MuseScore 4: Initial impressions from a screen reader user
Hi everyone, I just wanted to let you all know about a few things related to MuseScore 4 and screen reader accessibility. I use NVDA on Windows. These are just some general comments but there is some feedback.
I am happy to report that the redesigned user interface is very accessible for the most part. I just had to get more used to finding buttons with the arrow keys rather than tab. For example, when I create a new score and then add the instruments, I had to first tab to the cancel button and use the arrow keys to find next and done. I don't know if it's just me, but in dialog boxes like that, I tend to be more used to finding every control with just the tab key. This is not criticism, just observation.
There are two main accessibility concerns I want to highlight:
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I can't remove instruments in the instruments panel. When I find an instrument, I can use left and right arrows to move through the buttons, I find visible/hidden, expand/collapse, and settings. When I click settings, I end up on a window that the screen reader can't seem to read. I see no way to remove instruments from the score but I can add instruments. I also haven't yet found a way to manually reorder parts/instruments in a score via the keyboard.
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The mixer. The new mixer is easier to use than the one in MuseScore 3. When I find a voice/instrument and press down arrow, I have several options including a pan slider (which looks more like a text box), an actual slider (which appears to have no label), and mute and solo radio buttons. Is there a volume slider in there that isn't labelled? Thanks.
Also, just some observations about braille export (though I don't know if it'll be improved further). I tried exporting some simple scores, including a single line violin score and a piano piece. Notes, dynamics, and articulations look good. It would be nice if clef signs were left out, and for piano scores, there should be the right and left hand symbols. Also, in braille music, for piano music measure numbers are not preceded by a number sign while for single line instrument parts like violin or clarinet, measure numbers should be preceded by a number sign.
These are just my thoughts so far. Hopefully other screen reader users can weigh in.