Braille Preferences
Enable Braille Support
This check box toggles whether or not Orca will make use of a braille display. If BrlTTY is not running, Orca will recover gracefully and will not communicate with the braille display.
Default value: not checked
If you configure BrlTTY later on, you need to restart Orca in order to use braille.
Enable word wrap
If Enable word wrap is checked, Orca will adjust the text so that only full words are shown on the braille display. If it is not checked, Orca will use all of the cells on the display so that more text can be shown at once.
Default value: not checked
Enable Contracted Braille
Orca supports contracted braille via the liblouis project. Because many distros include liblouis, you will likely automatically have access to contracted braille support in Orca.
To enable contracted braille on a system where liblouis has been installed, be sure that the Enable Contracted Braille checkbox is checked. Then choose your desired translation table from the Contraction Table combo box.
Default value: not checked
Abbreviated Role Names
This check box determines the manner in which role names are displayed and can be used to help conserve real estate on the braille display. For instance, if a slider had focus, the word "slider" would be displayed if abbreviated role names is not checked; if it were checked, "sldr" would be displayed instead.
Default value: not checked
Disable end of line symbol
Checking this checkbox tells Orca to not present the "$l" string at the end of a line of text.
Default value: not checked
Verbosity
This radio button group determines the amount of information that will be brailled in certain situations. For example, if it is set to verbose, keyboard shortcut and role name information is displayed. This information is not displayed in brief mode.
Default value: Verbose
Selection and Hyperlink Indicators
The Selection Indicator and Hyperlink Indicator radio button groups allow you to configure Orca's behavior when displaying selected text and hyperlinks. By default, when you encounter either, Orca will "underline" that text on your braille display with Dots 7 and 8. If you would prefer, you can change the indicator to only be Dot 7, only be Dot 8, or not be present at all.
Default value: Dots 7 and 8
Text Attribute Indicators
You can also optionally have text attributes indicated in braille. Enabling this feature and choosing which attributes are of interest is done on the Text Attributes page of the preferences dialog.
Flash Message Settings
Flash messages are similar in nature to notifications or announcements: They are shown on your refreshable braille display for a brief time, after which the original contents of the braille display are restored. Orca has several settings you can use to control flash message presentation.
Enable flash messages
If Enable flash messages is checked, Orca will present messages to you in braille. If you prefer to only have Orca's messages spoken, you should uncheck this checkbox.
Default value: checked
Messages are detailed
If Messages are detailed is checked, Orca will present detailed messages to you in braille. For instance, if you use Orca's command to change echo, Orca might display "Echo set to word." If you would prefer shorter messages, such as simply "word," you should uncheck this checkbox.
Default value: checked
Messages are persistent
As stated above, flash messages are only shown for a brief period of time. If you would prefer messages remain displayed until you perform an action which causes your display to be updated, you should check the Messages are persistent checkbox.
Default value: not checked
Duration (secs)
The amount of time Orca will wait before removing the message and restoring the original contents of your display can be set in the Duration (secs) spin button. Note that the value of this setting will be ignored if you have enabled persistent flash messages.
Default value: 5