Zhengdu Screen reader: Official User's Manual; Version 1.6.2.0
Chapter I: Introduction
Preface
Hello and welcome in the official user's manual for the Zhengdu Screen reader,
known also as ZDSR throughout the rest of this document. This book shall serve
as a complete guide for the Zhengdu Screen reader, all its features, functions
and use cases, but shall also serve as an instruction and a guidebook for
sighted teachers, trainers, assistants, and parents wanting to understand how
blind people operate computers.
The book's design allows reading either chapter by chapter, or just specific
chapters needed by the user. This approach allows novice users to slowly
familiarize themselves with all the terms and operation methods, while letting
the intermediate and advanced users skip straight to the specific chapters
concerning their specific needs.
We sincerely hope that you will enjoy this manual and the software itself and
that Zhengdu Screen reader will improve and enrich your daily life.
Let's strive for perfection together!
Written by Nuno and Ollie.
Copyleft (®) 2020, no rights reserved.
In case of any problem, suggestion, feature request and so on you are kindly
welcome to write an E-Mail to [this E-Mail address.](mailto:nuno@zd.hk)
What is a screen reader?
Putting it simply, a screen reader is a software program installed on the user's
computer that "reads the screen". What it exactly means though is that the
application installed on the computer collects textual or even non-textual
information and conveys it to the user via another application installed on the
computer that is called a Text To Speech engine or TTS in short. There are many
Text to Speech engines available on the market. They differ in their voice,
pronunciation and of course price. Do not worry though, the latest version of
the Microsoft Windows operating system contains many voices in many languages,
so your computer is most probably "able to speak by default". If you are using an older
version of Windows though, you will need some special preparation before using
the screen reader.
If you speak English, Russian, Ukrainian or Esperanto we recommend the RH
Voice Text to Speech
Engine. It is free and has some clear voices to choose from. In any other case
we can recommend ESpeak. The
robotic voice of this engine requires some training to get used to, but in
return it provides over 80 languages to choose from.
Why ZDSR?
You might be wondering, if there are so many screen readers to choose from, why
choose this one amongst its competition? The list of notable features is
outlined below. Keep in mind though that this is just a little foretaste of what
you are going to see later.
Speed of operation: blind people have slower access to computers than their
sighted counterparts. ZDSR developed an extremely fast speech engine
increasing the reaction speed by about 300% comparing to its competition. This
makes ZDSR a perfect choice for people who need to access the information as
fast as possible.
Ease of use: ZDSR is built on top of extremely logical and straightforward
foundation, allowing people of all levels of computer knowledge master the
product quickly and efficiently, making it possible to install it and start
working immediately.
Advanced and well-thought functionality: ZDSR has all the functions you need,
plus many more! With the built-in translation, Optical Character Recognition,
automatic labeling of controls and plethora of many different features carrying
out even a most advanced task is not a problem anymore.
Great support for the professional software: Are you a writer, programmer, data
analytist or an audio engineer? ZDSR has you covered. With its great support for
the software like Visual Studio, Android Studio, Eclipse, MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint
and many more the software is not only read perfectly, but also starts being
friendlier to the user with many additional keyboard commands.
As you can see there are many reasons why you should choose ZDSR over any other
screen reading product available on the market.
ZDSR editions and differences between them
The product is available in six different editions. They differ in
functionality, recommended use environment and the method of activation. All of
them are outlined below with their short descriptions. The full breakdown of all
the differences will be outlined in the table further down this chapter.
ZDSR Public Welfare Edition: This is the free edition of the screen reader.
It has only the basic functionality required to operate the computer
successfully. Its use is recommended when you need the computer to carry out
only the basic tasks and you do not have the money to buy the higher-end
edition.
ZDSR Youth edition: The most affordable (costing 10 dollars) edition of the
screen reader. It contains basic features like the Public Welfare edition,
plus some useful extras which can boost your productivity. This edition of
the screen reader uses the online activation method, meaning that only the
Internet connection is required to use the program.
ZDSR Youth Plus Edition: This edition of ZDSR contains many features
available in the highest possible edition. If you do not need support for
the professional software like MS Office or Reaper, this version will most
probably meet your requirements. - This edition of the screen reader uses
the online activation method, meaning that only the Internet connection is
required to use the program.
ZDSR Youth Pro edition: This edition contains most features found in the
Business Edition, including support for all of the professional software
like REAPER or MS Office. It is missing some advanced and diverse features
such as "Screen Navigation", but this edition is sufficient for most general
and professional use cases. - This edition of the screen reader uses the
online activation method, meaning that only the Internet connection is
required to use the program.
ZDSR Business Edition: This edition of the program contains all features
from the previous editions plus some features unique to it, like the
forementioned "Screen navigation". What's more this version of the program
does not need Internet connection to function, as it uses a special device
called a Dongle which is plugged in to your computer and serves as the
authorization key.
ZDSR Local Network Edition: This edition of the software contains the exact
same feature set as the Business edition. The only difference is that this
edition is more suitable to use in schools, libraries, and other public
institutions, as it can be running on multiple computers connected to the
same master computer through the network.
As you can see, there are many editions of the program meeting the different
needs of the different users. Shall you need any help choosing a right edition
for your use case, do not hesitate to contact our support service via E-Mail,
telling us what you use your computer for, so we can help you choose the right
edition.
Alternatively, you can look at the below table to compare editions and make the
right decision based on the information there. As a general "rule of thumb" it
is always better to first buy the small edition and then upgrade with the need.
Detailed Break Down of the editions
The below table contains the detailed breakdown of the features available in all
editions of the software. Studying the table carefully will help you understand
the various strength of various editions and so make the conscious decision when
buying the software
| Feature | ZDSR Public Welfare Edition | ZDSR Youth Edition | ZDSR Youth Plus Edition | ZDSR Youth Pro edition | ZDSR Commercial Edition |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|--------------------|-------------------------|------------------------|-------------------------|
| Support for the new capture engine | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support for "Screen Navigation" | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Support for "Regional Navigation | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Chromium engine support | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Notebook keyboard scheme support | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support for the Optical Character Recognition | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support for the advanced soundcard management | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support for the "ZDSR Monitors" | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Support for "Zhengdu Landmarks" | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support for "Zhengdu Labels" | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support for advanced clipboard management | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft office Support | Word | Word | Word and PowerPoint | Full | Full |
| Support for reading the mouse text | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support for the "Open TTS API" | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support for "Audio Ducking" | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support for Sonar, Reaper, Adobe Audition, and other sound design software | Basic | Basic | Basic | Full | Full |
| Support for the "Element navigation" | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support for highlighting current operation object | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support for braille | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support for the translation module | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support for speech history | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Privacy features | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Visual Studio support | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Command Line Support | Basic | Basic | Basic | Full | Full |
| Support for Android Studio | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Support for Java programs | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Support for Scintilla-based software | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Support for controlling reading of passwords | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support of automatic progress bar reading | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support for intelligent word splitting | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support for regular expressions in the dictionary | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Purchasing the software
If you wish to purchase Zhengdu Screen reader you need to contact our support
service, providing the information about the edition you want to buy. The below
table contains all prices for all editions of the software.
| Edition | Price |
|------------------------|-------|
| Public Welfare version | Free |
| Youth | \$? |
| Youth Plus | \$20 |
| Youth Pro | \$26 |
| Commercial | \$232 |
Please keep in mind that when buying the online edition, your license is digital
and can be activated normally, while when buying the dongle version, you receive
a physical product in a box, and since it arrives from China, you might pay
additional import fees. Shall you need any assistance you are kindly welcome to
contact our support service with all your questions or concerns.