Category: accessible Devices
My friends tell me I should learn Jaws because most office jobs will have
Windows computers but I'm curious about Voice-Over on the mac. Any
help would be appreciated.
I've been a mac user for going on 6 years now. applevis is a great place to go for getting started learning with a mac, they have many podcasts and also I believe you can look up the voice over guide online
I also need this help as I will hopefully be using a Mac for school next year.
Definitely get started with Applevis.com.
Also, there's a free book in iBooks called Mastering the Mac with VoiceOver. It was written for OSX 10.9 but most of the stuff works for 10.11, the current OSX. I heard they're going to release an updated version of the book but haven't yet seen that. The book is well written and easy to use. It focuses mainly on use of the trackpad rather than the keyboard commands which is pretty cool.
HTH.
I will checkout applevis. Thanks everybody.
I also use the mac, and I'd be happy to answer any questions I can.
I use the mac by night and Windows screenreaders by day. If your work is in the technical or scientific field, unless it's Apple-specific somehow, you're going to need something like JAWS on Windows. Same goes for if you use software on many business systems.
No solution is perfect, every one has its quirks, but like it or not there are practical reasons for why some packages work well in certain situations.
To that end, I use a Mac for play / volunteer stuff and the like; no Windows-esque support issues. And I almost never have to help my Wife or daughter with their computers since I bought them Macbooks. The power that makes Windows the enterprise solution, is quite often its downfall in the wrong hands domestically.
There are people on here who use their mac for work, but I think they're mainly in the creative or academic fields. Academic outside the sciences.
How do you navigate gmail with voice over? I spent 45 minutes
yesterday trying to figure it out.
Are you trying to use Gmail with Safari?
Yes I am. I figured out how to use the mail app on the mac but for the
life of me, I can't get gmail's site to work.
I set mine to basic HTML. If yours is in standard view you might want to change it also. Look for a link labeled "basic HTML." You can use control-option-command-L/shift-L to move through the links, or look for it in the item chooser menu - control-option I. Once you have it in basic HTML a bunch of junk and clutter you probably don't need will disappear.
A few hints to get started once you have the uncluttered view: To get to your messages do control-option-command T. That takes you to the table of messages that you can then interact with. Just before (and after) the table you'll find buttons like archive, delete, report as spam, etc.
When you're using Google Apps such as Gmail with any screen reader, you need
to turn off whatever your screen reader uses for a virtual cursor in the Google
Apps standard view. You'll also need to look up the Google Apps hot keys for
navigation as obviously your HTML quick keys won't work. For the Mac, turn off
Quick Nav and you'll be away. As Amanda says, you could also set Gmail to
basic HTML if you want.
Awesome. I got gmail in basic form and am able to go right to the email
with control-option-command-t. Once I click on the email, how exactly
do I read the email? I can click all around the email but not on the
actually message. Thanks!
I wouldn't know how to actually read the message, as I don't use gmails site at all, strictly the mail client.
yes, I use the mail client more than the website. In fact, I can't even remember the last time I used the GMail site. I use my Mac for schoolwork, (both for the hadley School and my college things), and for music, email, and social media such as twitter. Still haven't figured out how to post on facebook directly from the notifications center on mac. I usually post on FB via twitter, wihch doesn't always allow me the necessary space for saying what I want or need to say. agree with what others have said regarding beginning with apple vis and the book suggested. I have said book, but haven't actually gotten around to reading it yet. I'd love to partition my mac and use windows seven on it with NVDA, but don't have anyone around here tech-savvy enough to help me with partitioning the hard drive and installing windows via bootcamp. any takers who have done this before and feel comfortable with the process? Good luck on your voiceOver journey. I've been using it now for years, and I am always learning something new.
Once you've clicked on the email you should be on a page which contains the message. I just do VO-command h until I get to the heading with the subject of the message, then VO right arrow until I hear the message. Alternatively, you could try using the rotor on the track pad. It has a setting called "static text" which you can use to try and jump to the text of the message.
I thought about going bootcamp a long time ago, but fusion is better for me because I can use mac and windows side by side without having to restart the system to boot into another system, pluss, it's fast on my end, probably because of the 4 gigs of ram and a solid state hard drive, flash memory
I want to install Windows for the purpose of running Openbook. Anybody comfy enough with doing so to walk me through it?
Well, as far as bootcamp goes I can't help you, but fusion I can help you with no problems, setting up a vm in fusion only takes a few minutes, if it's windows 10, the installation is over in about 20 minutes, but if it's like 7, it could take longer, especially if your installing it from a cd or dvd. The fusion way also is like an unattended install, so all you have to do is sit back and wait for it to be over after you give it whatever name and password you want, as well as entering your licence key. you would also need to go get sharpkeys, because fusion wont let you use capslock as a motifyer key at all, so you will have to remap a key you don't use to act as one.
Fusion is the one where you can open a window of Windows wwithout having to restart the Mac, correct?
I would assume then that I would be able to use Narrater to launch Openbook, thus eliminating the need to install Jaws. Is that also correct?
Could I then switch between OS's? For example, could I have a document open in Openbook and then switch to Safari?
Hope I'm making sense.
yes, you can do all that. You can also, and this I would do for sure, you can back up the vm to an external hard drive, and just say for instance, you get a virus or something happens to your vm and you can't correct whatever problem it was, you can revert back to the vm you backed up on your external hard drive like nothing ever happened.
How much is fusion? I have a trial on my mac mini, but can't figure out how the hell to buy the damn thing if I want to use that until I get bootcamp sorted on the MacBook air..
I think for like 80 bucks. you have to go on the website and get it from that.
Thanks for the vo-command-h!!
Also, a friend of mine told me you void the warranty by boot camping a
mac. Don't know if that is the same with fusion.
It's not.
New versions of Mac OS let you use caps lock instead of the contorted VO keys. I find I do that more now than the VO keys.
This is part of El Capitan. And you can have it set to use either or both.
void the warranty? I highly dout that's what happens, especially not if bootcamp
comes with the system anyway.
Yup, sounds like a load of garbage. why would it be voiding the warranty if bootcamp already comes with the Mac to begin with?