Tuesday 23 February 2016

Join. Me (Feb 2016) Connect a PC or Laptop to an iPad


Hello. In this video which is nearly 9 minutes long, I take you step by step through screen sharing between a desktop or laptop and an iPad, using the Join. Me software.

This video is the third in a series that I have created about using Join Me to connect laptops or desktops to iPads. They are grouped in the playlist "Join Me".

The video includes a full set of subtitles but if you want to read from a transcript instead, please find them below.

Start of Video Transcript

Hello and welcome to this video.

In this video I want to demonstrate how to connect your PC and your iPad so that you can view your PC screen on your iPad.

This is the third video that I have made in this series. You can find the other two videos in my playlist called “Join.Me”

The software that I will be using is called Join.Me.

Join.me is a free piece of software that allows your screen to be shared with other people using other devices.

Screen sharing has a range of different uses but the one that I want to concentrate on in this series of videos is screen sharing from a desktop pc or laptop with an iPad.

And I specifically want to look at this from the perspective of connecting a PC to an iPad in a classroom environment so that a young person with a visual impairment can better see the class whiteboard.

I will presume that you have watched my two previous videos on downloading and installing the software on your PC and iPad and that you have a PC and an iPad to hand.

In a few moments you will see a video of the screen of my PC and the screen of my iPad. My iPad screen is shown on the right hand side of the screen.

Firstly, let’s start our Join Me app on our PC.

Double click on the desktop icon and the join me app loads with a message “connecting.”

Then we are given the choice to either “start” or “join” a meeting.

We want to start a meeting and so click on the black arrow on the orange background.

A photo in a box appears on our screen with a few orange icons at the top and an all important 9 digit meeting number.

Click on the white arrow on the orange background to share the screen.

The entire screen on your computer is surrounded by an orange border that indicates that our screen is being shared.

Now we can focus on our iPad.

As you can see, my iPad is just on one of it’s home screens at the moment.

So let me swipe to find the join me app.

I will just touch it to start it up.

And on the right hand side near the top under where it says join (in green letters) you need to type in a meeting code, including dashes.

When you’ve finished typing in the ninth digit, a green button appears.

Touch that and your iPad connects to your PC and displays its screen.

I find that it is best to view your PC screen with your iPad in landscape mode. So, if you need to, rotate the screen of your iPad.

We can zoom in on our desktop screen by using the pinch to zoom facility on the iPad, like this. This will be very beneficial to some students with specific visual impairments.

Then just swipe with your finger to view the rest of the your PC.

Join.Me will only allow the iPad to view the desktop screen but not be able to edit or control which is a very handy feature to have in classrooms, where the security of teachers’ PC are very important.

The session can be ended by either the person on the PC or the person on the iPad.

The session can be ended on the PC by clicking on the cross up here and the session can be ended on the iPad by touching on the green rectangle with an arrow coming out of it, in the top right hand side of the iPad screen.

And my final point is that the meeting code only works for this one session. As soon as the session finishes, in order to re connect the same PC and iPad a unique code is needed.

Although this can be frustrating, inputting a 9 digit code only takes a few seconds and using “one session” codes helps strengthen security.

And that is the end of my video demonstrating how to connect a PC and an iPad in order to screen share.

As I said before, I have created a playlist of all my videos about join.me.

If you have any questions or difficulties after watching this video, or want to join in with the discussion please do so below.

Do you use Join.me? Do you like it? Or do you use another screen sharing app. Let me know.

Thanks for watching.

End of video transcript

Monday 22 February 2016

Join.Me (Feb 2016) Downloading and Installing the Desktop App



Hello. In this video which is just over 6 minutes long I show you how to download, sign in and install the join.me app for your laptop or desktop.

I have created another video that shows how to download and install the join.me app. Just look for it in my Join.Me playlist.

This video is just over 6 minutes long and includes a full set of subtitles but if you want to read a full transcript instead, please find one below.

Start of video transcript

Hello and welcome to this video.

In this video I want to demonstrate how to download and use join.me to work on your Windows laptop or desktop.

Join.me is a free piece of software that allows your screen to be shared with other people.

Screen sharing has a range of different uses but the one that I want to concentrate on in this series of videos is screen sharing from a desktop pc or laptop with an iPad.

In order to do this, we will need to complete four steps. Firstly, download the free software from the Join.me website onto our desktop or laptop. Secondly, we need to create a free account in order for the software to install properly. Thirdly, we need to download the free join.me app from the AppStore on our iPads and fourthly we need to connect our desktop PC or laptop to our iPad in order to share the screen.

The focus of this video will be about downloading the software on our PC and creating a free account.

I will make other videos to demonstrate how to complete the three steps.

You can download the join.me app on any Windows computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows 8 or Windows 10. Mine is running Windows 10.

So let’s open up a web browser and go to www.join.me. I am using Firefox but you might prefer to use Google Chrome, Internet Explorer or Safari. As long as your browser is up to date, you shouldn’t encounter any problems.

On the join.me page, click on the “start meeting” button.

A download starts that on most broadband connections should only take a few seconds.

Once your download has completed, double click on the file and the join.me app opens up.

You might get a warning from your firewall or another piece of security software so just click on “allow access”.

Now the thing to do next is to close the app by clicking on the cross in the top right hand corner.

This triggers a prompt encouraging you to create an account with join.me. It costs nothing to create an account and it is only by creating an account that the software will install properly on your desktop pc or laptop.

If you don’t create an account every time that you want to use join.me you will need to go the website and download it.

To create an account just type in your email address and a very memorable password. Then click on the orange button “create free account”.

Since I have already created an account I will just log in.

Because I haven’t logged on there is no icon on my desktop as you can see.

After I log on the screen is ready to be shared. This is demonstrated by an orange border around my screen.

When I finish my session, the join.me icon appears on my desktop.

And that is the end of my video demonstrating how to download and install the free screen sharing app from join.me.

Look out for my other videos in this series which will demonstrate how to download the app onto an iPad and how to share a PC’s screen with an iPad.

If you have any questions or difficulties after watching this video, or want to join in with the discussion please do so below.

Do you use Join.me? Do you like it? Or do you use another screen sharing app. Let me know.

Thanks for watching.

End of video transcript


Join.Me App (Feb 2016): Downloading and Installing the iPad App


Hello. In this video I show you how to download and install the Join.Me app from the App Store.

The video is nearly 5 minutes long and includes a full set of subtitles. It is a step by step guide.

I have created a Join.Me playlist that includes another video that demonstrates how to download and install the Join.Me software onto your desktop or laptop.

If you prefer to read a full transcript of the video, please see below

Start of video transcript

Hello and welcome to this video.

In this video I want to demonstrate how to download and use join.me to work on your iPad.

Join.me is a free piece of software that allows your screen to be shared with other people.

Screen sharing has a range of different uses but the one that I want to concentrate on in this series of videos is screen sharing from a desktop pc or laptop with an iPad.

In order to do this, we will need to complete four steps. Firstly, download the free software from the Join.me website onto our desktop or laptop. Secondly, we need to create a free account in order for the software to install properly. Thirdly, we need to download the free join.me app from the AppStore on our iPads and fourthly we need to connect our desktop PC or laptop to our iPad in order to share the screen.

The focus of this video will be about downloading the app from the AppStore and installing it on our iPad.

I have created a video that demonstrates how to download and install the free app onto a desktop PC or laptop and how to create a free Join.Me account.

You can find it in my Join.Me playlist.

I will make a video showing how to broadcast or mirror the image from a desktop PC or laptop to an iPad in a little while.

So you can see the screen of my iPad here.

It is an iPad Air 2, running iOS 9.2.

So let’s open the App Store and in the top right hand corner in the search bar type in join. me- and yes it is important to include the full stop or period!

Since I have downloaded this app before I have a symbol of a cloud with a down arrow on it. You will most probably have a blue button that says “+Get”.

Touch on the icon and the app will take a few seconds to download- depending on your broadband speed.

Once it has downloaded press the Open button to start the app- just to make sure that it has installed correctly.

Decide if you want the app to send you notifications and swipe right to breeze through the introduction slides.

At the bottom of the page select “get started.”

And it takes you to a log on screen.

And I will end this video here.

Don’t fear! In my next and final video in this series I will demonstrate how to log on to the desktop app and the iPad app and how to connect the desktop PC and the iPad together.

For my other videos in this series, please look out for my Join. Me playlist.

If you have any questions or difficulties after watching this video, or want to join in with the discussion please do so below.

Do you use Join.me? Do you like it? Or do you use another screen sharing app. Let me know.

Thanks for watching.

End of video transcript

NVDA: How To Turn It Off in 5 seconds or Less



Hello. In this video I show you how to turn NVDA off in 5 seconds or less. The video is nearly 2 minutes long and includes a full set of subtitles.

If you prefer to read a full transcript instead, please find one below.

Start of transcript

Hello and welcome to this video.

In this video I want to demonstrate how to close NVDA or turn it off in 5 seconds or less.

But just in case you are unfamiliar with NVDA and screen readers, let me just introduce them.

NVDA is a free screen reader.

A screen reader is a great piece of software that gives computers, smartphones and tablets a voice in order to help people who have a visual impairment or who are blind access these devices more independently.

I have created other videos about the screen reader NVDA and I have grouped them together in a playlist which I will link to below.

Before I show you how to turn NVDA off, I need to turn it on.

I do this by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + N.

To turn it off, I just press the insert key and n key together.

This loads the NVDA menu.

Now I press x for exit and then enter to accept that choice.

There you have it. How to turn off NVDA very, very quickly.

If you have any questions or difficulties after watching this video, or want to join in with the discussion please do so below.

What is your favourite NVDA shortcut key? Let me know.

Thanks for watching.

End of transcript

NVDA: 2 Quick Ways to Start it in Windows 10



Hello. In this 5 minute video I will show you 2 quick ways to start the screen reader NVDA in Windows 10.

One of these ways is to use the NVDA shortcut Ctrl+Alt+N and I also show you in this video how to fix this shortcut if it doesn't work.

The video comes with a full list of subtitles but if you prefer to read from a transcript, please find a full copy below.

Start of video transcript

Hello and welcome to this video.

In this video I want to demonstrate 2 quick ways to start NVDA on Windows 10.

NVDA is a free screen reader.

A screen reader is a great piece of software that gives computers, smartphones and tablets a voice in order to help people who have a visual impairment or who are blind access these devices more independently.

I have created other videos about the screen reader NVDA and I have grouped them together in a playlist which I will link to below.

The first way to quickly launch NVDA is to use the built in shortcut key or hotkey which is Control+ Alt + N.

And voila it starts immediately.

Now for some strange reason, your copy of NVDA might not start when you press this shortcut.

If this is the case, we need to quickly check something.

The strange thing is that NVDA shouldn’t be running at this point. In order to configure a shortcut key to start NVDA it needs to be turned off!

Highlight your NVDA icon.

I have pressed Windows Keys and D to get on the desktop and then the letter “n”.

Now we need to open up the “context menu” for NVDA. To do this you can either right click on your mouse or press the Shift and F10 key together in order to start it.

Once the context menu is opened, press the r key to open the property menu.

Now press the Alt and k key together.

This highlights the shortcut or hot key box.

Normally this box has Ctrl + Alt +N in it but if you have tried that shortcut and it doesn’t work, then the box is probably blank.

So just press the hotkey combination that you want to use to start NVDA.

I think that Control+ Alt + N is the most logical.

Once you have pressed the hotkey combination that you want press the enter key.

You might get another box that appears, requesting Administrator Permissions, but just press the Enter key once more and you should be done.

To double check that it works, press the hotkey that you selected and NVDA should start.

Before I show you the second way to quickly start NVDA in Windows 10, I just need to close NVDA.

I do this by pressing the insert key and the n key together to get the NVDA menu up, then I press x for exit and the I press the enter key.

NVDA closes.

Now the second way to start NVDA in Windows 10 which is nearly as fast, is to press the Windows key and then type in “NVDA” (it can be in upper or lower case) and then press enter. NVDA will start up.


There you have it. My quick and easy guide about two quick ways to start NVDA on a Windows 10 machine.

If you have any questions or difficulties after watching this video, or want to join in with the discussion please do so below.

Which is you favourite method of starting NVDA? Let me know.

Thanks for watching.

End of video transcript

NVDA: Setting It Up on a Desktop or Laptop


Hello. In this video which is just over 3 minutes long, I show you how to set up NVDA to work on either your laptop or desktop.

It is important to configure your NVDA settings to either work with a desktop or laptop because the layout of the keyboards are very different.

The video comes complete with a full list of subtitles but if you want to read a full transcript instead then please find it below.

Start of video transcript

Hello and welcome to this video.

In this video I want to demonstrate how to set up NVDA to work on a desktop PC as opposed to a laptop.

NVDA is a free screen reader.

A screen reader is a great piece of software that gives computers, smartphones and tablets a voice in order to help people who have a visual impairment or who are blind access these devices more independently.

I have created other videos about the screen reader NVDA and I have grouped them together in a playlist which I will link to below.

As I said, in this video I will show you how to set up NVDA to work with either your desktop PC or your laptop.

Now, the reason why this set up is important is because of the differences between the layout of a keyboard on a desktop PC and the layout of a keyboard on a laptop.

There are quite a few differences between the two and these differences are important when you are using NVDA because it relies so heavily on being controlled by the keyboard.

NVDA needs to know if we are using it on a desktop PC or a laptop so that you can use NVDA as flawlessly as possible.

The good news is that this set up will take you less than a minute!

So, let’s dive right in and start NVDA.

Your copy might start as soon as you log onto your PC but mine is set to start manually.

So to start mine, I press the Windows Key and D to focus on the desktop.

Now press the N key once and then press the Enter key.

With NVDA started press the NVDA key (mine is the insert key) and the n key together.

The NVDA menu is displayed.

Press P for Preferences and then press K to get into the keyboard settings.

Now just use your down arrow to toggle between either the laptop keyboard setting or the desktop keyboard setting.

Once you have selected the right option, press Enter.

Your copy of NVDA is configured to work perfectly with your desktop PC or your laptop.

And there you have it. My quick and easy guide to setting up NVDA.

If you have any questions or difficulties or want to join in with the discussion please do so below.

Do you use NVDA on a desktop PC or a laptop? Let me know…

Thanks for watching.

End of video transcript

Monday 15 February 2016

NVDA- Creating a Portable Copy


In this 6 minute video I show you how to create a portable copy of NVDA (the free screen reader) on a USB stick- although you can use an SD card or a CD if you want.

Portable copies of NVDA are invaluable to people with visual impairments who use more than one computer.

The whole process only takes about 10 minutes and for most of that you just need to sit and wait whilst the computer "does it's thing."

The video comes with a full set of subtitles but if you want to read a full transcript instead, please read them below;

Start of video transcript

Hello and welcome to this video.

In this video I want to demonstrate how to create a portable copy of NVDA.

NVDA is a free screen reader.

A screen reader is a great piece of software that gives computers, smartphones and tablets a voice in order to help people who have a visual impairment or who are blind access these devices independently.

I have created other videos about the screen reader NVDA and I have grouped them together in a playlist which I will link to below.

A portable version of NVDA is a copy of the screen reader that is on a USB stick, an SD card or even a CD so that it is ready to use on any Windows laptop or desktop.

It is the perfect option for an NVDA user who frequently uses more than one computer.

You can even create a portable copy that retains all your own personalised settings.

In this video I will be using a USB stick, but as I said you might want to use a CD or a SD card instead.

Just make sure that whatever you use will work on the computers that you use!

Now, I have just completed a trial run of creating a portable copy and by my reckoning it took about 4 -5 minutes to complete and it downloaded a set of files that were about 100MB in total- which is small by today’s standards.

So make sure that you have more than 100MB of free space on your USB stick, SD card or CD.

Another recommendation would be to create a new folder in which to store the portable copy in- this is because it downloads well over a dozen files and folders and so if you create a folder to store it in, it will make things neater and easier in the long run!

So let’s dive right in and get NVDA started.

Your copy might start as soon as you log onto your PC but mine is set to start manually.

So to start mine, I press the Windows Key and D to focus on the desktop.

Now press the N key once and then press the Enter key.

With NVDA started press the NVDA key (mine is the insert key) and the n key together.

The NVDA menu is displayed.

Press the down arrow to get to the tools menu and then press the right arrow to open up the sub menu.

Press the down arrow 5 times until “create portable copy” is selected.

Now we need to select where the portable copy will be created.

At this point, we should check that we have inserted our SD card, USB stick or CD ROM into our machine.

I am using a USB stick.

I press the TAB key once in order to focus on the browse button and then I press the space bar to open it.

I then press the TAB key until I am in the folder view. NVDA will say “select portable directory.”

And then I select the USB stick using my up and down arrows and press enter.

I want it to install in a specific “NVDA” folder on my USB stick and so I press my right arrow a few times until NVDA says “blank”. Now I typed in “NVDA” and press enter.

Remember as I said earlier, because there are so many files that are created when the portable copy is made, it is best to create a folder to keep them in.

It will take about 4-5 minutes for a portable copy to be created.

When it is finished, your portable copy of NVDA will be ready to use on any Windows computer that you use.

To double check that my portable copy is working, I will just test run it.

To open up my USB stick I press the TAB button until NVDA says “running applications”. I then press my right arrow to select the “file explorer.”

Once open I press the TAB button until NVDA says “tree view” and I press “e” as my USB stick is called “ESD”.

I press the TAB key until NVDA says “items view list”and then press “n” until the NVDA folder is selected, then I press the spacebar.”

To start your portable copy of NVDA press “n” until NVDA says “nvda service.”

Now press the spacebar and the enter key your portable copy should load.

And that is the end of this video about creating a portable copy of NVDA.

If you have any questions or want to join in with the discussion please do so below.

Do you use a portable copy of NVDA? How useful do you find it?

Thanks for watching.

End of video transcript