Accessibility

VoiceOver in Depth

VoiceOver in Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard includes VoiceOver 3. A thoroughly updated release of Apple’s screen-access technology, VoiceOver 3 includes groundbreaking new features such as gesture support, braille display mirroring, web spots, and spoken hints. It also offers frequently requested features including autospeaking web pages, “read all,” web page summary, web table support, user-created labels, customizable verbosity, and more.
Go to the Getting Started Guide

Gestures

Using a Mac with a Multi-Touch trackpad, you can control your computer with VoiceOver using simple gestures like tap and flick — the same gestures you use to control VoiceOver on the iPhone. These gestures are easy to learn, so even if you’ve never used a computer before, you can get started quickly.

To use gestures, just drag a finger or two around the touch-sensitive trackpad to hear a spoken description of the item under your finger. You’ll hear spoken descriptions continuously as you move. Or flick left or right with one finger to move the VoiceOver cursor to the next or previous item and hear a spoken description. By dragging, you can hear how items are arranged on the screen, since they correspond to the location you’re touching on the trackpad. The more you drag, the more information you gather.

VoiceOver provides visual references to enable blind and sighted users to work together on the same computer at the same time. A VoiceOver cursor marks the currently described item, and when the user drags a finger across the trackpad, VoiceOver dims the portion of the screen that’s not mapped to the trackpad. This makes it easier for sighted users to follow what’s happening onscreen. The dimming effect is adjustable — you can increase and decrease the contrast to make it easier to see or turn it off altogether.

VoiceOver gestures are forgiving. For example, touching or dragging on the trackpad with one finger speaks descriptions but doesn’t change the state of the computer. And, since the VoiceOver cursor continuously marks the currently selected item, you can perform a gesture like a flick or double-tap anywhere on the trackpad. If you have trouble locating a particular item, you can touch something near it, then flick left or right to move one item at a time until you find it. When you drag your finger across the trackpad, the trackpad represents the window or application you’re working in, not the entire screen. This way you won’t accidentally switch applications without realizing it, and you won’t confuse items you hear in one application with items you hear in another.

The Rotor

VoiceOver features a unique new virtual control called a “rotor” that mimics a physical dial. You use the rotor to change VoiceOver settings and access commands and other features. Just rotate two fingers on the trackpad as if you were turning a dial. As you turn the rotor, you’ll hear each of its settings. Flick up and down to choose the setting. For example, when you’re typing, turn the rotor to hear settings like “word” or “character.” Then flick up and down on the trackpad to choose how you want to move through the document — by word or character. Similarly, you can use the rotor to quickly navigate web pages. When you’re on a web page, the rotor contains items commonly found on a web page such as headers, links, tables, and images. Turn the rotor to the desired item, then flick up and down to move to the previous or next occurrence of that type of item. The rotor gives you access to an array of commands without requiring you to learn new gestures. Just turn the rotor to hear what’s available, then flick up and down to choose.

Assigning Gestures

VoiceOver includes a simple set of standard gestures you can use to navigate, switch windows and applications, use menu items, and access the Dock. In addition to the standard gestures, you can assign VoiceOver commands, files, applications, utilities, even AppleScript scripts and Automator workflows to an extended list of predefined gestures. Assignable gestures use a modifier key such as Shift, Control, Option, or Command and enable you to expand your capabilities as well as addressing the needs of those with limited dexterity.

Quick Nav

For keyboard users, VoiceOver 3 introduces Quick Nav, which enables you to navigate and access the rotor using just one hand. Toggle Quick Nav on and off by pressing the Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys together, then use the arrow keys separately to move the VoiceOver cursor to navigate and interact with the computer. To access the rotor, press the Left Arrow or Right Arrow and Up Arrow keys together. This lets you quickly adjust the rotor to select settings like headers, tables, and web spots for a web page. Like a flick gesture, pressing the Up Arrow or Down Arrow key jumps to the next or previous item. So if the rotor is set to “links,” pressing the Up Arrow or Down Arrow key jumps to the previous or next link on the page. Click links by pressing the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys together. Using Quick Nav, you can navigate your computer and read even the most complicated web pages quickly.

USB and Bluetooth Braille Displays

Every Mac includes built-in support for over 40 of the most popular USB and Bluetooth braille displays, including those from HumanWare, GW Micro, Freedom Scientific, Handy Tech, Baum, Alva, APH, Eurobraille, and Nippon Telesoft. Since the software is built in, when you connect a braille display to your Mac, VoiceOver automatically recognizes the model in use and programs the keys — including “wiz wheels,” scrollers, router keys, and buttons — to best suit each model’s characteristics. This built-in intelligence lets you immediately move the VoiceOver cursor using a unit’s panning, router, or other navigation and selection keys. Learn more about supported braille displays

If the braille display is new to you, you can easily learn how the keys are programmed using VoiceOver Keyboard Help (Control-Option-K). Just press a key on the braille display to hear its name. You can also reassign input keys. Simply choose a VoiceOver command and hold down the keys on the braille display. VoiceOver plays a pulsing sound for a second or two as it programs the keys, then chimes when it’s done.

The Braille Panel

To assist sighted users such as teachers, parents, and coworkers who work side by side with braille users at school, at home, and in the office, VoiceOver includes an onscreen braille panel that displays both braille and a plain text translation of the descriptions being spoken by VoiceOver. In Snow Leopard, the braille panel appears automatically when a physical braille display is detected, and you can display it on demand even when a braille device is not available. The updated braille panel is easier to read, and you can assign six different text colors for greater contrast or to better suit those with color sensitivity.

Braille Display Mirroring

To create new opportunities for learning and collaboration, Snow Leopard introduces a new feature in VoiceOver called “braille mirroring” that enables you to connect up to 32 USB braille displays (or one Bluetooth display and up to 31 USB braille displays) simultaneously to a single Mac. With braille mirroring, multiple braille users can work together on the same computer without having to share the same braille display; deaf and blind users can collaborate together on the same computer at the same time; and students using braille can follow what the teacher is demonstrating to their sighted classmates.

The braille displays connected to the Mac don’t have to be the same model or come from the same vendor. They don’t even have to have the same number of braille cells. Students using braille displays smaller than 80 cells can independently use the built-in panning controls on their braille display to read an entire line of braille without affecting other devices attached to the computer. Likewise, braille input keys are only accepted from a primary braille display you select, so one braille device won’t interfere with another or with the computer that’s driving them.

Web Browsing

VoiceOver has taken a quantum leap forward in its ability to navigate the web, providing dramatic performance improvements, new commands for greater control, improved compatibility, and support for emerging accessibility standards.

Autoread Web Pages

VoiceOver not only includes new ways to browse the web, it can also begin reading a web page as soon as it loads. Increase or decrease the speaking rate while VoiceOver is talking, pause and continue, or stop and navigate the page on your own. Open one or more pages and use the new Read All command to begin reading the web page from the top or from the current VoiceOver cursor position.

Web Page Summary

When you visit a web page you’re not already familiar with, VoiceOver can provide an overview of its contents automatically, or on demand using a keyboard shortcut. This way you can quickly get a sense for the size and complexity of the page and the types of elements it contains. The summary provides statistics about the page, including the title of the page and the number of tables, headers, links, visited links, nonvisited links, form elements, and more. On a typical web page, for example, VoiceOver might read “Page has 12 headers, 92 links, 2 tables, 11 auto web spots, 4 visited links.” You can also tailor the summary so you hear only the statistics you’re most interested in.

Web Table Support

VoiceOver provides full, native support for HTML-based tables, without the need for an additional Table or Forms mode. Simply navigate a table using the same commands you use to navigate other elements on the page. As you navigate each table cell, VoiceOver speaks the column heading and cell contents, followed by the row and column numbers, such as “row three, column one.”

Some web developers use HTML tables to visually arrange items on web pages. These pages often appear to have more tables than they actually do. VoiceOver gives you the option to treat labeled tables as a single element, so you can navigate through them with a single keystroke when skimming a page. When you find one that interests you, just stop on it to explore its contents.

Web Item Rotor

The Link Chooser in Mac OS X Leopard is incorporated into a new Web Item rotor in Snow Leopard. This rotor is a virtual dial you can use to quickly navigate web pages. The rotor contains common HTML tags like header, link, visited link, nonvisited link, form element, table, frame, and image. Select the item you’re looking for in the Web Item rotor, then use a simple keystroke or trackpad gesture to move to each occurrence of that item on the page. So, for example, you can jump from link to link, header to header, or table to table to find what interests you.

Web Spots

Unfortunately, many web pages do not follow accessibility guidelines, are not well structured, or do not use standard HTML correctly, making them difficult to navigate with a screen reader. To overcome this hurdle, Apple patented new technologies available only in VoiceOver that comprehend and interpret the complex visual relationships on a web page. VoiceOver uses this information to create and assign virtual tags called web spots that mark important locations on the page, based on its visual design, to identify items of interest and make the page easier to navigate.

Using a menu, a keystroke, or a gesture, you can jump directly to a web spot to hear the beginning of an interesting article or element on a web page. Web spots mark locations, not items on a page. So if there’s place on a web page that always contains the latest sports scores, jumping to that web spot will give you the latest scores, even when the scores change.

Web spots reflect how a sighted user might visually scan a page to identify articles and other items that are interesting to read. They’re created automatically in the background each time a page loads. You won’t even notice. But they’re always available when you need them, and you can even assign your own custom web spots to a page.

Sweet Spot

If there’s a particular location on a page you like to visit — to get the weather report or read an article by your favorite columnist — you can make it a “sweet spot.” The sweet spot always appears at the top of the web spots menu, and when the web page loads, VoiceOver goes there first.

Custom Labels

Some applications that are otherwise compatible with VoiceOver may have items without labels, so VoiceOver can only describe them in vague terms like “blank,” “empty,” and “button.” Or perhaps an item has a label but you prefer a different one. Using VoiceOver, you can assign your own labels to just about any item. The next time you visit that item, VoiceOver describes it using your label. Add as many labels as you like, and even export your labels to a file that can be shared with other VoiceOver users.

Verbosity

There are three verbosity levels in VoiceOver that you can use to tailor how much information you hear: High, Medium, and Low. VoiceOver begins with High verbosity to provide new users with as much information as possible while learning. Once you become more familiar with the Mac, you may prefer to use a lower setting.

Each setting is completely customizable. You have control over more than 30 spoken elements in each verbosity level, including checkboxes, menus, and buttons. For each element, you can set the verbosity to high, medium, or low, or turn VoiceOver off completely. You can even rearrange the order in which items are described. For example, you can hear “checkbox, checked” instead of “checked checkbox.” When you’re done, you can export your verbosity settings to a file that you can share with other VoiceOver users or take them with you using VoiceOver portable preferences.

Commanders

VoiceOver features three “commanders” you can use to customize VoiceOver keyboard shortcuts and gestures. They are the NumPad Commander, Keyboard Commander, and Trackpad Commander. Using commanders, you can assign keys and gestures to open an application, utility, or file, run an AppleScript script or Automator workflow, or perform a VoiceOver command. Commanders can help those with physical and learning disabilities by simplifying complex multikey shortcuts and making commands easier to reach and enter.

NumPad Commander

The NumPad Commander takes advantage of the numeric keypad on a full-size keyboard, providing an alternative for entering the VoiceOver commands you use most often. Using modifier keys such as Shift, Command, Control, and Option, you can access up to six “layers” of key commands. To get you started, five of the six NumPad Commander layers are preprogrammed. Each layer controls web, tables, size and positioning of objects, general navigation, and search — virtually the entire VoiceOver command set — enabling you to operate VoiceOver using fewer keystrokes and just one hand. You can use these predefined keys or change them to suit your needs.

Keyboard Commander

The Keyboard Commander controls the main keyboard. It enables you to assign a VoiceOver command, application, utility, file, AppleScript script, or Automator workflow to an Option-key combination you choose. The Keyboard Commander can be used instead of or in addition to the NumPad Commander and is particularly useful when your keyboard doesn’t include a numeric keypad.

Trackpad Commander

Standard VoiceOver gestures are easy to use, but if you have difficulty entering certain gestures, or if you want to expand the number of commands you can enter using gestures, you can assign new ones from a predefined list using the Trackpad Commander. Enter these gestures using a modifier key such as Shift, Control, Option, or Command.

AppleScript and Automator Integration

Mac OS X includes scripting technologies called AppleScript and Automator that enable you to work with applications installed on your computer using English-like scripts, instead of controlling them using a mouse and keyboard. Scripts can save you time and eliminate mistakes by automating complex and repetitive tasks. With VoiceOver, you run AppleScript scripts and Automator workflows just by pressing a key. VoiceOver itself can be controlled using scripts you create.
Learn more about AppleScript and Automator

Saving and Sharing Preferences

VoiceOver includes a utility you can use to tune its behavior to suit your needs. You can change verbosity, add words to the pronunciation dictionary, change voice characteristics, and much more. When you have things just the way you like them, you can export all or some of your VoiceOver preferences to a file for safekeeping, or give them to a friend to use with VoiceOver.

Portable Preferences

Because VoiceOver is built into Mac OS X, you don’t always have to take your computer with you to stay connected. If you’ve customized VoiceOver to work a certain way, you can use your VoiceOver preferences with any Mac. VoiceOver makes this easy using a feature called “portable preferences.”

Create a VoiceOver portable preferences file on a USB flash drive using VoiceOver Utility, and when you plug the drive into another computer running Mac OS X Snow Leopard, VoiceOver automatically detects them. VoiceOver works the same way it does on your home Mac, using your custom keystrokes, pronunciations, and more. On Snow Leopard, changes you make to VoiceOver settings are continually saved to the portable preferences file, so any changes you make on the road sync back to your home Mac when you plug in the flash drive.