[accesscomp] FW: A review of the book, "Learn to Use the Mac with VoiceOver: A Step-by-Step Guide for Blind User", Dan's tip for Thursday August 2014
- From: "Robert Acosta" <boacosta@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "tektalk discussion" <tektalkdiscussion@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 10:40:11 -0700
Robert Acosta, President
Helping Hands for the Blind
(818) 998-0044
www.helpinghands4theblind.org
From: dan Thompson [mailto:dthompson5@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2014 6:18 AM
To: dan Thompson
Subject: A review of the book, "Learn to Use the Mac with VoiceOver: A
Step-by-Step Guide for Blind User", Dan's tip for Thursday August 2014
This book is not only affordable, it is also packed full of extremely useful
tips for VoiceOver and IOS users.
Learn to Use the Mac with VoiceOver: A Step-by-Step Guide for Blind Users,
by Janet Ingber
Review done by Bill Holton from AFB'S Access World, August 2014.
I began my journey with accessible computing back in 1984 with an Apple IIE
paired with an Echo internal synthesizer. I migrated to a DOS PC a few years
later, and for the next 20 years I upgraded my way through a number of
increasingly powerful computers running Microsoft Windows. Ten years ago I
bought a used Mac notebook, eager to take part in a beta program for a new
Mac screen reader called VoiceOver. Unfortunately, I found this new screen
reader extremely limited and confusing, and it wasn't long before I gave up
and sold the Mac.
I watched from the sidelines as VoiceOver was formally introduced with OS
10.4 (Tiger), and continued to stand aside as it went through many upgrades
and improvements. After a year with an iPhone, I finally decided to jump
back in with a Mac Mini running OS 10.7 (Lion), and today I enjoy switching
back and forth between OS X Mavericks and Windows 7, depending on the task
at hand and the strengths of each operating system.
Mastering a new operating system can be challenging, both for new computer
users and for "switchers," Windows users who need to undo many years of
muscle memory and learn new techniques to accomplish the same tasks using a
Mac ad the VoiceOver screen reader. Apple does offer VoiceOver
documentation, but additional third-party resources are always welcome. One
such resource is a recent book entitled Learn to Use the Mac with VoiceOver:
A Step by Step Guide for Blind Users, by Janet Ingber. The book is available
for $20 from the National Braille Press in text, Braille, eBraille, DAISY,
or MS Word.
Getting Started
If you ask any loyal accessible Mac fan why they prefer the OS X with
VoiceOver experience over that of a PC experience, their answers will fall
into three basic categories:
* Free screen reader: When you purchase a Mac you have already paid
for your screen reader, a savings of up to $1,000 over some third-party
solutions. However, with the advent of NVDA and Window-Eyes for Office this
advantage is no longer as pronounced.
* A stable operating experience with fewer virus and malware
incidents: VoiceOver users report that their machines operate for much
longer between crashes and forced reboots, and at least to date, the Mac
operating system is significantly less likely to contract viruses or
experience malware attacks than the Windows operaing system.
* The out-of-the-box experience: When you purchase a Mac and start it
up for the first time, you will be offered the chance to start VoiceOver and
learn the basics with a few practice screens. Additionally, if you ever need
to reformat your drive and do a fresh reinstall of OS X you can accomplish
this using VoiceOver, a task not easily done with Windows. This ability
engenders a much greater sense of "I can do it myself" independence.
Regarding this last point, unfortunately, Ingber gives this marquee feature
short shrift. She assumes your Mac is up and running when you turn on
VoiceOver with Command + F5 for the very first time. She glosses over the
Quick Start Tutorial and does not mention that you can start VoiceOver
immediately and use it to perform your Mac's initial setup. Nor does she
mention what an Apple ID is or how to create one. It is possible to run a
Mac without an Apple ID, but you will be prompted multiple times to enter
one, and you will absolutely need one in order to use iTunes, which is
covered later in her book.
Instead, the author begins with a touch tour of the Apple keyboard, and
describes how it differs from a Windows keyboard. She then introduces the OS
X Desktop, the Finder application, and the Dock. Ingber does an excellent
job describing how to conceptualize and navigate these screen elements using
VoiceOver. She takes you through the keyboard commands to access the
application Menu Bar and the Menu Extras Bar. However the novice OS X user
may be left wondering what the Menu Extras Bar is and what its purpose might
be.
Judging from personal experience, I suspect a more detailed description of
the Menu Extras Bar would have been welcome here--especially the
Notifications area. When I purchased my Mac Mini and began learning with
VoiceOver I was inundated with beeps and extra verbiage that came seemingy
out of nowhere. Until I learned to control my Notifications settings, my
VoiceOver experience was not nearly as pleasant as it could have been.
Ingber does help new users avoid a pair of other potential sources of
confusion. She shows the user, step by step, how to change the default
function key layout that controls hardware instead of VoiceOver and other
software. She also demonstrates how to instruct the Tab key to move through
all of a screen's controls.
Getting Things Done
The normal progression at this point would be to move on to a discussion of
file management--copying and moving files, creating folders, etc. Instead,
Ingber delays this discussion in favor of teaching the user how to set up
Mail, add an e-mail account and send and receive e-mails. This is an
excellent teaching strategy, as by now the reader is likely more than a
little eager to actually accomplish something on their new Mac. It also
gives the author the chance to introduce new commands and techniques, such
as accessing an application's Settings menu, entering text into form fields,
and navigating a folder tree to save an attachment.
Backtracking a bit, the reader is now taken through various file management
and finder commands. We are introduced to Spotlight Search, and the concept
of QuickNav. The author devotes a good deal of attention to QuickNav, an
excellent decision, in my opinion, as this is among the most confusing
concepts for the new Mac user to grasp and use effectively.
Using VoiceOver commanders can be extremely useful for accessibility,
offering users alternative and often quicker ways to perform various tasks
on the Mac. There are four commanders: QuickNav, Trackpad, Keyboard, and
NumPad. Having already described the QuickNav commander, the author proceeds
to introduce users to the Trackpad and Keyboard commanders. Here, the author
offers the new user invaluable advice on how you might accidently mute
VoiceOver speech and how to easily toggle itback on.
Ingber postpones describing the NumPad commander until a brief mention in
the VoiceOver Utility chapter of the book, presuming, I suspect, that since
most Mac keyboards do not come with a NumPad this particular commander is of
limited use. I find the NumPad commander extremely useful, and well worth
the price of an optional Bluetooth NumPad, especially for remapping
VoiceOver commands that require an awkward, four-finger key combination.
The next major section of Learn to Use the Mac tackles Safari and how to use
it to browse and navigate the Web using VoiceOver. Ingber's description of
the various web page elements is clear and concise, and she does an
excellent job interweaving learning new VoiceOver commands, such as the web
rotor and Webspots, with standard Safari elements, such as Bookmarks and the
Keychain.
Ingber describes navigating the Web using the trackpad and also using
QuickNav. But neither in this chapter nor anywhere else in the book does she
mention the VoiceOver Item Chooser, a useful way of breaking a screen down
into its constituent elements to aid in rapid navigation. For example, if
you are searching for a webpage's "Contact" link, you can press
Control+Option+I (VO+I), and when the item chooser pops up you can move
quickly to the Contact link by typing the first few letters, scrolling down,
if necessary, and then pressing Enter.
Ingber also misses my favorite way to quickly navigate a webpage, via the
VO+F Find command. She does mention this command later in a chapter
describing how to search for and download additional apps from the App
Store, but I think a description of using the VO+F Find command to navigate
a webpage is needed here, as well.
In the iTunes chapter, Ingber does a thorough job describing how to organize
and access music, videos, iTunes Radio, and such on the Mac. She mentions
the ability to synch paid or imported content onto an iPhone or iPad, but as
to the actual how-tos, she deviates from her usual step-by-step instructions
in favor of a few quick tips.
Text Edit is covered in great detail, which is appropriate since creating
and editing documents is one of the major reasons people use computers. It
is also one of the main applications where basic functions differ
significantly from editing text using Windows. Cursor positioning can be
quite confusing to the novice switcher, and auto-correct works much
differently than it does in MS Word, which many switchers may be accustomed
to using. Ingber's expertise and teaching abilities are at their peak, here,
and her text well-written.
It is in this chapter where, in my opinion, this book best displays one
serious shortcoming. Nowhere in the book does the author state which version
of OS X she is using. She only first mentions Mavericks in the iTunes
chapter when she describes iTunes Radio. The iCloud is also first introduced
in this chapter when she describes synching an iOS device with iCloud.
Nowhere does the author discuss what the iCloud is, and how it affects your
use of the Mac.
For example, in the Text Edit chapter Ingber urges readers to save their
work frequently to avoid potential data loss. She does not mention that
Mavericks now saves your work as you go, and even if the Text Edit app or
your computer crashes, the text will likely still be there after you
restart. She also does not discuss saving documents to iCloud. Novice users
can too easily send their documents to iCloud, and when they use Finder to
go looking for them they may be left wondering, "Where did my stuff go?"
I was advised by a National Braille Press representative that Mavericks was
released midway through the writing of this book, and that the author had to
scramble to incorporate the new features and other changes. I can well
understand the pressures of meeting a publication deadline, but the apparent
rush seems to have left this guide somewhat incomplete. I would imagine this
book is in the process of receiving a complete update to incorporate the
many new features we are expecting to see in OS X 10.10, Yosemite. Hopefully
the author will also take the opportunity to include much of what was left
out of this edition, including some much needed appendices with complete
VoiceOver command lists, guides to using the Calendar, Contact, Reminders,
and Maps apps, which are not included in this version, along with an upfront
chapter describing how to pair and use a Braille display with VoiceOver so
deafblind users can follow alng from the start.
Final Thoughts and Recommendations
This book has a wealth of useful information to offer, and most of it is
presented in a step-by-step workbook-like format that is easy for the
beginning VoiceOver user to comprehend and follow. The author also does an
excellent job of clarifying and simplifying complex OS X and VoiceOver
concepts. If you are new to the Mac, I recommend this book highly, despite
its shortcomings. It's an excellent beginner's guide, though more seasoned
VoiceOver users may wish to wait for an updated and more complete edition
before adding this title to ther reference library.
Product Information
<http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/MAC.html> Learn to Use the Mac with VoiceOver: A
Step-by-Step Guide for Blind Users, by Janet Ingber is available for $20
from the <http://www.nbp.org/> National Braille Press
http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/MAC.html
in your choice of:
* ASCII text (CD or download)
* Braille
* DAISY (CD or download)
* eBraille (CD or download)
* MS Word (CD or download)
Toll free: 888-965-8965
"Without the Way there is no going; without the Truth there is no knowing;
without the Life there is no living."
-Thomas A Kempis
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