Although you have some valid points, VoiceOver will improve and these issues will be addressed. The big difference is that windows-based screen readers have been around for quite a while, so admittedly they have a jump on VoiceOver in some respects. However, what APple has accomplished in the last five years is amazing. Give Apple five more years and I suspect VoiceOver will exceed what the windows screen readers have done in the same period of time. Of course you use what tools work best and no tool is perfect. THe one thing I can say is that at least VO has not taken my machine down and that alone makes me very happy. On Sep 2, 2010, at 6:15 PM, William Windels wrote:
> Hello, > I want also to say something about this topic: > > Apple is doing great efforts to make their products accessible and macosx > with voiceover is in global, working good. > Also , the trackpad is a very nice feature that don't exist on windows > computers for blind users. > > However, I have also some remarks: > since 10.6, voiceover isn't that stable like in 10.5. > Sometimes, voiceover is restarting while reading texts , I think because of > some strange characters. > But, this is not a big problem while comparing with windows and the > screenreaders because they are also crashing sometimes. > > A bigger problem , in my opinion is that voiceover from apple is the only > screenreader on the mac. > > I mean: since safari 5, the braille isn't working correctly in formfields. > > This problem can also happen of course on windows when a new release of a > browser is installed but, on windows , there are at least 2 browsers that are > fully supported by the most screenreaders: internet explorer, firefox and > perhaps opera. > > firefox 4 (beta) isn't also accessible with voiceover after a first look. > > Also, the time-machine program, to restore e.g. a deleted folder from the > past, isn't accessible with vo. > The automatic backup system of timemachine works great! > > Pages, a great texteditor isn't also fully accessible : tables in pages are > n't working with vo. > > The numbers application has not the same features as excel with a > screenreader. > Navigation in numbers is missing some important features. > > Also: the braille representation on the mac has not the same contort as on > windows, I give 2 examples: > The text on the brailledisplay isn't independent of the speech. so. in > global, what the mac says, that will be shown on the braille display and > revers. > It makes it much more powerful if you can configure what to read in braille > and what to hear. > A second thing is the representation of controls on a braille display: > They should give a option to configure how the representation of a radio > button, a button, a dropbox/pull down menu, a checkbox, a link, should be > shown on a braille display. > The best solution here is to have language independent symbols for this kind > of controls. > Since some people have only a braille display of 12, 20 or 40 characters, it > doesn't make sence to see only checkbox on your display. > > When I try to speak with other blind people about the mac and the included > accessibility, the first question they ask is about particular programs they > want to use. > > When I compare this about text processors, internet, spreadsheets , databases > (ms access), powerpoints, chatting, listening to music..., not all of this > tasks gives the same confort on a mac as on windows. > > Conclusion: I love the mac , osx is great but the accessibility is still a > work in progress and, in my opinion, not at the same level of most windows > screenreaders. > > > best regards, > William > Op 2-sep-2010, om 22:47 heeft Mike Arrigo het volgende geschreven: > >> Just a few comments to add to this. First, I think gw-micro is a great >> company and window eyes is a great product, I'm using it with my work >> computer to write this message. With regard to supporting the web, at this >> point at least, voiceover is actually ahead of window eyes, because it >> handles the pages that change dinamicly. In window eyes, if a page changes >> through something like java script, you must reload the browse mode buffer. >> On the mac, as apple says, it just works. The new content is available as >> you navigate the page. I know gw-micro is working on this, and I'm sure once >> the work is done, it will work very well. Also, on a mac, you can install a >> new version of the operating system completely and totally without sighted >> assistance, with speech and or a braille display. This cannot be done with >> windows. Of course, this is not the fault of gw-micro, Microsoft gets the >> blame for that one, but I think it demonstrates the commitment Apple has to >> accessibility. >> >> -- >> Email services provided by the System Access Mobile Network. Visit >> www.serotek.com to learn more about accessibility anywhere. >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MacVisionaries" group. >> To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. 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