Guides

In my last 3 guides, I described how easy it is to create a document in Pages that looks aesthetically pleasing to a sighted user. If you have been following the series, you have learned pages is an extremely powerful word processor for the Mac. You can produce everything from letters, to flyers to fully laid out books that are ready for electronic or print publishing.

The last 3 guides focused on the basics of formatting, using styles, adding keyboard shortcuts and using the…

Hello,
There will always be apps with one or more unlabeled elements or elements that have unclear labels. When we encounter an app of this nature, we may resign ourselves to deleting the app and maybe contacting the developer and hoping they'll fix it, but that's not the it's useful to know what they do, but sometimes you may want to take a step further and label the unlabeled elements. This has come in very useful for me and today I'd like to tell you all how to…

Intro

Each year in June, Apple previews the next major version of macOS, along with updates to its other software platforms, at its World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC.) At this event, Apple announces and demonstrates a select number of headlining new features, and makes a prerelease version available to developers so they can test the new software and provide feedback before the public release in October.

This is important because when substantial feature additions and…

Intro

Each year in June, Apple previews the next major versions of iOS and iPadOS, along with updates to its other software platforms, at its World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC.) At this event, Apple announces and demonstrates a select number of headlining new features, and makes prerelease versions available to developers so they can test the new software and provide feedback before the public release in September.

This is important because when substantial feature…

In macOS Ventura, Apple replaced the familiar System Preferences app with a new app called System Settings. This app is fully accessible with VoiceOver, however the interface is quite different and many settings have been relocated, which may at first be disorienting to longtime Mac users. However, the new layout may feel familiar if you’ve used iOS or iPadOS, and you may eventually find that the increased parody between the two platforms makes the experience of locating and changing…

Introduction

The following guide has been inspired by this episode of the Apfel-Fleger Podcast, a podcast in German for blind users of Apple products. All credit goes to Jürgen Fleger and his friend for discovering and presenting this little trick.

One thing that Braille Screen Input apps for Android, the likes of Soft Braille Keyboard or Advanced Braille…

Hello, everyone. Two years and literally thousands of changes later, the second edition of Personal Power is now available. It's an ebook which I wrote and am giving away freely. Basically, the book takes people from setting up their iPhones to thriving in the iOS environment. It teaches how to use VoiceOver, the various parts of iOS, and a whole lot of apps.

In fact, one of my major goals with this book was to point newcomers to a large collection of accessible apps. Many people get…

Hello everyone!
Ever since I switched to the Mac, I've only really had one regret. I wished to play some of my old favorite audio games on the Mac. Parallels is a bit overcomplicated and resource heavy for my needs, but I've discovered with crossover by code weavers:
https://www.codeweavers.com/crossover
one can actually play a lot of audio games on the Mac.
Some caveats:
1. anything that needs…

In my first Pages guide, I described what certain typographic elements looked like such as bold text and underlining. In my second guide, I provided a crash course in how you can quickly apply styles in your Pages documents. In this guide, let’s tackle some more complex concepts. You can apply these to…

As time rolls on, the digital Covid-19 Vax Card is one you may need to show quickly in ore places and situations. Though it may be saved in your photo library, how do you grab it quickly without searching?
Though their are no doubt multiple ways to accomplish this, I will cover, using the Shortcuts, app, to make this happen.
You first need a photo of your Vax card. If you took it on the day you got your final dose of the vaccination, look back at your photos library and it may be…

In my last guide on Pages and design, I described how visual documents appear with font variations and how you can manipulate fonts, sizes, styling and more so your documents can look aesthetically pleasing to your sighted colleagues.

In this guide, I’ll describe how you can quickly apply styles and customize them in your documents. Nothing here requires advanced VoiceOver skills, however you…

Before I lost my sight, the usable low vision I had allowed me to fall in love with typography, design and the Apple aesthetic which I'd describe as clean and simple. I’ve kept this design philosophy throughout my life and have continued to edit and design my documents so they match this aesthetic.

These skills may take some time to master, but are worth the investment especially if you work in an organization that values design. Your documents will not only look better, but you will…

As a Voiceover user, the Simplenote app by Automatic is an app I use daily. It's free and are versions for IOS, Android, Windows, Mac, Linux and in a browser.

Your notes sync seamlessly between platforms, no extra steps required.

You can read all about it here but I will focus on two features I find most useful as a Voiceover user of the IOS app in particular.

Markdown and preview on demand…

For iOS 16, macOS Ventura

Intro

If you have an iPhone, you’re probably fairly familiar with the Messages app on iOS, using it to send and receive texts, photos, videos, and other files. As part of Apple’s interconnected ecosystem, this capability is also available on macOS.

An example of how the Messages app could be useful on macOS is if you’re working on your Mac and a text comes in. Rather than stop what you’re doing and switch devices to view and respond to the…

Applies to: iPhone and iPad IOS 13+,

If you find that you come across (or yourself write) short chunks of text that you need to translate on the fly, like Facebook comments or an email, here is one solution.

You can copy the text to the clipboard, and then you can use a shortcut to translate the contents of the clipboard using Microsoft’s translation engine. You can activate the shortcut in several different ways. We’ll take each of these steps in turn:

Copying text…

Compiled below is a rearrangement of Apple’s published VoiceOver key commands charts, edited/confirmed for macOS Sonoma.

Editor’s note: VO Key Commands are arranged by Levels. Press and hold the keys below while typing any other key.

Level One: Press Control-Option.

Level Two: Press Control-Option-Shift.

Level Three: Press Control-Option-Command.

Level Four: Press Control-Option-Command-Shift.

A “Combined Listing” has been provided at the end…

For iOS 17

Intro

If you’re new to or thinking about getting an iPhone, you may be wondering, as I was at one time, “How, exactly, can a person who can’t see a screen use a device whose primary input surface is one?”

I would soon realize that it wasn’t nearly as crazy as it sounded, and that I could do things with it that I couldn’t have imagined that would increase my level of independence and improve my overall quality of life. However, if you’re just getting…