTS altogether whether I sent the screen reader through my headset
or through the computer speakers. At one point, when I had the headset
on but the screen reader was using the computer speakers, I touched the
actual screen and discovered there was a popup telling me the computer
would go into some form of Do Not Disturb mode while I was in the
meeting. I tapped OK, got my speech back, and haven't had that problem
since. I'm pretty sure it happened with Jaws, Narrator, and NVDA because
I remember ruling the issue out as being screen reader specific. I
mention it because I don't think anyone else has.
* If you don't want people to hear your screen reader, send the screen
reader to the headphones. In Narrator, go into Narrator settings
(Windows+u > Narrator) to choose Default for the option about where
Narrator's voice comes from. For Jaws, go into Jaws utilities, then
Sound Card, then choose the option that is associated with your
headphones. Things might happen automatically with Jaws. I think they
happened automatically with NVDA too, but I'm not sure.
* When you're in a meeting, pressing F6 is what you do to get to the
meeting panel. This is where you can find buttons for things like
reading the names of the participants, asking written questions everyone
can see, sending chat messages to the host, the group, or sometimes
individuals. If there are things like breakout rooms, waiting rooms, and
messages for you about your settings, pressing f6 is usually how you get
there.
I think that's all the wisdom I have to offer. The desktop app is
probably the best experience in terms of finding and working with
controls and features. The UI is accessible, and there are shortcut keys
for things you use often. The cell phone experience is second best. The
interface is simple once you get used to it, but in Android, at least,
there are some bugs when using TalkBack and a bluetooth keyboard to
type. The web experience was the roughest for me, but it's been a couple
of years, so my information is probably outdated. When I was told we'd
be using Zoom for some things at work, I had a friend practice with me a
few times before I had to Zoom for real. That was helpful because I
could explore the screen without feeling pressured. Zooming for real was
very different, but I was a lot less overwhelmed because of the practice.
Ciao
On 6/7/2020 12:43 PM, Bill Pasco wrote:
> One quick question by a beginner Zoom user. If invited to a Zoom
> meeting, do you have to have the desktop app to join that meeting, or
> can you just follow the invitation link? I'm using a Windows 10 laptop.
> Thanks
>
>
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