Re: Considering Mac, questions about Voiceover/access
Thanks, I will give this a shot. Just to say I am liking my mac more than yesterday. On 20 Aug 2012, at 21:53, Travis Siegel wrote: For your web browsing, have you tried groups mode? It tries to group like items on pages into a single group, which makes things easier sometimes. If the whole paragraph is in a single group, you simply move the vo cursor onto the group, and it reads the whole paragraph without having to do anything. I like that a lot, but a lot of folks don't like that mode, as you need to interact with the group to click on links and the like, but for me, this works well, but others have different views. --- 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 postedto 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 postedto 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/
Re: Considering Mac, questions about Voiceover/access
For your web browsing, have you tried groups mode? It tries to group like items on pages into a single group, which makes things easier sometimes. If the whole paragraph is in a single group, you simply move the vo cursor onto the group, and it reads the whole paragraph without having to do anything. I like that a lot, but a lot of folks don't like that mode, as you need to interact with the group to click on links and the like, but for me, this works well, but others have different views. --- 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 postedto 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/
Re: Considering Mac, questions about Voiceover/access
Hi If you are on a budget don't forget that apple do a good deal on refurbished machines that are covered by a full one year guarantee - check out their web site for details. I can honestly say that switching to mac was the most liberating move I have made, I'm sure you will never regret the move should you go ahead. Regards G From Bridgerule in glorious Devon, England. On 16 Aug 2012, at 20:46, Catherine Turner catherineturner2...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi all, Wow, thanks for all the responses, I'll be reading through the links Phil gave. I've got a lot to think about then. I googled VM fusion and discover it's a way of running Windows on a Mac right? So I would need a copy of Windows and whatever else I wanted to run in Windows. I wonder where in the UK I could buy a full copy of Windows. I don't know much about this as I have always bought systems with Windows already installed and as far as I know the CDs that came with them were not full Windows CDs, just recovery CDs. Does anyone know anything about where I might buy Windows CD? There are several things that appeal to me about Mac, having heard a few podcasts and a friend demonstrating his to me recently. But one reason I was thinking of keeping my costs down. Because I have a dying laptop running Windows Vista and JAWS 10. The kinds of Windows laptops I'm looking at cost around £600. Plus to upgrade JAWS would cost £400 something. So I was thinking if I went for Mac with built-in screen reader that would be slightly cheaper. But if I decided for some reason I would need Windows sometimes this would increase the cost significantly, and I think I would need to use tables a fair bit. So I guess I'll keep this laptop going as long as possible and maybe I can get the money together to get a Mac plus Windows and VM fusion and JAWS latest version...and in the meantime start at least reading about how to use Mac and Voiceover. --- 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 postedto 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/
Re: Considering Mac, questions about Voiceover/access
Hi all, Wow, thanks for all the responses, I'll be reading through the links Phil gave. I've got a lot to think about then. I googled VM fusion and discover it's a way of running Windows on a Mac right? So I would need a copy of Windows and whatever else I wanted to run in Windows. I wonder where in the UK I could buy a full copy of Windows. I don't know much about this as I have always bought systems with Windows already installed and as far as I know the CDs that came with them were not full Windows CDs, just recovery CDs. Does anyone know anything about where I might buy Windows CD? There are several things that appeal to me about Mac, having heard a few podcasts and a friend demonstrating his to me recently. But one reason I was thinking of keeping my costs down. Because I have a dying laptop running Windows Vista and JAWS 10. The kinds of Windows laptops I'm looking at cost around £600. Plus to upgrade JAWS would cost £400 something. So I was thinking if I went for Mac with built-in screen reader that would be slightly cheaper. But if I decided for some reason I would need Windows sometimes this would increase the cost significantly, and I think I would need to use tables a fair bit. So I guess I'll keep this laptop going as long as possible and maybe I can get the money together to get a Mac plus Windows and VM fusion and JAWS latest version...and in the meantime start at least reading about how to use Mac and Voiceover. Thanks for all the help. I shall continue probably lurking on this list to learn more about Mac while I get ready/save up... Catherine On 8/15/12, Phil Halton philh...@comcast.net wrote: Catherine, Just a follow-up to my earlier post. I suggest you also check out the very well done podcasts at www.htb2.com This man recently lost his eyesight in afganistan and now uses Macs to great effect. His casts are very positive, helpful and well-done. He covers subjects like web surfing with Safari (an excellent and easy to use web browser on the Mac) and many other topics of interest to blind mac users. --- 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 postedto 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/ -- Twitter: CTurner1980 My blog: http://catherineturner.wordpress.com --- 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 postedto 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/
Re: Considering Mac, questions about Voiceover/access
Catherine you can buy Windows CDs from online retailers such as Amazon or Play.com and I bet all PC retail stores stock them as well. On 16/08/2012 20:46, Catherine Turner wrote: Hi all, Wow, thanks for all the responses, I'll be reading through the links Phil gave. I've got a lot to think about then. I googled VM fusion and discover it's a way of running Windows on a Mac right? So I would need a copy of Windows and whatever else I wanted to run in Windows. I wonder where in the UK I could buy a full copy of Windows. I don't know much about this as I have always bought systems with Windows already installed and as far as I know the CDs that came with them were not full Windows CDs, just recovery CDs. Does anyone know anything about where I might buy Windows CD? There are several things that appeal to me about Mac, having heard a few podcasts and a friend demonstrating his to me recently. But one reason I was thinking of keeping my costs down. Because I have a dying laptop running Windows Vista and JAWS 10. The kinds of Windows laptops I'm looking at cost around £600. Plus to upgrade JAWS would cost £400 something. So I was thinking if I went for Mac with built-in screen reader that would be slightly cheaper. But if I decided for some reason I would need Windows sometimes this would increase the cost significantly, and I think I would need to use tables a fair bit. So I guess I'll keep this laptop going as long as possible and maybe I can get the money together to get a Mac plus Windows and VM fusion and JAWS latest version...and in the meantime start at least reading about how to use Mac and Voiceover. Thanks for all the help. I shall continue probably lurking on this list to learn more about Mac while I get ready/save up... Catherine On 8/15/12, Phil Halton philh...@comcast.net wrote: Catherine, Just a follow-up to my earlier post. I suggest you also check out the very well done podcasts at www.htb2.com This man recently lost his eyesight in afganistan and now uses Macs to great effect. His casts are very positive, helpful and well-done. He covers subjects like web surfing with Safari (an excellent and easy to use web browser on the Mac) and many other topics of interest to blind mac users. --- 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 postedto 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 postedto 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/
Considering Mac, questions about Voiceover/access
Hi all, I don't have a Mac at the moment but am considering getting one and have some questions about Voiceover and general Mac access which I wonder if people could help me with? 1. With word processing, is VO able to give font/formatting information? 2. I use spreadsheets a fair bit and databases a little. I currently use Excel with JAWS and quite often monitor certain cells so I can at a keystroke find out what's in them. Does anyone here do anything similar on Mac? How configurable is VO when working in spreadsheets e.g. is there a keystroke for reading a column total and can you set which row the total is in either in VO or the spreadsheet program? 3. Scanning/OCR - what are people using for this? How do you find it and what sort of things do you scan? 4. Sound editing and MIDI - I do a fair bit of sound editing in wave format, currently in Goldwave. I haven't started doing any MIDI yet but hope to in the future. So I don't know much about the MIDI but am just wondering if anyone is doing any Mac and what you use, how you're finding it. If anyone has any comments/feedback on the above questions that'd be great. Or if anyone here has switched from Windows to Mac and has any other observations I'd be interested in hearing them. Thanks, Catherine --- 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 postedto 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/
Re: Considering Mac, questions about Voiceover/access
I have recently switched from Windows to Mac - JAWS12 to VoiceOver. Word Processing - very disappointing as I use Tables extensively. Pages is slow loading and getting into editing quite tiresome. I am finding it difficult to get used to interacting with this and that. I still find web browsing rather finicky as you have to use a number of ways to access it: turning NavKeys on/off; using the ItemUser and the inability to cursoring vertically rather irksome. For scanning purposes I use the ReadIt wand (which works very well) but, funnily enough, for this I have to use VM to virtualise the Windows platform! I have not yet used Numbers (for spreadsheet work) : so cannot comment. On the positive side: this list is a good place to be as people are very helpful in their informed responses. Good luck!! On 15 Aug 2012, at 09:48, Catherine Turner wrote: Hi all, I don't have a Mac at the moment but am considering getting one and have some questions about Voiceover and general Mac access which I wonder if people could help me with? 1. With word processing, is VO able to give font/formatting information? 2. I use spreadsheets a fair bit and databases a little. I currently use Excel with JAWS and quite often monitor certain cells so I can at a keystroke find out what's in them. Does anyone here do anything similar on Mac? How configurable is VO when working in spreadsheets e.g. is there a keystroke for reading a column total and can you set which row the total is in either in VO or the spreadsheet program? 3. Scanning/OCR - what are people using for this? How do you find it and what sort of things do you scan? 4. Sound editing and MIDI - I do a fair bit of sound editing in wave format, currently in Goldwave. I haven't started doing any MIDI yet but hope to in the future. So I don't know much about the MIDI but am just wondering if anyone is doing any Mac and what you use, how you're finding it. If anyone has any comments/feedback on the above questions that'd be great. Or if anyone here has switched from Windows to Mac and has any other observations I'd be interested in hearing them. Thanks, Catherine --- 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 postedto 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 postedto 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/
RE: Considering Mac, questions about Voiceover/access
1. Yes Voiceover is able to give font information. There is a learning curve to word processing on the Mac, including getting used to different cursor behaviour . You can set up the Mac so that Voiceover behaves like windows screen readers when cursoring or editing text but this creates other problems and it is best to learn the Mac way of doing things I found. The Mac is perfectly fine for most levels of word Processing and free options will give you most of what you need. The one serious game stopper is the inability of Voiceover to read Tables in Word documents. There are various clunky work around including converting the table into text and reading and handling tables in Numbers but if you need to use tables seriously for work or study you will probably find that you need to retain a Windows platform for that. This is what I have had to do as I constantly read or use Tables for study purposes. proper table recognition and a full range of table reading commands are essential for me. For example the last chapter of my thesis contained 10 tables and it is my biggest accessibility concern for the Mac. However by using VM Fusion you can have a good Windows option within the Mac which you can switch to fairly instantly. You will need a copy of windows on CD to install and a key that will register as well as VM Fusion so this does add cost. 3. Scanning. I use EyePal on the Mac. this work well but is very expensive and it is not at all certain that this will be usable under Mountain Lion. Other people have used Abbey Finereader and Vue Scan with apparently good results. If I can afford it I am considering switching to docuscan and Hovercam combination for the Mac. 4. Sound editing- I believe that this is where the Mac really comes into its own with free and purchased high quality options available. I do not currently use these. There are many other things to like about the Mac. I much prefer Finder over Windows Explorer and every time I move to Windows I miss column view which makes navigation a breeze. Voiceover is also more stable alongside a more stable Mac. Voiceover is more key intensive than many Windows equivalent commands but using Numpad Commander greatly simplifies tings. There are also a whole range of accessibility options available through gestures which are not available on windows but again I do not use these. David Griffith 2. Spreadsheets. I bought numbers but did not find it at all intuitive to use. I have heard on this list that Tables is a more familiar experience for people switching from Excel. I do not have the time currently to learn numbers so have stuck with Excel in Windows for the time being. Numbers will almost certainly do all that you need to do but just warning that it will take some effort. -Original Message- From: mac-access-boun...@mac-access.net [mailto:mac-access-boun...@mac-access.net] On Behalf Of Catherine Turner Sent: 15 August 2012 09:48 To: mac-access@mac-access.net Subject: Considering Mac, questions about Voiceover/access Hi all, I don't have a Mac at the moment but am considering getting one and have some questions about Voiceover and general Mac access which I wonder if people could help me with? 1. With word processing, is VO able to give font/formatting information? 2. I use spreadsheets a fair bit and databases a little. I currently use Excel with JAWS and quite often monitor certain cells so I can at a keystroke find out what's in them. Does anyone here do anything similar on Mac? How configurable is VO when working in spreadsheets e.g. is there a keystroke for reading a column total and can you set which row the total is in either in VO or the spreadsheet program? 3. Scanning/OCR - what are people using for this? How do you find it and what sort of things do you scan? 4. Sound editing and MIDI - I do a fair bit of sound editing in wave format, currently in Goldwave. I haven't started doing any MIDI yet but hope to in the future. So I don't know much about the MIDI but am just wondering if anyone is doing any Mac and what you use, how you're finding it. If anyone has any comments/feedback on the above questions that'd be great. Or if anyone here has switched from Windows to Mac and has any other observations I'd be interested in hearing them. Thanks, Catherine --- 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 postedto 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
Re: Considering Mac, questions about Voiceover/access
I do most of my web browsing on the mac. It is different than windows, you generally move item by item, the mac does things differently than windows, and keeping this in mind should make things easier. Original message: I have recently switched from Windows to Mac - JAWS12 to VoiceOver. Word Processing - very disappointing as I use Tables extensively. Pages is slow loading and getting into editing quite tiresome. I am finding it difficult to get used to interacting with this and that. I still find web browsing rather finicky as you have to use a number of ways to access it: turning NavKeys on/off; using the ItemUser and the inability to cursoring vertically rather irksome. For scanning purposes I use the ReadIt wand (which works very well) but, funnily enough, for this I have to use VM to virtualise the Windows platform! I have not yet used Numbers (for spreadsheet work) : so cannot comment. On the positive side: this list is a good place to be as people are very helpful in their informed responses. Good luck!! On 15 Aug 2012, at 09:48, Catherine Turner wrote: Hi all, I don't have a Mac at the moment but am considering getting one and have some questions about Voiceover and general Mac access which I wonder if people could help me with? 1. With word processing, is VO able to give font/formatting information? 2. I use spreadsheets a fair bit and databases a little. I currently use Excel with JAWS and quite often monitor certain cells so I can at a keystroke find out what's in them. Does anyone here do anything similar on Mac? How configurable is VO when working in spreadsheets e.g. is there a keystroke for reading a column total and can you set which row the total is in either in VO or the spreadsheet program? 3. Scanning/OCR - what are people using for this? How do you find it and what sort of things do you scan? 4. Sound editing and MIDI - I do a fair bit of sound editing in wave format, currently in Goldwave. I haven't started doing any MIDI yet but hope to in the future. So I don't know much about the MIDI but am just wondering if anyone is doing any Mac and what you use, how you're finding it. If anyone has any comments/feedback on the above questions that'd be great. Or if anyone here has switched from Windows to Mac and has any other observations I'd be interested in hearing them. Thanks, Catherine --- 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 postedto 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 postedto 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 postedto 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/
Re: Considering Mac, questions about Voiceover/access
Hello Catherine, I just bought my first iMac two weeks ago. You sound remarkably like me in terms of your computer usage. My experience thus far has been: VO is quite a sophisticated little screen reader, but it is quite a different animal from JAWS. Reading, I mean really reading the VO online manual is a must along with alot of hands-on experimenting as you read. Fortunately, there is alot of help available including the keyboard help mode and other built-in VO help. As far as word processing, I've just messed around with the built-in TextEdit program a bit to get familiar with reading and manipulating text, but I do know that font and format info is easily available through VO. Spreadsheets: I'll be very interested in any response you get on this one from more experienced Mac users as I use Excel heavily on the PC also, but haven't got down to business with them yet on the iMac. Scanning also is an area I use on the PC, but haven't checked into yet on the Mac. Although, I'm fairly sure there's good access to scanning in the Mac world with VO. Sound editting - yes! the built in GarageBand has quite a learning curve but allows good editting capabilities. There is also a number of other good, perhaps more easily learned audio editors as well. What I've done is set up the iMac next to my PC, and with the PC, I read the manuals and then experiment with the info on the iMac. I'm transitioning slowly because I can't afford to go cold turkey off the PC - I don't have the time it would take. Instead, I bought the iMac with the idea of taking my time and slowly getting familiar with its basic functioning without the pressure of having to get up to speed right away. I suggest you read the VO getting started guide a bit before getting your Mac. The following link is a good jumping off point www.apple.com/accessibility/voiceover/ Read through that page, then follow the downloads link www.apple.com/accessibility/voiceover/downloads.html in that page you'll find a link to the VoiceOver getting started guide along with links to charts of VO's keyboard command set. Good luck! I am not sorry I bought a Mac, but I feel like a fish out of water sometimes, though I'm learning new stuff on it everyday. I felt the same way when I got my first iPhone though, and now I'm very happy and productive with it - I feel sure the same will happen with the iMac. - Original Message - From: Catherine Turner catherineturner2...@googlemail.com To: mac-access@mac-access.net Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2012 4:48 AM Subject: Considering Mac, questions about Voiceover/access Hi all, I don't have a Mac at the moment but am considering getting one and have some questions about Voiceover and general Mac access which I wonder if people could help me with? 1. With word processing, is VO able to give font/formatting information? 2. I use spreadsheets a fair bit and databases a little. I currently use Excel with JAWS and quite often monitor certain cells so I can at a keystroke find out what's in them. Does anyone here do anything similar on Mac? How configurable is VO when working in spreadsheets e.g. is there a keystroke for reading a column total and can you set which row the total is in either in VO or the spreadsheet program? 3. Scanning/OCR - what are people using for this? How do you find it and what sort of things do you scan? 4. Sound editing and MIDI - I do a fair bit of sound editing in wave format, currently in Goldwave. I haven't started doing any MIDI yet but hope to in the future. So I don't know much about the MIDI but am just wondering if anyone is doing any Mac and what you use, how you're finding it. If anyone has any comments/feedback on the above questions that'd be great. Or if anyone here has switched from Windows to Mac and has any other observations I'd be interested in hearing them. Thanks, Catherine --- 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 postedto 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 postedto the Mac-Access forum at either the list's own dedicated web archive: http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html
Re: Considering Mac, questions about Voiceover/access
Catherine, Just a follow-up to my earlier post. I suggest you also check out the very well done podcasts at www.htb2.com This man recently lost his eyesight in afganistan and now uses Macs to great effect. His casts are very positive, helpful and well-done. He covers subjects like web surfing with Safari (an excellent and easy to use web browser on the Mac) and many other topics of interest to blind mac users. --- 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 postedto 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/
