[Athen] Question re: Apple iPad and eBook accessibility

[Shelley Haven]

Here's the specs page I read before asking the question.  Toward the  
bottom it lists accessibility features, which includes VoiceOver.

http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/

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



On Jan 29, 2010, at 7:23 AM, Humbert, Joseph A wrote:


> Hi All!

>

> I have been following the coverage of the iPad.  So far I has seen  

> no mention of voiceover.  In the presentations and in their online  

> documentation.  http://www.apple.com/accessibility/ It is my hope  

> that voiceover is included, but the iPad uses a modified iPhone OS.  

> Features such as voice over may have been removed or disabled.  With  

> all of the hoopla over the Kindle and text-to-speech, I wonder what  

> deals apple has worked out with the publishers. I will try to ping  

> Apple to find out the accessibility of the iPad and I encourage  

> others to do so.  Thankx.

>

> Joe Humbert, Assistive Technology and Web Accessibility Specialist

> UITS Adaptive Technology and Accessibility Centers

> Indiana University, Indianapolis and Bloomington

> 535 W Michigan St. IT214 E

> Indianapolis, IN 46202

> Office Phone: (317) 274-4378

> Cell Phone: (317) 644-6824

> johumber at iupui.edu

> http://iuadapts.Indiana.edu/

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org]  

> On Behalf Of Jeffrey Dell

> Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 10:16 AM

> To: Access Technology Higher Education Network

> Subject: Re: [Athen] Question re: Apple iPad and eBook accessibility

>

> It is supposed to be.  The OS for the iPad is a version of the OS used

> for the iPhone.  The iPhone keyboard and all apps that come on the

> device are accessible to VoiceOver.  There are many apps available

> from the app store that are.  I don't know about the meta tags for the

> pictures because I rarely use the camera.

> Jeff

>

> On 1/29/10, Karlen Communications <info at karlencommunications.com>  

> wrote:

>> 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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