[access-uk] Re: Time to do the Apple Switch? Leopard's New VoiceOver features

  • From: "Jackie Cairns" <cairnsplace@xxxxxxx>
  • To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:21:43 -0000

Ray, I agree with you. The DTP software they all used at college was Quark, but even the PC equivalent was a dead loss to me. But I had some lovely folk who helped me out with a few great work-arounds, and coupled with my obsessive determination to get my HND, I cracked it, Mac or no Mac, DTP software or no DTP software.
I believe the story behind why they went for Macs in the first place is that they bought some in bulk cheaper than they could get the same specs on a PC. But the students argued that if they worked on the newspaper or assignments within the newsroom confines using a Mac, they couldn't then go home and open the same documents using their PC. This was where I had sympathy for them, because I never had that difficulty.
In the end, I was lucky in that I worked alongside a young bunch of fully sighted students who helped me out sometimes, and who I could help out too. I think it was the happiest three years I ever spent doing anything (smile.) 

Jackie
----- Original Message ----- From: "Ray's Home" <rays-home@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2007 1:07 PM
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Time to do the Apple Switch? Leopard's New VoiceOver features 



Very interesting experiences you've related there Jackie.

Having met a few media types I know all too well how committed they
are to Macs.  (that's putting it politely though.  there's a very
exclusive club you have to belong to in those circles to prove your
validity or even virility, (LOL).

To get one thing out of the way though, Apples under OS X do seem to
be very stable and don't appear to throw too many woblies.  The
integration of hardware and software is far more under control with
Macs than it has ever been with the traditionally open architecture of
the PC.

If you pay enough for a well put together PC though, the stability
issues can be near negligible.  (You'll be spending as much as you
would on a Mac going for such a machine, but many are made, especially
for audio and video work.)  Still, a further problem Windows faces is
poorly behaved software, and MS itself is too often guilty of this.

Desktop publishing is no longer the exclusive domain of the Mac and
hasn't been for a long time, in spite of the pretensions of media
folk.  Not only that, but you can get very respectable free DTP
software for the PC which no one but an out and out snob would dismiss
out of hand.

DTP though has never been an area where VI people could hope to have
proper access as by its nature it is unavoidably graphical in what it
does and the way it does it.  The most important thing, I would have
said, is being able to contribute properly to publications that are
going to be used in a layout program.  No doubt smaller outfits do
depend on individuals knowing the DTP business, but in larger
structured business, I'd have thought division of labour in this area
is what happens.

From Ray
I can be contacted off-list at:
mailto:ray-48@xxxxxxxx


-----Original Message-----
Jackie Cairns


Because of doing my course at the time, and the fact everybody kept
telling
me that DTP was much better on a Mac, we got a shot of a Mac to play
with at
home with what I can only describe as terrible speech software.  Oh
boy was
it not half a steep learning curve!! (big smile.)

I was lucky in that my programme tutor was a great guy with a lot of
patience, and sometimes he'd speak me through some things on the Mac
in the
newsroom, just so I could try to understand the concept of what the
others
were doing.  And some publishers gave me books in Mac format that I
needed
to access, which was a sort of incentive to get me to try to learn it.
But
I just couldn't get to grips with it, and I had so much stuff to do
anyway
with running the college newspaper and my own assignments that I
couldn't
devote the time it required.

Interestingly, after my tutor left, and I finished my course, I heard
the
college went over to PC full-time because nobody liked using the Mac,
despite its ability to be better for DTP and more reliable with its
OS.

Jackie
----- Original Message -----
From: "ari" <aridamoulakis@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2007 12:09 PM
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Time to do the Apple Switch? Leopard's New
VoiceOver features



I'd heard of the whole Mac thing when I needed to get my laptop for

Uni a

few months ago, but I was totally disappointed, because I went to

the MAC

shop to try and look at Voiceover, and there was obviously noone

there who

knew how it worked, my brother started it up for me, but we just

didn't

know how to access help and stuff properly. I probably could have

tried

harder, but the things that worry me about Voiceover are that you

just

never know if it will always be updated properly or frequently,

although

it's a great idea, you never know if Apple will just oneday not keep

it up

to speed. Also, when I was looking round on the Internet for VO

resources,

I did find a tutorial, but the main support is through a user group,
correct me if I'm wrong here, but I don't even know how many people,

or,

if there are any blind people working at Apple on VO? There is no

address

at Apple to which anyone can write if they have problems. With newer

web

technologies and stuff coming out, you just hope that you're using
software that the people who're developing do care about making it

work

with such things. Itunes does work with VO, and apparrently Safari

and

most things as well, but apparrently mac users need to go through

millions

of keystrokes? I then decided that, considering the really high

price of a

mac laptop, and the fact that I did have JAWS, I'd just buy a cheap

normal

laptop instead.  The Mac thing does have very positive stuff though,

in

that you can just walk to any mac and use it without having to worry

about

anything. Wish MS would make a propper Windows screenreader like

Apple,

but then the whole argument of what happens if screenreader

companies go

out of business and MS doesn't keep the reader uptodate would again

be a

problem.
Ari
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jackie Cairns" <cairnsplace@xxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2007 1:44 PM
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Time to do the Apple Switch? Leopard's New
VoiceOver features



If only this had been possible four or five years ago when I was

doing

journalism at college.  The newsroom was full of Macs and the one

PC with

Windows 98 that I used to monopolise.  Interestingly, all the

students

used to jump in my seat the minute I moved so they could use the PC
instead of their Macs because they hated them, and they were all

fully

sighted.  I think they all used a PC at home and just couldn't get

to

grips with the Mac.  So this big queue would form to get on my

machine,

and I couldn't venture anywhere without someone literally

hot-footing it

to my desk.  All good fun.

Jackie
----- Original Message -----
From: "Graham Page" <gpage@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2007 11:34 AM
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Time to do the Apple Switch? Leopard's New
VoiceOver features



well Gordon it will be interesting to see how you go with this and

to

see
how others go as well.  I would not be surprised to find more info
appearing
on ACB Radio's Main Menu or blindcooltec at some point when those

with

some
experience of the mac get hands on it.  Altimately we will see

whether

the
hype reflects the real situation and whether once again, the Mac

can be

described as anything like accessible and how far this

accessibility

goes.

Regards

Graham
Graham Page
Home Phone: 0207 265 9493
Mobile: 07753 607980
Fax:  0870 706 2773
Email: gpage@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
MSN: gabriel_mcbird@xxxxxxxxxxx
Skype: gabriel_mcbird
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gordon Keen" <gordon.keen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2007 11:16 AM
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Time to do the Apple Switch? Leopard's

New

VoiceOver features


Hi Ray
I can confirm that the mac-book works very happily as a dual boot
machine
and I have been running it for about three or four months using

hal as

the
screen reader.
Next week end I shall be upgrading to leopard and weaning myself

off the

dreaded microsludge.


Regards
Gordon
From glorious Devon, England

-----Original Message-----
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On

Behalf

Of
Ray's Home
Sent: 29 October 2007 10:44
To: Access-Uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [access-uk] Time to do the Apple Switch? Leopard's New
VoiceOver
features

Hope you find this interesting, as I do.  A few comments after

news of

Leopard's new Voice Over features.

VoiceOver info.

Universal Access

Alex - A New Voice Give yourself a new voice. Meet Alex - a new
English male voice that uses advanced,
patented Apple technologies to deliver natural breathing and
intonation, even at
fast speaking rates.

Plug-and-Play Refreshable Braille Display Support Quickly set up
popular, refreshable Braille displays. VoiceOver detects and
configures
as soon as you plug them in. No additional software or setup is
required.

Braille Output During OS Installation For the first time ever on a
desktop computer, you can use a Braille display while
installing or upgrading your operating system.

The Braille Panel See a virtual Braille display - a visual
representation of VoiceOver Braille output
onscreen along with an English text translation.

Customisable Braille Display Input Keys Customise a Braille

display

more easily than ever before. Just choose a VoiceOver
command, then press and hold the input keys. A tone sounds to let

you

know the command has been assigned successfully.

Contracted and Non-Contracted Braille Output Braille in standard
contracted format or non-contracted "computer Braille".
VoiceOver automatically converts contracted Braille under the

cursor

so it's easier
to edit, then contracts it again when the cursor moves.

NumPad Commander Control VoiceOver using only the numeric keypad

just

like JAWS and Windows-Eyes.
This makes it easier for screen reader users to switch from a PC

to a

Mac and provides easy access to your favourite VoiceOver commands.

Portable VoiceOver Preferences Instantly reconfigure your

VoiceOver

preferences. Just plug in a flash drive containing
your preferences and Leopard instantly reconfigures to work and

act

just like your Mac - without leaving a trace when you leave.

Faster Web and Page Navigation Quickly navigate long documents or

web

pages. Jump to key elements like headers,
tables and links and by text attributes like underlining, bold,
italics and colour - even text phrases.

Hot Spots Monitor up to ten different areas onscreen and be

alerted

when there's a change.
Then jump directly to any hot spot to investigate or take action.

Drag-and-Drop Support Use drag-and-drop actions by keyboard only,

in

accessible applications.

Integrated Interactive Tutorial Learn VoiceOver unassisted in a

safe

environment. A built-in tutorial lets you practice
as you learn.

Misspelled Word Detection Hear when a word is misspelled while

reading

text. Choose a tone or a spoken description.
Positional Audio Effects Benefit from many new sound effects in
VoiceOver. Audio cues provide an improved
sense of location.

Highlight by Word or Sentence Set the VoiceOver cursor to

highlight

each word or sentence being read as it is spoken.

New VoiceOver Utility Customise VoiceOver more easily. A new

VoiceOver

Utility layout includes many new
options and preferences for customising VoiceOver.

Improved Application Accessibility Do more with VoiceOver. Bundled
Leopard applications and utilities have been enhanced
for improved accessibility.




(Ray back again)
I'm thinking now seriously of doing the switch, and possibly going

for

a dual boot equiped Apple, so not leaving Windows behind entirely.
This seems to work better than many might think it does.

Given Vista's fearsome reputation so far, and some prety draconian
measures around DRM to boot, I wonder seriously if the Apple

shouldn't

be given a serious look.  Not that I know for certain the Apple

will

be imune from the media industry's inroads on what we can do.

(No,

I'm not an ilegal sharer or anything, but I do use my PC for a lot

of

audio work these days.)

Those thoughts apart, hope the above was of interest.

Cheers,,
From Ray
I can be contacted off-list at:
mailto:ray-48@xxxxxxxx


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