Detailed in this post are possible accessibility-related bugs which members of the AppleVis Editorial Team have identified during their testing of iOS 9. If you have not already updated your device to iOS 9, we strongly recommend that you read through this post and any comments before doing so, as we believe that there are some new bugs in this release which might have a negative impact on the user experience for some blind and low vision users.
As always, we do need to stress at the…
With the public release of iOS 9 now just three days away, we wanted to let you all know that we plan to have lots of information and resources ready to share with you as soon as Apple makes its new version of iOS available for download.
Our coverage will include a number of Blog posts with information on what you will find in iOS 9, along with podcast demonstrations of some new and changed features.
Some of our Editorial Team have been involved in beta testing of iOS 9, and we…
Below is the AppleVis live blog for the September 9, 2015 special event. Information has been taken directly from the @AppleVis Twitter timeline, as well as quoted from the Twitter timelines of [Mac Rumors LiveLive](http://www.twitter.com/Mac Rumors Live). All external information is indicated as such with a source name, and all external tweets are in quotes.
This post will offer you an account of my experience with conducting the job search on iOS. I will begin with a little information concerning the pre-requisites to beginning the job search, and the changing trends regarding how businesses advertise vacant positions.
The current post will then consider the 3 primary iOS applications which I used during my job search, and I will also inform you as to the services offered by recruitment agencies and the…
For many of us -- hard-core internet surfers, RSS is a familiar term. By the same token, the phrase "RSS reader" isn't esoteric at all. But let me talk a bit about RSS and RSS readers before moving on to the main focus of this post. According to the Pro Blogger website:
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." … It is a technology that is being used by millions of web users around the world to…
I absolutely love working this way! I am sitting in my living room comfy chair and happily writing my first AppleVis blog. All the computer I need is right here. My iPhone 5S is in my shirt pocket, my Apple ear pods are where they belong, and my Logitech Bluetooth Keys-To-Go keyboard is cool and light on my lap. Except for taking my guide dog outside for another break, I cannot think of a single good reason to get up.
For many decades, I aspired to being connected, to being productive…
Apple has today released iOS 8.4.1 to the public, bringing fixes and improvements to Apple Music and other areas of the iOS 8 operating system.
For VoiceOver users, iOS 8.4.1 includes fixes for the labeling of a number of buttons in Apple Music--including those for following and unfollowing artists in Connect.
According to Apple's release notes via Mac Rumors, iOS 8.4.1 also contains the following…
Welcome to the June 2015 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which aims to highlight what’s new and noteworthy in the accessible app landscape. Below, you’ll find a recap of the best content posted to AppleVis - from new app entries, to app updates, to podcasts and blogs. For easier navigation, the major sections of this post are at heading level 3, and each individual item is at heading level 4.
Apple has today released iOS 8.4, bringing with it Apple’s new music streaming service and the usual "under the hood" fixes and enhancements.
The focus for this release has clearly been on making sure that everything is in place for the introduction of Apple Music and Beats 1. Consequently, we were not surprised to hear from Apple that it includes no accessibility-related changes or fixes.
What you will find in this update…
Recently, Clara Van Gerven published an article on the National Federation of the Blind website entitled, “The Sighted Guide to VoiceOver”. In the article, the author, a sighted assistive technology specialist, undertook an experiment to use only VoiceOver on her iPhone for forty days. That any sighted person, even an assistive technology professional, would undertake using only VoiceOver for forty days is to be commended,…
Today was Apples annual World Wide Developer's Conference keynote. This time each year, the world gets to preview the hardware and software coming out of Cupertino. We traditionally see the next iterations of iOS and OS X, and maybe a new service or cloud-based offering. This year was no exception: iOS9, OS X 10.11, watchOS 2.0, an updated Apple Pay, and the all-new Apple Music were all shown off with Apples usual flare. If…
Below is the AppleVis live blog for the June 8, 2015 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote presentation. Information has been taken directly from the @AppleVis Twitter timeline, as well as from the Twitter timelines of MacRumorsLive / MacRumors, Macworld, and…
With Apple's annual Worldwide Developer's Conference now just days away, a lot of people are wondering what new shinies we'll see. Will there be a new Apple TV? Yet another update to some Mac or other? A better iPad Mini? What will iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 bring to the table? Will Apple continue its headlong rush into dazzling new features at the expense of quality, or will it slow down and start refining what it has already done? what shots did…
Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), and we are asking everybody to use this as an opportunity to reach out to iOS and OS X developers - to either encourage them to make their applications accessible and usable by the vision-impaired; or to show your appreciation for applications which already are.
GAAD was created as a mechanism to reach out to the people who “build, shape, fund and influence technology and…
Welcome to the April 2015 edition of AppleVis Unlimited, our monthly series which aims to highlight what’s new and noteworthy in the accessible app landscape. Below, you’ll find a recap of the best content posted to AppleVis - from new app entries, to app updates, to podcasts and blogs. For easier navigation, the major sections of this post are at heading level 3, and each individual item is at heading level 4.
On April 29, 2005, Apple Inc. introduced Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. Included in Mac OS X Tiger's list of features was the VoiceOver screen reader. VoiceOver was not Apple's first foray into assistive technology: Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar introduced Universal Access which provided customizations to the operating system for those with visual, hearing, and physical disabilities. In fact, Mac OS X Universal Access was influenced by similar technologies which were bundled with the classic Mac OS (…
Apple has today released iOS 8.3, bringing with it a host of new features and improvements across the operating system.
For blind and low vision users, Apple has made significant progress towards addressing many of the accessibility bugs still present in iOS 8.2. In addition, Apple has introduced a few new features specific to the needs of VoiceOver users.
At this point, it is worth noting that our testing of iOS 8.3 has…
Today, Apple unveiled four new things, a price change for the Apple TV, and minor updates to its existing line of MacBooks. We saw the Apple Watch, a 12-inch Retina Macbook, HBO Streaming, and Research Kit, a platform that will greatly enhance medical research and studies. We also got iOS8.2, which includes the Apple Watch app, and some small fixes and improvements.…
Today, Apple unveiled four new things, a price change for the Apple TV, and minor updates to its existing line of MacBooks. We saw the Apple Watch, a 12-inch Retina Macbook, HBO Streaming, and Research Kit, a platform that will greatly enhance medical research and studies. We also got iOS8.2, which includes the Apple Watch app, and some small fixes and improvements.…
Apple has today released iOS 8.2 to the public, bringing with it a series of performance and stability improvements and support for the forthcoming Apple Watch.
For blind and low vision users, Apple addressed an issue which caused VoiceOver to crash when exiting certain apps. This would result in the iOS device becoming unresponsive for anything up to 60 seconds.
While iOS 8.2 does not contain as many improvements for blind and low vision users as we have seen in some recent…