I've also had it said to me that if you can get hold of a numpad, bluetooth or otherwise, you can make full use of numpad commander and it makes the navigating experience just that much better. I personally had no issue with learning to use the mac. I learned to drive on around two years ago, as a friend of mine had one. ever since then, I could wander into a store, turn voiceover on and have a play. Now I have one, I've not looked back.
On 30/09/2012, at 12:45 PM, "Debbie April Yuille" <debbieyui...@bigpond.com> wrote: > Here, Here. Well said. I've just migrated to mac and I'm quite surprised > with how accessible it really is. I have virtually no site, and I'm learning > to get around it quite well. I particularly love the way that you can use > the Item chooser to navigate around a page rather than tab around a hole > screen in other systems to find what you want. > > Debbie > > > -----Original Message----- > From: mac-access-boun...@mac-access.net > [mailto:mac-access-boun...@mac-access.net] On Behalf Of Mrs. Lynnette > Annabel Smith > Sent: Sunday, 30 September 2012 3:39 AM > To: Mac OSX & iOS Accessibility > Subject: Making The Most Of Your Accessible Tools; A Passionate Rant [Was > "so wish apple had done this"] > > Hello John, Will and all > > As somebody with vision looking in, so to speak, I frequently find it > astonishing when I hear people criticising what Apple is doing with > accessibility; particularly in view of the practicalities. For instance, > unless you're a pirate and by definition, therefore, a thief, Freedom > Scientific, GW Micro and Dolphin Access, to name but three vendors, charge a > very great deal of money for their accessibility tools. Also, Microsoft > charges for their operating system, even for the most basic version, over 5 > times what Apple does. VoiceOver is a free and, most of the time, very > reliable product. It gives the user access to a WYSIWYG, (what you see is > what you get) interface to websites. Most of which can, if you take the time > to learn to use it, be navigated extremely well using VoiceOver and Safari. > > Ultimately, it really depends upon the individual. If you just want a sheet > of virtual paper with a hand-holding web environment, by all means use your > other products and I wish you the very best of luck in all you do. > > I, (and I count my lucky stars, believe me), have the advantage of vision > and I have seen both sides of this. I do see some sites where VoiceOver just > will not play nicely and yes, we have seen some pretty spectacular crashes > at times. However, in the general scheme of things, the environment is more > stable and just as, if not more, reliable than the competition if, and it is > a very big if, the pilot of the machine takes the time and effort to learn > to handle it. > > I sincerely hope that we see a time when Apple perfects their accessibility > tools. But make no mistake about it; they are committed to accessibility and > they will improve their offerings. Remember also that the competing products > have been available far far longer than has VoiceOver. Yes, I know that you > can't always go by that and I know also that Apple has been involved in the > field of accessibility for around 8 years now. However, just cast your mind > back to how things were before Apple entered the market. Apple really has > made a difference, not only to their own products, but also the competition. > > I recall the vice president of one accessibility company saying: > "It's all very well having an operating system with a talking installer. But > that's not much use if you can't do anything with it afterwards." > > That statement was a direct quote. It was, and remains, the utterings of a > frightened man who feared losing custom. As things have worked out, that is > exactly what has happened. Literally tens of thousands of visually impaired > users across the world have now migrated to Apple's products; desktop and > mobile. Indeed, the vice president of Freedom Scientific himself is the > proud owner of an iPhone. Make of that what you will! > > Anyway, I am ranting. But I sometimes find it really disappointing when I > hear people complaining like this. People who have freedom to choose. The > long and the short of this is: If you want perfection, you'll be waiting for > a very very long time. If you are prepared to be flexible and innovative, > you have the power at your fingertips, quite literally in some cases. If, > however, you are happy with constant virtualisation, hand-holding and costly > solutions, then perhaps Apple's platforms are not for you. yes, there are > free and low-cost applications available out there for other operating > systems. And that is to be applauded. However, you are still working within > the confines of an often insecure, vulnerable and unstable environment. > > Which ever option you choose to take is entirely down to your preference. > However, although I can understand a degree of frustration when things don't > quite work out; and yes, it does happen to my other half as well quite > frequently, the best thing you could do is to make the most of the failures. > Try to reliably replicate them and, if possible, send your crash reports to > Apple. That is the only way your problems will be fixed. It isn't reasonable > to expect Apple to foresee every eventuality and I urge cooperation and > patience. Believe it or not, as somebody with vision, I can tel you that > Internet Explorer 9 and FireFox 15 are not invulnerable and do crash quite > frequently, even without accessibility tools in the mix. Speaking > personally, I learned to do much more than point and click and I learned > most of it on an Apple Mac. I also made it my business to learn to use > VoiceOver in order that I can interact with my other half who is, like many > people in this group, totally bl > ind. I feel for each and every one of you. But I urge you to try and make > the very best of what you have available. Only in that way will you be able > to evolve with the ever-changing world of technologies, assistive and > otherwise. > > Ladies and gentlemen, I apologise for the rant. This is, however, a topic on > which I hold passionate views. > > My very best and most sincere wishes to each and every one of you. > > Lynne > > On 29 Sep 2012, at 17:24, John Panarese <jpanar...@mac-access.net> wrote: > > There are a lot of things you can do to fiddle and troubleshoot such > issues. Do you have examples of sites and what you are specifically looking > for? The reality is that VoiceOver and Safari are not perfect, but neither > are web designers. Don't discount the possiblity of the site simply being > badly designed. > > <--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net ---> > > To reply to this post, please address your message to > mac-access@mac-access.net > > You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at > either the list's own dedicated web archive: > <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html> > or at the public Mail Archive: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/>. > Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/maillist.xml> > > The Mac-Access mailing list is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus > and worm-free! > > Please remember to update your membership options periodically by visiting > the list website at: > <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/> > > <--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net ---> > > To reply to this post, please address your message to > mac-access@mac-access.net > > You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at > either the list's own dedicated web archive: > <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html> > or at the public Mail Archive: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/>. > Subscribe to the list's RSS feed from: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/maillist.xml> > > The Mac-Access mailing list is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and > worm-free! > > Please remember to update your membership options periodically by visiting > the list website at: > <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/> <--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net ---> To reply to this post, please address your message to mac-access@mac-access.net You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at either the list's own dedicated web archive: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html> or at the public Mail Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/>. 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