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 PMSubject: [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 AMSubject: [access-uk] Re: Time to do the Apple Switch? Leopard's New VoiceOver featureswell Gordon it will be interesting to see how you go with this and to seehow 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 thehype reflects the real situation and whether once again, the Mac can bedescribed 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 machineand I have been running it for about three or four months using hal as thescreen 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 OfRay'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. 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