2019-06-16 09:25:37

Hello!
I am writing this topic to inform unaware people that:
1. Commentary Screenreader is 95% english now.
2. I am working on a manual and on a website for it
3. Native braille keyboard support has been added, it means you do not have to suspend the screenreader while braille typing, just like on iPhone!
4. We have a very active and friendly community of users already, the most active group is on telegram, however the forum is in the works
If you wanna try the screenreader, join the telegram news channel(
t.me/jieshuo
)
and or the community group
(
t.me/jieshuochat
)
Here is the partial manual written by me:

Commentary Screenreader: user guide
Written by Nuno (nuno69a 'at' poczta 'dot' fm)
1. Introduction
1.1. What is Commentary Screenreader?
Commentary Screenreader is a screenreader for the Google Android operating system. The thing that makes it better than every other screen reading software available on the market is how much innovative features this program has.
They include: build in translation service, build in Voice Assistant, OCR, object recognition and many, many more!
1.2. System requirements
The program has the following system requirements:
Device: the target device should be an ARM X86 or ARM X64 compatible device. It is unconfirmed if the program will work on any other CPU architecture (Android X86 or other)
Memory: Commentary Screenreader requires atleast 50 MB ROM memory and 1 GB RAM memory to run fluently. It might be possible to run the program on lower-end hardware, however the reliability and usability of the software is not confirmed.
Operating System: The program requires minimum Android 4.4.2 to run, however some features are available from Android 8 upwards only.
1.3. Permissions
The program requires some special permissions in order to make it fully usable. These include:
Microphone: used for consuming the build in voice assistant.
Managing phone calls: used for proper altering of the speech settings in different states of the device.
Memory permissions: used for reading installed plugins, extensions, sound themes and other third-party components.
Location: used for consuming the build in GPS service.
Camera: used for some OCR capabilities like object recognition, scene recognition ETC.
Other permissions are required for proper functioning of the program and denying them is strictly discouraged.
1.4. Getting help
There is a number of ways you can contact the support team. Probably the most reliable one is Telegram. In order to join the Commentary Screenreader official group, please navigate to the following URL:
https://t.me/jieshuochat
Other ways include E-Mail (written at the beginning of the document), and our forum at
https://jieshuo-screenreader.com/forum
2. Installation
The installation process for the software is straightforward. Make sure you meet all the requirements shown above and then proceed to the following page:
https://jieshuo-screenreader.com/download
Depending on the device you are downloading the file on, you might place the download on your target device.
After you're done downloading the file, navigate to the path where the file exists and execute it.
Warning! On most Android devices you will be prompted for disabling the security feature which prevents external applications from being installed. It is strictly recommended to re-enable it just after the installation process finishes.
In order to enable the screenreader you have to navigate to your accessibility settings and enable the Commentary Screenreader service.
Warning! Remember to suspend your previous screenreader before enabling Commentary, as gesture conflicts may occur.
3. Gestures
Commentary Screenreader has a very flexible and extensible gestures system. These are divided into the following types:
Basic gestures: gestures used for the basic operations. They are mostly performed with one or two fingers. If the gesture requires drawing of an angle, the first half should be performed across the whole screen and the other half might be shorter.
Fingerprind reader gestures: gestures performed on the fingerprind reader. This feature is available from Android 8 and above, and not all devices support it. It is known that the feature is supported on All Huavei Devices and on some Xiaomi devices. However the exact model numbers are not known.
Multipart gestures: gestures which are made of two or more basic gestures. There is no default setup for any multipart gestures. They must be setup on your own.
Edge gestures: gestures performed at the very edge of the screen. Because of how hard they are, there is no default setup for them. They must be set up on your own.
The program might also be used with keyboard, volume buttons and headset buttons, if applicable.
3.1. Basic gestures listing
The following listing shows default mapping for all the gestures which are supported by default.
3.1.1. General
Up swipe: move to the previous element
Down swipe: move to the next element
Left swipe: jump back in a large group of items like a list
Right swipe: jump forward in a large group of items like a list.
Double tap: activate the focused element
Down right swipe: open the menu
Up right swipe: open the actions menu
Down left swipe: activate voice assistant
Up left swipe: open the extensions menu.
Left right swipe: home screen
Right left swipe: recent apps
Up down swipe: move to the top of the current screen
Down up swipe: move to the bottom of the current screen.
Left down swipe: Switch navigation modes
Right down swipe: open item browsing
Left up swipe: open the notification panel
Right up swipe: read the whole screen
Swipe up with two fingers: scroll up
Swipe down with two fingers: scroll down
Swipe left with two fingers: go to the next page
Swipe right with two fingers: go to the previous page
3.1.2. Call interface
Right swipe: answer, toggle hands free mode
Left swipe: reject, hang up
3.1.3. Media player interface
Swipe left: previous track
Swipe right: next track
3.1.4. Word by word navigation mode
Up swipe: go to the previous line
Down swipe: go to the next line
Right swipe: go to the next character
Left swipe: go to the previous character
Double tab on a line: browse words in that given line
Up left swipe: go to the previous paragraph.
Up right swipe: go to the next paragraph
Right down swipe: selection mode
3.1.5. Node browsing mode
Left swipe: move to the parent node
Right swipe: move  to the child node
Up swipe: move to the previous element in the current node
Down swipe: move to the next element in the current node
Double left swipe: go to the root node.
3.6. Slider operations
Left swipe: decrease slider
Right swipe: increase slider
4. Main menu
The main menu can be opened in two ways. The first one is just to open the Commentary Screenreader app from within your Android launcher.
The second one is to select "Program settings" from the global menu (down right swipe) gesture.
4.1. General settings
TTS speed: alters the global TTS speed of the whole operating system.
TTS volume: alters the global TTS volume of the whole operating system.
Read usage hints: determines if the hints related to usage of the given element should or should not be announced.
Read the list range: Determines if the index of the focused item should or should not be announced.
Read notifications: determines if the notifications should or should not be announced.
Use custom gestures: determines if the applied custom gestures package should or should not be used.
Custom gesture settings: opens settings related to custom gesture packs.
4.2. TTS settings
Main TTS engine: The engine used for reading all the content spoken by the screenreader, except notifications (these will be handled separately).
Secondary TTS engine: The engine used for reading notifications. If you select the same engine as the first one, only the main TTS engine will be used.
Use a single TTS engine: explicitly force using only the main TTS engine.
System TTS settings: opens the Android's default system TTS settings.
Xunfei TTS settings: extended TTS options for Xunfei, a chinese TTS engine.
Unisound TTS settings: extended TTS options for Unisound, a chinese TTS engine.
Echo TTS settings: extended TTS options for Echo, A chinese TTS engine.
Other TTS settings: more TTS settings
System TTS volume: you can set up TTS volume explicitly here.
Queue notifications for reading: determines if the notifications should be queued for reading or in case of the new notification reading of the current one should be aborted.
Audio ducking: determines if other sounds should be suppressed when the TTS is speaking.
Slow down speed when in word by word mode: slows down the TTS by 50% when in the word by word browsing mode.
Use accessibility volume: makes the screenreader use the explicit volume, not the media volume. However it supports Android 8 and higher.
Use ringtone volume: determines if the ringtone volume should determine the volume of caller info.
Use the proximity sensor: stops reading when the proximity sensor is touched.
Use wakelock: determines if the screenreader should prevent the screen from locking if the long text is being spoken. Warning! It is known that it has some problems while interacting with Youtube, take care when using that option.
Enhanced wakelock: if the above option does not work, please try this one.
Read numbers by digit: determines if the numbers should be read as integers or explicit digits.
Speak punctuation: determines if punctuation should be announced while reading.
Use pinyin TTS when in edit mode: Determines if extended support for the chinese keyboard should be enabled.
4.3. Feeddback settings
Audible feedback: determines if the sounds from the currently chosen sound theme should or should not be played.
Sound theme volume: controls the volume of the currently selected sound theme.
Sound themes: controls which of the currently installed sound themes is used.
Vibration feedback: determines if the device should or should not vibrate on actions.
Vibration intensity: controls the strength of the vibrations.
4.4. Action settings
Gesture themes: controls which of the currently installed gesture themes is used.
Gestures description: outputs the current gesture themes' help file, if any.
Gesture settings: allows to create, modify and delete gesture themes.
Per-app gesture themes: allows to create different gesture themes for different applications.
Alternative gestures settings: settings related to the alternative gesture theme, where up down swipes are exchanged with left right swipes.
Scrolling settings: Settings related to scrolling lists
Edge gestures settings: settings related to the edge gestures. That concept will be presented later in this manual.
Shortcut keys settings: allows to modify the behavior of physical buttons on the device.
Onclick action settings: Miscellaneous settings related to clicking
Multipart gestures settings: settings related to the multipart gestures.
Fingerprint reader gestures settings: settings related to the gestures performed on the device's fingerprind reader.
Other settings: miscellaneous action settings.
Shake: allows to setup a command executed when the device is shaken.
Shaking sensitivity: controls how sensitive the shaking feature is.
Shake to answer the call: controls if incoming calls can be answered by shaking the device.
Do not use custom gestures in word by word browsing mode: controls if the default gesture theme should or should not overide the currently chosen gesture theme.
Use the node browsing mode: toggles node browsing mode on and off (that concept will be presented later in the manual.)
Enable gestures: controls if gestures should or should not be used. That option is useful for partially sighted people who are using the screenreader just as a helping tool.
4 5. Content presentation settings
Hints settings: settings related to the general reading behavior.
List settings: settings related to interacting with lists.
Label presentation settings: settings related to presentation of labels and dealing with unlabelled controls.
Dynamic content settings: settings related to the dynamic content, like webpages.
Screen state reporting: settings related to announcement regarding screen state changing like orientation.
Dictionary settings: Settings related to the custom dictionary and presentation of single characters.
Content filtering settings: settings related to the content filtering feature, allowing for filtering webpages from unwanted, disrupting content.
4.6. Notification settings
Read notifications: controls if the screenreader should or should not read incoming notifications.
Notification reading settings: settings related to controlling of which notifications should be read aloud.
Notification black list: allows for adding various applications or phrases to the black list.
Notification white list: allows for adding various application or phrases to the white list.
Other settings: miscellaneous notification settings
Notification summary: controls if notifications should be read as a whole, or only briefly summarized.
Read notifications while the screen is locked: controls if the notifications should or should not be read while the device's screen is locked.
Read source of the notification: controls if the name of the source application should or should not be read.
4.7. Advanced settings
Voice assistant settings: settings related to the voice assistant, OCR and the build in translation service.
Timer settings: settings related to the build in simple timer.
Automatically running plugins: controls which plugins should be preloaded at the screenreader's startup.
Manage resources: allows to manage the program resources including sound themes, gesture themes, plugins, ETC.
Action settings: more advanced action settings.
Power settings: settings related to screenreader's power usage.
Other settings: miscellaneous settings.
Enable Auto updater: controls if the program should automatically update itself in case of the new version.
Automatic use of OCR recognition: controls if OCR functionality should be executed every time an unlabelled item is discovered.
Label sharing: controls if your defined labels should or should not be posted to the Jieshuo server.
Custom dictionary: controls if the screenreader should or should not preload the custom dictionary (if any).
Use multi column menu: controls if the menu should or should not be split in to two columns
Customize main menu: allows to customize the global menu of the screenreader.\
Customize multi column menu: allows to customize the multi column variant of the global menu.
Use the floating menu: controls if the floating menu should or should not be used (that concept will be presented later in the manual)
Floating menu settings: allows to customize the floating menu.
Backup and restore settings: allows to backup and restore your screenreader's settings. Warning! Gesture themes, plugins, sound themes should be backed up separately.
4.8. Download additional resources
The program has a powerful database of all resources related to it like gesture themes, sound themes, plugins, voice assistant expansions, tutorials and other useful files. However because of how the database is rendered, it may change very often. That means we cannot provide a torough guide on how to use it
4.9. Plugins and tools
This menu allows for executing executable plugins. In other words plugins which have their own interface can be executed from here.
4.10. Miscellaneous options
Accessibility settings: opens the system accessibility settings.
User center: opens an user center where one can login, register, get information about their license and contact the support team.
Help and feedback: various information regarding the screenreader.
5. Registering in the screenreader
Registration gives some benefits, the most important one being the ability to purchase the program. Other advantages include an ability to use the resource center, cloud labels, ETC.
In order to register please do the following
1. Open the main menu of the program
2. Click on "resource center"
3. Click "sign up"
4. Fill in the following fields:
User name: the name used for logging in, it should be between 6 and 15 latin characters.
Password: The password used for logging in, it should be between 6 and 15 latin characters.
Referee's ID: User name of the refering person. It should be typed exactly as given.
5. After you fill out the form and click "sign up", you will be taken to the confirmation screen and you will be able to review the entered data. Clicking OK will save your account on the server and clicking cancel will allow you to change information entered.
After the successful registration you are automatically logged in to your new account and you can purchase the screenreader.
6. Purchasing the screenreader
You can purchase one year license, two years license or three years license,(100 chinese yuan) for year. Please check the exchange rate yourself, as it might vary.
In order to purchase the screenreader you have to do the following:
1. Register in the screenreader (please refer to chapter 5)
2. Please note down your user name and ID, explicitly as written
3. Please make the payment by going to the following URL
https://paypal.me/jieshuo666
4. Make the payment (please write your user name and ID in to the notes box)
5. Wait for your license activation (it will take up to 24 hours).

If you want to contact me, do not use the forum PM. I respond once a year or two, when I need to write a PM myself. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Telegram: Nuno69a
E-Mail: nuno69a (at) gmail (dot) com

2019-06-16 12:44:59

Oh wow... Built in braille screen input was one of the reasons I was hesitating about android.

I post sounds I record to freesound. Click here to visit my freesound page
I usually post game recordings to anyaudio. Click here to visit my anyaudio page

2019-06-16 13:33:08 (edited by defender 2019-06-16 13:33:45)

Oo cool, thanks for the update!
As well as for all your hard work and time spent on translating and writing documentation and such.

2019-06-16 14:35:36

It looks like nothing was found for this URL. You can try clicking the logo to return to the home page or searching using the form below

I am not sure why do you want to contact me . If you want to do add me on Skype

live:cccefg2

2019-06-16 14:48:04

that's great, the main feature that prevents me from switching to Android is the Braille screen input. Just to make sure, how many languages does it support at the moment? And how is it used?
And before I forget, thank you a lot for your amazing work.

2019-06-16 15:29:13

No lifetime subscription for this?

2019-06-16 16:21:31

No multi-finger gestures? Nah, I'll pass. Also, no, it looks like you'll have to have a braille screen input app, like soft braille keyboard or that $12 one. No built-in braille for us.

Devin Prater
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2019-06-16 17:50:10

Hello there,

devinprater wrote:

No multi-finger gestures? Nah, I'll pass.

As far as this suggestion, I know someone else wanted this as well. I remember, way back in the messages of the group, someone wanted to make a Commentary Plugin for this. So maybe, something will happen of this.

devinprater wrote:

Also, no, it looks like you'll have to have a braille screen input app, like soft braille keyboard or that $12 one. No built-in braille for us.

These are all great suggestions for plugins, so that everyone can make their own choice whether they want to use  Commentary with its default gestures, etc.
I remember @nuno69 saying in the group, that the plugin language is lua, and am maybe everyone can code plugins?
Again, @nuno69 can correct all this, but anyway, for those who want to try it, feel free. No one is forcing anyone to use it, however. Smiles, that is the beauty of Android in general. We could have a billion different choices for everything.

2019-06-16 17:52:14

And, btw, if you do decide to try Commentary, civil, constructive feedback and suggestions are always welcome.

2019-06-16 17:56:13

Yeah, exactly.

If you want to contact me, do not use the forum PM. I respond once a year or two, when I need to write a PM myself. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Telegram: Nuno69a
E-Mail: nuno69a (at) gmail (dot) com

2019-06-16 18:36:29

is there a free version of this app?
and if so, what is the difference between free and paid?
It's a cool app with a lot of customisation options. If only I could try it out...

:)

2019-06-16 19:26:30

There is a free version, however OCR-ing of apps and scene descriptions are not included, and as far as my version is concerned, secondary tts for notifications isn't either.

2019-06-16 20:27:18 (edited by kianoosh 2019-06-16 20:27:47)

Ok. I got the screen reader but it doesn't like to use espeak in the language i'm using. It's something other than english. Otherwise it looks even faster than talk back. By the way how do you open the apps screen with this? I used to swipe up with two fingers to open the apps screen when I was using talk back

---
Co-founder of Sonorous Arts.
Check out Sonorous Arts on github: https://github.com/sonorous-arts/
my Discord: kianoosh.shakeri2#2988

2019-06-16 20:46:18

The tricky thing I'm finding is my angle gestures that I'm very much used to with talkback to open the app switcher, or actions.  I'd rather not pay for something unless I can at least make sure that the gestures that I'd like to use to access the functions I'd use most frequently are there.  I have the free copy, but I also don't see a way to check for updates with it.  I'm sure my copy is probably old.

2019-06-16 20:50:46

The latest version is 2.0.190616. You can get the latest version availablefor english community from within the telegram channel

If you want to contact me, do not use the forum PM. I respond once a year or two, when I need to write a PM myself. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Telegram: Nuno69a
E-Mail: nuno69a (at) gmail (dot) com

2019-06-17 23:23:05

I don't see that version number there.

2019-06-18 07:23:14

I have a few questions.
how much does it cost for a year?
a lot of the user interface such as gesture settings, download center and ETC seams to be in Chinese at the moment. Do all those extra things like seen recognition even work in English?
Do We need a paid version to just change our gesture settings? because mine doesn't seam to work.
is there a way to silence the Chinese timer that is pronounced every time I unlock the screen?
any help is appreciated

:)

2019-06-18 10:02:45

since no one answered @Riad's question, I'm going to ask it again. which languages does the screen reader support? I'll add one more question, which speech engines does it support?
Thanks.

2019-06-18 10:21:41

@18
it supports every tts that you can install on your phone I think, I've had no problem with espeak/Eloquence/vocalizer expressive.

:)

2019-06-18 10:49:24

@19 thanks much for your answer. really appreciate it.

2019-06-18 14:28:45

Currently the screen reader is available in english, Spanish (translated by me), U.S. Spanish (I've contacted my friends to translate it), croatian, polish and chinese.

73 Wj3u

2019-06-20 00:12:54

According to the manual in the first post, it's 100 Chinese yen. 100 Chinese yen is around $20 Canadian. Google can give you updated price for your country. I don't know if that paypal me link is official or not. When I was running this it had to be registered over QQ.

2019-06-20 06:45:56

Ok wait. Which version of espeak did you use with it? Myne seem not like to work with espeak 1.48.05. Are you using that espeak tts on google play?

---
Co-founder of Sonorous Arts.
Check out Sonorous Arts on github: https://github.com/sonorous-arts/
my Discord: kianoosh.shakeri2#2988

2019-06-20 13:26:24

@23 I'm using 1.49.3 dev

:)

2019-06-20 15:26:41

Is this Commentary thing better than TalkBack? If so, how and in what areas?


Best regards
T-m