[Athen] Help re Mac Accessibility

[Pratik Patel]

Norm,

When Apple first released voice-over, I was involved in the beta testing
process and then purchased a MAC for testing purposes.  I would, by no
means, compare Voice Overto a Windows-based screen reader yet.  Part of the
problem is that a lot of applications aren't designed with accessibility in
mind.  Apple hopes that newly developed apps will work with the screen
reader.  In fact, even Apple's favorite apps such as ITunes doesn't work
with its screen reader.  I can only compare this situation with Microsoft's
early accessibility efforts--the major difference being that Apple has
decided to develop a fully-fledged screen reader as opposed to Microsoft's
approach.  At this time, I would not expect a blind user to be able to be
productive with Voice Over.  The screen reader does use some interesting
navigation techniques.  It's a different model.  I've not yet had a chance
to try bootcamp.  I'm eagerly awaiting the new Apple speech synth voice and
new updates to the screen reader in Leopard--the OS scheduled to be released
sometime during Spring 2007.

If you have any other specific questions, I'm happy to answer them.  I would
highly caution that anyone trying to consider purchasing a large amount of
MAC's, does not listen to the sales pitch.  Apple marketing is excellent but
knows nothing about their accessibility features.

Pratik


-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Patrick Burke
Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 4:56 PM
To: athen at athenpro.org
Subject: Re: [Athen] Help re Mac Accessibility

Hi Norm,

This just came in on the Webaim list. "Potential" (but not there yet) 
matches my experience of the Tiger version of Voiceover.

Patrick


>Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 21:29:00 -0000

>From: "Alastair Campbell" <ac at nomensa.com>

>To: "WebAIM Discussion List" <webaim-forum at list.webaim.org>

>Subject: Re: [WebAIM] screen reader open source?





> > And you can buy a Mac Mini for less than that; Mac OS X (since 10.4)

> > includes a screen-reader (VoiceOver) by default. I think Alistair at

> > Nomensa did a review a little while ago.

>

>I've been meaning to do an update to that, there were a couple of things

>that aren't quite as hard as I thought. I got halfway there with this:

>http://alastairc.ac/2006/08/the-potential-of-voiceover/

>

>But I need a little more time than I have right now.

>

>It has a lot of potential, from what I can tell the approach Apple have

>taken is solid and makes the step of creating accessible applications

>much easier for other developers. However, there are a few 'required'

>applications for some people (work wise) that aren't accessible (e.g. MS

>Office). iTunes is another sore point.

>

>As a not-very-often user, the experience is much nicer with Voiceover

>than Jaws, mostly because of the smoother voice and the stability. The

>voice aspect probably isn't much better for an experienced user who

>listens to it quicker than I do, but the next version is supposed to be

>optimised for that.

>

>If it picks up on structural code in HTML, and gets (or adds) support

>for some required apps, it will be a contender, especially at that

>price.

>

>Kind regards,

>

>-Alastair

>

>--

>Alastair Campbell         |  Director of User Experience

>t. +44 (0)117 929 7333    |  m. 07970 879 653

>

>Keep up to date with industry and Nomensa news, sign up to Nomensa

>newsletters:

>http://www.nomensa.com/news/nomensa-newsletters.html



At 10:20 AM 11/21/2006, Prof Norm Coombs wrote:


>I have been trying to get some clear report on how useful the new 

>mac accessibility tools really are.  I don't get anything very 

>definitive either for or against.  EASI got Apple to be part of our 

>CSUN track either a year or 2 years ago, but they were really 

>weird.  They were scared to death about saying anything and made us 

>turn off tape recorders and stop broadcasting and said their lawyers 

>wouldn't let them even talk to the press!!  It was really 

>strange.  So I no longer look to them to help me understand how good 

>its access is.

>

>I have the impression that its magnification and onscreen keyboard 

>stuff is good, but I get the impression that its screen reader stuff 

>is problematic.

>

>The real reason is a friend in Maine wants me to tell them how good 

>its tools for the blind is because Maine has bought tons of Macs for 

>grade school students.  U. S. Maine wants to put on a presentation 

>for the school teachers to help them understand how to use the macs 

>with students and are asking me how good or poor it is.

>

>Can anyone here pass along any first-hand experience????

>

>Norm

>

>

>------------------------------------------

>EASI Courses on Accessible Information Technology for November:

>Barrier-free E-learning (expanded and enriched with more multimedia)

>http://easi.cc/workshops/bfel.htm

>EASI has 3 Podcast series: http://easi.cc/podcasts/

>EASI Home http://easi.cc

>

>Norman Coombs, Ph.D.

>www.rit.edu/~nrcgsh

>(949) 855-4852  ** Pacific time zone!

>_______________________________________________

>Athen mailing list

>Athen at athenpro.org

>http://athenpro.org/mailman/listinfo/athen_athenpro.org



--
Patrick J. Burke

Coordinator
UCLA Disabilities &
Computing Program

Phone: 310 206-6004
E-mail: burke at ucla.edu


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