[macnv] snow leopard review di josh di lioncourt in inglese
- From: <koumanova_rostislava@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <macnv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:27:30 +0200 (CEST)
ecco invece la presentazione di josh, uno dei lumi americani sulla accessibilità
su mac. cercherò di tradurre anche questo , qualsiasi aiuto ben accettato, e ci
risentiamo!
so che i vacanzieri fanno molta fatica oggi , ma ragazzi, anche voi ! proprio ad
esso dovevate andare in ferie?
scherzo !
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard With VoiceOver
by Josh de Lioncourt
The Cat’s Out of the Bag
Every year or two, another big cat bounds onto the Apple tech landscape in the f
orm of a major revision to its Mac OS X operating system. In the past, these
releases were brimming with shiny new features for both everyday and tech savvy
users to sink their teeth into. This time around, Apple did things a bit
differently. They made it plain that Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard would not be a v
ersion that was overflowing with new additions. Instead, they wanted to
"press pause" on new features, and spend some development time perfecting the al
ready impressively rich feature set of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Most of the
changes, they told developers and the press at their World Wide Developer Confer
ence in 2008, would be under the hood, as it were.
Well, Snow Leopard’s here, and Apple may have understated things a little. In re
spect to VoiceOver, OS X’s built-in screen reading solution for the blind
and visually impaired, they understated them a great deal more.
I’ll spend some time going over some of VoiceOver’s biggest changes in Snow Leop
ard throughout this review. If you’re one of those folks who just wants
to cut to the meat of a review, I’ll give you that here. Quite simply, the updat
e to VoiceOver, now in its third iteration, is spectacular. It is, without
a doubt, the most significant update to the software to date, and at $29 USD to
migrate from Leopard, it’s unquestionably the most affordable major update
to any commercial screen reader in the history of access technology.
Through this review, I will be assuming a basic knowledge of VoiceOver, what it
is and what it can do. I will not be discussing anything, beyond what is
new in Snow Leopard.
It’s the Little Things…
Before we get into some of the heftier changes, let’s take a look at some of the
smaller changes that VoiceOver users are likely to notice early on, and
that will improve the VoiceOver experience tremendously, despite their size.
Faster Than a Speeding Bullet!
Apple boasts that Snow Leopard has been optimized for modern, Intel-based Macs,
and this shines through the entire system. The Responsiveness on my late
2006 MacBook (black) with a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo processor and 2 GB of RAM was fra
nkly amazing, and this of course spills over to VoiceOver as well. Everything
about the system is smoother and snappier.
A Sound Design…
Since the beginning, VoiceOver has used optional audio cues to provide the user
with a better and more productive experience. I’m a big fan of these. In
the same way that a sighted user can glance at an icon and recognize its functio
n more quickly than if he/she had to read some text, so too do audio cues
provide information in a faster, more succinct manner than if VoiceOver had to a
rticulate a description. In Snow Leopard, some of these audio cues have
been altered. If you’re familiar with the iPhone 3GS, you’ll recognize many of t
hese sounds, and the consistency between the two platforms is an excellent
idea.
I’m not going to go through all these changes in minute detail, but I will draw
your attention to a few of the most significant.
Two of the audio cues that I was not a fan of in Leopard were the "page loaded"
sound in Safari, and the "boundary" sound, when the VoiceOver cursor can
move no further in a given direction. I felt that in Leopard, these sounds were
useful, but far too jarring for my taste. In Snow Leopard, these have been
replaced with subtler and more elegant sounds. Additionally, the "wrapping" soun
ds have also been replaced, giving the audio cues a more coherent and consistent
feel.
You may recognize all of these sounds from the iPhone 3GS, where they have essen
tially the same usage. Old habits die hard, they say, and apparently the
same is true for hardly adolescent ones. More than once, while working with Snow
Leopard, I’ve reached for my iPhone.
Smooth MOves
Easily my favorite of VOiceOver’s new smaller tricks is a feature called "QuickN
av". QuickNav provides, ironically, a quicker way to navigate with VoiceOver,
with the added bonus of only requiring a single hand. Pressing the Left and Righ
t Arrow keys together simultaneously toggles QuickNav on and off. When
it’s active, the arrow keys, pressed by themselves, behave as if you were holdin
g down the VoiceOver keys. (Control-Option). Pressing the combination of
Down Arrow-Right Arrow interacts with an item, while Down-Left Arrow stops inter
action. The Up Arrow-Down Arrow combination performs the default action
on an item, the same as VO-Space does. This is a feature that, half an hour afte
r I started using it, I was fully aware that the next time I had to sit
down at a Mac running OS X 10.5, I was going to miss it dearly. Apple, whoever i
t was on the VoiceOver team that had this idea, give them a bonus.
Your Wish Is My Command
In Leopard, Apple introduced the NumPad Commander, a way of controlling VoiceOve
r via the numeric keypad available on some Mac keyboards, or as third-party
USB devices. You could customize what commands were assigned to which keys, and
the feature was popular among many VoiceOver users, particularly those
on desktops.
Now, in Snow Leopard, Apple’s taken this idea to entirely new levels, and the po
ssibilities are limitless.
There are three commanders available to the VoiceOver user now: the NumPad, Trac
kpad, and Keyboard Commanders. You can assign virtually any VoiceOver command
to a control in any of these, and then some. Apple’s provided the ability to run
applications, open files, launch Applescripts, and perform Automator Workflows
as well. Yes, you read that right. Script-writers, Apple’s given you what you wa
nted. The ability to customize and script VoiceOver to your heart’s content.
Not only that, but the scripting is done with a mature and powerful scripting la
nguage, for which there are endless resources and examples online.
Among the commands available to assign to controls are several that do not have
VOiceOver key commands by default, such as a toggle to switch quickly between
DOM and Group modes while surfing the web.
The Trackpad
If you are one of those fortunate souls to have a MacBook or MacBook Pro with a
multi-touch trackpad, I envy you. Apple’s added the same functionality that
has proved so effective on the iPhone into Snow Leopard as well. You can control
VoiceOver and explore the currently active window via the trackpad, using
the same and/or similar gestures as you would on the iPhone. And, as it has on t
he iPhone, I believe this new interface is going to truly alter the way
we, as visually impaired users, interact with our technology.
My MacBook sadly does not have a multi-touch trackpad, so I was unable to test t
his feature. Having an iPhone, however, does give me some insight, and I
can’t imagine a more productive or intuitive way of using a computer. The first
chance I have, I’ll be upgrading to a newer MacBook, and this feature is
one of the reasons why.
Like with any Commander, you can assign gestures to specific actions if your nee
ds differ from the defaults.
Keyboard Commander
The Keyboard Commander provides additional keyboard shortcuts that VoiceOver can
utilize via one of the Option keys. You can choose whether it will use
the left or right Option key. Commands entered with the opposite key will still
behave normally.
By default, Apple’s predefined some extremely useful commands.
Option-T announces the date and time automatically via an Applescript. If you ha
ve not enabled the "Allow VoiceOver to be controlled with Applescript" feature
in VoiceOver’s General preference page, this command will fall back to the Syste
m Voice to announce the time. If Applescript support is enabled in VoiceOver,
however, VoiceOver will announce the time itself.
Option-U will blithely inform you of all that unread email that is building up i
n your inbox, in much the same way that a sighted user can glance down at
the Mail icon on the Dock to get this information. In my case, I’m not wholly ce
rtain this is a good thing.
Option-S and Option-M open or move to Safari or Mail respectively.
Surf’s Up!
Another area in which VoiceOver has been vastly enhanced is web browsing. Both D
OM and Group navigation methods have been improved substantially, and the
overall experience is superb.
Many new commands have been added for navigating by element types, (i.e. tables
and lists), and the improvement upon responsiveness of said navigation is
fantastic.
Rotors Can be Choosers
The Link Item Chooser has been replaced with what Apple’s calling the Web Item R
otor, a clunky name, but an accurate one. The name not withstanding, this
is an excellent enhancement upon the Link Chooser, and provides for a tremendous
amount of flexibility and functionality. It can be activated with VO-U,
just as the Link Chooser was, and can be customized in the VoiceOver Utility in
the Web settings page.
Essentially, a variety of element types are available, which you can select from
by moving left/right through them. Which items are included in these types
is entirely customizable, but some possibilities include links, visited links, f
rames, form controls, images, and many more.
Once you selected an element type, arrowing up/down will cycle through a list of
all the items of that type on the currently loaded page. What’s more, just
like in the Item Chooser, or the former Link Chooser, you can type a few charact
ers and shorten the list to only items which include them.
Traversing Tables
The one significant area in which VoiceOver was lacking in terms of web content
in Leopard was its way of dealing with HTML tables. In Snow Leopard, this
problem is gone, and APple has provided a plethora of ways in which the experien
ce can be customized, such as grouping items together in cells, (a must
as far as I’m concerned), the announcement of column and row numbers, etc. In th
e main, tables behave precisely the way they do in applications like Mail
or iTunes. Interacting with a table allows you to move both vertically and horiz
ontally through the table cells, and the experience is both intuitive and
superior to anything I’ve seen from any other screen reading solution. Apple hit
this one out of the park.
Not Only Snow Leopards Have Spots
Similar to VoiceOver’s Hotspots, introduced in Leopard, you can now set as many
WebSpots as you like on web pages you frequently visit with VO-Command-Right
Brace. VoiceOver will remember all of these when you return to the site in the f
uture. You can then use VO-Command-Left/Right Brackets to move backward
or forward through your WebSpots.
If that isn’t enough, you can set a WebSpot to be the SweetSpot, and when a page
first loads, VoiceOver will automatically place you on it.
Still not enough? VoiceOver uses some advanced logic processing to determine are
as on the site that it thinks may be of particular interest. These "Auto
WebSpots" can be perused in the Web Item Rotor.
WebSpots can be removed at any time with VO-Command-Left Brace, so don’t hesitat
e to experiment with them.
Tell Me a Story…
A long requested feature was for VoiceOver’s Read All feature, (VO-A), to suppor
t web content. Well, now it does, and they’ve even added an additional command
to read from the beginning rather than from the current location of the VoiceOve
r cursor, (VO-B). Like VO-A, VO-B is available in an applicable situation,
not just on the web.
And That’s Just the Beginning
There are countless changes, big and small, and enhancements to browsing on the
web, and I can’t possibly cover all of them here. I’ve tried to hit the
big improvements, but many of the things that make the biggest differences are n
ot easily articulated. For example, Groups mode works far better in Snow
Leopard, apparently due to a better method of determining the layout of pages. I
f you are a fan of browsing the web with Groups mode, as I am, you will
absolutely love the tweaks Apple has made in that regard.
Customization
VoiceOver has an enormous number of ways in which to customize its verbosity. By
default, there are three general verbosity settings; high, medium, and
low.
From there, you can adjust the speaking of individual attributes and controls, a
nd even reorder the items. If you prefer to hear a control’s type before
hearing its label, not a problem. If you want to hear that a checkbox is checked
before you hear that it is a checkbox, or don’t be want to be told it’s
a checkbox at all, it can be done.
If you’re the kind of user who likes to completely tailor your screen reading ex
perience to suit your taste, VoiceOver in Snow Leopard has enough to keep
you busy for hours.
"Give Me Labeling, or Give Me…"
Since VoiceOver’s inception, users have been asking for the ability o label grap
hics and icons in applications that are not properly tagged. Apple’s one-upped
this request. In Snow Leopard, users can label, or even relabel, any control typ
e that may not be properly tagged in any application.
This means, of course, that applications with unlabeled buttons or other control
s, can be made more accessible by VoiceOver users.
MObilization
VoiceOver has a variety of methods by which users can export and import preferen
ce files, either to move them to other machines or to share with other users.
Have you spent an afternoon labeling controls in your favorite application and w
ish to share your work with the community? Export your labels and other
users can import them into their VoiceOver to be added to their own labels. The
same is true of verbosity settings, and virtually any other aspect of VoiceOver.
Squash ‘em Bugs!
A tremendous amount of care has gone into insuring that the few remaining access
ibility-related bugs throughout Mac OS X have been eliminated. iChat now
works well, even when using Groups mode for web content, the AddressBook is now
a breeze to use, and most of the few unlabeled controls throughout OS X’s
various components and applications have been properly tagged.
A Few Quirks
Like any large software upgrade, there are bound to be a few quirks and some rou
gh edges that will be smoothed out over minor updates. So far, I’ve encountered
surprisingly few of these, likely due to the fact that Snow Leopard is, in itsel
f, largely a smoothing of Leopard’s rough edges.
iTunes still exhibits some erratic behavior while moving through the Sources tab
le, as it did in Leopard.
Once in a while, when moving through the Finder in the Columns view, you will ne
ed to interact again with the Column Browser.
The Bottom Line
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard brings a host of improvements and enhancements to Voi
ceOver that far exceed the $29 price tag in value. The additional optimizations
and new features of Snow Leopard make it not just a smart upgrade, but a must-ha
ve for VoiceOver users.
The views expressed on Maccessibility.net are not the views of Apple Inc. and Ma
ccessibility.net, Lioncourt.com, and related sites are not affiliated with
Apple Inc. in any way.
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