[Athen] Question re: Apple iPad and eBook accessibility

[Pratik Patel]

Hello Karen,

All the built-in apps including the calendar, e-mail, contacts, iPod,
weather, maps and more are perfectly usable with Voice Over.  The Voice Over
interface is unique and takes getting used to.  But, once you do get used to
it, it's hard to compare it to something else.  The most awkward component
is the keyboard access.  The virtual keyboard is quite accessible and usable
but difficult for some.  Keep in mind that the iPad will have the ability to
dock that Apple will provide.  You will also be able to connect the iPad to
a smaller bluetooth keyboard if you so wish.  I have found  the keyboard is
not so bad once one gets used to it.  But different people have a different
experience.

There are plenty of free and accessible applications that will allow you to
read RSS.  As to photos, there are quite a few photo management tools
available.  What kind of metadata would you be looking for with regards to
photos?  All of your data including photos are synchronized to iTunes and
you will be able to access your photos on your computer as well.

Please feel free to contact me if you have questions.  if you'd like a
little time to play with my phone to get a sense of the interface and will
be going to CSUN, I'm happy to meet with you.

Regards,

Pratik

-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Karlen Communications
Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 8:34 AM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network'
Subject: Re: [Athen] Question re: Apple iPad and eBook accessibility

Generally, is there any information on whether the calendar and address book
are accessible using VoiceOver? What about the metadata for photos? I just
saw the promo video and this would be perfect for me rather than an iPhone
and lighter than my laptop and would have just the basic tools: e-mail,
calendar, address book, way of browsing, and so forth. Hopefully I could
read the RSS feeds from the NYT and other papers. The potential for eBook
accessibility is interesting too and something I would use.

Anyone know how accessible to VoiceOver the on-screen keyboard is? I assume
that all apps are not accessible but for the core tools, I think this would
be perfect for me....but I do need VoiceOver. I was kind of disappointed
that in the promo tools such as VoiceOver or voice recognition weren't shown
as more mainstream tools...given the TTS on the Kindle.

Cheers, Karen

-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Pratik Patel
Sent: January-27-10 4:27 PM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network'
Subject: Re: [Athen] Question re: Apple iPad and eBook accessibility

My initial thoughts are that the iBook application itself will be
accessible.  Voiceover will be included.  The challenge is going to be
voiceover enhancements.  It's an excellentscreen reader.  However there are
some short-comings.  There need to be some enhancements related to text
reading/text navigation.  If the software release can bring those
enhancements and provide access to the book info in iBooks, I believe
accessibility will work well.  I also want to see how specific epub features
are implemented will make a difference.

Regards,

Pratik


-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Shelley Haven
Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 4:22 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: [Athen] Question re: Apple iPad and eBook accessibility

OK, so the new Apple iPad includes VoiceOver and the built-in iBook  
app uses the open ePub format.  From that, what can we infer about the  
accessibility, or potential accessibility, of eBooks on the iPad?

- Shelley

_____________________________
Shelley Haven  ATP, RET
Assistive Technology Consultant
Shelley at TechPotential.net
www.TechPotential.net




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