Contents



Important Accessibility Note

At this time, OpenSCAD’s preferences menu (alt > e > p > p) is not accessible via screen reader (or at least we haven’t figure out how to navigate it, please let us know if you figure it out or there is a work around!)

Learning Objectives



In this lesson we will go over our recommended OpenSCAD settings for blind or visually impaired learners. We will split this lesson into three sections: “All Users”, “Blind Users”, and “Low Vision Users”


All Users

We recommend the following settings for all learners new to OpenSCAD:

  1. OPTIONAL: In the Preferences sub menu (alt > e > p > p > enter)
    • Editor - check “Auto-Indent” and uncheck “Enable Auto-Completion”*
  2. In the Window Menu (alt > w)
    • Click “Hide Customizer”
    • click “Hide Console”

      *Note: Auto completion is a great addition to an editor but as you are learning it will help you commit the syntax to memory to disable the feature. That said keep it on if you want.


Blind Users

We recommend the following settings for screen readers, we do not have any additional OpenSCAD application recommendation just make sure your screen reader is announcing all of the punctuation online and in OpenSCAD.

  1. Turn on high verbosity for web this will make sure all code is read correctly in your tutorials. If you are on NVDA us NVDA + p to change the symbol level (punctuation level) to all.




Low Vision Users

We recommend the following settings for low vision learners new to OpenSCAD:

  1. In the Preferences sub menu (alt > e > p > p > enter)
    • 3D View - experiment with different “Color Scheme:” options to find what you like the best, “Starnight” is a good starting point (for white shape preview on a black background with higher contrast)
    • Editor - “Color syntax highlighting” experiment with different options to find what you like the best, “For Dark Background” is a good starting point.
  2. Change the font size - control + + (hold control shift and =) or hold control and use the mouse scroll wheel
  3. In the View Menu (alt > v)
    • Hide 3D View toolbar
    • Hide Editor toolbar
  4. In the main window of the OpenSCAD app (ie where you are when you open a new or old file)
    • Drag the edges of the editor and preview windows to adjust the size as needed (where you type your code is the editor and where you see axises and soon your previewed shapes is the preview window)


Review

In this lesson you learned:

  • How to set up OpenSCAD’s preferences according to our recommendations


Resources