Guide by Tyler on Monday, October 14, 2019
Intro
If you’re new to the Mac, learning and mastering the VoiceOver screenreader can seem daunting at first. In an attempt to streamline the search for essential getting started information across the AppleVis website, I will provide a series of tips, along with links to more comprehensive guides and podcasts, organized by heading and subheading.
From personal experience, I have found that one of the most effective ways to learn a new screenreader is to read documentation… Read more
Guide by Nicholas on Saturday, January 2, 2021
Compiled below is a rearrangement of Apple’s published VoiceOver key commands charts, edited/confirmed for macOS Big Sur.
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… Read more
Podcast by AppleVis on Saturday, December 2, 2017
In this podcast, Khalfan Bin Dhaher demonstrates Multilingual VoiceOver support on macOS.
Podcast by AppleVis on Tuesday, September 20, 2016
In this podcast, David Woodbridge introduces us to Siri on the Mac. Siri on the Mac offers many of the same capabilities available on iOS, along with Mac-specific functionality such as the ability to search through folders to quickly find files.
Guide by Tyler on Monday, May 18, 2020
Intro
If you’re coming to the Mac from Windows, you’re probably used to either downloading apps from the Microsoft Store, or downloading an app package from a website and running its included installer. On macOS, there are several ways apps can be installed and uninstalled, which I will give an overview of in this guide.
The good news is that whatever methods the developer has employed, the installation and uninstallation processes should seem very straightforward to you,… Read more
Guide by Tyler on Monday, April 8, 2019
Intro
If you own a computer or mobile device, there’s one thing you’ve probably heard time and time again, back up your data.
When your critical information is stored in only one medium, it is inherently vulnerable. The device’s internal storage, either a hard drive or solid state drive, could fail, complications could occur during an update or other system event, the device could get lost or stolen, or a flood or fire could break out at the device’s location.
For… Read more
Guide by Tyler on Monday, December 17, 2018
Intro
If you’re a Mac Voiceover user, there’s one word you absolutely hate hearing, the B word.
Of course, I’m talking about the word, “Busy.” It may pass after a few seconds, causing only minor annoyance, or it can happen frequently and significantly disrupt your workflow.
Often times, repeated experiences like this mean you probably have some performance issues to address. In this guide, I will give an overview of some of the most common problems and solutions.… Read more
Guide by mehgcap on Saturday, April 11, 2015
What Is Night Owl?
Night Owl
is the only accessible Twitter client for the Mac, or at least the most popular among VoiceOver users. With it, you can retweets, manage lists, send direct messages, save searches, and much more. While most of the app is relatively simple, some parts can be a bit confusing, and there are some undocumented shortcuts and features. This guide will walk you through… Read more
Guide by mehgcap on Friday, October 19, 2012
What Is This?
Is there an application on your Mac whose menu items are lacking keyboard shortcuts? For instance, would it not be easier to add a shortcut to mail for the Save Attachments item, or to iTunes to sync your iOS device, or to Safari to quickly tweet a page? Well, you can do all this, and you need nothing more than a few minutes and System Preferences.
Cool! How Do I Do It?
- Open the application to which you want to add a shortcut. Go to the menu… Read more
Podcast by AppleVis on Wednesday, May 6, 2015
In this podcast, Alex Hall gives us an introduction to using the macOS Calendar with VoiceOver.
Podcast by AppleVis on Friday, November 20, 2020
In this podcast, Tyler Stephen shows us an overview of some of the new features in MacOS Big Sur.
Podcast by AppleVis on Monday, November 4, 2013
In this podcast, Steve Murgaski walks us through how to assign braille keyboard commands to VoiceOver actions. He also demonstrates how to change the way a braille display behaves through the Activity feature found in the VoiceOver Utility.
Guide by Piotr Machacz on Sunday, January 26, 2014
Introduction
iWork 13 was a big update. One that excited blind people, and at the same time annoyed power users. Because the iWork apps were rewritten from scratch, not every feature was included at first. One of these features is assigning hotkeys to styles, which later was brought back in an update. A couple times I’ve seen people asking how it works, so I sat down to figure it out.
How it’s done?
- Open up pages
- Create a new document
- Jump… Read more
Blog Post by mehgcap on Sunday, March 30, 2014
Intro
Macs have been fully accessible since 2005, but those who have never used one may still believe the myths about VoiceOver that have been around almost as long as VoiceOver itself. Even long-time users may be doing extra work, not even realizing that there are shortcuts or steps they can skip. I would like to take this opportunity to dispel these long-standing myths, and maybe make you more comfortable with the idea of switching to, or at least trying out, a Mac.
Podcast by AppleVis on Monday, October 22, 2018
In this podcast, Alex Hall demonstrates the Home app on MacOS. The Home App is new in macOS 10.14 Mojave.
Guide by Tyler on Monday, March 23, 2020
Intro
If you use a Mac, at some point or another, you will need to drag an item from one place to another. You could be, among other things, trying to move a file, reorder a list, or attach photos and other files to a document.
While there is no, “Magic solution,” to drag and drop with VoiceOver, there are several methods you can employ that just might work to accomplish the task at hand. These tips come predominantly from my own personal use, as literature on how to do… Read more
Podcast by AppleVis on Monday, September 28, 2015
In this podcast, Jonathan Simeone discusses and demonstrates the autosave and versioning features of TextEdit on macOS. These provide the peace of mind of knowing that your work is being automatically saved as you type, and that it’s quick and easy to revert to a previous version of a document.
Blog Post by David Goodwin👨🦯 on Tuesday, March 11, 2014
In this post I explain the importance of reporting accessibility-related bugs to Apple; and make a few suggestions for the best way to do so.
AppleVis is a great platform for talking about VoiceOver, braille, and low vision bugs - to confirm with others that what you are experiencing is actually a bug; to seek and share workarounds; or to simply vent the occasional frustration - but we also need to make sure that the Accessibility Team at Apple is aware of each and every bug so that… Read more
Blog Post by PaulMartz on Monday, January 20, 2020
Blog Post by PaulMartz on Wednesday, February 5, 2020